CatherinetheGreatBiography

Catherine the Great was the longest ruling female leader ofRussia whose reign was called Russia’s Golden Age. Thisbiography of Catherine the Great provides detailed informationaboutherchildhood,life,achievements,works&timeline.

QuickFacts

AlsoKnownAs

YekaterinaAlexeevna

Nationality Russian

Religion Lutheranism,EasternOrthodox,

Bornon 02May1729AD

ZodiacSign

Taurus

Bornin Szczecin

Diedon 17November1796AD

Placeofdeath

aintPetersburg

Father ChristianAugust,PrinceofAnhalt-Zerbst

Mother JohannaElisabethofHolstein-Gottorp

SiblingsWilhelmChristianFriedrichvonAnhalt-Zerbst,FriedrichAugustvonAnhalt-Zerbst,AugustevonAnhalt-Zerbst,ElisabethvonAnhalt-Zerbst,

Spouse: PeterIIIofRussia

ChildrenPaulIofRussia,ElizabethAlexandrovnaAlexeeva,AlexeiGrigorievichBobrinsky,AnnaPetrovna,

Education Na

QuickFacts

Catherine the Great, also known as Catherine II was a femaleleaderofRussiaknownforrevitalizingthecountryandmakingitone of the great powers of Europe during her reign. She cameinto power after the death of her husband and rose to becomethe strongest and the longest ruling female leader of Russia.The period of her reign was known as Russia’s Golden Age; itwas during her reign that the Russian empire expandedconsiderably, growing larger and stronger than ever before.Born as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst, a minorprincess, she gradually rose to become the leader of Russiathrough her marriage to Grand Duke Peter, the heir to theRussian throne. She had an unhappy marriage and was evenliving separately from her husband at one point. Her husbandbecame Tsar Peter III though he reigned for just six monthsbefore being overthrown. She became the empress and ruledoverRussia inwhat came to be known as theCatherinian era.She always had the help of her favourite nobles,GrigoryOrlovandGrigory Potemkin, the latter of whomwas also rumored tobe one of her various lovers. She was also a very talentedwriter who produced several pieces of fiction, comedies andmemoirs.

Childhood&Early LifeShewasbornas thedaughterofChristianAugust,PrinceofAnhalt-Zerbstwhoheld the rankof aPrussiangeneral,and Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. She waseducatedbyaFrenchgovernessandtutors.

Her mother had relations with members of royalty andthrough her diplomacy fixed her daughter ’smarriage withtheprospective tsarPeter ofHolstein-Gottorp, heir to theruling Russian Empress, Elizabeth. The marriage tookplace in 1745 when Catherine was 16 years old. Themarriagewasnotbeahappyunion.

Accession&ReignEmpress Elizabeth died in January 1762 and Petersucceeded to the throne as Peter III of Russia andCatherinebecame theEmpressConsort.However,by thistimePeterandCatherinehadbecomeestranged.

Peter had reigned for just six months when Catherinedirected a coup which deposed Peter from power andmade her theEmpress ofRussia in July 1762. Peterwasstrangled to death by Alexei Orlov within days after thecoup.

She expanded the borders of the Russian empireconsiderably during her reign. Territories of New Russia,Crimea, Northern Caucasus, Belarus, Lithuania, amongotherswerebroughtunderhercontrol. It isestimated thatshe helped to add approximately 200,000 squaremiles totheRussianterritory.

She tried to bring about political and social reforms bycompiling a document called ‘Nakaz’ which containedadvice on how the legislature should function.She calledameetingofdelegates fromdifferentsocialandeconomicclassestoformtheLegislativeCommissionin1767.

Under her reign, theAssignationBank started issuing thefirst government paper money in 1768. Several bankbrancheswereestablishedallover thecountry.The large

governmental spending necessitated the issuing of papermoney.

ShemadeRussiaadominantsuperpower inEuropeafterthe first Russo-Turkish War against the Ottoman Empirethat lasted from 1768 till 1774. She obtained access toUkraine where she established the cities of Odessa,NikolayevandKherson.

In 1783, she annexed the Crimea and the palace of theCrimean khans passed into Russian control. Thisprovoked the second Russo-Turkish War that started in1787.

The Russo-Swedish War took place from 1788 to 1790.The King Gustav III of Sweden expected to overtakeRussiabutRussiafoughtbackandpreventedtheSwedisharmyfromadvancing.

She had a deep interest in arts, literature and education.Sheherselfwasanavidreaderandalsowrote fictionandmemoirs. She loved European art and culture and was apatronoftheRussianopera.

She established the Smolny Institute for Noble Girls topromoteeducationfor females.Theschool taughtFrench,music, dance, etc. and strict discipline was enforcedwithinitspremises.

MajorBattlesHer first Russo-Turkish War (1768-74) enabled her toexpand theRussianempire considerablybyadding to theterritory Southern Ukraine, Northern Caucasus andCrimea.

ShemadeatriumphalprocessionthroughNewRussiaandannexedCrimeawhichledtothedeclarationoftheRusso-Turkish War of 1787-92 in which the Ottoman Empireattempted to regain lands lost to Russia in the previousRusso-Turkish War. However, the Catherine led RussiafoughtawaytheOttomans.

PersonalLife &Legacy

She got married to Peter, the then- Duke of Holstein-Gottorp in 1745 when she was just 16 years old. Thecouple had one son, Paul. The marriage was unhappyfrom the very beginning and Peter was reported to becruel towards his wife. Both of them took lovers evenwhiletheyweremarriedtoeachother.Peterdiedin1762.

She tookaseriesof lovers throughouther long reignandoften gave them high positions andmaterialistic gifts andestates. Her most notable lovers were GrigoriAlexandrovich Potemkin, Pyotr Zavadovsk, andStanisław Poniatowski. She had two children withdifferentlovers.

She died of a stroke in November 1796. Her son Paulsucceededhertothethrone.

Triv iaThis famous empress of Russia was rumored to havesexualinterestinhorses.