Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great deposed her husband and

made herself empress of Russia in his place. She
reigned for more than 30 years and worked hard to
turn Russia into a powerful modern country.

RISE TO POWER
Catherine was born in 1729 into a German noble family.
When she was 16 she married the heir to the throne of
Russia. At the beginning of 1762 her husband became
Tsar Peter III, but he was totally unfit to rule. Within a
few months Catherine had organized a plot to overthrow
him. With the support of the palace guard, Catherine
was declared Empress Catherine II of Russia in July
1762.

ENLIGHTENED OPINION
Catherine was a well-educated woman and she believed
it was her mission to spread European art, culture and
ideas throughout Russia, and to continue the
modernizing work of Peter the Great. She founded
several schools, hospitals and a medical college; and
encouraged writers and the growth of newspapers. In
1767, Catherine also attempted to introduce political
ideas from the European Enlightenment movement. She
called together an assembly of representatives from all
parts of Russia. The assembly was not a success and the
representatives argued among themselves. Catherine
quickly lost interest.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS
One of Catherine’s first actions in international politics
was in 1764 when Russian troops helped put her lover
on the throne of Poland as King Stanislas II. In 1768,
Catherine attacked Russia’s long-standing enemy—the
Ottoman Turkish Empire. The Ottoman fleet was
defeated at a sea battle in 1770 at Chesme in the
Mediterranean Sea, and Russia won access to the Black
Sea. She later took over the Crimean Peninsula and
made it a part of Russia. Key to her success was the
command of Grigory Potemkin, who briefly became her
lover and was the most powerful man in Russia until his
death in 1791. In the west, Catherine was able to
expand Russia’s borders without warfare. By agreement
with Austria and Prussia, she gradually took over bits of
Poland until the country had disappeared completely by
1795.

PUGACHEV REBELLION
In 1773 a serious rebellion broke out in Russia.
Yemelyan Pugachev, a Cossack from south-eastern
Russia, led the rebels and proclaimed himself tsar.
Soldiers loyal to Catherine defeated the rebels in 1774,
and Pugachev was executed in the following year. After
the rebellion, Catherine became less interested in
spreading European enlightened ideas, and she worked
hard to strengthen Russia by improving the position of
the nobles in Russian society. She divided the country
into provinces and appointed local governors who were
given considerable powers. Catherine was disturbed
when the French Revolution broke out in 1789, and by
the time of her death in 1796 she was preparing to send
Russian troops to fight against the revolutionaries in
France.
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