Catherine the Great

She got married to Peter, the then- Duke of Holstein-Gottorp in 1745 when she was just 16 years old. The couple had one son, Paul. The marriage was unhappy from the very beginning and Peter was reported to be cruel towards his wife. Both of them took lovers even while they were married to each other. Peter died in 1762.

She took a series of lovers throughout her long reign and often gave them high positions and materialistic gifts and estates. Her most notable lovers were Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, Pyotr Zavadovsk, and Stanisław Poniatowski. She had two children with different lovers.

She died of a stroke in November 1796. Her son Paul succeeded her to the throne.

She was born as the daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst who held the rank of a Prussian general, and Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. She was educated by a French governess and tutors.

Her mother had relations with members of royalty and through her diplomacy fixed her daughter’s marriage with the prospective tsar Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, heir to the ruling Russian Empress, Elizabeth. The marriage took place in 1745 when Catherine was 16 years old. The marriage was not be a happy union.

Empress Elizabeth died in January 1762 and Peter succeeded to the throne as Peter III of Russia and Catherine became the Empress Consort. However, by this time Peter and Catherine had become estranged.

Peter had reigned for just six months when Catherine directed a coup which deposed Peter from power and made her the Empress of Russia in July 1762. Peter was strangled to death by Alexei Orlov within days after the coup.

She expanded the borders of the Russian empire considerably during her reign. Territories of New Russia, Crimea, Northern Caucasus, Belarus, Lithuania, among others were brought under her control. It is estimated that she helped to add approximately 200,000 square miles to the Russian territory.

She tried to bring about political and social reforms by compiling a document called ‘Nakaz’ which contained advice on how the legislature should function. She called a meeting of delegates from different social and economic classes to form the Legislative Commission in 1767.

Under her reign, the Assignation Bank started issuing the first government paper money in 1768. Several bank branches were established all over the country. The large governmental spending necessitated the issuing of paper money.

Her first Russo-Turkish War (1768-74) enabled her to expand the Russian empire considerably by adding to the territory Southern Ukraine, Northern Caucasus and Crimea.

She made a triumphal procession through New Russia and annexed Crimea which led to the declaration of the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-92 in which the Ottoman Empire attempted to regain lands lost to Russia in the previous Russo-Turkish War. However, the Catherine led Russia fought away the Ottomans.