Catherine II, the Great 1729-96
Empress of Russia from 1762

Catherine was born in Stettin in the Prussian province of Pomerania (now Szczecin in Poland), the daughter of the Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst. In 1745 she married Peter, Grand Duke and heir to the Russian throne, but the marriage was stormy and unhappy, with many quarrels. Catherine became notorious for her love affairs with Count Gregory Orlov (1734-83) and also with Stanislas II Augustus Poniatowski. After Peter's accession in 1762 (as Peter III), Catherine was compelled to live separately; later Peter was dethroned by a conspiracy in which Catherine was probably implicated, and Catherine herself was made empress despite a weak claim to the throne. A few days afterwards Peter was murdered by Orlov and others. Around this time Catherine began to make a show of regard for the Greek Church, although her principles were those of the French philosophers.

The government was carried on with great energy, and the dominions and power of Russia rapidly increased. When discontent was voiced, the young Prince Ivan, the hope of the disaffected, was murdered in the castle of Schl�sselburg. In 1774 Catherine suppressed a popular rebellion led by Yemelyan Pugachev, defeating his Cossack troops at the battle of Tsaritsyn the following year. She sought the support of the nobility in Russia, and promoted their cause by establishing them as a separate estate by Charter in 1785. Under Catherine, internal politics consisted of court intrigues both for and against a succession of favourites, Grigori Potemkin being the best known. Three partitions (with Austria) of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795, and two Turkish wars (1774 and 1792) vastly increased the empire, as did a war with Sweden (1790) and the incorporation of the Baltic territory of Courland.

Bibliography: Vincent Cronin, Catherine, Empress of All the Russians (1990); John T Alexander, Catherine the Great: Life and Legend (1989); Ian Grey, Catherine the Great: Autocrat and Empress of All Russia (1961).

Catherine was renowned for her intelligence and learning. She promoted French culture in Russia, and corresponded throughout her life with Voltaire and the Encyclopaedists. She appointed a Commission to draw up a new legal code, and was much influenced in this plan by Montesquieu. She is said also to have considered some over-ambitious schemes such as expelling the British from India.