Catherine the great short biography

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Who Was Catherine II?

Catherine II, often called Catherine the Great, was born in Prussia in and married into the Russian royal family in Shortly after her husband ascended to the throne as Peter III, Catherine orchestrated a coup to become empress of Russia in Remembered in large part for her romantic liaisons, Catherine also expanded Russian territories and sought to modernize its culture through progressive views on arts and education. After more than three decades as Russia's absolute ruler, she died in

German Princess and Ambitious Mother

Catherine II started out as a minor German princess. Her birth name was Sophie Friederike Auguste, and she grew up in Stettin in a small principality called Anhalt-Zebst. Her father, Christian August, a prince of this tiny dominion, gained fame for his military career by serving as a general for Frederick William I of Prussia.

Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp, Catherine II's mother, had little interest

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Catherine the Great

Born: Stettin, Pomerania, 21 April (2 May)
Died: St. Petersburg, 6 (17) November

Reigned:

Renowned as Catherine the Great, Empress of all the Russias, this remarkable woman was neither Russian nor originally named Catherine. Born Sophie Friederike Auguste from Anhalt-Zerbst, she was indeed a princess, but one that came from an obscure and impoverished German duchy. Fortunately, her mother enjoyed enviable royal connections, the effective exploitation of which resulted in a winter journey to St. Petersburg at the invitation of the childless Empress Elizabeth, who was actively seeking an appropriate bride for her designated heir, Peter. The year was and Sophie was fourteen years old. On 21 August , when Sophie was sixteen and Peter seventeen, the two were married.

Coronation of Catherine II

by Stefano Torelli

Like Sophie, Peter was German-born, but this was almost all that the new couple had in common. Peter, who was at the ver

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Catherine the Great ( – )

Catherine the Great  ©Catherine II was Empress of Russia for more than 30 years and one of the country’s most influential rulers.

Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst was born on 2 May in Stettin, then part of Prussia (now Szczecin in Poland), the daughter of a minor German prince. In , after being received into the Russian Orthodox Church, and changing her name to Catherine, she married Grand Duke Peter, grandson of Peter the Great and heir to the Russian throne.

The marriage was unhappy, but the couple did produce one son, Paul. In Catherine's husband became Tsar Peter III but he was soon overthrown with Catherine being declared empress. Peter was then killed shortly afterwards and it is not known whether Catherine had a part in his death. She subsequently had a series of lovers whom she promoted to high office, the most famous and successful of whom was Grigori Potemkin.

Catherine's major influences on her adopted country were in expa