Catherine II of Russia
Biography
German princess who deposed her husband Peter III and ruled 34 years. She corresponded with Voltaire and Diderot, the Nakaz law code, yet Pugachev rebellion crushed, serfdom deepened. Poland partitioned three times, Crimea annexed 1783, Novorossiya settled. Potemkin, her partner, built the Black Sea fleet. Her reign, Russia golden cultural age, literature, hermitage, also the peak of noble privilege.
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