Catherine The Great: The Ruler Of Contrast

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Catherine the Great: The Ruler of Contrasts When reading a book about the greatest monarchs that reigned through the ages, a person that will appear in the writings will most likely be Catherine the Great. Catherine the Great lived a life of divergence. She faced great peaks in her reign and also very low troughs. Her achievements are highly valued, while the problems she failed to fix threaten to forever stain her rule. She ruled as an Enlightened Monarch, yet reigned with an iron fist. Catherine the Great, one of the most influential monarchs that ever lived, enlarged the Russian empire and transformed it into an imposing, powerful nation.
Catherine the Great was born as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst Dornburg to a relatively …show more content…

Catherine the Great could not risk losing the favor of the nobles by setting the serfs free, and thus, her internal reforms were pushed aside (Grey 200). Angered by serfdom, a man named Emelyan Pugachev threatened the nobility and rounded serfs to stand with him in 1773 (Maranzani). Catherine fought back, stamped out the uprising, and had him publically executed on January, 1775 (Maranzani). Although Catherine the Great was an Enlightened Ruler and favored honest justice, she still made it known that Russia was run by an absolute monarchy, and that she would not stand for such rebellions. Consequently, Catherine the Great faced many uprisings in her reign and stamped them out as quick as she …show more content…

Catherine built new educational buildings for her people. Catherine was interested in education. and built new schools (Grey 204). Catherine the Great wrote many books that spoke of improving Russia’s education system (Maranzani). Near the end of her reign, it was said that “by the end of the eighteenth century Russia had won respect and even fear as a great power …” (Wren 226). The schools and colleges that she built helped her subjects become knowledgeable. In conclusion, Catherine’s contributions to education in Russia helped both her subjects and the future of her nation as a