Introduction:
Pre-Rule:
Catherine was born Sophia Augusta Fredericka in Stettin, Prussia at 2:30AM on April 21, 1729 to Prince Christian Augustus and Johanna. While growing up, she was educated in French, etiquette, and the Lutheran religion. She loved learning and reading, which exposed her to the Enlightenment. Its principles would become a core part of her beliefs until her death. She would later attempt to incorporate these principles into the Russian governmental system with both successes and failures.
At 14 years of age, she traveled to Russia for an arranged marriage to the heir to the Russian throne, Peter. In order to marry him, she had to convert to Russian Orthodoxy and upon being baptized she changed her name to Yekaterina Alexeevna (Catherine). There, she also received education, particularly in Russian language, history, religion and customs. Her dedication to learning Russian customs gained the support of the public. The popularity she accumulated in her early years in Russia later helped her when she ascended the throne.
Since Catherine had no birth right to the throne, the closest she could traditionally get was as regent for
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She reformed Russia culturally through her Enlightenment ideals as well as physically through the building of infrastructure. She built hospitals, schools, a museum, and a library. Along with rebuilding the infrastructure, she rebuilt the Russian navy to a level so good that she defeated the Ottomans with it. Her Enlightenment ideals reformed Russia through the laws that she created, two of which were: no torture and the need for education. Her awareness of diseases and the need for healthcare helped her when she faced two epidemics during her rule. All of her decisions vary between poor and ‘Great’ and this essay will analyze whether her rule made a large and positive enough effect on Russia to consider her worthy of her title “the