How Did Catherine The Great Improve The Status Of Russia

Catherine the Great was one of the greatest rulers Russia has ever had. While most of their rulers started wars and were focused on gaining land, she was more focused on improving the overall state of Russia. She was born in 1729 and died in 1796. At the age of 15, she was invited by Empress Elizabeth to meet and possibly marry the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Peter. However, the Duke was a very immature child. The ended up marrying, but it was always a dysfunctional relationship. When Empress Elizabeth died in 1762, they became emperor and empress. Peter had plans of getting rid of her, but she wasn’t going to let that happen. Her lover Gregory Orlov got the help of the troops of St. Petersburg and she took over the throne, becoming Catherine II, sovereign of Russia. She reigned from 1762 until her death in 1796.
However, her first few years in power was spent solidifying her spot in power. She knew that she could be overruled as easily as she was put in power, so she had to make sure that everyone was on her side. After that, she fought a small war with Turkey and Poland. However, they could not claim all of the land due to a threat from Austria. They eventually made peace with Turkey in 1774. After that, she began improving the conditions of Russia. She began with a plan to significantly improve the education in Russia. While the whole plan didn’t follow through, she did add lots of schools to Russia. Another major impact she had was on Russia’s economy at the time. Catherine was concerned about the current state of the countries economy, so she removed some rules that were blocking trade. She also expanded onto land that they were not using to create more settlements, which also helped bring more traders into the