Why catherine the great was great

She reformed bureaucracy, changed laws, favored religious tolerance, and education for women. But her accomplishments were often eclipsed by more negative elements of her reign.

She oversaw the expansion of the Russian empire. Believe me, you will acquire immortal fame such as no other sovereign of Russia ever had. Over , square miles were added to Russia while she was empress.

She was a medical pioneer. Smallpox killed , people a year and left others like Peter III deformed. In , Catherine was inoculated against smallpox in front of the court to demonstrate the procedure was safe and could save lives.

She was Queen of the Arts. Catherine wanted Russia to gain a sheen of prestige, and did so by amassing an incredible art collection. She founded the Hermitage in St. Petersburg still a world-class museum.

With its art and new neoclassical palaces, Russia became a place to see. She also championed women artists.

Many women writers and poets flourished under her reign. She had high-profile pen pals…. She is considered the monarch responsible for changing the face of Russia through the construction of classical mansions, her endorsement of Enlightenment ideals, and the establishment of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens , the first state-financed higher education institution for women in Europe, among other achievements.

Levitt , professor emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Southern California, says via email. She both laid the basis for a public sphere in Russia and in reacting against the French Revolution at the end of her reign, also laid the basis for later attempts to shut down the public sphere. Hers was arguably the longest and most successful reign in Russian history.

It's no secret Catherine and Peter had a troubled marriage from the start. The fact that she didn't produce an heir after eight years of marriage led many to believe Peter either was unable to consummate the marriage or was infertile. Regardless of the reason, both Catherine and Peter engaged in extramarital affairs, and by , she was regularly hooking up with Sergei Saltykov, a Russian military officer who many people believe is the actual father of Catherine's first child, Paul, who was born in Catherine didn't do much to deny these rumors — she even said Empress Elizabeth permitted the affair.

Historians can't be sure who the baby daddy really was, but most agree that Peter didn't father a single one of Catherine's three additional children. She never married again, but she did build a reputation for taking lovers and then promoting them to key government positions. I believe that her heart was in the right place, but that she understood the nature and limitations of political power in Russia.

While Catherine had a major hand in modernizing Russia in the image of Western Europe, she didn't do much to change the system of serfdom. In the 18th century, Russian serfs weren't bound to land, but to their owners, and while they weren't exactly slaves, the system of forced labor is, through a modern lens, a clearly problematic and punishing practice.

Catherine made some moves to change this system , signing legislation to prohibit the practice, and even penning a manifesto that prohibited former serfs who had been freed from becoming serfs again. But on the other hand, Catherine also limited the freedoms of many peasants and gave away many state-owned peasants to become private serfs. Overcoming a tough childhood in President Dwight D. In the following years, Cuba became a dangerous focus in the Cold War competition between the United States and Russia.

In January , Cuban revolutionary Fidel It was the spring of his first full year in New York City, The scientists used mitochondria DNA fingerprinting to identify the bones, which had been excavated Eisenhower appoints Florence Blanchfield to be a lieutenant colonel in the U. Army, making her the first woman in U. A member of the Army Nurse Corps since The winner Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox.

On the previous day, nearby Fire Base Alpha Some claimed that the all-powerful ruler had died while on the toilet. Others took their lurid storytelling even further, perpetuating a myth that has endured for centuries: that Catherine, whose lustful life was an open secret, had died while engaging in a sex act with an animal, usually believed to be a horse.

Of course, there is no truth to this rumor. Though her enemies would have hoped for a scandalous end, the simple truth is that Catherine suffered a stroke and died quietly in her bed the following day. Catherine had a famously stormy relationship with her eldest son, Paul. Relations between the two grew so bad that Paul was at times convinced his mother was actively plotting his death.

While Catherine had no such plans, she did fear that Paul would be an incompetent ruler and looked for alternate options for the succession. In fact, it is believed that Catherine intended to make this official in late but died before she was able to do so. Paul became czar but soon proved to be just as erratic and unpopular as Catherine had feared. Five years into his reign, he was assassinated, and his year-old son assumed power as Alexander I. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!