WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -An admirer of Peter the Great, Catherine continued to modernize Russia along Western European lines.

Detailed explanation-2: -Peter the Great and Catherine the Great both modernized and westernized Russia, while consolidating its role as a powerful player in Europe through military conquest. Both supported the ideals of the Enlightenment, and Catherine was heralded as an example of enlightened despot.

Detailed explanation-3: -During her reign, Catherine extended the borders of the Russian Empire southward and westward to absorb New Russia, Crimea, Northern Caucasus, Right-bank Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Courland at the expense, mainly, of two powers – the Ottoman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Detailed explanation-4: -He married the future Catherine the Great in 1745. Empress Elizabeth arranged the pairing, and was anxious for Peter to have an heir. She chose Catherine (then a minor German Princess named Sophie), and the couple wed when Peter was 17 and Catherine was 16. It was a miserable marriage from the start.

Detailed explanation-5: -Known as Catherine the Great, she was the longest-reining empress of Russia. Catherine’s greatest accomplishments include establishing educational reform, championing the arts, and extending Russia’s borders in the largest territorial gain since Ivan the Terrible.