Catherine II was the longest-ruling female leader in Russian history, transforming Russia into a major European power while corresponding with philosophes and promoting Enlightenment culture. A German princess who seized power from her husband Peter III, Catherine ruled Russia for 34 years.
Catherine's 'enlightened despotism' combined Western ideas with Russian autocracy. Her Nakaz (Instruction) for law reform quoted Montesquieu and Beccaria, though reforms remained limited. She founded the Hermitage, patronized arts and sciences, and corresponded with Voltaire and Diderot. Yet serfdom expanded under her rule.
Catherine's conquests were substantial—Crimea, Poland's partitions, expansion to the Black Sea. Her wars against the Ottoman Empire established Russia as a Mediterranean power. The Pugachev Rebellion (1773-1775) frightened her into tightening noble control. Catherine's legacy includes Russian cultural Westernization, territorial expansion, and the contradiction of enlightened ideas without liberal reform.