What were the major successes and the limitations of Catherine the Great?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. Catherine the Great was in somewhat of a dubious position because she was not Russian but was a German princess who had married the heir to the Russian throne, Peter III. However, he was so despised by the Russian people that about six months after his coronation, a coup was staged to remove him from power and give it to Catherine, who had learned Russian (unlike her husband), converted to Orthodoxy, and studied the history of Russia. However, she felt there were many reforms necessary to modernize Russia and make it a competitive player in the European world. She began by reaffirming the previous rule relieving the nobility from the obligation of service to the state, but offering promotions and benefits to those who did so voluntarily. She seized lands from the Orthodox Church and doled those out to her favorites to gain political support and increase the dependence of the church on the state, in a policy she inherited from Peter the Great. She expanded the Russian Empire and, along with Austria and Prussia, engaged in the first partitioning of Poland that divided Poland among these three states. Where she is criticized for failure is her continuation of serfdom, an institution that she personally decried in the intellectual circles in the West and yet continued in Russia. Pugachev's rebellion in 1773 was a popular rebellion that attracted many peasants who wanted the end of serfdom, but which Catherine put down quickly. However, it signified an ongoing social crisis in Russia that was not easily solved.