Catherine II, Empress Of Russia (Catherine The Great)

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Nikita PANIN in foreign affairs, Aleksandr SUVOROV in the military,
and Grigory POTEMKIN in administration. Imbued with the ideas of the
Enlightenment, Catherine aimed at completing the job started by Peter I--
westernizing Russia--but she had different methods. Unlike Peter, she did
not forcibly conscript society into the service of the state, but rather
encouraged individual initiative in pursuit of self-interest. She succeeded
to a degree with the upper classes, but did nothing for the overwhelming
majority of the population--the enserfed peasantry.

To learn the needs of the country and to gain popularity, Catherine in
1767 convoked an assembly of deputies to draft a new code of laws (for
which she wrote the guidelines--the Nakaz, or Instruction). Not much came
of the venture. In 1773, Yemelian PUGACHEV led Cossacks, peasants, and
others in a revolt that engulfed large parts of eastern Russia. The revolt,
ruthlessly crushed by the army in 1775, alerted Catherine to the ...

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