Catherine II

Catherine II is one of the most vivid figures of the Age of Enlightenment. The little princess Fike became the most Russian of the German rulers of Russia and the last autocratic empress in its history. Catherine's reign marked the end of the brilliant "eighteenth century" – a century of bloody uprisings, military and diplomatic victories, a century of the rampant serfdom and Saltychikha. A true daughter of her time, Catherine is woven from contradictions: a republican at heart and a supporter of serfdom in practice, a champion of morality, nicknamed the northern Cybele. She was friends with Voltaire and Diderot but sent the enlightener Novikov to prison. She was called "mother" by her subjects, while her own son hated her.
The fate of Catherine will be told in a new book from the series "The Most Complete Biography":
Why did the empress not like dresses with petticoats?
What is the true reason for the death of her husband, Emperor Peter III?
From what illness did she save her grandson Alexander?
Did Catherine actually meet Emelyan Pugachev?