Ekaterina (the Great)

A
QUICK
Review

• Peter modernized Russia 
• Peter's only son "tried to kill him" and died in prison
• Russia's throne got passed around to a bunch of distant relations and Prussians
• Elizabeth was a kind of a B and imprisoned a toddler (Ivan VI) so she could be Tzarina and wear fancy dresses and have nice things.
• She made it a policy that if the kid or his mother ever tried to escape they should be killed.

Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst

• Another Prussian
• Married Peter III (who was Peter the Great's grandson)
• Hated Peter III (her second cousin) from the first day she met him -- he was 10 and still played with toy soldiers (immature!) and drank too much (wut?)
• Her aristocratic family was well-connected, but broke

Hello RussIA

• She got sick as soon as she arrived and credits her not dying with having 4 bloodlettings in a day

• Had a kid (probably not Peter's)

• Started planning a coup right away.

BYE
BYE
PETER

A Complex WOman

• Extended Russian Empire by 200,000 square miles
• Got people vaccinated before it was cool
• Annexed Crimea before it was cool
• Hermitage began as her own personal collection
• Avid reader (and writer)
• Big on education
• Not a fan of Jews or peasants
• Had many boyfriends who she flattered with gifts of serfs

In conclusion

She totally killed that poor kid (Ivan I) that her aunt- in-law imprisoned because she wanted to empress.