Editing History of Russia (section)

===Catherine the Great===
[[File:Dmitry Levitsky - Екатерина II в виде Законодательницы в храме богини Правосудия - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|Catherine the Great]]
Nearly 40 years passed before a comparably ambitious ruler appeared. [[Catherine II of Russia|Catherine II]], "the Great" (r. 1762–1796), was a German princess who married the German heir to the Russian crown. Catherine overthrew him in a coup in 1762, becoming queen regnant.<ref>{{cite book|first = John T. |last = Alexander|title = Catherine the Great: Life and Legend|date = 1988|url = https://archive.org/details/catherinegreatli0000alex|url-access = registration |publisher = Oxford University Press|isbn = 9780199878857}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first = Isabel |last = de Madariaga|title = Catherine the Great: A Short History|date = 2002|publisher = Yale University Press|isbn = 9780300097221}}</ref> Catherine enthusiastically supported the ideals of [[The Enlightenment]], thus earning the status of an [[enlightened despot]]. She patronized the arts, science and learning.<ref>Nancy Whitelaw, ''Catherine the Great and the Enlightenment in Russia'' (Morgan Reynolds, 2005) pp 33–34.[https://archive.org/details/catherinegreaten00nanc online]</ref> She contributed to the resurgence of the Russian nobility that began after the death of Peter the Great. Catherine promulgated the [[Charter to the Gentry]] reaffirming rights and freedoms of the Russian nobility and abolishing mandatory state service. She seized control of all the church lands, drastically reduced the size of the monasteries, and put the surviving clergy on a tight budget.<ref>{{cite book|first =Isabel |last = de Madariaga|title = Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great|date = 2002|publisher = Phoenix|isbn = 9781842125113}}</ref>

Catherine spent heavily to promote an expansive foreign policy. She extended Russian political control over the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with actions, including the support of the [[Targowica Confederation]]. The cost of her campaigns, plus the oppressive social system that required serfs to spend almost all their time laboring on the land of their lords, provoked a major [[Pugachev's Rebellion|peasant uprising in 1773]]. Inspired by a Cossack named [[Yemelyan Pugachev]], with the emphatic cry of "Hang all the landlords!", the rebels threatened to take Moscow until Catherine crushed the rebellion. Like the other enlightened despots of Europe, Catherine made certain of her own power and formed an alliance with the nobility.<ref>{{cite book|author=Campbell|title=Western Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2JsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA86|page=86|isbn=9781317452300|date=28 January 2015|publisher=Routledge|access-date=25 October 2015|archive-date=22 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122071933/https://books.google.com/books?id=A2JsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA86|url-status=live}}</ref>

Catherine successfully waged two wars ([[Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)|1768–1774]], [[Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)|1787–1792]]) against the decaying Ottoman Empire<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parallelsixty.com/history-russia.shtml|title=History|work=Parallel 60|access-date=23 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121024544/http://www.parallelsixty.com/history-russia.shtml|archive-date=21 January 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> and advanced Russia's southern boundary to the Black Sea. In 1775 she [[Liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich|liquidated the Zaporozhian Sich]], and on the former lands of the Ukrainian Cossacks in the places of theirs settlements was created [[Novorossiya Governorate]], in which new cities were formed: [[Dnipro|Yekaterinoslav]] (1776), [[Kropyvnytskyi|Yelisavetgrad]], [[Kherson]] (1778), [[Odessa]] (1794).<ref>К. М. Корольков «Столетний юбилей города Екатеринослава (1787 — 9-го мая — 1887)» (Екатеринослав, 1887).</ref><ref>Місто і люди. Єлисаветград — Кіровоград, 1754—2004. Ілюстрована енциклопедія., Кіровоград:, «Імекс-ЛТД», 2004, 303 стор.</ref><ref>Бобух А.І. Херсон: Путівник. — Херсон : Степ, 1994. — 60 с.</ref><ref>Балабанова Д. А., Веприцкая В. Н. Становление адвокатуры в Южноукраинских губерниях Российской империи в первой половине XIX века (на примере Одессы) // Раціональний та почуттєво-емоційний аспекти правосвідомості та поведінки суб’єктів права. — 2012. </ref> Russia [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire|annexed Crimea]] in 1783 and created the Black Sea fleet. Then, by allying with the rulers of [[Austrian Empire|Austria]] and [[Prussia]], she incorporated the territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where after a century of Russian rule non-Catholic, mainly Orthodox population prevailed<ref>According to Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary: 1891 Grodno province – Catholics 384,696, total population 1,509,728 [http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/031/31772.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930185013/http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/031/31772.htm|date=30 September 2007}}; Curland province – Catholics 68,722, total population 555,003 [http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/057/57501.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201549/http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/057/57501.htm|date=30 September 2007}}; Volyhnia Province – Catholics 193,142, total population 2,059,870 [http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/022/22861.htm] </ref> during the [[Partitions of Poland]], pushing the Russian frontier westward into Central Europe.<ref>Thomas McLean, ''The Other East and Nineteenth-Century British Literature: Imagining Poland and the Russian Empire'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) pp. 14-40.</ref>

In accordance to Russia's [[Treaty of Georgievsk|treaty]] with the Georgians to protect them against any new invasion of their Persian suzerains and further political aspirations, Catherine waged a new war [[Persian Expedition of 1796|against Persia]] in 1796 after they had again invaded Georgia and established rule over it about a [[Battle of Krtsanisi|year prior]], and had expelled the newly established Russian garrisons in the [[Caucasus]].

In 1798–1799, Russian troops participated in the [[War of the Second Coalition|anti-French coalition]], the troops under the command of Alexander Suvorov [[Italian and Swiss expedition|defeated the French in Northern Italy]].