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Catherine the Great
Case File · Russia

Catherine the Great

1729–1796 · World Leaders · Quotes
The Record

A German princess who seized the Russian throne and reigned for thirty-four years, Catherine the Great expanded the empire, corresponded with Voltaire, and brought the European Enlightenment to the Russian court.

The Contradiction

She traded letters with Voltaire and Diderot and styled herself the philosopher on the throne — while binding more peasants into serfdom than any ruler before her, handing free men to her nobles as property. She wrote of liberty in French and signed away millions to bondage in Russian. Enlightenment at the top, chains at the bottom.

The Doctrine

“Speak the language of reason to the world, and rule by the older language of power at home.”

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✉️ Ships with a letter from Catherine the Great — what he stood for, in his own words.

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