Catherine+II+Notes+B

Catherine the Great • Seized power by forcing her husband off the throne • Tried to bring Enlightenment ideas to Russia • Forced manual labor on poor people • Allowed noblemen to be exempt from taxes and punishment • Encouraged education and medicine • Had a lot of affairs with many men who supported and advised her • Dealt with foreign affairs harshly and gained many lands such as Ukraine • Made Russia look incredibly successful on the outside, but had a lot of internal problems, such as peasants’ suffering