Catherine II

known as Catherine the Great. 1729--96, empress of Russia (1762--96), during whose reign Russia extended her boundaries at the expense of Turkey, Sweden, and Poland: she was a patron of literature and the arts

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

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References in periodicals archive

Throughout the eighteenth century, and particularly through the period of the two mutually contemporary sovereigns, George III of Great Britain and the empress Catherine II of Russia, the Russian empire had a growing fascination and attraction for the people of other European countries, especially the German lands, the Low Countries, and the British Isles.

By the Banks of the Neva. Chapters from the Lives and Careers of the British in Eighteenth-Century Russia

For nearly two hundred years the Empress Catherine II of Russia (1762-96), or Catherine the Great, as she is known, has had a very bad press as a German usurper from a minor ducal family, without any claim to the Russian throne.

Catherine the great: a personal view

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