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Born Sophia Augusta Fredericka of the modest German principality Anhalt-Zerbst in 1729, she owed her destiny largely to her ambitious mother, related by marriage to the ruling Russian and Swedish dynasties. Taken to Russia during her adolescence, she was speedily betrothed and married to Grand Duke Peter, heir to the throne. This unfortunate youth had been scarred physically and mentally by smallpox, showed no interest in her, and the marriage was a disaster. Considerable attention is devoted to Catherine’s difficult early years in Russia during the reign of Empress Elizabeth, with the young Grand Duchess turning to lovers and also biding her time, cultivating support by converting to the Russian Orthodox Church and learning to speak the language fluently. Paul succeeded to the throne in 1762, but with his undisguised preference for everything German, he made himself increasingly unpopular. A bloodless coup d’etat made his wife reigning Empress, while he was deposed, placed in captivity and murdered, probably by strangulation. She had not been aware of his gaolers’ intentions, but news of his violent death must have come as a relief to her.

An intelligent and learned woman, she corresponded with and patronised the French Enlightenment writers Diderot and Voltaire, and indeed presided over a similar Russian age of Enlightenment. She founded the Smolny Institute, the first state-financed higher education institution for women in Europe, and was responsible for the founding and development of the Hermitage Museum. Beyond the frontiers of her empire, her reign saw victories over the Ottoman Empire, and territorial expansion in the west, notably partition of Poland. While she regarded herself as a humane reformer, like many other heads of state she was horrified by the French revolution and the possibility that such poisonous ideas could spread to Russia. Out of this came a more repressive attitude, resulting in her instituting censorship and presiding over the imprisonment of a nobleman who spoke on behalf of the gradual abolition of serfdom.

It is a lengthy saga and an impressive read. Occasionally Massie is sidetracked into tangential issues, such as an aristocrat who married a serf during the reign, and musings on death by guillotine and how long it took the victim to die. These could usefully have been excised if not heavily edited. It is also arguable that in his opening pages he seems to rely a little too heavily on her own memoirs. Nevertheless, he has built up an impressive portrait of this capable, even remarkable if not always likeable personality, and a defining picture of the thirty years or so that she dominated her empire and brought it forward into the modern age.

[[Russia: A 1,000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East by Martin Sixsmith]]<br>

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