5 Minute Biographies

Catherine the Great, born Sophia Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst on May 2nd, 1729, in Stettin, Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland), was the longest-reigning female empress of Russia, ruling from 1762 to 1796. A German princess by birth, she rose to power through a dramatic coup d’état that dethroned her husband, Peter III. Her 34-year reign was …