1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910789442603321

Autore

Alexander John T

Titolo

Catherine the Great [[electronic resource] ] : life and legend / / John T. Alexander

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Oxford University Press, 1989

ISBN

0-19-987885-4

1-283-12136-0

9786613121363

0-19-987430-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (457 p.)

Collana

Oxford Lives

Disciplina

947/.063/0924

B

Soggetti

Russia Kings and rulers Biography

Russia History Catherine II, 1762-1796

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

pt. 1. Catherine's youth and her accession to the throne -- pt. 2. The crises of mid-life -- pt. 3. An aging empress.

Sommario/riassunto

One of the most colorful characters in modern history, Catherine II of Russia began her life as a minor German princess, until the childless Empress Elizabeth and Catherine's own scheming mother married her off to the Grand Duke Peter of Russia at age sixteen. By thirty-three, she had overthrown her husband in a bloodless coup and established herself as Empress of the multinational Russian Empire, the largest territorial political unit in modern history. Portrayed both as a political genius who restored to Russia the glory it had known in the days of Peter the Great and as a despotic foreign a