Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great (2 May 1729 - 17 November 1796) came to power in a coup d'etat against her husband, Peter III, on the night of 8 July 1762, delivering a speech to the Izmailovsky Regiment to secure its protection before having Peter sign an abdication document; he died eight days later under disputed circumstances. She reigned as Empress of Russia from 9 July 1762 until her death in 1796, a 34-year reign that expanded the Russian Empire by roughly 520,000 square kilometers through the acquisition of New Russia, Crimea, the North Caucasus, and parts of Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Courland, chiefly at the expense of the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Her reign coincided with the Russian Enlightenment, producing what is described as a golden age of new cities, universities and theatres, including her founding of the Smolny Institute, the first state-financed institution of higher education for women in Europe.