Catherine the Great, Russian Empress - 0 views
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in 1793, Catherine, Joseph of Austria, and Frederick's nephew -- Frederick William II -- took advantage of the turmoil in France to confiscate more Polish lands, in what was called the Second Partition of Poland. In 1794 a national uprising by the Poles was crushed by the Russians, and, in 1795, Russia, Austria and Brandenburg-Prussia participated in what was to be known as the Third Partition of Poland. Brandenburg-Prussia took Warsaw, the Habsburgs took Krakow and expanded northward along the banks of the Bug River, and Catherine took Courland, Brest-Litovsk and what was left of Poland. Catherine was opposed to educating common people, believing that if the uneducated were educated they would stop obeying.
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She wished to be a "defender of oppressed innocence," to spread education and to otherwise reform Russia.
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Wanting to keep all of her power, she joined others in believing that absolute monarchy was the best form of government -- best, she believed, when done properly.
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She sought to expand Russian rule to the Black Sea and to Constantinople, to return Christianity there, and to free Moldavia and Walachia from the Ottomans.
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In 1768, Catherine's army pushed southwest from the Dnieper River into the Balkans, scoring victories and calling on Christians to join them against the Ottomans. Another Russian force invaded and captured the Crimea. A Russian fleet sailed from the Baltic Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar and into Ottoman waters in the Aegean Sea where, on July 6, 1770, near the island of Chios, they sank the Turkish navy.
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Austria was concerned about Russian expansion into the Balkans. To allay the hostility of the Habsburgs, Frederick, who was allied with the Russians, organized an agreement with Russia and Joseph II of Austria. The three of them were to take lands from Poland.
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Russia expanded to the W. Dvina River (near the port city of Riga) and to the Dnieper River, halfway to the city of Minsk, adding 1.3 million subjects to Catherine's rule.