TIMELINE Catherine the Great: Russia’s warrior empress
21 April 1729*
Sophia of Anhalt Zerbst, the future Catherine the Great, is born in Stettin (now Szczecin in Poland) to Princess Johanna Elizabeth of HolsteinGottorp and Prince Christian August of Anhalt Zerbst.
21 August 1745
Catherine (the name she took in 1744 when she converted to Russian Orthodoxy) marries the future Peter III in
St Petersburg during the reign of 'lizabeth.
25 December 1761
Peter III becomes tsar of Russia.
28 June 1762
Peter III is deposed by Catherine with the help of elite army officers, including her lover Grigory Orlov. She becomes empress.
30 July 1767
Catherine publishes her Instruction, which proposes liberal, humanitarian political theories.
25 July 1772
Austria, Prussia and Russia agree to partition Poland-Lithuania. Russia gains territory in Lithuania.
10 July 1774
The Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji (today Kaynardzha in Bulgaria) ends the rst 4usso Turkish war (1768–74). Russia acquires siIPi ECPt territory on the northern coast of the Black Sea, including the towns of Kerch and Kinburn and the coast between the rivers Bug and Dnieper.
8 April 1783
Catherine issues a manifesto proclaiming her intention to annex the %riOeC froO the Ottoman empire. The anneZation is con rmed in practice by an agreement with the Turks on 28 December 1783.
21 April 1785
Charters to the nobles and towns are promulgated, clarifying the rights and privileges of nobles and townspeople.
5 October 1791
Grigory Potemkin, Catherine’s favourite and former lover, dies on campaign in Moldavia just before the conclusion of the treaty with the Ottoman empire that ends the second Russo-Turkish War.
13 October 1795
6he PCN pCrtitioP of Poland-Lithuania is agreed between Austria, Prussia and Russia. Russia acquires
, sSuare Mm of Lithuania, western Ukraine and Belarus as a result of the three partitions.
6 November 1796
Catherine dies in St Petersburg.