In 1744 a shy young princess from a minor German state went to Russia with the hope that she would be accepted as the wife of the Grand Duke, heir to the Russian throne. The princess was fourteen, ignorant of Russian customs and language, all but helpless against the intrigue and sophistication of the glittering court life. Yet this naive German princess transformed herself into one of the most brilliant and powerful women the world has known—Catherine the Great.

Catherine's early years in Russia were an ordeal. Her husband was a neurotic who despised her, and as a foreigner she endured cruelty and ridicule. But she combined a native intelligence with a vigorous personality, and she developed a love for Russia which made her fear for its future when her incompetent husband Peter became emperor. At great risk to herself, Catherine conspired with prominent men to depose Peter when he became a threat to Russia. She displayed extraordinary courage and resourcefulness, seizing the throne in a manner that awed friends and enemies alike.

For nearly thirty-five years she ruled with absolute power over Russia. She was a compassionate woman, a student of Voltaire's liberal principles, and yet she ruthlessly put down strikes and rebellions among the serfs. She was sensitive, cultured, a patron of the arts on a grand scale, but this gentle side of her personality was less evident to those who knew her only as a schemer who sought to conquer weaker nations for the glory of Russia. Endowed with a tremendous vitality, a special genius for statecraft, her greatest vanity was power and her greatest passion her country. Catherine was truly a monarch without peer in any age. Here is a rich portrait of a woman whose complex personality fascinated all who knew her.

From the dust jacket