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- Empress of Russia from 1725. A Lithuanian
- peasant girl, born Martha Skavronsky, she
- married a Swedish dragoon and eventually
- became the mistress of Peter the Great. In
- 1703 she was rechristened as Katarina
- Alexeievna, and in 1711 the tsar divorced his
- wife and married Catherine 1712. She
- accompanied him on his campaigns, and showed
- tact and shrewdness. In 1724 she was
- proclaimed empress, and after Peter's death
- 1725 she ruled capably with the help of her
- ministers. She allied Russia with Austria and
- Spain in an anti-English bloc.
-