Catherine II Small 272×320 Medium 545×640 Large 872×1024 Download Tiff Original 2043×2400 | (2.9 MB) Description Catherine II was the Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. Under her reign, the Russian Empire expanded and was modernized under Western European standards. Keywords catherine ii, catherine the great, empress of russia, Russia, russian empire Galleries Famous People: C, Russia Source: Webster, Hutton Modern European History (Boston, MA: D.C. Heath & CO., 1920)