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Catherine's brother died at the age of twelve. More effort was put in taking care of him, and Catherine was forced to be more independent. This could have led to her decisions to rule absolutely later in life.
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Catherine married Peter III, who ruled Russia. This would prove to be a turning point in her life, because she would later have him arrested in order to become ruler of Russia.
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Catherine's son, Paul was born in 1754. However, she was too concerned with being an absolute ruler that she did not care for him very much. Even this important event in her life did not weigh her down as a ruler.
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Respect was shown to Catherine the Great's ruling when she had a palace built for her in 1756. This shows what effect she had on her people, and that she was rewarded for smart decisions.
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In 1761 Empress Elizabeth died, leaving Catherine's husband (Peter III) open for the throne. Catherine would be treated as a background figure to his ruling, so she later sought to reverse this role.
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Catherine the Great was the Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796.
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Since Peter was mentally unstable, Catherine was able to have him arrested, leaving her in charge. This was a big responsibility to her, and it proved how ruthless she was capable of being.
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Peter III was murdered just shortly after Catherine took the throne. It is possible that Catherine had something to do with his death.
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In 1763, Catherine supported financially one of her many lovers, Stanislaw Poniatowski, in his effort to rule Poland. This shows that she was bold and was not loyal to Peter III, and could easily move on to other lovers.
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Catherine the Great created a committee in 1767 to propose more delicate reforms to Russia, including religious tolerance and the abolishment of capital punishment.. However, she later proved to be ruthless, and none of these reforms actually went into effect.
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In 1785, Catherine decided that Russia should be broken up into many different social groups. This proved how much she valued her own wealth. She even went to the extent of changing Russia's social class structures completely.
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