1. Catherine conquered land around Russia, helping it expand, improve, and make contact with other civilizations.
1.1. By winning the Russo-turkish war against the Ottoman empire Russia expanded into the Black Sea, and a area with is Ukraine today. With that land the Russians built many cities such as Odessa and Nikolayev.
1.1.1. Russia made agreements with Prussia and Austria which gave Russia 3 sections of land. Those 3 sections gave Russia sections that reached the center of Europe.
1.1.1.1. A anti russian and anti prussin uprising happened in Poland which completely wiped Poland off the map. That expanded Russia greatly to the west
1.1.1.1.1. While gaining Poland seemed good due to having more land, Russia lost Poland as a Buffer zone in between Russia and Austria and Prussia. Along with that it caused many immigrants to come into Russia which rose the number of serfs greatly to lead to serf revolutions in the future.
2. Catherine the Great expanded the arts and culture of Russia
2.1. Catherine imported works such as literature, art and print from European nations in the west. Doing that caused large cities such as Saint Petersburg to bloom with new architecture and sculptures. With the large number of art, Catherine's collection later became known as the world famous heritage.
2.1.1. In 1957 Catherine the Great built the Academy of the arts in Saint Petersburg. In order to have a successful art career students were virtually required to attend there. The school normally focused on the neoclassical technique which shown in the design of the Academy by Scottish architect Charles Cameron.
2.1.1.1. Along with a Academy of Arts, Catherine built a Academy for the Sciences in Saint Petersburg. It taught many subjects such as geography, mathematics, cartography, and physics. In addition to both of those she also established the first public library
2.1.1.1.1. Even though Catherine seemed very accepting of cultures, since 1742 jews were not allowed to live in Russia, in 1792 a rule was set where they could live in the western section. However, doing that set the foundation for anti- jewish discrimination.
3. Catherine improved and expanded the government and economy of Russia.
3.1. She helped set foundations for expanding transport and travel by building roads and repairing bridges to making traveling easier.
3.1.1. Due to the huge gap in between lower and upper class she tried to make a middle class by providing education for the serfs. Having a middle class improved the economy by providing more jobs, which gave the government more money through taxes.
3.1.1.1. She divided Russia into provinces and gave nobles the jobs instead of nobles traditionally having to serve the central government. With much more land it opened more positions for nobles and leaders of the provinces, giving opening up much more job positions.
3.1.1.1.1. Even though the expansion of Russia was fast for the 18th century there was no competition between it and the industrial revolution happening in the west. Along with that, Russia relied on the serfs in military mass which caused difficulty during times of revolution and for later when serfs gained social rank and not required to be in the military.