Catherine the Great

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Jennifer Siegel, The Rise of an Empress; The self-proclaimed disciple of French philosophes had spent her long, lonely years at the Russian court educating herself. Wall Street Journal, Nov 18, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 53083743832432.html
(book review on Robert K Massie, Catherine the Great; Portrait of a woman. Random House, 2011)

Note:
(a) The book review stated, "Born Princess Sophia of the minor German principality of Anhalt-Zerbst * * * [she was] christened Catherine when converted to Russian Orthodoxy before the wedding" to the future Peter III.

Catherine the Great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_the_Great
(1729-1796; reign 1762-1796; Born as Sophia Augusta Fredericka; Successor  Paul I [her son]; Catherine's rule re-vitalized Russia, which grew larger and stronger than ever and became recognized as one of the great powers of Europe; section 3.1.1 Russo-Turkish Wars; section 3.1.3 The partitions of Poland: with Prussia and Austrai in 1795)
  
(b) Anhalt-Zerbst
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhalt-Zerbst
(While Zerbst is a small town today, it once was together with Dessau one of the two central cities of Anhalt. When the state of Anhalt was dissolved in 1603, one of the successor states was the principality of Anhalt-Zerbst. It was a small state with almost no political power. In 1793 the line of the princes became extinct, and Anhalt-Zerbst was annexed by the neighbouring principality of Anhalt-Dessau)

(c) For Czarina Elizabeth, see Elizabeth of Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Russia
(1709-1762; reign 1741-1762; Predecessor  Ivan VI; Successor  Peter III; Spouse  Alexey Razumovsky; Full name  Elizabeth Petrovna Romanova; House  House of Romanov)

Quote:

"Out of the twelve children of Peter [the Great] and Catherine (five sons and seven daughters), only two daughters, Anna and Elizabeth survived."

"She led the country to victory in the War of Austrian Succession (1740–8) and brought it into the Seven Years' War (1756–63). On the eve of her death, Russia spanned almost 4,000,000,000 acres (16,000,000 km2).

Before the 1741 coup, "Elizabeth had vowed that if she became Empress that she would not sign a single death sentence, an unusual promise that she - notably - kept to throughout her life.

(i) Anna of Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_of_Russia
(1693-1740; reign as as Empress of Russia 1730-1740; daughter of Ivan V of Russia, as well as the niece of Peter the Great  

Quote: "On the death of Peter II, Emperor of Russia, the Russian Supreme Privy Council under Prince Dmitri Galitzine made Anna Empress in 1730. They had hoped that she would feel indebted to the nobles for her unexpected fortune and remain a figurehead at best, and malleable at worst. In the hope of establishing a constitutional monarchy in Russia, they convinced her to sign articles that limited her power. However, these proved a minor inconvenience to her, and soon she established herself as an autocratic ruler, using her popularity with the imperial guards and lesser nobility.

This very Anna was not the older sister of the future Empress Elizabth--that sister Anna (1708-1728) was mother of the future Peter III (died within several days after giving birth to Peter).

(ii) Ivan V of Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_V_of Russia
("Ivan V [1666-1696; reign 1682-1696] was a joint Tsar of Russia (with his younger half-brother Peter I [also known as Peter the Great (1672-1725; reign 1682-1725)] who co-reigned between 1682 and 1696." Their father was Alexis I of Russia (1629-1676; reign 1645-1676]); upon his (Alexis') death, the oldest son succeeded as Feodor III [1661-1682; reign 1676-1682; died married but childless])

Fyodor is Russian form of Theodore.
(iii) Peter II of Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_II_of_Russia
(1715-1730; reign 1727-1730; the only son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich [who died young and never became a tzar], son of Peter I of Russia; died of smallpox)

Thus Peter II was the grandson of Peter the Great.  

(iv) Ivan VI of Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_VI_of_Russia
(1740-1754; reign 1740-1741; overthrown by the Empress Elizabeth of Russia; Ivan spent the rest of his life as a prisoner and was killed by his guards during an attempt made to free him)

Quote: His mother was "Duchess Anna Leopoldovna of Mecklenburg, niece of Empress Anna of Russia and grand-daughter of Tsar Ivan V. His grand-aunt Empress Anna of Russia adopted the eight-week-old boy and declared him her successor on Oct 5 1740 [Empress Anna died Oct 28, 1740].

(d) The book review said of Peter III, "Peter's own upbringing and identity connected him more closely with his native German duchy of Holstein than with his Russiam and Romarov lineage."

Peter III of Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III_of_Russia
(1728-1762; reign Jan 5-July 8, 1762)

Quote:

"Peter was born in Kiel, in the duchy of Holstein-Gottorp. His parents were Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (nephew of Charles XII of Sweden), and Anna Petrovna, a daughter of Emperor Peter I and Empress Catherine I of Russia. His mother died less than two weeks after his birth. In 1739, Peter's father died, and he became Duke of Holstein-Gottorp as Charles Peter Ulrich.

"When his aunt, Anna's younger sister Elizabeth, became Empress of Russia she brought Peter from Germany to Russia and proclaimed him her heir-presumptive in the autumn of 1742.

"After Peter gained the throne in 1762, he withdrew from the Seven Years' War and made peace with Prussia (the "Miracle of the House of Brandenburg"). He gave up Russian conquests in Prussia and offered 12,000 troops to make an alliance with Frederick II, which relieved Russia financially. Russia was switched from an enemy of Prussia to an ally — Russian troops were withdrawn from Berlin and sent against the Austrians.[3] This dramatically shifted the balance of power in Europe — suddenly handing Frederick the initiative, who recaptured southern Silesia and forced Austria to the negotiating table.

(e) philosophe (n: French, literally, philosopher; First Known Use: 1779):
"one of the deistic or materialistic writers and thinkers of the 18th century French Enlightenment"
www.m-w.com