How Did Catherine The Great Modernize Russia

Perhaps one of the most influential leaders in Russian history, Catherine the great’s 34 year long reign was characterized by her incredible foresight and transformational leadership which modernized Russia. Despite being of German descent, Catherine was able to assume supreme power as empress of Russia by winning the support of her subjects. During her reign, Russia was transformed from a remote, underpopulated land with poor education, and little patronage for the arts to a political superpower. Immediately upon arriving in Russia, Catherine began learning Russian so that she could better pursue her dream of expanding the Russian empire. In order to do this, she attempted several reforms to support education, and extended the political rights of poor people. Catherine made Russia a significant force in Europe as a well governed political country as well as expanded the Russian territory, through this she showed great leadership styles such she was a good team leader, participative leader, servant leader and transformational leader As a women in a male dominated society, Catherine the great was met with resistance at first. She wanted to

She virtually created the imperial art collection,taking it from a mere 12 works to nearly 4000. In addition to this, she bought the libraries of Diderot and Voltaire, and by the time of her death had increased the Imperial library from a few hundred to 38,000 books. She also commissioned the French artist Etienne Falconet to sculpt the famous statue of Peter the Great. She commissioned palaces, built a theatre, and invited the world's foremost artists and musicians to Russia. She was the patroness of many women artists, including the sculptor Marie Anne Collot, Marie Louise Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun, and the Scots painter Christina Robertson, all of whom lived in Russia for a