Catherine the Great Catherine the Great was born a German princess on May 2nd 1729 in Stettin Prussia, with the birth name of Sophia Augusta Frederica.Her father was the prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, Christian Augustus who became to be more known through his position as general in the Prussian army under Frederick William I. Her mother was Johanna Elizabeth, of Holstein-Gottorp, she wasn’t really involved in Catherine’s life because she was more concerned with her brother, Wilhelm Christian who died of small pox at age twelve. Catherine was educated by many tutors learning things such as music, history, and different types of languages. When Catherine was fifteen, she was invited to Russia by the Empress Elizabeth to meet the heir to her throne the Grand Duke Peter. Despite Catherine’s temporary illness while in Russia, The two soon became engaged. Because Catherine was previously a Lutheran, she was forced to convert to Catholicism in order to marry Peter and eventually be the sovereign of Russia. The day after Catherine converted, officially giving her the name of Catherine, she and Peter were wed. Their marriage was not a happy one, they each had several lovers. However they did produce one child named Paul. When Empress Elizabeth passed away Peter ascended the throne becoming Peter the III and giving Catherine the title of Empress Consort. Catherine was not involved with Peter’s rule, and at one point he though about replacing Catherine with one of his lovers. Catherine soon overthrew Peter forcing him to step down allowing her to take the throne as Empress of Russia. Shortly after Peter had stepped down he was killed, it is speculated the Catherine may have had something to do with his death. When Catherine first came to power she rewarded everyone who supported her as Empress, as well as returning all the land to the Russian Orthodox Church that Peter had previously stolen. Even though she is the one who returned the Churches land from state control, she later combined the church and the state allowing all the churches possessions to be taxed. In an effort to make new political and social reform s Catherine created a document called the Nakaz which contained ideas on how the country should be ran.