Catherine the Great became Russian Royalty in 1762 and was in control until

1796. Many analysts and historians have gone back and forth whether or not she
was an absolute ruler or not. An absolute ruler is when they keep the power all to
themselves and dont really care if anyone else is benefiting while theyre in power.
They do this by controlling of religion, military, nobility and legal systems, .
However, I firmly believe that Catherine the Great was an enlightened ruler because
of the fact that she made economic and legal reforms which benefitted the people
of Russia, not just her.
Catherine II or also known as Catherine the Great, was most definitely an
enlightened ruler! Generally, Catherine the Great immediately made adjustments to
Russias environment, to make it wealthier. She also did things like: promote
modern breeding for sheep, advertised in foreign areas for people to stay in Russia
(since it was underpopulated at the time) and she founded/created the first School
of Mines in St. Petersburg which was where people were taught mining under
realistic conditions. Other things Catherine the Great did include how she created
the Russian document known as the Nakaz which stated how the Russian legal
system should be run. Doing things like creating School of Mines, advertising in
foreign areas and creating the Nakaz document, show that Catherine the Great
was giving a solid effort to make political and economic reforms in Russian that
would benefit the Russian citizens, not just herself.
Catherine the Great also pushed for capital punishment and torture to be
outlawed. Catherine expressed her mind and opinion on believing that all men are
created as equals and declared that all should be treated as such. Catherine the
great also addressed the issue of the Serfs, who were workers owned by landowners
for the remainder of their lives (like slaves). Later on during Catherines reign,
Russia ended up expanding its borders. She ended up making significant gains in
Poland.
There are many factors that can show Catherine the Great was an absolute
monarch. Including how Catherine continued to maintain power and control over the
Orthodox Church for herself. Originally, Catherine gave back the land and property
back to the church, but then she changed her mind. She believed that the wealth of
the church should belong to the state, not the church itself. After all of this,
Catherine decided to make the Church part of the state which caused all of the
churches belongings and over one million serfs become state property, subject to
no taxes. Even though Catherine controlled the church (something an absolute
monarch would do) I think still think that she should be considered and absolute
ruler because she still let the people (Russian citizens) have freedom of religion.
Also, Catherine the Great broke the rules of the document she created herself,
(Nakaz) by taking the power of the church for herself. Also, she has the intention

on all men are created as equals but her actions proved otherwise. For example,
she didnt make the Serfs free! She made them belong to the state.
Although Catherine the Great did things that would make people argue
for her to be considered an absolute monarch. However the good outweighs the bad
in this situation. Catherine has done more to benefit the Russian society, than to
harm the Russian society. Creating Schools of Mines, Outlawing capital
punishment are all actions that prove that Catherine the Great is an enlightened
ruler.