The Free-Thinking Queen A beautiful and sexually charged woman, Princess Catherine used modern tactics to conquer both the hearts of her people and the land she broadminded. She boasted a brilliant thirty-four year reign over Russia, campaigning vast renovations to her country and employing thoughtful emotion in her tasks. Born Sophia Augusta Frederika of Anhalt-Zerbst on April 21, 1729 in Stettin, then Germany, Catherine II voyaged to become one of the most loved and enlightened rulers of the eighteenth century. The Great, as she became to be known as, fought feverishly to promote Western philosophies and ideals to irrational and disorganized Russia. First she machinated her husb