From the moment she seized the Russian throne in a coup that deposed her own husband, Catherine II—known to history as Catherine the Great—set out to transform a sprawling, backward empire into a European superpower. Over 34 years, she expanded Russia's borders deep into the Black Sea region, partitioned Poland out of existence, and corresponded with Voltaire and Diderot while tightening the bonds of serfdom on millions of peasants. Lucas and Luna guide listeners through Catherine's glittering court, her secret lovers (including Grigory Potemkin, who helped annex Crimea), and the brutal Pugachev Rebellion that exposed the limits of her enlightened ideals. They explore the irony of a German-born princess who became the embodiment of Russian imperialism, the legacy of her legal reforms, and the cultural flowering she sponsored—from the Hermitage Museum to the founding of the Russian Academy. Along the way, they question the 'Great' in her title: was she a visionary modernizer or a ruthless autocrat whose ambitions planted seeds of future turmoil? This show delves into the complexity of an empress who remade Russia, for better and worse, and whose shadow still stretches across Eastern Europe today.

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