On ascending the throne she summoned to her court the son of her sister Anna, the Duke of Holstein, who adopted the Greek religion and was declared the heir. In 1744 he married, it is needless to say with the consent of the Empress, the Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst, who, by her baptism in the Orthodox church, became Catherine. Thus the line of descent was secured to the direct heirs of Peter the Great.
This woman Elizabeth, of narrow superstitious ideas, depraved morals and profound dissimulation, ruled for twenty years. She was averse to business, fond of pleasure, and left State affairs mostly to her Ministers. At her death she willed the crown to Charles Peter Uric, the son of her deceased sister Anna, as her successor. He came to the throne under the title of Peter III, in 1762.
The new Czar had long been a resident at court, and, sixteen years previously, had married the Princess who, upon her adoption to the Greek church, as mentioned above, had assumed the name of Catherine. She was destined to become one of the most famous and infamous women in history, under the title of "Catherine the Great." She was born in 1729, and even in her youth she was not remarkable for chastity. Her husband, it is said, was even worse, and with the usual inconsistency they mutually reproached each other for their bad habits. Stung by the brutality of her husband, perhaps, she became still more indecorous in her conduct, and finally was incensed beyond measure by his passion for one of his mistresses, the Countess Woromzoff.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
