Page "History of Russia" Paragraph 70

Catherine successfully waged war against the decaying Ottoman Empire and advanced Russia's southern boundary to the Black Sea.

Then, by allying with the rulers of Austria and Prussia, she incorporated the territories of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth, where after a century of Russian rule non-Catholic mainly Orthodox population prevailed during the Partitions of Poland, pushing the Russian frontier westward into Central Europe.

By the time of her death in 1796, Catherine's expansionist policy had made Russia into a major European power.

This continued with Alexander I's wresting of Finnish War from the weakened kingdom of Sweden in 1809 and of Bessarabia from the Ottomans in 1812.