ABSTRACT
In the sixteenth century, Russia broke down the barriers restraining the movement of its population to the east by gaining control of the entire course of the Volga and by pushing on into Siberia. In the eighteenth century, Russia secured its southern border by the acquisition of the northern shore of the Black Sea and, by eliminating the troublesome neighbors in the southwest and west, prepared the ground for the settlement and rapid economic development of the Ukraine. The quest for security in the south determined Catherine's policy toward Turkey and led her to fight two wars for the establishment of Russian control over the northern shores of the Black Sea. Of all of Catherine's moves in foreign affairs, the partition of Poland made the deepest impression abroad and, incidentally, saddled Russia with a heavy psychological and political burden for generations to come.
