ABSTRACT
The government's efforts in the material realm seemed to lead logically to work on people's minds. Foreign policy is the most brilliant aspect of Catherine's governmental activity, and it made the strongest impression on her contemporaries and immediate posterity. Catherine had accomplished a dual usurpation: she had taken power from her husband without handing it over to her son, the natural heir of his father. When one wants to say the best that can be said about this reign, one speaks of the victorious wars with Turkey, the Polish partitions, Catherine's authoritative voice in Europe's international relations. The Russian ambassador's protection of Moldavia and Wallachia broadened into a Russian protectorate over all the Turkish Christians. The French minister took malicious pleasure in warning the Russian plenipotentiary that Russia would in time regret the strengthening of Prussia, which it had done so much to foster.
