oreign aggrandizement, and especially her interference
in the affairs of Poland, caused the Ottoman Porte to declare war
against her, which war proved disastrous to Turkey, and contributed to
aggrandize the empire of Russia. The Turks lost several battles on the
Pruth, Dniester, and Danube; the provinces of Wallachia, and Moldavia,
and Bessarabia submitted to the Russian arms; while a great naval
victory, in the Mediterranean, was gained by Alexis Orloff, whose
share in the late revolution had raised him from the rank of a simple
soldier to that of a general of the empire, and a favorite of the
empress. The naval defeat of the Turks at Tschesme, by Orloff and
Elphinstone, was one of the most signal of that age, and greatly
weakened the power of Turkey. The war was not terminated until 1774,
when the Turks were compelled to make peace, by the conditions of
which, Russia obtained a large accession of territory, a great sum of
money, the free navigation of the Black Sea, and a passage through the
Dardanelles.

In 1772 occurred the partition of Poland between Austria, Prussia, and
Russia. Catharine and Frederic II. were the chief authors of this
great political crime, which will be treated in the notice on Poland.

The reign of Catharine was not signalized by any other great political
events which affected materially the interests of Europe, except the
continuation of the war with the Turks, which broke out again in 1778,
and which was concluded in 1792, by the treaty of Jassy. In this war,
Prince Potemkin, the favorite and prime minister of Catharine, greatly
distinguished himself; also General Suwarrow, afterwards noted for his
Polish campaigns. In this war Russia lost two hundred thousand men,
and the Turks three hundred and thirty thousand, besides expending two
hundred and fifty millions of piasters. The most important political
consequence was the aggrandizement of Russia, whose dominion was
established on the Black Sea.

[Sidenote: Death of Catharine.]

Catharine, having acquired, either by arms or intrigues, almost half
of Poland, the Crimea, and a part of the frontiers of Turkey, then
turned her arms against Persia. But she died before she could realize
her dreams of conquest. At her death, she was the most powerful
sovereign that ever reigned in Russia. She was succeeded by her son,
Paul I., (1796,) and her remains were deposited by the side of her
murdered husband, while his chief murderers, Alexis Orloff and