1. Catherine II (the Great). The successor of the sickly Peter III, Catherine II was his wife until his suspected murder and she took the throne in 1762. Although she made no great reforms in Russian society, she gathered many friends by her death in 1796.
             Catherine had to keep the nobility pleased at all times because if she didn't she could be dethroned easily. Because of this she carried out very few social reforms. Russia continued to follow an economic growth that Peter that Great had started. She tried to remove trade barriers, and assisted in expanding the middle class, which helped trade. Catherine II's great addition to Russia was the land she gained, she was able to add more territory to Russia than had been in nearly a century before her.
             While nothing very important was achieved during Catherine's rule, she acquired valuable friends that proved to be useful in the future of Russia.
             Alexander I. The successor of Paul I and the grandson of Catherine the Great, Alexander I spent the early part of his rule attempting to reform the administering body of the government. The reforms he initiated here brought about a much better trained group of officials.
             After the Napoleonic Wars, Alexander I was in charge of the reconstruction of much of the land along the route to the French invasion, this caused a expansion in the textile business, which boosted the economy.
             The major flaw of Alexander I was the way that he put down the attempt for freedom by society. After the wars, many of the people had become self-confident in their beliefs, and when peacetime came, they began to express them. Because of this, Alexander I placed even more restrictions on society's freedom, and ended up sparking the creation of numerous secret societies, which were against the government.
             Nicholas I. Nicholas I, the successor of Alexander I, came into power directly after an attempted insurrection of the governm...