Grigory Potemkin

Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin was a Russian statesman and military commander who rose to exceptional influence during the reign of Catherine the Great. After becoming Catherine’s favourite and intimate partner, he held senior military and administrative offices and played a major role in the empire’s expansion towards the Black Sea, the annexation of Crimea and the development of new southern territories and naval bases.

Grigory Potemkin was a Russian statesman, military commander and favourite of Catherine the Great who became one of the principal architects of imperial expansion on the Black Sea. Grigory Potemkin was born in Chizhovo, Russian Empire and died in near Iași, Moldavia.

Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Catherine the Great and Potemkin reconstructs the political and personal partnership between Catherine the Great and Grigory Potemkin, one of the most consequential relationships of eighteenth-century Europe. Potemkin rose from guards officer to prince, field marshal and imperial statesman, becoming Catherine’s lover and then a long-term collaborator whose influence extended through military policy, court appointments and the administration of Russia’s southern expansion.