History of Russia deficit required borrowing, primarily from Amsterdam; five percent of the budget was allocated to debt payments. Paper money was issued to pay for expensive wars, thus causing inflation. For its spending, Russia obtained a large and glorious army, a very large and complex bureaucracy, and a splendid court that rivaled Paris and London. However, the government was living far beyond its means, and 18th-century Russia remained "a poor, backward, overwhelmingly agricultural, and illiterate country." Peter I was succeeded by his second wife, Catherine I (1725–1727), who was merely a figurehead for a powerful group of high officials, then by his
Botik of Peter the Great monarchs, including the wedding of Catherine the Great and Peter III of Russia, as well as the centennial celebration of St. Petersburg. Catherine built a boathouse in the 1760s to store it. The boat became less important under Soviet rule, along with other objects from the Russian Empire; however, patriotism during the outbreak of the Second World War led to a renewal of the importance of Peter the Great and the "botik" along with him. The boat was moved by the Soviets to the Central Naval Museum where it remains today. In 1997, the boat left Russia for the first