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
Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1779–1860) and Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel (1796–1880). They had four children: She died in St. Petersburg, aged 66. Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia (Ekaterina Mikhailovna Romanova), () (28 August 1827 – 12 May 1894), was the third of five daughters of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia, youngest son of Tsar Paul I, and Princess Charlotte of Württemberg. She was born in St. Petersburg. She had two elder sisters, Grand Duchess Maria and Grand Duchess Yelizaveta, called "Lili". Two more sisters were born after her, Alexandra and Anna, who