Powerful rulers during the age of the monarchy: Queen Elizabeth I and Czarina Catherine the Great

<Tab/>Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries saw a development of many strong and powerful monarchs. Most of these monarchs were dynamic rulers whose success was due to their attention to all aspects of rule, in particular, economics, society, and foreign policy. Two monarchs who show their strengths and weaknesses in these categories are Elizabeth I of England and Catherine the Great of Russia. Though similar in some methods of …

…and social structures. However, their foreign policies were polar opposites. Both rulers held a command economy and a belief in the importance of social class. But Czarina Catherine the Great had an imperialistic foreign policy very much unlike Queen Elizabeth I, who sought to maintain the balance of power in Europe. Czarina Catherine the Great and Queen Elizabeth I's different and effective policies helped to show that women had the ability to run a country.