Catherine is Russia’s first female monarch. Like Peter I, the German-born Catherine pursues the expansion of the Russian empire. She ushers in a Golden Age, patronizing the arts. She introduces bureaucracy and consolidates power in the monarchy. Powerful women hold positions in European states before her, though they are often queen regents (acting in place of their sons or husbands), not heads of government. Catherine is the subject of countless dramatizations, most recently a 2020–2023 Hulu comedy, The Great.

Poet, novelist and dramatist, Pushkin is called the father of modern Russian literature. Yet he is raised to speak French, as if acknowledging the cultural hegemony of France in the 18th and early 19th centuries. At this time, French is the language of sophistication, intellectualism and elite status. Pushkin’s work, however, is rooted in Russian culture, history and language. His notable works include Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820), Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse (1833) and Boris Godunov (1831).

The ancient Greek poet Archilochus wrote: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” In 1953, philosopher Isiah Berlin identifies Leo Tolstoy as someone who wanted to be a hedgehog but was really a fox: His epic Napoleonic novel, War and Peace (1863–69), presents history as chaotic, unpredictable and influenced by countless factors. It’s shaped by random, untraceable actions rather than the decisions of “great men” or inevitable cycles. Tolstoy is, of course, one of the greatest novelists.

Tchaikovsky’s marriage of convenience is dramatized in director Ken Russell’s 1970 film, The Music Lovers, in which the composer is played by the late Richard Chamberlain, like Tchaikovsky, a gay man. The composer’s marriage to a female student is to deflect growing suspicions of his homosexuality — illegal in Russia. Tchaikovsky is arguably as influential as composers Johannes Brahms, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Schubert and Richard Wagner. His iconic trilogy of ballets includes Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and the 1812 Overture.

Rasputin is a Siberian peasant monk with supposed mystical power. He becomes influential at the court of Nicholas II and Alexandra. Some describe him as the “Mad Monk,” though the band Boney M.’s hit 1978 song, “Rasputin,” calls him “Russia’s greatest love machine.” His voracious sexual appetite scandalizes St. Petersburg. Rumors say he persuades women that sexual congress with him has a purifying effect on them. After evading several murder attempts, the tsar’s relatives eventually kill him off.

Stalin rules the Soviet Union with an iron fist for a quarter-century. His pursuit of communism involves the enforced centralization of agriculture, executed through five-year plans and ruthless large-scale purges of the intelligentsia. Stalin transforms Russia into a major world power at the cost of millions of Soviet lives. Armando Iannucci’s 2017 comedy, The Death of Stalin, traces the power vacuum that followed his death. Historians reflect that Stalin probably exercised the greatest political power in history.

Gagarin is the answer to the trivia night quiz question, “Who was the first man in space?” He earns that distinction in 1961 when he orbits the Earth in the Vostok 1 spacecraft. This feat wins him global recognition and he tours the world, despite the raging Cold War (1945–1990). He never repeats his space flight, though he trains other cosmonauts. He dies tragically young at age 34 when his two-seat jet aircraft crashes. His ashes are placed in a niche in the Kremlin Wall.

Spassky is a known obsessive at chess, playing the game 12 hours a day from the age of 9. By 15, he is the youngest Soviet master in history. He hits his peak from 1965 to 1970, when he wins the world championship. However, the world remembers him for losing the most famous chess match in history when American grandmaster Bobby Fischer defeats him at Reykjavik in 1972. Director Edward Zwick dramatizes this encounter in his 2014 film, Pawn Sacrifice.

For some, Russia’s current president is a cross between Rasputin and Ivan the Terrible. For others, he’s the second coming of Peter the Great, bent on restoring Russia’s empire and affirming its status as a world power. A former KGB officer, Putin rises in 1999 and reshapes Russia’s political landscape. His public image is that of a horseback-riding judoka. To critics, he’s an autocrat. To supporters, he’s a defender of Russian sovereignty. His legacy is already one of the most consequential in modern history.