Ruthless Tsarinas and Palace Coups: Anna I and Elizabeth I

Catherine I, b. 1684, r. 1725-1727• Peasant background• Peter I’s second wife• Married 1707, bore nine

children, two survived to adulthood: Anna and Elizabeth.

• 1724 named co-ruler.• Ruled mostly in name only• Privy Council (A. Menshikov

and P. Tolstoi) - the real ruler.• First woman to rule Russia• Founded the Russian Academy• Built bridges and palaces in

“Piter”

Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov, 1673-1729

• Born a petty noble• Franz LeFort found him

selling pirozhki on the streets of Moscow.

• LeFort died in 1699• Menshikov replaced

him as Peter I’s first advisor.

• Pushkin’s “half-tsar”

Tsarina Evdokiya Feodorovna Lopukhina (Peter’s first wife)

• Married to Peter, 1689-1698.

• b. 1669; d. 1731• Gave birth to three

sons, but only Alexei survived to adulthood

• Before Alexei died from torture/interrogation, his wife, Charlotte, bore Peter II.

Peter II, b. 1715, r. 1727-1730• Grandson of Peter I• Ruled initially in name only• Aleksandr Menshikov and

Andrei Osterman ran the government.

• But Peter turned his back on Menshikov and “Piter.”

• Menshikov was ruined; exiled to Siberia.

• Prince Vasily Dolgorukov took him to Moscow.

• Died on his wedding day, 30 January 1730, of smallpox.

Empress Anna Ivanovnab. 1693, ruled 1730-1740

• Daughter of Ivan V (Peter’s co-tsar)

• Duchess of Courland, 1711-1730• Privy Council (Prince Dmitri

Galitzine) thought her compliant.

• Instead she ruled in fact• Humiliated Russian nobles• Appointed Baltic Germans.• Brought Russia into the War of

Polish Succession, 1733-35• Died at 47 of kidney disease

Ivan VI, r. 1740-41

• Born 1740• Anna adopted him and

appointed him as successor.

• Replaced in Elizabeth’s coup.

• Imprisoned for the rest of his life.

• Killed in 1764.

Elizabeth I, b. 1709, r. 1741-1761• Daughter of Peter I and

Catherine I• War of Austrian succession,

1740-48• Seven Years’ War, 1756-63• Established the University of

Moscow (1755) and the Academy of Fine Arts.

• Ended the death penalty.• Removed internal tariffs.• Spread Enlightenment ideas.• Laid groundwork for Catherine II.