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.