The life of Anna Ioannovna. Reign of Anna Ioannovna

Congratulations for Anna Ioannovna A unique 18th-century brochure in a large “tray” format has reached us. Its only surviving copy is in the Rare Editions Department of the Library of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (inv. No. 6625). The brochure has three

The father of the future Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna (01/28/1693-10/17/1740), Ivan V, did not have time to leave any lasting memory, being in very poor health. It is not surprising that his much more energetic brother, Peter, subsequently became the sole ruler of Russia, becoming famous throughout the centuries under the name of the Great. However, Ivan’s daughter, Anna, also, figuratively speaking, grabbed her piece of the pie called the “Russian throne.”

Biography of Anna Ioannovna

The father died when the girl was only three years old. Her mother tried to give her a good home upbringing and education. The family was located in Izmailovo, near Moscow. Her uncle, Tsar Peter, ordered the girl to be married to the Duke of Courland, Friedrich Wilhelm. However, the unexpected happened: just two months after the wedding celebrations, the newly-made husband caught a cold and died. So Anna Ioannovna was forced to stay in Courland. She desperately needed money and constantly asked for financial help, either from Peter himself or from Menshikov. They helped rarely and reluctantly. After the death of the young Emperor Peter II, the fate of Anna Ioannovna took a sharp turn. In fact, the Russian crown was presented to her on a silver platter by the Dolgoruky princes, who hoped that Anna would reign, but not rule. And they were cruelly mistaken! Anna terminated all preliminary agreements, publicly tore up the signed papers and began to rule alone. Anna Ioannovna's reign lasted 10 years. Her only heartfelt affection was Duke Biron, but the empress did not marry him. Having no children of her own, Anna declared Ivan, the young son of her niece, Anna Leopoldovna, as heir. He did not have the chance to rule - as a result of another palace coup, the daughter of Peter I took power. Ivan Antonovich ended his days in the fortress.

Domestic policy of Anna Ioannovna

The Supreme Privy Council was replaced by a new state body - the Cabinet of Ministers. The position of the Senate strengthened again. Anna restored the Secret Chancellery. The nobles were ordered to serve for 25 years. The Noble Cadet Corps is established. New guards regiments appeared - Izmailovsky and Cavalry. The construction of the Moscow Kremlin ensemble continued, and the now famous Tsar Bell was cast. The imperial court returned from Moscow to St. Petersburg. There was a dominance of foreigners (mostly Germans) at the Russian court. The “Russian Party” was subjected to repression, its leaders were executed. The first Russian historiographer was V.N. Tatishchev. He was repeatedly subjected to public humiliation at court, but still the poet V.K. Trediakovsky was respected and invited to ceremonial receptions.

Foreign policy of Anna Ioannovna

Due to various circumstances, Anna Ioannovna’s predecessors on the Russian throne - Catherine I and Peter II - had little time and were able to do for the good and prosperity of the country, which cannot be said about her. Despite all the tyranny in state policy, Anna was firm and adamant, showing a lively mind and sober thought. The traditions of Peter I were continued with dignity. The Russian protege Augustus III took the Polish throne. Numerous trade agreements were concluded with countries such as Sweden, England, Spain, and Persia. Some successes were achieved thanks to the war with Turkey. Thus, the fortresses of Azov and Ochakov became Russian. The capture of the Khotyn fortress was sung by M.V. Lomonosov.

• From the memoirs of contemporaries we know about the structure of the so-called. “ice house” for a clownish wedding. This cruel amusement is just one of the most famous during the reign of Anna Ioannovna.
• The Empress loved to amuse herself with shooting birds, like the last of the Romanovs, Emperor Nicholas II.
• The reprisal against the recent favorites Dolgoruky made a gloomy impression on Russian society and struck with some medieval types of executions, so the favorite and drinking companion of Peter II, Ivan Dolgoruky, was subjected to the wheel.

The Germans poured into Russia like rubbish from a leaky bag - they surrounded the courtyard, inhabited the throne, and climbed into all the lucrative positions in government.

IN. Klyuchevsky,
(Russian historian)

The eleven-year reign of Anna Ioannovna and Ivan Antonovich (1730-1741) is often and undeservedly demonized in historical literature, pointing out the domination of foreigners in the country as the main negative factor, although all this only became a logical consequence of the largely non-national empire of Peter the Great, in which Russian nobles and officials themselves had to abandon many Russian traditions, choosing total Europeanization.

Harsh time of Anna Ioannovna.

On the day of the death of Tsar Peter II, the Supreme Privy Council met, which was then dominated by the Dolgoruky and Golitsyn families (5 seats out of 8). On it, the Dolgorukys tried to use a forged will of Peter II (Prince Ivan Dolgoruky signed on behalf of the Tsar) in favor of his bride Catherine Dolgoruky, but this fake was immediately exposed. Without thinking twice, the Supreme Privy Council, at the suggestion of D. Golitsyn, chose the niece of Peter I, the daughter of his elder brother Ivan - the Dowager Duchess of Courland Anna Ioannovna (1730-1740).

But the “sovereigns” offered the throne to Anna under certain conditions - “conditions”, according to which the empress actually became a powerless puppet in the hands of members of the Supreme Privy Council. Without him, the empress did not have the right to appoint an heir, start a war and make peace, introduce new taxes, grant noble ranks above colonel rank, distribute and take away estates and estates, etc. Then the conditions were supplemented with two more points: the subordination of the guard to the Council and the obligation of the empress: “...If I do not fulfill this promise, I will be deprived of the Russian crown.”

Much has been written in the historical literature about the fact that the 1730 standards for limiting autocracy could have directed Russia towards a constitutional monarchy. However, it should be remembered that all initiatives for such restrictions came from the feudal elite, seeking to “add more freedom to themselves” (in the words of the main ideologist of the standards, Dmitry Golitsyn), and therefore, by definition, could not be progressive.

Anna Ioannovna easily signed these conditions, dreaming of obtaining the crown of a huge empire at any cost, but, having arrived in Russia, she received a “petition” from the nobles and guards, in which they expressed dissatisfaction with the conditions. Ordinary nobles immediately opposed the restriction of autocracy in favor of the aristocratic Privy Council, believing that under such an oligarchic system the interests of the nobility would not be respected. Therefore, they unanimously spoke out for unlimited autocracy.

Having received powerful support from the nobles and the guard, Anna broke the rules and abolished the Supreme Privy Council and began to rule as autocratically as everyone before her, but significantly more harshly. All the “supreme leaders” who tried to limit Anna’s power were executed and severely punished. Another feature of her reign was that both in the empress’s circle and in government circles, unlike previous Russian rulers, there were more foreigners, especially Baltic Germans, which too offended the national feelings of Russian aristocrats. It is no coincidence that in the 19th century, in Russian noble historiography, her reign began to be painted in black terms as the dominance of the Germans - “Bironovism.”

Famous Russian historians (of the pre-revolutionary era) painted a rather unsightly political portrait of the new empress. N.I. Kostomarov: “Lazy, sloppy, with a clumsy mind and at the same time arrogant, arrogant, spiteful, not forgiving others for the slightest step that for some reason was disgusting to her.” V.O. gave an equally poisonous characterization. Klyuchevsky: “Tall and corpulent, with a face more masculine than feminine, callous by nature and even more callous during early widowhood amid diplomatic machinations and court adventures in Courland, where she was pushed around like a Russian-Prussian-Polish toy, she, having already 37 years old, brought to Moscow an angry and poorly educated mind with a fierce thirst for belated pleasures and rough entertainment.”

The Spanish diplomat and her contemporary Duke de Liria is more delicate in his assessment of the Russian Empress: “In her manner she is pleasant, affectionate and extremely attentive. Generous to the point of extravagance, she loves pomp excessively, which is why her courtyard surpasses all other European ones in splendor. She strictly demands obedience to herself and wants to know everything that is happening in her state, does not forget the services rendered to her, but at the same time she remembers well the insults inflicted on her.”

Anna was a person of her time, still far from the fruits of the real Enlightenment. By character, she was a typical landowner lady, as depicted in Russian classical literature. For Anna, apparently, it was a pleasure to humiliate proud and well-born people. So, she brought in jesters from the most noble aristocratic families (Prince M.A. Golitsyn, Prince N.F. Volkonsky, Count A.P. Apraksin), who were relegated to this position for some misdeeds.

Among the most famous entertainments in which Empress Anna loved to participate were: bird shooting (directly from the windows of the palace), all kinds of palace amusements, crazy antics of jesters (including princes) and firecrackers, card games, billiards, horse riding...

Social life and all kinds of entertainment reached their maximum under Anna. The ball and masquerade could sometimes last up to 10 days. Huge sums of money were spent from the treasury to maintain the royal court, with various festive events, including the weddings of jesters, numerous kennels, etc. The Spanish envoy de Liria noted that the St. Petersburg court was “richer than even in Paris.” The English diplomat Claudius Rondo wrote to his superiors: “Your Excellency, you cannot imagine to what splendor the Russian court has reached during this reign, despite the fact that there is not a penny in the treasury, and therefore no one is paid.”

Everything was explained by the estimate of some expenses under Anna Ioannovna. Thus, the maintenance of the royal court cost 260,000 rubles annually; for the maintenance of a stable for Biron - 100,000 rubles; for minor needs of the Empress - 42,622 rubles; for two Academies (Sciences and Admiralty) - 47,371 rubles; for public education - 4500 rub. (according to Zaichkin A.I., Pochkaev I.N. Russian history). It cannot be said that the empress did not pay attention to state affairs at all, however, every year, as she grew older, it became increasingly painful for her to delve into state problems. She was increasingly absorbed in the everyday trifles of court life, entrusting all the threads of control to the Cabinet of Ministers and her favorite Biron.

The political investigation body, the Office of Secret Investigation Cases, which was then headed by A.I., gained dismal fame during Anna’s reign. Ushakov. It was this office, which kept track of everyone who was disloyal to the empress and her favorite Biron, and became an ominous symbol of the era of Anna Ioannovna. After all, any careless word addressed to the empress herself and Biron was followed by dungeon, hard labor, and painful execution. Denunciation in the form of the cry “word and deed” then caused horror in many, because after a possible and often frivolous charge of treason, a terrible trial began, accompanied by torture, confiscation of property and execution of the accused. According to some sources, during Anna’s entire reign, over 20 thousand people were exiled to Siberia alone, 37,000 people were tortured in dungeons, and about 5,000 were executed (according to M. Evgenieva).

The reprisals against high-born nobles: princes Dolgoruky and cabinet minister Volynsky had a particular resonance in noble society. The former favorite of Peter II, Ivan Dolgoruky, was wheeled, and Artemy Volynsky was sentenced to impalement in 1740 for speaking badly about the empress, but then his head was cut off, after having his tongue cut out. Other dignitaries, including representatives of the clergy, were also subjected to painful death.

The fact that a number of those executed (especially Volynsky) were open opponents of Biron himself and a number of high-ranking Germans in Anna’s government later gave rise to the “patriotic” concept of the struggle of the “Russian party” against a foreign party, which was stable in pre-revolutionary historiography. Today, historians, having many archival materials about that era, are not inclined to exaggerate the role of foreigners, especially Biron, in the theft of the treasury and other abuses, for the simple reason that among those committing such outrages there were many Russian nobles themselves. It is also known that the executed Artemy Volynsky was himself convicted of many thefts, bribes and other official abuses.

Anna Ioannovna ended her short Moscow period and again moved with her court to St. Petersburg (1732). Under her, some changes took place in the system of public administration. Instead of the liquidated Supreme Privy Council, the Cabinet of Ministers was created under her (1731), which concentrated all the functions of internal governance and was placed above the Senate. The main political figures in it were A. Osterman, R. Levenwolde, G. Golovkin, but it was Andrei Osterman who excelled.

Anna Ioannovna also failed to become an autocratic ruler, increasingly entrusting the decision of many matters to the Cabinet of Ministers. Since 1735, the signature of the 3rd cabinet of ministers, by her own decree, was equal to the signature of the empress. According to the figurative expression of Field Marshal Count Ernst Minich, Andrei Osterman, Reinhold Levenwolde, Ernst Biron became the “triumvirs” of the beginning of the reign of Empress Anna (according to N.N. Petrukhintsev). However, Field Marshal Minich himself, who then headed the Military Collegium, also played a significant role. It should also be noted that all the important dignitaries of Anna, both Russians and foreigners, intensively intrigued against each other in the struggle for power, which negatively influenced state policy.

Biron is in many ways a symbolic figure of the entire reign of Anna Ioannovna. It is no coincidence that the entire reign of the empress will be associated with his (Biron’s) name, and in an ominous format - “Bironovism.” It is curious that Biron, being the permanent favorite of Empress Anna, did not hold major government positions. Biron had the court position of chief chamberlain, which did not allow him to formally make important government decisions.

But the fact is that Biron (since 1737 received the title of Duke of Courland) had a huge informal influence on Anna Ioannovna. The latter was literally enslaved by Biron’s personality and fulfilled all his demands and whims. We can say that he actually acted as a shadow co-ruler of the Russian Empress, who was also forced to share her power with the Cabinet of Ministers. All contemporaries endowed Biron with the most negative characteristics, emphasizing his greed, lust for power, vindictiveness and cruelty, especially towards Russian nobles.

“The Poltava winner was humiliated,” wrote the pre-revolutionary historian S. M. Solovyov, “he enslaved Biron, who said: “You, Russians.” However, even his opponents noted Biron’s intelligence, energy and will. However, Biron was unnecessarily demonized by all pre-revolutionary historiography. It is characteristic that Alexander Pushkin, devoid of subjective bias regarding Biron, said the following: “He (Biron) had the misfortune of being a German; All the horror of Anna’s reign, which was in the spirit of his time and in the morals of the people, was blamed on him.” Regarding the foreign, “German” factor in the development of Russian statehood at that time, it should be noted that here any absolutization of this factor, both “for” and “against”, will be incorrect. The foreign factor in the development of Russian statehood became an inevitable companion to Peter's reforms, and to the post-Petrine era, which became its logical continuation.

Foreigners turned out to be an important modernization resource for Russian absolutism, which sought to build an exemplary European monarchy. But the Europeanized Russian nobles, who were infinitely far from the needs of millions of their peasants, also dreamed of living in such a monarchy. But the dream of the Russian nobles consisted of only one thing: as soon as possible they wanted to occupy high places in government, which were occupied by more dexterous and enterprising foreigners who enjoyed the patronage of the royal court.

Government policy during the reign of Anna Ioannovna.

Empress Anna remembered to whom she owed her autocratic power. Under her, the Russian nobility received unprecedented rights and privileges. In March 1731, the provisions of Peter the Great's Decree on Single Inheritance of 1714 were repealed, which prohibited the division of estates between several heirs, which limited the rights of the nobility to dispose of land property. In this decree, the Empress gave freedom to the nobles to bequeath both estates and estates, and by law abolished any distinction between estates and estates. In fact, this meant that the nobility received a mass of lands, which the law had until then considered state-owned, as hereditary property.

With Anna, the practice of distributing state lands to nobles, which was stopped by Peter, came into fashion, and the land was already given full ownership. In the same year, the Empress established the so-called Land Noble Cadet Corps for the children of nobles. One of the rights that students of the gentry corps enjoyed was the right to be promoted to officers, “without being among soldiers, sailors and other lower ranks.” In 1736, the service life of nobles was limited to 25 years, and the age of entry into service was set at 20 years. Until this age, a nobleman was obliged to receive a home or government education, and a strict system was created to check the quality of his education, in the form of noble reviews, to which young men had to appear starting from the age of 13. It was during the reign of Anna Ioannovna that the nobility's monopoly on the ownership of land and peasants was established.

At the same time, the role of responsible guardian of peasant estates, from which the government received taxes, was gradually transferred to the nobility itself. Here the state sought to maintain its own interests, which did not always coincide with the narrow-class interests of the nobility. From the second half of Anna Ioannovna’s reign, a number of decrees appeared in which landowners, primarily large ones, were named as the main culprits of chronic arrears. The government threatened them with all sorts of punishments, including confiscation of estates and the death penalty (according to A. Kamensky).

During the reign of Anna Ioannovna there was a gradual growth of industry. The Berg Regulations, approved by Anna Ioannovna in 1739, made it possible to begin the privatization of state-owned factories and manufactories. The shortage of workers at enterprises was ordered to be replenished by purchasing peasants to work in factories, but without land and “incomplete villages” (decree of 1736). This gave new industrial impetus. Thus, according to some estimates, the export of iron from Russia in the 1730s. increased by 5, and bread by 22 times (according to Anisimov E.V.). The development of trade was also facilitated by the successful development of industrial production, primarily iron-making, and by the end of the 1730s. Russia has taken first place in the world in the production of cast iron.

In the conditions of further feudalization of the Russian state and the growth of market-oriented landownership, the bourgeoisie in Russia developed and merged with the state and the feudal sector of production. According to the historian, all the oldest merchant families in Moscow were closely connected with the absolutist state and feudalism: taking advantage of government privileges and loans, being exempt from taxes, services and billets, receiving a monopoly on the sale of goods and the use of forced serf labor (according to A.I. Aksenov .). The bourgeois way of life in Russia, therefore, unlike Western Europe, did not strive for liberation from the dictates of the absolutist state and feudalism, but organically merged with them.

Capitalist England, which accounted for over half of Russian exports, became Russia's key trading partner at this time. Especially iron, copper, wood, hemp, potash, blubber. In fact, Russia is gradually turning into the main raw materials partner of London, which is striving in every possible way to achieve privileges from St. Petersburg. In 1731, in accordance with a new trade agreement, tariffs were significantly reduced for English goods.

In 1734, London, not without the help of direct bribes to a number of high Russian officials, achieved the conclusion of a new Anglo-Russian treaty, according to which the British were allowed transit trade with Persia. The only favorable condition for Russia for this transit trade for the British was that English goods to Persia through Russia had to be transported on Russian ships. For this purpose, a shipyard was created in Kazan with the help of English businessmen.

The British managed to persuade St. Petersburg that the ships launched for Caspian trade would sail under the British flag, but with Russian sailors. Even British trading posts were created on the territory of Azerbaijan, not without the help of the Russians themselves. There, English cloth was exchanged for Persian silk - and brought English merchants up to 80% of the profit! (see Yukht. A.I.). It turned out that the Russian authorities were creating trade competitors for themselves! Such a policy can hardly be called national.

But Anna’s government, for the first time since Peter I, drew attention to the almost plight of the army and navy, which found themselves in an orphan situation after the death of Peter the Great. The construction of new combat ships has begun in the Baltic. A new staffing schedule was approved and regular exercises and voyages were resumed. In the army, thanks to the efforts of the President of the Military Collegium, Field Marshal Minich, it was possible to carry out some reforms (following the Prussian model), which raised the fallen combat effectiveness of the Russian army. In particular, the artillery stock was increased, new uniforms were introduced, and new guns appeared. However, these measures were not comprehensive in nature and could not raise the combat effectiveness of the army and navy to the level of Peter the Great's time. In general, this influenced rather modest foreign policy achievements.

In foreign policy, the government's course was more active, thanks to which Russia further strengthened its global position. Thus, during the successful War of the Polish Succession (1733-1735), Russia managed to place its protege, Augustus III, on the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and thereby prevent the appearance of an anti-Russian candidate of France in the form of Stanislav Leszczynski on the Polish throne. French diplomacy responded by managing to involve the Ottoman Empire in the war with Russia. Russian diplomacy, in order to enlist Iran's support in the war against Istanbul, transferred in 1735 the former Persian lands along the western and southern shores of the Caspian Sea, conquered by Peter I. In addition, in the Russian-Turkish war (1735-1739), the Austrian monarchy acted as an ally of Russia. And, nevertheless, the entire burden of the war fell on the Russian army, which in this war won victories over the Turks and Crimean Tatars, but at the same time paid a huge price - up to 120 thousand people!

It is striking that of the total number, only a small part (8-9%) of those killed were killed in battle (according to N. Petrukhintsev). The army suffered the main damage from thirst, disease, and epidemics. The war highlighted the poor quality of food, supplies and medical care. The Belgrade Peace brought shamefully modest results to Russia: Russia received Azov, without the right to maintain a garrison in it and build fortifications. To protect against the steppe inhabitants, fortifications were erected on the southern and southeastern borders of the empire under Anna Ioannovna; Russia, through the Orenburg expedition (1734-1744), slowly but steadily penetrated deep into the Great Steppe. It is no coincidence that in 1731, the biys and elders of the Junior Kazakh Zhuz swore allegiance to Empress Anna.

But in the empire itself, in the national outskirts of Bashkiria, uprisings broke out from time to time throughout the 30s (1735-1736, 1737-1738, 1739-1740). The rebels were dissatisfied with the seizure by the authorities of the communal lands of the Bashkirs for the construction of fortresses there and the transfer of part of the land to Russian landowners. These uprisings were brutally suppressed. Moreover, not only units of the regular army, but also “loyal” Bashkirs and Mishars (service Tatars) were sent to suppress them. Problems with the integration of the eastern outskirts of the Lower Volga region and the Southern Urals occurred in the subsequent period.

Tsarist time of Ivan Antonovich and Anna Leopoldovna.

On October 5, 1740, at dinner, the empress suddenly lost consciousness and, after being ill for twelve days, died, but managed to appoint a successor. He became the son of her niece Anna Leopoldovna and the Duke of Brunswick - John Antonovich, who was only 5 weeks old. With an infant heir, Empress Anna managed to appoint I. Biron as regent, in whose hands all the fullness of state power in the empire was concentrated. But hated by the entire court, including many foreigners, Biron ruled the country for only 1 month.

As a result of another night palace coup organized by Field Marshal Minich, Biron was arrested, deprived of all positions and sent into exile. The news of Biron's arrest joyfully spread around St. Petersburg and the entire empire. However, this changed little in the system of the political regime, where everything remained in the hands of foreigners and people infinitely far from the urgent needs of the country. After the fall of Biron, John's mother, Princess Anna Leopoldovna of Brunswick, was proclaimed ruler of Russia, her husband Anton Ulrich was declared generalissimo of all Russian land and naval forces, and Count Minich was declared first minister. The powerful Minikh became the next victim of palace intrigues. He was removed following the denunciation of the clever political intriguer Osterman. Now Osterman became the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, while he managed to survive 5 reigns and all the temporary workers before him.

The new ruler Anna Leopoldovna turned out to be politically much weaker and absolutely careless than her aunt Anna. She was even more burdened by government affairs, spending all her time playing cards with her trusted friends, reading novels and discussing new outfits. In order to somehow consolidate her precarious position in the state, Anna Leopoldovna distributed awards en masse and undeservedly left and right, devaluing titles and ranks. The Prussian envoy Mardefeld in July 1741 noted the “fruits” of such a generous policy of the government of Anna Leopoldovna: “The current government is the mildest of all that have existed in this state. The Russians abuse this. They steal and rob from all sides and are still extremely dissatisfied, partly because the regent does not talk to them ... "

The high society of St. Petersburg was dissatisfied with the dominance of the Germans Osterman, Levenwolde, Duke Anton Ulrich, the Saxon ambassador Moritz Linar, the favorite of Anna Leopoldovna. Anna Leopoldovna's husband, Anton Ulrich, in turn, tried to take the reins of power into his own hands, especially in the military department, but was met with rebuff from his wife, who openly neglected him. Chaos reigned in government affairs. Everyone was intriguing against each other as usual. “There is unrest in internal affairs,” this is how the English Ambassador Finch described the situation at the Russian court.

And then there were plans of the conventionally called “German party” - to declare Anna Leopoldovna empress in the event of the death of her one-year-old son. The infant Emperor John Antonovich, being in the cradle, did not even suspect what political passions were boiling near his cradle. According to the historian A. Sakharov, it was “the power of the Brunswickers that awakened Russian national consciousness, which opposed the dominance of foreigners and the neglect of the country’s national interests.” It is difficult to argue here, if only because all the people reigning at the head of Russia did not even speak Russian.

The precariousness of the position of the “Brunswick family” also lay in the fact that everyone could see the daughter of Peter the Great, Elizabeth, whom the guards adored. Her house in St. Petersburg was open to guards soldiers, she gave them gifts and baptized their children. “You are the blood of Peter the Great!” they told her. “You are the spark of Peter!” According to one researcher, she was considered the leader of the “Russian party” opposing the “German party” (according to M. Evgenieva).

It is curious that the driving force in the fight against the “German party” in St. Petersburg was the French diplomatic court (ambassador Marquis La Chetardie associated with Princess Elizabeth’s personal physician Lestok) in close contact with the Swedish court. The Swedes, in conditions of political instability, tried to regain the lands lost in the Northern War in the Baltic states by starting a war with Russia (1741-1743). But the Swedish court chose an original pretext for war, conveying to St. Petersburg that the Swedes supposedly intended to fight to rid Russia of the “yoke of foreigners.” Which Swedes could become the liberators of Russia is well remembered from the events of the Time of Troubles. One way or another, the government of Anna Leopoldovna, at war with the Swedes, in this case acted as the sole sovereign of the state interests of Russia. A situation arose when the more Russian (her mother was non-Russian) contender for the throne, Elizabeth, than the German-speaking Anna Leopoldovna, was supported by geopolitical opponents of Russia - the French and Swedes. This turn of events indicates the largely conditional nature of the confrontation-division of “Russians against the Germans” - in the struggle for power. Moreover, Tsarevna Elizabeth herself was supported within the country by many foreigners in the Russian service, who realized the precarious position of the Brunswick family.

In turn, Anna Leopoldovna was careless about the numerous information that came to her about a coup being prepared against her in favor of Elizabeth. This carelessness cost her not only the loss of power, but also the freedom of her entire family and her husband. And fate had in store for her royal son, Ivan Antonovich, probably the most tragic fate of all the crowned Russian emperors. The next palace coup, carried out with the help of the guards by Elizabeth Petrovna, on the night of November 25, 1741, led not only to the change of the next emperor, but also stabilized and strengthened the political regime of the absolute monarchy and statehood in general for a long time, softening the factor that irritated many Russian nobles foreign "dominance".

Anna Ioannovna was a Russian empress who reigned from 1730 to 1740, the niece of Peter I, the daughter of his brother and co-ruler Tsar Ivan Alekseevich. Her reign is usually associated with the flourishing of favoritism (Bironovism) and a passion for entertainment events in the spirit of the famous Ice House.

However, it would be unfair to reduce the decade of Anna Ioannovna’s reign to just this. For all her ambiguity, Empress Anna managed to contribute to the greatness of Russia.

Izmailovskaya princess

Princess Anna was born in 1693. She spent her childhood in the royal palace in Izmailovo. The Dowager Tsarina Praskovya Feodorovna ruled her little world as if the stormy transformations of Peter I had never happened in Russia. Her three daughters, of whom Anna was the middle, grew up in the seclusion of the tower, like the princesses of pre-Petrine times, communicating only with servants, mothers and nannies, jesters and pious wanderers. However, Praskovya Fedorovna had to come to terms with some new trends: the princesses had teachers - a German and a Frenchman - who taught them literacy, arithmetic, languages, dancing and etiquette. Izmailovo had a court theater and its own orchestra.

Duchess of Courland

When the Northern War ended, Peter decided to strengthen the position of the Russian crown in the Duchy of Courland (the western part of modern Latvia). To achieve this, in 1709 it was decided to marry the young Duke of Courland, Friedrich Wilhelm, with one of the Russian princesses. Peter invited Tsarina Praskovya Fedorovna to choose which of her daughters was to become the duchess. She pointed to Anna, who by that time had turned 16 years old. A year later, a magnificent wedding took place in St. Petersburg. Celebrations and balls lasted two months. In January 1711, the young people went to Mitava, the capital of Courland. However, before reaching his possessions, Friedrich Wilhelm died on the road. Contemporaries claim that the reason for this was excessive libations. The day before, the young Duke decided to compete with Peter I to see who could outdrink whom. Anna returned to her mother. A year later, Peter nevertheless sent his niece to Courland as a dowager duchess. But not alone. Pyotr Bestuzhev-Ryumin departed with her for Mitava, who was ordered to help the young widow and look after her. He was keeping an eye on it. After some time, it became known in St. Petersburg that the already middle-aged Bestuzhev - he was 30 years older than Anna - was her lover. In 1727, Bestuzhev was returned to St. Petersburg with a scandal. Anna did not grieve for her dear friend for long. A few months later, Ernst Johann Biron captured the heart of the Duchess of Courland. Anna kept this love until the end of her life.

Empress and autocrat of Russia

In 1730, the young Emperor Peter II, the son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and grandson of Emperor Peter, died. This was the last offspring of the Romanov family in the male line. The result of the noble conspiracy was the invitation to Anna Ioannovna to reign, contrary to the will of Catherine I, who, before her death, bequeathed the throne to the grandson of Peter the Great, Karl Peter Ulrich (the future Peter III). The conspirators, who are usually called “supreme leaders” in literature, decided that Anna, who spent many years in a foreign land and, according to rumors, did not shine with either intelligence or talents, would become their obedient tool. It was decided to limit the power of the Empress by the so-called “Conditions” - a document that contained Anna Ioannovna’s obligations not to interfere in state affairs. However, in reality it turned out completely differently. Anna obediently signed the “Conditions,” but upon arriving in Russia, she discovered that she had supporters. On February 25, 1730, the Empress, in the presence of the court and the “supreme officials,” tore up the “Conditions.”

Reign of Anna Ioannovna

For a long time in Russian history and fiction there was an idea about the “dark decade” of Anna Ioannovna’s reign, about Bironovism and the dominance of Germans at court. However, recent historical research suggests that this is partly an exaggeration. In fact, Anna and the people with whom she surrounded her throne were able to do a lot of useful things for Russia.

The program of Anna Ioannovna’s reign boiled down to the following main tasks:

The task of reforming the army was set in connection with the need to reduce expenses, since even in the previous reign the question of the exorbitant tax burden on the peasantry had arisen;

There was also talk about the need to review the staff of government agencies in order to streamline their work and reduce costs;

The need to create a fair and equal court for all was declared;

The Senate was reformed. His work, interrupted during the previous reign, was restored on the basis of Peter's decrees.
The Empress did a lot for fleet reform. Under her, shipbuilding resumed, and regular exercises began again in the Baltic Sea. A Military Maritime Commission was established, which played a decisive role in the development of the Russian fleet. Finally, in 1732, the closed port in Arkhangelsk was reopened and restored, and the shipyard in Solombala also became operational.

During Anna's reign, a decisive blow was dealt to the Crimean Khanate, Russia captured the Turkish fortress of Khotyn, received the fortress of Azov, part of the territory of Right Bank Ukraine, territories in the North Caucasus, and a protectorate of the Russian crown was declared over the union of Kazakh tribes - the Junior Zhuz.

However, the activities of the Secret Chancellery, interrogations under torture, exile and executions seriously overshadowed the reign of the suspicious and very afraid of conspiracies Anna Ioannovna and left a dark imprint on it.

All this was called “Bironovism,” since it was on the empress’s favorite that public opinion placed all the blame for the activities of the Secret Chancellery. Subsequently, archival documents showed Biron’s non-involvement in the investigative cases of the Secret Chancellery. Moreover, with all his undisguised dislike for the Russian people, Biron was able to benefit our country: it was he who began the competent breeding of horses in Russia, for which he had a real passion.