THE EPOCH OF PALACE REVOLUTIONS
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By Tatyana Shvetsova
In the words of Russian historian Sergey Platonov, “the first 17
years after the death of Peter the Great were most unfortunate for the
Russian throne. Five monarchs passed in succession, with Russia having
to survive several Palace revolutions. The people who seized power were
alien to the country, and in their egoistic tendencies far unworthy of
wielding such authority. On the one hand, the reasons for such a turbulent
epoch of palace revolutions lay in the actual state royal power was in,
and on the other – in the peculiarities of the milieu that governed the
affairs of state.”
Characterizing this particular period of Russian history, Russian writer-historian
Yevgeny Anisimov noted:
“When it comes to the historical period between the reign of Peter the
Great and Catherine the Great … there seems to be a great yawning gap in
the conscience of people, but superficially familiar with Russian history
of the 18th century. This is understandable: the time of Peter the Great
is like a dazzling outburst, that obliterates all else from sight. Grand-scale
reforms that infiltrated practically all spheres of Russian activity… A
totally different philosophy of life, where everything was brand new and
unfamiliar – from the impressive military naval fleet and the city of St.Petersburg
on the banks of the Neva river – to new clothes and many other things –
all this impressed on Peter’s contemporaries the outstanding importance
of the period they were living in, and the astounding changes wrought in
their country in just a matter of two and a half decades. The methods,
which Peter resorted to in introducing these alterations, lent a particular
poignancy to the entire process.
After this vivid outburst of reformist activity, the brief reigning of
a kaleidoscope of rulers and favorites leave an impression of totally meaningless
and negligible activity.”
In 1722 Peter the Great issued a decree that the Russian Ruler was from
then on endowed with the right to choose whoever he pleased to become his
rightful heir. This decree reversed the previous ‘title by succession’
Act that was in force in pre-Peter Russia. In this connection, historian
Boris Krasilnikov wrote:
“The demise of Peter I plunged all his entourage not only into a state
of grief, but an obvious discomposure. The Emperor died in 1725 without
bequeathing the throne to any specific person. As a result, events took
a most dramatic turn.”
After his demise, Peter the Great left behind the following family members:
his wife Yekaterina (Catherine), two daughters – Anna (bride of a German
Duke) and Yelizaveta (Elizabeth), and the little grandson Pyotr (Peter).
The court split into two camps: nobility of the old Boyar ancestry wanted
to see tsarevitch Pyotr on the throne; while the nobility that had risen
to rank and authority under Peter the Great due to their personal achievements
and merit, and feared  radical
changes in politics – laid their claim with Catherine. Alexander Menshikov,
a friend and companion to Peter the Great, displayed particular zeal in
advocating the interests of Catherine. The issue of heir was finally settled
with the use of the Home Guard. Menshikov won them over to his side, and
had Catherine proclaimed Empress. Further issues of succession to the throne
were likewise resolved with the interference of the Home Guard.
According to Russian historian Dmitry Ilovaysky…
“Catherine outlived her husband by just two years, and instructed that
Peter the Great’s grandson, also Peter, inherit the throne. The focal point
in the history of these two reigns was the struggle between specific individuals
for prime influence over all affairs of state. Initially, Alexander Menshikov
was the one with most clout at court. The Empress even proclaimed his daughter
the rightful heir’s bride. However, his excessive pride and bad character
alienated many other noblemen. Their attempt to oust Menshikov in Catherine’s
lifetime failed, though. Some of the Prince’s enemies paid a dear price
for their intractable spirit – exiled to Siberia and other dour regions.”
The reign of Catherine I was marred by the emergence in the East of the
country of two Impostors, each of whom claimed to be the son of Peter the
Great – Alexei, allegedly still alive. Both Impostors were later executed
in St.Petersburg.
Writer-historian Boris Krasilnikov remarked:
“From the beginning of her reign Catherine I announced she would see through
to the end all the changes begun by Peter the Great. Thus, a Science Academy
was opened in Russia, an expedition led by Vitus Bering was sent to establish
whether there was a connection between Asia and America. The strait, discovered
by the expedition, was later named the Bering Strait.
Catherine gave her first, elder daughter Anna in marriage to Karl Friedrich
Duke of Holstein. The purpose of the  marriage
was to strengthen ties between Russia and the Princedom (which was on the
territory of present-day Latvia).
Catherine deprived the Senate of the governing powers that Peter I had
endowed it with, and set up a Supreme Privy Council over it, that incorporated
the most influential senators. Prince Menshikov held pride of place in
this Council, just as in all matters of State.
According to Boris Krasilnikov, the last months of Catherine I’s reign
were taken up with resolving the title succession issue. Not only the nobility,
but a majority of those who had backed Catherine’s ascending the throne,
were dead set against the candidacies of tsarinas Anna and Yelizaveta.
Thus, the Empress was obliged to announce 12-year-old Peter, Peter the
Great’s grandson, as the heir apparent. Until the boy came of age, a regency
was introduced, made up of the Supreme Privy Council, of which tsarinas
Anna and Yelizaveta were members.
 Catherine I died
on May 6th 1727. Tsarevitch Peter II ascended the throne. As head of the
Supreme Privy Council, Prince Alexander Menshikov ultimately claimed all
governing control in the State.
Dwelling on Prince Menshikov, historian Dmitry Ilovaysky noted:
“…the proud and intractable Prince soon antagonized the young Emperor,
so that the clan of the Princes Dolgoruki, led by Prince Ivan, a favorite
of Peter II, seized the moment to oust Menshikov. This was
further augmented by the young Emperor’s Mentor Count Osterman. Peter II’s
best-loved sister Natalie also found the arrogant and haughty favorite,
who presumed to take away from her the money her brother gave her, more
than distasteful.”
Alexander Menshikov’s opponents were fortunate – the all-powerful minister
and military commander fell gravely ill. The Princes Dolgoruki made good
use of his absence to set the young Emperor against him, and when Prince
Menshikov returned he was promptly arrested and exiled with his family
to Northern Siberia, the town of Beriozov, where he died in 1729, stripped
of all property.
The court moved from St.Petersburg to Moscow. Here, the young Emperor lapsed
into an indolent lifestyle: he wasted away his time on amusements, and
predominantly – hunting…
Meanwhile, state affairs were in havoc. Soon Peter II died of smallpox.
This was in 1730…
Historian Boris Krasilnikov, estimating the reign of Peter II, wrote that:
“The brief reign of Peter II, even though peaceful, wasn’t at all prosperous…
Instances of brigandage were  widespread,
and there was an overall disarray in Russia’s internal affairs.”
After the demise of Peter II, his first aunt once removed, widowed Duchess
of Courland Anna Ioannovna ascended the throne. However, the throne was
offered her on certain “conditions”: that her powers be limited, as would
the number of foreigners flowing into Russia.
As for her limited monarchy, historian Leonid Katzva says:
“In stipulation with the “conditions” offered Anna Ioannovna for signing,
“the Empress couldn’t issue laws, introduce taxes, bestow or reclaim estates,
award rank and titles, designate an heir, etc. This signified the substitution
of autocracy with limited monarchy.”
Anna agreed to these conditions. However, news of the latter seriously
disgruntled the gentry and officers of the guard, since they feared that
instead of one Emperor, several autocratic aristocratic families would
contest the throne, and thus threaten to plunge the country into havoc.
In turn, the gentry cliques drew up draft plans for instituting representative
bodies limiting the powers of the monarch and the Supreme Privy Council.
What was actually intended was a constitutional monarchy.
However, all these plans of limiting autocratic rule were to fall through.
Historian Leonid Katzva writes:
“Anna, besides the plans on limiting autocracy, received numerous pleas
for a reestablishment of full monarchy. At that point she surmised that
advocates of a constitutional monarchy didn’t enjoy mass support – a fact
that untied her hands and gave her full reign to tear up the “conditions”,
announcing a complete return to autocracy.
 With the advent
of Anna to the throne, the Supreme Privy Council was abolished, and a cabinet
of Ministers established, headed by Count Osterman. While advocates of
a constitutional monarchy – the Princes Dolgoruki and Golitsin – were exiled.”
Regarding Anna Ioannovna’s character, her contemporaries voiced diverse
opinions. Some wrote of her brutal and somber nature, others praised her
kind heart. In any case, she showed little interest in state affairs, and
relied heavily on her favorite – Courland German Biron. According to historian
Sergey Platonov, this is what it resulted in:
“From the first minutes after the reestablishment of autocracy, the Russian
nobility fell out of grace, while the foreigners were increasingly starting
to dominate. The Russian gentry were being ousted from court, forced to
give up positions of distinction and even exiled to remote villages, to
Siberia or executed.
Under Anna the Germans acquired tremendous influence. They were the ruling
clique, they stood at the head of the army… The Empress’s favorite, the
German Biron, was a disreputable nonentity, who interfered in all state
matters, yet professed neither opinions of his own, nor any program of
action. He hadn’t the least notion of what the Russian mentality and culture
were all about. However, this didn’t stop him from giving vent to a volatile
hatred of all things Russian. He pursued the sole purpose of self-enrichment,
and securing his position at court and in state power. Acting with the
help of the Germans and those Russians, who hoped to make a career through
indulging the favorite, Biron exploited the state for personal gain, despising
the laws and blatantly duping the Empress.”
During the period when Biron was so all-powerful, practically all classes
of society forfeited their wealth and personal freedoms. The peasants were
stripped of their property due to relentless extortion of taxes, landowners
were imprisoned, the regional administration subjected to disgraceful punishment.
However, when malcontent voices began to be heard in society, to ensure
his own safety, Biron resorted to a system of delation, or informants that
spread out of all proportion… The Privy Chancellery was inundated with
political delations and files. It came to a point when nobody could feel
safe. Any petty strife, family feud, vengeance, or simply avarice could
lead any person to a court trial, prison, torture and death. Terror was
at large in the society.
At the same time the country was undermined by famine and plague. The wars
with Poland and Turkey scarcely justified their enormous cost in life and
money… Understandably, in these conditions the population could hardly
be expected to remain tranquil, despite their fear of the Privy Chancellery…
The people detested the foreigners who had grabbed power in Russia. “There
is no order in our state,” came the chorus of voices. “Ours is a forsaken
country. The Germans care not a whit for it. The money earned by our blood
and sweat is spent on their crude amusements. The Germans are taking advantage
of the throne being in the hands of a weak woman. Of course, she cannot
be expected to rule as a man would do.”…This was the prevalent mood in
society.
The atmosphere among the gentry was just as uneasy, undermined by endless
fears of informants and blind subservience to the favorite. There wasn’t
a single independently-minded individual within a mile of Biron, for he
had effectively ridden himself, through devious cunning, of all worthy
Russians, who could put up a resistance. He was completely in charge of
things…
Sergey Platonov wrote:
“The German dominance continued for ten years. For ten long years the Russians
were humiliated and thwarted in every possible way. The grumbles of discontent
were gaining in strength. People who had come to harm from the Germans
just for being Russian, were now regarded as martyrs by the population.”
 At the end
of 1740, after a brief illness, Empress Anna Iannovna passed away. Shortly
before her death, she named as her successor the just-born Prince Ivan,
great-grandson of the Russian Tsar Ivan Alekseevich, and Duke of
Braunsweig. Biron was named as the infant’s regent. This meant that Biron
was guaranteed another 17 years of total power, until the monarch came
of age.
“The faces of Russians mirrored grief and despair: the advent to power
of the despicable favorite was a blow they could barely stomach,” Sergey
Platonov wrote. “The entire body of the Guard was ready and waiting for
the minute the Empress’s remains would be buried, so as to rise up against
Biron. The army was in turmoil… The one thing that held them back was absence
of a leader; all the more so since the Guard didn’t know how the mother
of the newborn, Anna Leopoldovna, would react to their uprising. However,
the moment Anna Leopoldovna summoned the Guard to oust Biron, he was promptly
seized. This happened about a month after the beginning of his Regency.”
Thus, Anna
Leopoldovna, the mother of the infant monarch, became Regent. However,
the ousting of Biron didn’t lead to an immediate change of the mode of
rule. Anna Leopoldovna was unpopular. Many patriotically inclined officers
of the Guard laid great hopes on Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Peter
the Great, believing her to be the rightful continuer of her father’s lifework.
In November 1741 Elizabeth led the 300-strong Preobrazhensky regiment of
the Guard in a coup that resulted in the arrest of the Emperor and his
parents, and herself ascended the throne. Her reign began under the slogan
of a return to the principles and traditions of Peter the Great.
However, in actual fact there was no return to Peter the Great’s policies.
Historian Leonid Katzva believes:
“…the conditions were altered, and the Empress herself little resembled
her father. She afforded attention exclusively to foreign policy, obviously
disinclined to dwell on all other matters of state, preferring various
amusements: balls and such. Still, her 20-year reign is a relatively significant
period in Russian history. There was a modification, a mellowing of mores
at court and in the gentry. Ideas of the Enlightenment started infiltrating
Russia.”
The actual ruler during Elizabeth’s reign, managing all internal affairs,
was Count Pyotr Shuvalov. Historian Dmitry Ilovaysky characterizes him
as a “most talented individual”. In the opinion of the same historian,
another worthy person at court was Chancellor of Foreign Affairs Aleksey
Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who enjoyed Elizabeth’s complete confidence. He brought
to an end the machinations of French Ambassador Marquis Chetardi, who had
handicapped the Petersburg Court by continual intrigues. If before he’d
busied himself with aiding Elizabeth to ascend the throne, he now interfered
in Russian affairs and in particular – its relations with Sweden. Chancellor
Bestuzhev intercepted Chetardi’s secret missives, his correspondence with
foreign ambassadors, and displayed these to the Empress. After this, Chetardi
was convoyed out of Russia.
As for internal affairs, historian Dmitry Ilovaysky regards Elizabeth’s
decree to reconstitute the Senate as it had been created by her father
as the first major important step taken by her on the domestic scene.
“Under Elizabeth,” Dmitry Ilovaysky writes, “Petersburg saw the establishment
of a Naval Cadets Corps, two National Loan banks, one for the gentry, and
the other for the merchantry; the death penalty was abolished from the
legal code. However, generally, administration and law during Elizabeth’s
reign were in a most deplorable state. The roads, villages, and even towns
were far from safe due to rampaging brigands.
As for the upper classes of society, during Elizabeth’s reign the German
dominance, upperhand since Peter the Great’s time, was displaced by pro-French
sentiments. French manners and language entered the court and homes of
the nobility, and Paris fashions rose to dominance.”
As for foreign affairs, Russia led two wars under Elizabeth: the first
was with Sweden, which wanted to return the part of Finland that Peter
the Great had annexed. The Russians came out victorious in this war and
annexed a portion of southern Finland.
In the second half of Elizabeth’s reign, Russia successfully conducted
hostilities in the Seven Years’ War, which the Austrian Empress Marie Theresa
led in alliance with France against Prussian King Friedrich II. Only Elizabeth’s
death brought Friedrich out of the critical situation he was placed in
by fighting three great powers. The Seven Years’ War, which sapped Russia’s
financial and human resources, nonetheless became a good training ground
for our army. It was here the future talents of our military leaders, such
as Alexander Suvorov, were honed.
Elizabeth attempted to secure the throne with offspring of Peter the Great.
Thus, she summoned her nephew, Peter Ulrich, the Duke von Holstein-Gottorp,
and announced him her successor.
Giving an estimate of Elizabeth’s rule, historian Yevgeny Anisimov wrote
the following:
“The 20-year long reign of Elizabeth was one of the most peaceful, tranquil
and cool-tempered in the history of Russia. Just the mere fact that she
never once signed a death sentence deserves credit. Without doubt, there
were problems throttling state affairs. Yet, the political stability that
Elizabeth had brought with her had a beneficial impact on the country’s
economic development. After spending several decades on adapting to Peter’s
reforms, Russia had finally adjusted. And although the industrial revolution
was still a long way off, cheap and good-quality Russian goods flooded
Europe. Thus, in Sweden they simply couldn’t get by without Russian bread.
Rope, flax, sailcloth, timber, potash, honey, salt pork, and numerous other
goods coursed through Baltic seaports en route to Europe in a never ending
stream. Excellent Russian iron from the Urals was highly prized on the
world market, and in 1750 demand for it reached 100 percent of its output,
which led to a veritable industrial boom. People from the gentry, dignitaries
and the officiary began building metallurgical plants. For them, this was
a gold mine.
Under Elizabeth, there was a marked population growth, and the taxes went
down. Important changes swept literature, the arts, science… An Art Academy
was opened; then - Moscow University, and the Public theatre. Russia was
becoming increasingly aware of music and the opera in particular. All this
spawned bright new talents, and molded people’s tastes. It became a matter
of prestige to patronize the arts and sciences. The success of such outstanding
people as Mikhail Lomonosov only further augmented the Russian people’s
self-awareness and esteem.
Elizabeth’s reign ushered in a new epoch, the epoch of Catherine II, who
was named “Great.”
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Illustrations: A.Peskov, The Life of Famous People, “Paul I”, Molodaya
Gvardiya, Moscow, 2003
02/18/2005
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