She spent her childhood and youth in the villages of Preobrazhenskoye and Izmailovskoye near Moscow, thanks to which Moscow and its environs remained close to her throughout her life. Her education was limited to training in dancing, secular address and French; already being empress, she was very surprised to learn that "Great Britain is an island". Declared an adult in 1722, Elizabeth became the center of various diplomatic projects. Peter the Great thought to marry her to Louis XV; when this plan failed, the princess began to be wooed by minor German princes, until they settled on the Prince of Holstein, Karl-August, whom she managed to really like. The death of the groom upset this marriage, and after the death of Catherine I, which followed soon after, concerns about Elizabeth’s marriage completely ceased.

Left to herself during the reign of Peter II, lively, friendly, able to say a kind word to everyone, and also prominent and slender, with a beautiful face, the princess completely surrendered to the whirlwind of fun and hobbies. She became friends with the young emperor, thereby contributing to the fall of Menshikov, and at the same time surrounded herself "random" people like A. B. Buturlin and A. Ya. Shubin. With the accession to the throne of the imperious and suspicious Anna Ioannovna, Elizabeth lost her brilliant position at court and was forced to live almost forever in her estate, Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, withdrawing into a close circle of people devoted to her, among whom, since 1733, the first place was occupied by Alexey Razumovsky.

A student of the French tutor Rambourg and the obedient daughter of her confessor Father Dubyansky, she spent her time in endless balls and church services, worrying about Parisian fashions and Russian cuisine, constantly in need of money, despite large funds. Complete indifference to politics and inability to intrigue, coupled with the existence abroad of Peter the Great’s grandson, the Prince of Holstein, saved Elizabeth from being tonsured into a monastery and from marrying the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen, but major displeasures flared up between her more than once.

The princess’s position did not improve with her move to St. Petersburg under John VI, although Biron, apparently, favored her and increased the allowance given to her from the treasury. But now society itself has taken on the task of changing Elizabeth’s fate. The 10-year domination of the Germans under Anna Ioannovna and Anna Leopoldovna gave rise to general discontent, the active expression of which was the guard, which served as a strong citadel of the Russian nobility. The national feeling, outraged by the oppression of foreignness, made us dream of a return to the times of Peter the Great; The harsh order established by the Transformer was idealized, and Princess Elizabeth began to seem capable of leading Russia back to the old path.

When the regime created in 1730 began to disintegrate, and the German rulers began to devour each other, signs of open unrest appeared among the guards. The French ambassador Chetardy and the Swedish ambassador, Baron Nolken, tried to take advantage of this mood. By enthroning Elizabeth, the first thought to distract Russia from the alliance with Austria, and the second - to return to Sweden the lands conquered by Peter the Great. The intermediary between the foreign residents and Elizabeth was her physician Lestocq. Shetardy's indecisiveness and Nolken's excessive claims forced, however, Elizabeth to break off negotiations with them, which became impossible because the Swedes declared war on the government of Anna Leopoldovna, under the pretext of protecting the rights to the throne of Anna Petrovna's son, the Duke of Holstein, the future Emperor Peter III. But the march of part of the guards regiments and Anna Leopoldovna’s intention to arrest Lestocq prompted Elizabeth to hurry up and take a decisive step. At 2 a.m. on November 25, 1741, she, accompanied by people close to her, appeared at the Preobrazhensky grenadier company and, reminding whose daughter she was, ordered the soldiers to follow her, forbidding them to use weapons, as they threatened to kill all Germans. The arrest of the Brunswick family occurred very quickly, without causing any bloodshed, and the next day a manifesto appeared, briefly announcing Elizabeth’s accession to the throne.

This revolution gave rise to a real explosion of national feeling in society. The journalism of that time - welcoming odes and church sermons - was full of bile and angry reviews of the previous time, with its German rulers, and equally immoderate praise of Elizabeth as the conqueror of the foreign element. The street showed the same feelings, but in rougher forms. The houses of many foreigners in St. Petersburg were destroyed, and in the army sent to Finland there was almost a complete extermination of foreign officers. Convinced of the complete approval of society for the change that had taken place, Elizabeth issued another manifesto on November 28, where in detail and without mincing words she proved the illegality of John VI’s rights to the throne and leveled a number of accusations against the German temporary workers and their Russian friends. All of them were put on trial, which sentenced Osterman and Munnich to death by quartering, and to Levenvold, Mengden and Golovkin simply the death penalty. Conducted to the scaffold, they were pardoned and exiled to Siberia.

Having secured power for herself, Elizabeth hastened to reward the people who contributed to her accession to the throne or were generally loyal to her, and to form a new government from them. The grenadier company of the Preobrazhensky regiment received the name of the life campaign. Soldiers not from the nobility were enlisted as nobles, corporals, sergeants and officers were promoted to rank. All of them, in addition, were granted lands mainly from estates confiscated from foreigners. Of the people close to Elizabeth, Alexei Razumovsky, the morganatic husband of the empress, elevated to the dignity of count and made a field marshal and knight of all orders, and Lestocq, who also received the title of count and vast lands, were especially showered with favors. But the French doctor and the Little Russian Cossack did not become prominent statesmen: the first did not know Russia and therefore took part only in external affairs, and even then not for long, since in 1748 he fell into disgrace for harsh expressions about Elizabeth and was exiled to Ustyug; the second one deliberately withdrew from serious participation in state life, feeling unprepared for the role of ruler. The first places in the new government were therefore occupied by representatives of that social group that, in the name of offended national feeling, overthrew the German regime. Many of them were simple guards officers before the coup, such as Elizabeth’s old servants, P.I. Shuvalov and M.I. Vorontsov, who now, together with their relatives, acquired the greatest importance in the government environment. Next to them, some of the figures of the previous governments came to power, for example A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Prince A.M. Cherkassky and Prince N.Yu. Trubetskoy, who fell into disgrace or did not play an independent role in the two previous reigns.

At first, after ascending the throne, Elizabeth herself took an active part in state affairs. Revering the memory of her father, she wanted to rule the country in the spirit of his traditions, but limited herself to only abolishing the cabinet of ministers, from which, as the personal decree stated, “there has been a considerable omission of cases, and justice has become completely weak”, and the return to the Senate of its previous rights related to the restoration of the prosecutor's office, the chief magistrate and the berg and manufacturing colleges.

After these first steps, Elizabeth, withdrawing almost entirely into court life, with its fun and intrigue, transferred the management of the empire into the hands of her employees; Only occasionally, between the hunt, mass and ball, did she pay a little attention to foreign politics. To conduct the latter and partly to consider military and financial issues related to it, already a month after the coup, an unofficial council arose under the empress from those closest to her, which was later called a conference at the highest court. This council did not at all constrain the Senate, since many, and moreover, the most influential members of the first were also included in the second, and the attempts of Chancellor Bestuzhev in 1747 and 1757. turning it into an institution similar to the supreme privy council or cabinet of ministers were rejected by Elizabeth.

More than anyone else, Elizabeth was also interested in the question of succession to the throne, which became especially acute after the dark case of N.F. Lopukhina, inflated by Lestocq’s intrigues, and Anna Leopoldovna’s refusal to renounce her rights to the throne for her children. To calm minds, Elizabeth summoned her nephew, Karl-Peter-Ulrich, to St. Petersburg, who was proclaimed heir to the throne on November 7, 1742. Meanwhile, provided to the Senate, whose members were, without exception, representatives "noble Russian nobility" domestic policy sharply turned away from the path on which the first orders of the new empress had put it. The dignitaries gathered in the Senate, headed by the Vorontsovs and Shuvalovs, no longer thought about the further restoration of Peter’s order, about the implementation of the idea of ​​a police state with an unlimited monarchy, carried out by a classless bureaucracy, which animated the Transformer. Not this idea, but national feeling and class-noble interests now became the main incentives for government activity, to which was added the traditional need to take care of replenishing the treasury with funds sufficient to maintain the court, officials and army.

The new government did not have any program for major reforms of the political system. The question of this, however, was raised twice: I. I. Shuvalov gave Elizabeth a note "about fundamental laws" and P.I. Shuvalov presented to the Senate about the benefits for the state "free knowledge of the opinions of society." But these projects did not receive further movement, since the nobility, having actually achieved participation in government activities, no longer thought, as in 1730, about formally limiting the supreme power. But the government, in its daily practice, successfully fulfilled other aspirations of the nobility that it declared upon Anna Ioannovna’s accession to the throne.

First of all, public service was turned into a privilege only for the nobles. During the reign of Elizabeth, with the exception of the Razumovskys, not a single statesman appeared who came from the lower strata of society, as was almost the rule under Peter the Great. Even foreigners were tolerated in the service only when for some reason there were no capable or knowledgeable Russian nobles. This made it possible for the Germans to remain in the diplomatic field. At the same time, the service of the nobles itself became easier. The 25-year service law, enacted in 1735 and now suspended, is now in full force. Practice, in addition, legitimized that the nobles actually completed their 25-year service in a much shorter period, since the government generously allowed them preferential and long-term leaves, which were so ingrained that in 1756 - 1757. it was necessary to resort to drastic measures to force officers living on their estates to report to the army. In the same era, the custom spread among the nobility to enroll in regiments while still in infancy and thus achieve officer ranks long before adulthood.

In the 1750s, a decree was being prepared in the Senate on the complete exemption of nobles from public service, which was accidentally issued only by Elizabeth’s successor. The restored prosecutor's office did not have the same strength, as a result of which the service, from a sometimes heavy duty, began to take on the character of a profitable occupation. This especially applies to the governors, who at this time became permanent.

The whip, execution and confiscation of property that followed under Peter the Great and Anna Ioannovna for embezzlement and bribery were now replaced by demotion, transfer to another place and rarely dismissal. Administrative morals, in the absence of control and fear of punishment, have fallen extremely low. “The laws,” Elizabeth herself admitted, “are not enforced by internal common enemies. The insatiable greed of self-interest has reached such a point that some places established for justice have become marketplaces, covetousness and partiality in the leadership of judges, connivance and omission as approval of lawlessness.” The growth of the class element in the central and regional administration was mitigated, however, by the fact that by the 40s of the 18th century the national body, in general, had coped with the consequences of Peter the Great's financial crisis.

During the reign of Elizabeth, taxes were paid more regularly than before, the amount of arrears was reduced, and the amount of per capita money was reduced by 2 - 5 kopecks per capita. The manifesto of 1752, which forgave the 2 1/2 million per capita shortage that had occurred from 1724 to 1747, publicly announced that the empire had achieved such prosperity that in income and population "Almost a fifth of the previous state exceeds." Therefore, a certain softness began to be practiced in the methods of administrative influence on the population, especially in comparison with the exactingness and cruelty of the administration during the German regime. Under Elizabeth, no less success was achieved in the conquest of land and peasant labor by the nobility.

The generous distribution of estates to life-campaigns, favorites and their relatives, as well as to honored and undeserved statesmen, significantly expanded serfdom, which, according to the decree of March 14, 1746, prohibited non-nobles "buy people and peasants without land and with land" and which received even retroactive force in the boundary instructions of 1754 and the decree of 1758, became the exclusive privilege of the nobility. A number of measures increased the severity of serfdom. Having removed the peasantry from the oath at the very moment of Elizabeth’s accession to the throne, the government thereby looked at them as slaves, and subsequently energetically put this view into practice.

A decree of July 2, 1742 prohibited landowner peasants from voluntarily entering into military service, thus taking away from them the only opportunity to get out of serfdom, and the boundary instruction of the same year ordered all commoners, illegitimate and freedmen to enroll either as posads or as soldiers , or for the landowners, threatening otherwise with exile to the Orenburg region or being sent to work in state-owned factories. The very rights of landowners over peasants were significantly increased by decrees of December 4, 1747, May 2, 1758 and December 13, 1760. According to the first, the nobility could sell courtyard people and peasants to be recruited, which legitimized human trafficking, which was already widespread wide sizes; the second authorized the landowners to monitor the behavior of their serfs, and the third gave them the right to exile offending peasants and servants to Siberia, with the treasury crediting those exiled as recruits, and thereby gave the landowners' arbitrariness a sort of official character. Measures in the form of permission for peasants, no matter whose they were, according to the decree of 1745, to trade goods in villages and villages and, according to the decree of February 13, 1748, to join the merchant class, subject to the payment of merchant taxes along with the payment of the capitation tax and quitrents, of course, did not contradict the general direction of the legislation, since the benefits provided to the peasants, improving their economic condition, were thereby beneficial for the landowners.

The material well-being of the nobility was generally an important object for the direct concerns of the government. Thus, by decree of May 7, 1753, a noble bank was established in St. Petersburg, with a branch in Moscow, which provided noblemen with cheap loans (at 6% per year) in fairly large amounts (up to 10,000 rubles). For the same purpose, according to instructions on May 13, 1754, a general land survey was undertaken, however, it was met with very hostility by the nobility and, as a result, was soon suspended. Having made serfdom a noble privilege and given almost the same character to the civil service, Elizabeth's government took measures to transform the nobility into a more closed class. Since 1756, the Senate, by a series of decrees, determined that only persons who presented evidence of their noble origin could be included in the lists of nobility. It was on this basis that a new genealogy book began to be compiled in 1761. Senate decrees 1758 - 1760 They even more sharply separated personal nobles from hereditary ones, depriving non-nobles promoted to chief officer ranks - which, since the time of Peter the Great, gave them nobility - the right to own populated estates.

The measures of Elizabeth’s government, which seemed to pursue national objectives, the division of Russia in 1757 into 5 districts, from which recruits were taken alternately after 4 years into 5, and the establishment in 1743 of a 15-year period for auditing the tax-paying population, were also In essence, class coloring and the decrees themselves were motivated primarily by the interests of the landowners. Even the largest financial reform of the reign - the abolition of internal customs in 1754, in which S. M. Solovyov saw the destruction of the last traces of specific time - was considered by its initiator, P. I. Shuvalov, from the estate-noble point of view: from its implementation he waited for the development of peasant trade beneficial to the nobility. The class-nobility policy of Elizabeth's government had a particularly clear impact on the activities of the institution, which seemed to have been created exclusively in the interests of the merchants. Opened for the latter's needs in 1754, commercial or "copper" the bank in practice provided extensive credit to almost only nobles, from high dignitaries to guards officers.

Estate could not but affect the generally venerable activities of Elizabeth's government in the field of education. In 1747, new regulations for the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences were developed with the participation of K. Razumovsky, appointed president in 1746. In 1755, a new university was founded in Moscow, according to the project of I. I. Shuvalov and M. V. Lomonosov, and two gymnasiums were opened under it and one in Kazan. Although both universities could be attended by people of all conditions, except for taxation, only the nobility took wide advantage of it, and by the half of the 18th century. understood the need for enlightenment better than other segments of society. The government of Elizabeth met this aspiration of the nobility halfway with its concerns about the development of purely noble educational institutions: the land gentry corps, the artillery academy, and especially schools at the collegiums. This kind of educational events were absolutely necessary in an era when, under the influence of the experienced domination of foreigners under Anna Ioannovna, the spirit of national-religious intolerance and hostility towards Western European education strongly developed, especially among the clergy. Thanks to the Razumovsky brothers, who bowed to the memory of St. Yavorsky, the highest levels of the hierarchy were now occupied by persons imbued with hatred of the educational aspirations of Feofan Prokopovich, who reigned unchallenged in the synod under Anna Ioannovna.

A number of preachers appeared who saw in Minich and Osterman emissaries of Satan sent to destroy the Orthodox faith. In this field, the abbot of the Sviyazhsk monastery Dm. distinguished himself more than others. Sechenov and Ambrose Yushkevich. This attitude towards "to the Germans" And "German" culture was not slow to show up in reality. Having received censorship in its hands, the synod submitted for the highest signature, in 1743, a draft decree banning the import of books into Russia without their prior examination. Bestuzhev-Ryumin energetically rebelled against this, but Elizabeth did not follow his advice, and works such as Fontenelle’s book "About Many Worlds" and published under Peter the Great "Pheatron or historical shame", translated by G. Buzhansky, began to be banned. But the book is expensive for the synod "Stone of Faith" was printed. Some of the hierarchs had a negative attitude not only towards secular science, but also towards church education. Arkhangelsk Archbishop Barsanuphius spoke out, for example, against a large school built in Arkhangelsk, on the grounds that the Cherkassy bishops loved schools. When fanatical self-immolations intensified among schismatics, such shepherds could only turn to government authorities. The latter, in the person of the Senate, was aware of the abnormally low level of education in the clergy and did something to raise it. This level was clearly reflected in the position that the synod took on the issue of mitigating criminal penalties: when the decrees of 1753 and 1754, carried out at the personal initiative of the empress, abolished the death penalty, as well as torture in tavern cases, the Senate presented a report on the exemption from torture of criminals up to the age of 17, but members of the synod rebelled against this, arguing that childhood, according to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, was considered up to 12 years of age; they forgot that the regulations to which they referred applied to the population of the southern countries, which reached adulthood much earlier than the northerners.

The educational activities of Elizabeth’s government, dictated most of all by the interests of the nobility, nevertheless played an important role in the assimilation of Western European culture by the Russians, the powerful conductors of which were the academy, the university and the first public theater, opened by the treasury on the initiative of Volkov and Sumarokov in 1756.

Exclusively state interests guided Elizabeth's government only in the field of peripheral and foreign policy. The first Novorossiya, as a result of serious unrest of the Bashkirs, was turned in 1744 into the Orenburg province, which also included the Ufa province and the Stavropol district of the current Samara province. The calming of the foreigners, the settlement of the region by Russians and its organization fell to the lot of the talented and honest Neplyuev. Siberia, where there was also fermentation among foreigners, also had a conscientious administrator in the person of the victim in the Volynsky case, Soymonov. The Chukchi and Koryaks even threatened to completely exterminate Russian settlers in the vicinity of Okhotsk. The detachments sent against them met fierce resistance, and the Koryaks, for example, preferred in 1752 to voluntarily burn themselves in a wooden fort rather than surrender to the Russians. Little Russia also inspired great fear, where strong dissatisfaction with the governance of the Little Russian Collegium established by Peter the Great had spread.

Having visited Kyiv in 1744, Elizabeth decided, in order to calm the population, to restore the hetmanship. Elected at the insistence of the hetman government, K. Razumovsky, however, understood that the days of the hetmanate were already over, and therefore insisted on transferring the affairs of the closed board to the Senate, on which the city of Kyiv began to directly depend. The end of the Zaporozhye Sich was also approaching, since during the reign of Elizabeth the summoning of new colonists to the southern Russian steppes continued energetically. In 1750, a number of Serbian settlements called New Serbia were founded in what is now the Kherson province, from which two hussar regiments were formed. Later, new Serbian settlements arose in the current Ekaterinoslav province, which were called Slavic-Serbia. Near the fortress of St. Elizabeth, settlements were formed from Polish Little Russians, Moldovans and schismatics, which laid the foundation for the Novoslobodskaya line. Thus, Zaporozhye was gradually covered by the already emerging second Novorossiya.

In the field of foreign policy, Elizabeth's government generally followed the path partly indicated by Peter the Great, partly depending on the then position of the main Western European states. Upon her accession to the throne, Elizabeth found Russia in a war with Sweden and under the strong influence of France, a hostile Austria. The peace in Abo in 1743 gave Russia the Kymenegor province, and the military assistance provided to the Holstein party led to the fact that Adolf Friedrich, the uncle of the heir to Elizabeth Petrovna, was declared heir to the Swedish throne. The arrest of Lestocq in 1748 eliminated French influence at court, which was still supported by the Shuvalovs. Having achieved an exceptional position, Bestuzhev-Ryumin was a restorer "Peter the Great's system", which he saw in friendship with England and in an alliance with Austria. At the request of the former, Russia took part in the War of the Austrian Succession. The rapid rise of Prussia, meanwhile, gave rise to a rapprochement between Austria and France, which had until then competed with each other, which led to the formation of a coalition that included Russia. In the war that opened against Frederick II in 1757, Russian troops played a major role in conquering East Prussia and Konigsberg, but the death of Elizabeth did not allow these lands to be consolidated for Russia.

3rd Empress of All Russia November 25 (December 6) 1741 - December 25, 1761 (January 5, 1762)
Coronation:
Predecessor:
Successor:
Birth:
Dynasty:	Romanovs (Welphs)
	Catherine I
	A. G. Razumovsky
Autograph:
Monogram:

Before accession to the throne

Accession to the throne

Reign

Social unrest

Foreign policy

Seven Years' War (1756-1763)

Personal life

Succession to the throne

Interesting Facts

Literature

Interesting Facts

(December 18 (29), 1709, Kolomenskoye - December 25, 1761 (January 5, 1762), St. Petersburg) - Russian empress from November 25 (December 6), 1741 from the Romanov dynasty, daughter of Peter I and his mistress Ekaterina Alekseevna (future Empress Catherine I).

Childhood, education and upbringing

Elizabeth was born in the village of Kolomenskoye on December 18, 1709. This day was solemn: Peter I entered Moscow, wanting to celebrate his victory over Charles XII in the old capital; Swedish prisoners were brought behind him. The Emperor intended to immediately celebrate the Poltava victory, but upon entering the capital he was notified of the birth of his daughter. “Let’s put off the victory celebration and hasten to congratulate my daughter on her entry into the world,” he said. Peter found Catherine and the newborn baby healthy and celebrated with a feast.

Being only eight years old, Princess Elizabeth already attracted attention with her beauty. In 1717, both daughters, Anna and Elizabeth, greeted Peter returning from abroad, dressed in Spanish attire. Then the French ambassador noticed that the sovereign’s youngest daughter seemed unusually beautiful in this outfit. The following year, 1718, assemblies were introduced, and both princesses appeared there in dresses of different colors, embroidered with gold and silver, and in headdresses sparkling with diamonds. Everyone admired Elizabeth's dancing skills. In addition to her ease of movement, she was distinguished by resourcefulness and ingenuity, constantly inventing new figures. The French envoy Levi noted at the same time that Elizabeth could be called a perfect beauty if her hair were not reddish.

The princess's upbringing could not have been particularly successful, especially since her mother was completely illiterate. But she was taught in French, and Catherine constantly insisted that there were important reasons for her to know French better than other subjects. This reason, as is known, was the strong desire of her parents to marry Elizabeth to one of the persons of French royal blood. However, they responded to all persistent proposals to become related to the French Bourbons with a polite but decisive refusal.

In all other respects, Elizabeth’s education was not very burdensome; she never received a decent systematic education. Her time was filled with horse riding, hunting, rowing and caring for her beauty.

Before accession to the throne

After her parents' marriage, she bore the title of princess. The will of Catherine I of 1727 provided for the rights of Elizabeth and her descendants to the throne after Peter II and Anna Petrovna. In the last year of the reign of Catherine I and at the beginning of the reign of Peter II, there was a lot of talk at court about the possibility of a marriage between an aunt and a nephew, who were connected by friendly relations at that time. After the death of Peter II, engaged to Catherine Dolgorukova, from smallpox in January 1730, Elizabeth, despite the will of Catherine I, was not actually considered as one of the contenders for the throne, which was transferred to her cousin Anna Ioannovna. During her reign (1730-1740), Tsarevna Elizabeth was in disgrace; those dissatisfied with Anna Ioannovna and Biron had high hopes for the daughter of Peter the Great.

Accession to the throne

Taking advantage of the decline in authority and influence of power during the regency of Anna Leopoldovna, on the night of November 25 (December 6), 1741, 32-year-old Elizabeth, accompanied by Count M.I. Vorontsov, physician Lestocq and her music teacher Schwartz, said “Guys! You know whose daughter I am, follow me! Just as you served my father, so will you serve me with your loyalty!” raised behind her the grenadier company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. Having encountered no resistance, with the help of 308 loyal guards, she proclaimed herself the new queen, ordering the imprisonment of the young Ivan VI in the fortress and the arrest of the entire Brunswick family (relatives of Anna Ioannovna, including the regent of Ivan VI, Anna Leopoldovna) and her adherents. The favorites of the former empress Minich, Levenwolde and Osterman were sentenced to death, replaced by exile to Siberia - in order to show Europe the tolerance of the new autocrat.

Reign

Elizabeth was almost not involved in state affairs, entrusting them to her favorites - the brothers Razumovsky, Shuvalov, Vorontsov, A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin.

Elizabeth proclaimed a return to Peter's reforms as the basic principles of domestic and foreign policy. The role of the Senate, the Berg and Manufactory Collegium, and the Chief Magistrate was restored. The Cabinet of Ministers was abolished. The Senate received the right of legislative initiative. During the Seven Years' War, a permanent meeting arose above the Senate - the Conference at the Highest Court. The conference was attended by the heads of the military and diplomatic departments, as well as persons specially invited by the Empress. The activities of the Secret Chancellery became invisible. The importance of the Synod and the clergy increased (the empress's confessor Fyodor Dubyansky acquired particular influence at court), and schismatics were brutally persecuted. The Synod took care of the material support of the clergy, monasteries, and the spread of spiritual education among the people. During the reign of Elizabeth, work on a new Slavic translation of the Bible, begun under Peter I in 1712, was completed. The Elizabethan Bible, published in 1751, is still used in the worship of the Russian Orthodox Church with minor changes.

In 1741, the Empress adopted a Decree allowing Buddhist lamas to preach their teachings on the territory of the Russian Empire. All lamas who wished to come to Russia were sworn to allegiance to the empire. The decree also exempted them from paying taxes. At the same time, on December 2, 1742, a decree was adopted on the expulsion of all citizens of the Jewish faith, with permission to remain only for those who wanted to convert to Orthodoxy.

In 1744-1747, the 2nd census of the tax-paying population was carried out.

In the late 1740s - the first half of the 1750s, on the initiative of Pyotr Shuvalov, a number of serious transformations were carried out. In 1754, the Senate adopted a resolution developed by Shuvalov on the abolition of internal customs duties and petty fees. This led to a significant revival of trade relations between the regions. The first Russian banks were founded - Dvoryansky (Loan), Merchant and Medny (State).

A tax reform was carried out, which made it possible to improve the financial situation of the country: fees for concluding foreign trade transactions were increased to 13 kopecks per 1 ruble (instead of the previously charged 5 kopecks). The tax on salt and wine was increased.

In 1754, a new commission was created to draw up the Code, which completed its work by the end of Elizabeth's reign, but the process of transformation was interrupted by the Seven Years' War (1756-1762).

In social policy, the line of expanding the rights of the nobility continued. In 1746, the nobles were granted the right to own land and peasants. In 1760, landowners received the right to exile peasants to Siberia and count them instead of recruits. Peasants were prohibited from conducting monetary transactions without the permission of the landowner.

In 1755, factory peasants were assigned as permanent (possession) workers in Ural factories.

The death penalty was abolished (1756), and the widespread practice of sophisticated torture was stopped.

Under Elizabeth, military educational institutions were reorganized. In 1744, a decree was issued to expand the network of primary schools. The first gymnasiums were opened: in Moscow (1755) and Kazan (1758). In 1755, on the initiative of I. I. Shuvalov, Moscow University was founded, and in 1760 - the Academy of Arts. August 30, 1756 - a decree was signed on the beginning of the creation of the structure of the Imperial Theaters of Russia. Outstanding cultural monuments have been created (Tsarskoye Selo Catherine Palace, etc.). Support was provided to M.V. Lomonosov and other representatives of Russian science and culture. In the last period of her reign, Elizabeth was less involved in issues of public administration, entrusting it to P.I. and I.I. Shuvalov, M.I. and R.I. Vorontsov and others.

In general, Elizabeth Petrovna’s domestic policy was characterized by stability and a focus on growing the authority and power of state power. Based on a number of signs, it can be said that Elizaveta Petrovna’s course was the first step towards the policy of enlightened absolutism, which was then carried out under Catherine II.

Empress Elizabeth was the last ruler of Russia who was Romanov “by blood.”

Social unrest

At the turn of the 50-60s. XVIII century There were more than 60 uprisings of monastic peasants.

In the 30-40s. There were uprisings twice in Bashkiria.

In 1754-1764. unrest was observed at 54 factories in the Urals (200 thousand registered peasants).

Foreign policy

Russo-Swedish War (1741-1743)

In 1740, the Prussian king Frederick II decided to take advantage of the death of the Austrian emperor Charles VI to capture Silesia. The War of the Austrian Succession began. Prussia and France, hostile to Austria, tried to persuade Russia to take part in the conflict on their side, but they were also satisfied with non-intervention in the war. Therefore, French diplomacy tried to push Sweden and Russia into conflict in order to divert the latter's attention from European affairs. Sweden declared war on Russia.

Russian troops under the command of General Lassi defeated the Swedes in Finland and occupied its territory. The Abo Peace Treaty (Abo Peace Treaty) of 1743 ended the war. The treaty was signed on August 7, 1743 in the city of Abo (now Turku, Finland) on the Russian side by A. I. Rumyantsev and I. Lyuberas, on the Swedish side by G. Cederkreis and E. M. Nolken. During the negotiations, Russia agreed to limit its territorial claims subject to the election of Holstein Prince Adolf Fredrik, cousin of the Russian heir Peter III Fedorovich, as heir to the Swedish throne. On June 23, 1743, Adolf was elected heir to the Swedish throne, which opened the way to a final agreement.

Article 21 of the peace treaty established eternal peace between the countries and obliged them not to enter into hostile alliances. The Peace of Nystad of 1721 was confirmed. The Kymenegor province with the cities of Friedrichsgam and Vilmanstrand, part of the Savolaki province with the city of Neyshlot, went to Russia. The border runs along the river. Kümmene.

Beginning of Kazakhstan's accession to Russia

Back in 1731, Anna Ioannovna signed a document accepting the Junior Kazakh Zhuz into Russia. Khan of the zhuz Abulkhair and the elders swore allegiance to Russia.

In 1740-1743 The Middle Zhuz voluntarily became part of Russia; Orenburg (1743) and a fortress on the river were built. Yaik.

Seven Years' War (1756-1763)

In 1756-1763, the Anglo-French war for the colonies. The war involved two coalitions: Prussia, England and Portugal against France, Spain, Austria, Sweden and Saxony with the participation of Russia.

In 1756, Frederick II attacked Saxony without declaring war. In the summer of the same year he forced her to capitulate. On September 1, 1756, Russia declared war on Prussia. In 1757, Frederick defeated the Austrian and French troops and sent the main forces against Russia. In the summer of 1757, the Russian army under the command of Apraksin entered East Prussia. On August 19, the Russian army was surrounded near the village. Gross-Jägersdorf and only with the support of the reserve brigade of P. A. Rumyantsev broke out of the encirclement. The enemy lost 8 thousand people. and retreated. Apraksin did not organize the persecution, and he himself retreated to Courland. Elizabeth suspended him and put him under investigation. The Englishman V.V. Fermor was appointed as the new commander.

At the beginning of 1758, Russian troops captured Königsberg, then all of East Prussia, the population of which even swore allegiance to the empress. East Prussia received the status of a province of Russia. In August 1758, a battle took place near the village of Zondorf, in which the Russians won. Some rulers of Germany often raised a toast to the Germans who were victorious at Zondorf, but these statements were erroneous, since the army that occupied the battlefield after the battle was considered victorious. The Russian army occupied the battlefield (this battle is described in detail by Valentin Pikul in the novel “With a Pen and a Sword”). At the beginning of the battle, Fermor, along with the Austrian ambassador to the Russian army, fled from the battlefield. The army won without a commander in chief. Fermor was subsequently suspended. During the battle, Frederick II said the famous phrases:

The army was led by P. S. Saltykov. On August 1, 1759, a 58,000-strong Russian army fought a general battle near the village of Kunersdorf against a 48,000-strong Prussian army. The army of Frederick II was destroyed: only 3 thousand soldiers remained. Seydlitz's cavalry was also destroyed. Saltykov was removed for his defiant attitude towards the Austrian troops and the delay in advancement and A.B. Buturlin was appointed.

On September 28, 1760, Berlin was captured; it was briefly captured by the corps of General Z. G. Chernyshev, who captured military warehouses. However, as Frederick approached, the corps retreated.

In December 1761, Elizabeth died of a throat hemorrhage due to a chronic disease unknown to the medicine of those times.

Peter III ascended the throne. The new emperor returned all the conquered lands to Frederick and even offered military assistance. Only a new palace coup and the accession to the throne of Catherine II prevented Russian military actions against former allies - Austria and Sweden.

Personal life

According to some contemporaries, Elizabeth was in a secret marriage with Alexei Razumovsky. She most likely did not have any children, which is why she took under her personal guardianship two sons and the daughter of chamber cadet Grigory Butakov, who were orphaned in 1743: Peter, Alexei and Praskovya. However, after the death of Elizaveta Petrovna, many impostors appeared, calling themselves her children from her marriage to Razumovsky. Among them, the most famous figure was the so-called Princess Tarakanova.

The period of Elizabeth's reign was a period of luxury and excess. Masquerade balls were regularly held at court, and in the first ten years, so-called “metamorphoses” were held, when ladies dressed up in men's suits, and men in ladies' suits. Elizaveta Petrovna herself set the tone and was a trendsetter. The Empress's wardrobe consisted of up to 15 thousand dresses.

Succession to the throne

On November 7 (November 18), 1742, Elizabeth appointed her nephew (the son of her sister Anna), Duke of Holstein Karl-Peter Ulrich (Peter Fedorovich), as the official heir to the throne. His official title included the words “Grandson of Peter the Great.”

In the winter of 1747, the Empress issued a decree, referred to in history as the “hair regulation,” commanding all court ladies to cut their hair bald, and gave everyone “black tousled wigs” to wear until they grew back. City ladies were allowed by decree to keep their hair, but wear the same black wigs on top. The reason for the order was that the empress could not remove the powder from her hair and decided to dye it black. However, this did not help and she had to cut off her hair completely and wear a black wig.

Memory

Literature

• Klyuchevsky, Vasily Osipovich Course of Russian history (Lectures I-XXXII, rtf)

• V. Pikul “Word and Deed”
• Coronation album of Elizabeth Petrovna
• Soboleva I. A. German princesses - Russian destinies. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2008. - 413 p.

To the cinema

• "Young Catherine" (" Young Catherine"), (1991). Vanessa Redgrave plays Elizabeth.
• “Viva, midshipmen!” (1991), “Midshipmen - III” (1992). Natalya Gundareva plays the role of Elizabeth.
• “Secrets of palace coups” (1-5th films, (2000-2003)). In the role of Elizabeth - Ekaterina Nikitina.
• With a feather and a sword (2008). Olga Samoshina plays the role of Elizabeth.

• In the winter of 1747, the Empress issued a decree, referred to in history as the “hair regulation,” commanding all court ladies to cut their hair bald, and gave everyone “black tousled wigs” to wear until they grew back. City ladies were allowed by decree to keep their hair, but wear the same black wigs on top. The reason for the order was that the empress could not remove the powder from her hair and decided to dye it black. However, this did not help and she had to cut off her hair completely and wear a black wig.

• Elizaveta Petrovna had a snub nose, and this nose (under pain of punishment) was painted by artists only from the full face, from its best side. And there are almost no profile portraits of Elizabeth, except for the occasional medallion on a bone by Rastrelli.

• On December 22, 2009, the exhibition “Vivat, Elizabeth” opened in the Catherine Palace, organized by the State Museum-Reserve “Tsarskoye Selo” together with the State Museum of Ceramics and the “Kuskovo Estate of the 18th Century” and dedicated to the 300th anniversary of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. One of the most interesting exhibits of the exhibition was a paper sculpture depicting the ceremonial attire of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. The sculpture was made especially for the exhibition, commissioned by the museum, by the world-famous Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave.

On December 18, 1709, according to the old style, the beloved daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth, was born. How “Petrov’s daughter” broke through to the crown, what threatened her and why the most beautiful Russian princess got married only at 33 years old.

Bastard girl

Elizaveta Petrovna was born in the royal palace of Kolomenskoye on December 18, 1709. Her father, Peter I, was by that time heading towards Moscow with an army after the successful Poltava campaign. Having received news of the birth of his daughter, he put everything aside and demanded a three-day feast.

The future empress spent her childhood and youth in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where she was raised with her older sister Anna, who was born a year earlier. They practically did not see their parents: their father was always traveling, where his mother accompanied him. And when they were in St. Petersburg, the mother was more likely to be busy preparing receptions or palace intrigues than with her own daughters.

The royal daughters were looked after either by Peter's younger sister, Tsarevna Natalya Alekseevna, or by the Menshikovs and their relatives. Thus, girls often mentioned the hunchback Varvara, the sister of Daria Menshikova, in letters to their father. The Menshikovs reported to the Tsar about the condition of their daughters in their letters.

The girls became legal daughters only in 1712, when Peter I married their mother Catherine. Before this they were considered bastards. Contemporaries described how girls held onto their mother's hem during the wedding: they were allowed to do this when they refused to leave their parents despite all persuasion. They were not present at the feast for long: three-year-old Anya and two-year-old Lisa were taken to bed. Although Lisa became a legitimate daughter when she was still very young, later opponents of her accession to the throne repeatedly mentioned this fact of the girl’s biography.

Elizabeth began to be taught to read and write at the age of two or three. Peter and Catherine personally wrote them notes, to which, however, they began to respond much later. The first letter from which it is clear that correspondence was carried out is dated 1718.

Lisette, my friend, hello! Thank you for your letters, may God grant you the joy of seeing you. Big man, kiss your brother for me,” wrote Peter I. “Big man” is the son of the tsar, who was predicted to have the fate of the emperor, but he died in 1719 at the age of four.

I can't bear to get married

Elizabeth was declared fit for marriage at the age of 12, in 1722. By that time, the girl, as those close to the first Russian emperor wrote, had become prettier and more feminine. However, she did not lose her beauty until old age.

The girl could ride horses, danced beautifully, and also spoke calmly in French, German, Finnish and Swedish.

There was even a special ceremony held to mark the beginning of her “marital age”: Peter cut special “angel wings” from his daughter’s dress. Peter dreamed of making his daughter a French queen. He wanted to marry her to the future Louis XV, who was several months younger than Elizabeth. However, the French court was skeptical about a daughter born out of wedlock. Even the fact that it was officially recognized did not help. Peter made several attempts to reach an agreement through his associates. But nothing worked.

At this time, the Holstein Duke Karl-Friedrich was seeking Elizabeth's hand. However, he also agreed with Anna - but what difference does it make which of the daughters: in royal marriages it is not about love, but about politics. Holstein needed Russia to return its province of Schleswig, which Denmark had taken back in 1704. Peter delayed answering, since he did not see such an alliance as beneficial, especially when France was at stake. As a result, shortly before his death, in 1725, he made up his mind - and gave Anna in marriage to the Duke.

There was also the option of marriage within the surname. Thus, Vice-Chancellor Andrei Ivanovich Osterman assured that the girl should be married to Pyotr Alekseevich (the son of Peter I from his first marriage). But the Russian emperor categorically refused this option: even if only by father, Liza and Petya were relatives to each other. The church would not approve of such a marriage - but this is not the main thing. In society, Lisa has gained the reputation of a bastard; add to this an intra-dynastic marriage - and disturbances and revolutions cannot be avoided. Therefore, the idea of ​​the future Emperor Peter II was abandoned.

After the death of her father, the search for a groom for her daughter continued. So, in May 1727, shortly before her death, Catherine I bequeathed to her daughter to marry Karl-August, the younger brother of Anna Petrovna’s husband. He visited the Russian court, the girl was delighted. But in the summer he suddenly fell ill and died.

Entertainment

After the death of my mother and the failure of my next groom, the issue of Elizabeth’s marriage died down. She took a prominent place at the court of her nephew, Emperor Peter II. At court there was talk about her intimate relationship with the 13-year-old ruler, whom she herself was five years older than. However, these are nothing more than rumors.

The Russians are afraid of the great power that Princess Elizabeth has over the Tsar: her intelligence, beauty and ambition frighten everyone, wrote the Spanish envoy Duke de Liria.

Hunting, horse riding, partying - the “beautiful sister” did not deny herself pleasures. Many people were listed as her lovers at that time. Having learned about her affair with chamberlain Alexander Buturlin, Peter even demanded that he be expelled from Russia. As a result, he was sent to the army that was then stationed in Ukraine.

To the monastery

Elizabeth lived quite carefree until the beginning of 1730. She went hunting, danced, and attracted admiring glances from fans. However, the 14-year-old emperor, who refused nothing to his beloved aunt, suddenly fell ill with smallpox and died.

For Lisa, completely different times began. Her cousin Anna Ioannovna was summoned from Courland. She took her lover with her - Biron. And no matter how hard Elizabeth tried to show her loyalty, the Empress was extremely wary of her. After all, Elizabeth was a legitimate contender for the throne. But Anna Ioannovna had her own plans for the Russian crown - to put it on the heads of her relatives.

Anna Ioannovna limited Elizabeth's allowance to 30 thousand rubles a year for everything. Translated into modern money, this is about 15 million rubles. The amount is fabulous for most, but not for the royal daughter, who, in principle, was not used to denying herself anything. Especially in dresses and jewelry, the cost of each of which was estimated at hundreds of rubles.

However, the empress solved the money issue easily - she took out a loan. Well, who can refuse? All these debts were later covered by Biron, who ascended the throne, and Elizabeth thanked him later, saving his life. In addition, having become empress, she returned Biron and his family from exile in the city of Pelym (now the territory of the Urals), where Anna Leopoldovna had sent him in 1741. Having once paid off his debts, he then settled in Yaroslavl.

Although Elizabeth presented herself more like a reveler, to whom any politics was deeply alien, she still represented a danger, at least by right of birth. Anna Ioannovna saw only one good old Russian option - a monastery. Of course, the idea of ​​marrying off the girl and sending her away from the Russian court persisted, but in reality the idea was dubious. After all, it was necessary to choose a groom from a country which, the further from Russia, the better. And most importantly, he does not have a large army capable of supporting the legitimate heir to the throne.

Grenadier friends

monastery" and "murder" hung over Elizabeth's head like a harsh sentence.

Then Petrov’s daughter decided that it was time to save herself. Preparations for the coup took almost a year. The first step was to win over the military to our side. However, it was quite doable. By that time, all the problems that existed in the army under Peter I had already been forgotten. Only good fame remained about the emperor, which means that his daughter was initially guaranteed a “successful starting position.”

In addition, the pleasant and smiling Elizabeth did not leave anyone indifferent, being able, as contemporaries wrote, to win people over with just a smile. She baptized grenadier children, could easily drink with the soldiers, and gave them money. The girl didn’t refuse to flirt either.

The result of such a female calculation was observed by Russian Field Marshal General Burchard Minich, who came to Alexandrovskaya Sloboda, where Elizabeth then lived, to congratulate her on the upcoming New Year.

He was extremely alarmed when he saw that the entryway, staircase and hallway were filled entirely with guards soldiers, familiarly calling the princess their godfather, - French diplomat Jacques-Joachim Trotti Shetardy later quoted him as saying.

Therefore, when soon the godfather announced that she was in trouble, the grenadiers stood up for her. Still would! The arriving “busurmans” occupy the Russian throne, and Petrova’s daughter can be killed!

Coup

As a result, when Elizabeth asked for help, about 300 grenadiers married her. Half of them were enrolled in the guard in the years 1737–1741, that is, they were probably not yet 30 years old. It is curious that among Elizabeth’s supporters there was not a single representative of the then noble noble families.

The rival was outnumbered several times: so, according to documents, about 10 thousand people served the Russian imperial court. They could easily deal with three hundred rebels. Therefore, it was decided to stage the coup at night.

On November 25, 1741, Elizabeth came to the barracks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment guards around 11:00 pm with the following words: “Do you know whose daughter I am?” After an affirmative answer, she asked if the soldiers were ready to die for her. Well, of course we are ready. Then they all moved towards the Winter Palace.

There is a legend that a hundred meters before the gate, Elizabeth got out of the sleigh and ran ahead of the guards, but stumbled. And they carried her into the Winter Palace in their arms.

The husband of the regent, Anna Leopoldovna, Generalissimo Anton Ulrich, was carried out of the palace right in a sheet by the military and pushed into a carriage. It was more of a political moment: how can you give orders if the entire guard laughs at your appearance?

Following him, Anna was brought out, and in an hour they collected all possible belongings. The line was behind the little emperor. Elizabeth strictly forbade waking the child, so the grenadiers waited several hours for him to wake up.

Poor child, you are innocent, but your parents are guilty,” Elizabeth allegedly said, taking the little ruler in her arms and promising to leave the family alive.

The coup for the entire court, and for the entire country, was justified as follows: due to external and internal unrest, the Life Guard asked Petrova’s daughter to accept the throne. Elizabeth hastily destroyed everything connected with the little emperor: documents signed on his behalf were burned, money was sent for melting down, and sworn signature sheets were completely destroyed in public.

The reign of Elizabeth, from 1741 to 1761, was remembered by contemporaries primarily as a time of balls, receptions and entertainment, as well as the revelry of the nobility, which was given many privileges. But we must not lose sight of the important reforms that she carried out.

Thus, one of the first decrees the empress abolished the death penalty. There is a legend that Elizabeth vowed to do this if she ascended the throne.

They conducted the second population census in history and abolished a number of internal duties and small fees from traders. At the same time, the tax on foreign trade was increased. The Merchant and Noble banks opened, which is considered a powerful impetus for the development of entrepreneurship.

) -Russian empress from November 25, 1741 from the Romanov dynasty, daughter of Peter I and Catherine I

Prenner Georg Gaspar Joseph von. Portrait of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. 1754

The daughter of Peter I and the future Empress Catherine Alekseevna was born on December 18, 1709.On this day, Russian troops, winners of the Battle of Poltava, unfurled their banners and solemnly entered Moscow.

The triumphal entry of Russian troops into Moscow after the Poltava victory. Engraving by A.F. Zubov. 1710

Having received the joyful news of the birth of his daughter, Peter organized a three-day celebration in her honor. The king loved his second family very much. A powerful and stern man, his affection for loved ones sometimes took on touching forms.

Portrait of Princess Elizaveta Petrovna (1709-1761) as a child. Russian Museum, Mikhailovsky Castle.

In letters to his wife, he said hello to “four-sweetie” - this was Elizabeth’s family nickname at the time when she still crawled on all fours. In the summer of 1710, Peter sailed around the Baltic on the sailing ship “Lizetka” - that’s what he called the tiny crown princess.

Portrait of Princess Anna Petrovnaand Elizaveta Petrovna, 1717, Louis Caravaque

At the age of two, she attended her parents' wedding with her four-year-old sister Anna. Peter early began to write separately to the princesses, encouraging them in a similar way to master literacy. Elizabeth learned to read and write when she was not even eight years old. Peter I saw his daughters as instruments of diplomatic play and prepared them for dynastic marriages in order to strengthen Russia's international position.

I.N. Nikitin Portrait of Elizabeth Petrovna as a child (1709-1761) 1712-13

Therefore, he first of all paid attention to their learning of foreign languages. Elizabeth knew French perfectly and spoke German and Italian. In addition, the princesses were taught music, dancing, dressing skills, and etiquette. Since childhood, Elizabeth passionately loved dancing, and she had no equal in this art.

Tsesarevna Elizaveta Petrovna, future empress (1741-1761).Unfinished portrait. 1720s. Russian Museum

Back in 1720, her father tried to arrange Elizabeth’s marriage with the French king Louis XV, her age. But Versailles reacted with restraint to the Russian side’s proposal because of the princess’s origins: her mother was a commoner and was not married to the tsar at the time of her daughter’s birth. Elizabeth was later married to Charles Augustus of Holstein, but he died before he could become her husband.

The position of young Elizabeth at court and in the state changed dramatically in 1727. Before, life was like a fairy tale. She was surrounded by a young society, where she reigned not only by right of high birth, but also thanks to her personal merits. Quick to come up with ideas and pleasant to treat, Elizabeth was the soul of this society.

Unknown artist. Portrait of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna

Elizaveta Petrovna (equestrian portrait of the Empress with her retinue

She received enough money from her parents to satisfy her passion for all kinds of entertainment. Everything around her was seething with fun, she was always busy: trips along the Neva and outside the city, masquerades and balls, staging plays, playing music, dancing... This continuous and reckless ecstasy of life ended when Elizabeth’s mother, Empress Catherine I, died.

Peter II of Russia and Elizaveta Petrovna

At the court of Anna Ioannovna, the crown princess was given the honors due to her. However, Elizabeth felt like a stranger in the royal family. Her relationship with her cousin, the empress, was not very warm. Anna Ioannovna assigned Elizabeth a more than modest allowance, and the princess, who previously did not know how to count money, was now constantly in need of it. It is believed that the Empress could not forget her humiliating position in Mitau, when, due to the eternal lack of funds, she very often turned to Elizabeth’s parents with pleas for help and did not always receive what she asked for. And therefore the princess had a hard time living with her.

Unknown artist.Portrait of Tsarevna Elizaveta Petrovna, 1730s

And finally, Anna Ioannovna was worried about Elizabeth’s rights to the Russian crown. The Empress saw her relative as a serious rival and was seriously afraid of a coup in her favor. Anna ordered that the crown princess be placed under surveillance.

Louis Caravaque Portrait of Empress Anna Ioannovna. 1730

To get rid of Elizabeth, they wanted to either marry her somewhere far away from St. Petersburg and to a “safe” prince, or force her to become a nun. A suitable groom was never found. And the threat of lifelong imprisonment in a monastery for Elizabeth became a nightmare, which she got rid of only after ascending to the throne. The Tsesarevna was forced to behave extremely carefully. Any thoughtlessly spoken word - by her or someone close to her - could lead to disaster. She was pointedly not interested in politics.

Ivan VIAntonovich(1740-1764), emperor in 1740-1741. Great-grandson of Ivan V Alekseevich, son of Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick and Mecklenburg Princess Anna Leopoldovna, niece of the Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna. By Anna Ioannovna's manifesto he was appointed heir to the throne.

And yet, Anna Ioannovna’s fears were not without foundation, if only because the daughter of Peter I was loved in the guard. She often visited the barracks of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments. Familiar guards officers and soldiers often asked Elizabeth to be the godmother of their children, and she willingly fulfilled their wishes. It was among the guards that Elizabeth found her ardent supporters, with the help of whom she seized power in the state in November 1741.

Fyodor Moskovitin Oath of the Preobrazhensky Regiment to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.

From the first days of Elizabeth's reign under the Empressa circle of long-time adherents formed, occupying all the most important government and court positions. A passionate love for folk songs became the reason for Elizabeth’s attention to Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky. A Ukrainian Cossack, a rare handsome man, he came to St. Petersburg thanks to his magnificent bass. He was accepted as a court singer back in 1731. Having ascended the throne, Elizaveta Petrovna granted the rootless Razumovsky the title of count and the rank of field marshal, and in 1742, as many historians claim, she secretly married him. Rumors about this marriage inevitably gave rise to legends about the supposedly existing children of Elizabeth and Razumovsky - for example, Princess Tarakanova and even about the whole Tarakanoff family.

Unknown artist Portrait of Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky, mid-18th century

Elizaveta Petrovna

One of the empress's closest assistants was Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov. Vice-Chancellor from 1744, he succeeded A.P. Bestuzhev as Chancellor of the Empire in 1758.

Antropov Alexey Petrovich: Portrait of Prince M.I. Vorontsov

The Empress brought back from exile and brought closer to her the surviving princes Dolgorukov, Count P. I. Musin-Pushkin and several other Russian nobles who suffered during the reign of Anna Ioannovna. Elizabeth removed foreigners from all key positions in the state; she had no intention of expelling foreign specialists from the country, whom Russia urgently needed.

Coronation of Elizabeth Petrovna

Coronation procession of Elizabeth

The development of the foreign policy program and Russian diplomacy of the Elizabethan era are mainly associated with the name of the insightful and experienced statesman Chancellor Alexei Petrovich Bestuzhev.

Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Alexey Petrovich

On his initiative, in the spring of 1756, to consider issues of foreign policy and direct military operations during the pan-European Seven Years' War of 1756-1763. a new government body was established - the Conference at the Highest Court (a permanent meeting of senior dignitaries and generals consisting of ten people). Bestuzhev encountered problems in Russian-Swedish relations at the end of 1741, when he was appointed to the post of vice-chancellor. Sweden, having recovered from its defeat in the Northern War, hoped to take revenge and on the battlefields to reconsider the terms of the Nystadt Peace, according to which Russia had seized Swedish possessions in the Baltic states. In the summer of 1741, the Russian-Swedish war began, ending in the complete defeat of the Swedish army. In August 1743, a peace treaty was signed in Abo (Finland): the Swedish government confirmed the terms of the Peace of Nystadt concluded by Peter I.

Capture of the Kolberg fortress during the Seven Years' War,Alexander Evstafievich Kotzebue

The Seven Years' War, in which Russia, for the purpose of territorial acquisitions,took the side of France and Austria against Prussia and Great Britain; after Bestuzhev’s resignation, it was carried out under M.I. Vorontsov, his successor. At the beginning of 1758, Russian troops entered East Prussia and occupied Königsberg. In August of the following year, the Prussian army was defeated in the battle of Kunersdorf, and in September 1760, Russian troops entered Berlin, which they were then forced to leave due to inconsistency in the actions of the allies. The victories of the Russian army were decisive for the defeat of Prussia, whose armed forces were then considered the best in Europe

Battle of Kunnensdorf,Alexander Evstafievich Kotzebue

Louis CARAVACQUE. Portrait of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna

Upon ascending the throne, Elizabeth proclaimed herself the continuator of the workand his great father. Following Peter's "principles" determined, in particular, the empress's interest in economic issues, the development of industry and trade. Encouraging noble entrepreneurship, Elizabeth ordered the establishment of the Noble Loan Bank in 1753, which issued loans to landowners secured by land. In 1754 the Merchant Bank was founded. New manufactories (industrial enterprises) were created at a rapid pace. In Yaroslavl and Serpukhov, Irkutsk and Astrakhan, Tambov and Ivanovo, on noble estates, manufactories produced cloth and silk, canvas and ropes. Distillation became widespread among landowners.

Unknown artist of the 18th century. Departure of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. // Kuskovo Estate Museum

The decision of Elizabeth's government, taken in 1753, to abolish internal customs duties, which had been levied on Russian cities and roads since ancient times, had important consequences. As a result of this reform, it was possible to put an end to the economic fragmentation of Russia. This was a bold step at that time. In France, for example, internal customs ceased to exist only during the revolution of the late 18th century, and in Germany - in the 30s. XIX century

Unknown Russian artist of the 2nd half of the 18th century. Portrait of Tsarevna Elizaveta Petrovna

Elizabeth significantly expanded the rights and liberties of the nobles. In particular, she abolished Peter I's law on minors, according to which nobles had to begin military service from a young age as soldiers. Under Elizabeth, children were enrolled in the corresponding regiments from birth. Thus, at the age of ten, these youths, without knowing the service, became sergeants, and were already 16-17-year-old captains in the regiment. During the reign of Elizaveta Petrovna, favorable conditions developed for the development of Russian culture, especially science and education.

Taras Shevchenko Empress Elizaveta Petrovna and Suvorov (engraving). 1850s

The Academy of Sciences participated in the organization of geographical expeditions to the Far East with the aim of detailed study of the northeastern borders of the Russian Empire. In the middle of the 18th century. a four-volume work by naturalist I. G. Gmelin “Flora of Siberia” appeared with a description of 1,200 plants and the first ethnographic work in Russia “Description of the Land of Kamchatka”, written by S. P. Krasheninnikov

The decree of 1744 “On the unification of schools in the provinces into one place and the education in them of all ranks of people...” facilitated access to schools for children from unprivileged sections of the population. In the 40-50s. to the first gymnasium in St. Petersburg that existed since 1726, two more were added - at Moscow University (1755) and in Kazan (1758). In 1752, the Navigation School, founded by Peter I, was reorganized into the Naval Gentry Cadet Corps, where officers of the Russian Navy were trained. January 25, 1755

University of Moscow

Elizabeth signed a decree establishing Moscow University. The spread of university education in Russia was the cherished dream of the Russian scientist and educator M. V. Lomonosov. Having won over Vice-Chancellor M.I. Vorontsov and the even more influential favorite I.I. Shuvalov to his side, Lomonosov drew up a project for opening a university in Moscow. Along with this event is the establishment in 1756 of the Russian professional theater by Fyodor Volkov and Alexander Sumarokov, and in 1758 - the Academy of Arts.

Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov in 1760, portrait by brush Fyodor Rokotov. State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg)

Architect A.F. Kokorinov, director and first rector of the Academy of Arts, 1769. Portrait of the work D. G. Levitsky

Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov

The emergence of interest in the fine arts in Russian society during the time of Elizabeth Petrovna is directly related to the empress’s own passion for them. One might say that professional theatre, opera, ballet, and choral singing emerged from the walls of her palace. Even during the difficult years of Anna Ioannovna’s reign for young Elizabeth, many performances were staged at the crown princess’s “small court.” Her courtiers and singers took part in them. The plays were "on the topic of the day." In an allegorical form, they talked about the sad fate of the semi-disgraced princess and the political situation in the country.

Heinrich Buchholz Portrait of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in pearls. 1768

Elizabeth did not lose interest in the theater even as an empress. She enjoyed the performances, even if she saw them more than once. Especially popular in Russia in the mid-18th century. there were plays by A.P. Sumarokov. Not only celebrations and holidays, but also the usual feasts of Elizabeth Petrovna were necessarily accompanied by the playing of an orchestra and the singing of court musicians. As the famous historian E.V. Anisimov writes, “in Elizabethan times, music became an integral and indispensable part” of the life of the palace and the St. Petersburg nobility." The imperial orchestra of highly professional Italian and German musicians performed works by Western European composers. Concerts were also given, originally intended for the court society , they later became public. Citizens could also attend them. At these concerts, Russian listeners became acquainted with the harp, mandolin, and guitar.

View of Anichkov Palace

Italian opera flourished at court. No expense was spared in organizing the performances. These were majestic performances with ballet numbers and recitations that made an indelible impression on the audience. Along with Italian musicians and artists, young Russian singers also took part in the performances. Their performance of difficult Italian arias delighted the audience. Russian dancers began to appear more and more often in ballet performances. This is how the foundations of Russian national opera and ballet were laid.

Elizaveta Petrovna (1709-1761), Russian Empress (from 1741).

When Elizabeth’s parents got married in 1712, she and her sister Anna, who was born a year earlier, were “crowned,” that is, legitimized by the tsar. However, the stain of illegitimacy remained on Elizabeth throughout her life. It prevented her from becoming the bride of the French Dauphin (later King Louis XV), whom her sovereign parent was diligently wooing.

Elizabeth and Anna received a secular education, spoke French, German and Italian, and sang and danced beautifully. The princess, like her father, was unusually easy to use, easily entered into communication with people from the people, baptized soldiers' children and sang songs with ordinary girls on the street on holidays.

Elizabeth's happiness ended after the death of her mother, Empress Catherine I. Peter II, who ascended the throne, was crazy about his beautiful aunt and even dreamed of marrying her, in violation of all laws. However, the Moscow nobility quickly pushed the “artistic” Elizabeth away from the young monarch.

Under Anna Ivanovna, the princess had an even harder time. She settled in Moscow and received an extremely meager allowance.

Relaxation came only during the short reign of Ivan Antonovich. His mother, ruler Anna Leopoldovna, treated her good-natured and cheerful aunt well. When she was informed about the impending conspiracy in favor of Elizabeth, she considered it necessary to openly talk with the princess.

However, this only provoked the conspirators. On the night of November 25, 1741, a palace coup took place that elevated Elizabeth to the throne. The Brunswick family (the young emperor and his parents) was arrested. Elizabeth became an autocratic empress.

Its first and most important step was the abolition of the death penalty.

Under Elizabeth, many important events for the country were held. In 1747, internal customs were abolished, which seriously contributed to the development of trade in Russia. In 1755, Moscow University was opened. The foreign policy of the Elizabethan government also proved successful. Russia entered into an alliance with France and Austria and won a victory over Prussia in the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763. Frederick II lost many of his possessions, Königsberg became a Russian province, and there was a Russian governor-general in Berlin.

Officially, Elizabeth was not married, but there were persistent rumors that she secretly married A. G. Razumovsky, a former Cossack singer from the court chapel. Ten years later, I. I. Shuvalov, one of the most educated people of his time, patron of M. V. Lomonosov, curator of Moscow University and the Academy of Arts, became her favorite.

Elizabeth appointed her nephew Peter (the future Emperor Peter III), the son of her early deceased sister Anna, who married Duke Charles of Holstein, as her heir.

Contemporaries considered Elizabeth one of the most beautiful women in Europe. According to memoirists, Elizabeth was distinguished by a difficult character: she was terribly superstitious, and in her presence they were afraid to touch upon any topic displeasing to the empress.

However, the people loved the empress very much and, when she died on Christmas night, December 25, 1761, they sincerely mourned her.