Elizaveta Petrovna, the daughter of Peter the Great, who was born before the tsar married Catherine Skavronskaya, rises to the throne. All portraits, church books, passports, coins with the image of the juvenile king are confiscated. Ivan the Sixth together with his parents goes to the Shlisselburg Fortress. Here he, playing with spiders and rats, is kept in solitary confinement, out of communication with people.
In 1741, Sweden, not yet realizing that it had entered the category of militarily second-rate European powers, wishing to return the Northern Territories, declared war on Russia. The main actions take place all in the same Finland. A year after her accession to the throne, Elizabeth inclines the people of these lands to the side of Russia. The main carrot is the possibility of creating your own state. The forces of the parties are approximately equal. The losses are also about the same. The Russian army 10,500 people, the Swedish – 12,000. In the end, the Swedish army capitulates, goes home, leaving the Russian artillery.
In 1757, as part of a broad coalition, Russia launched military operations against Prussia. The reason is the illegal annexation of Saxony. Together with the Austrian troops, during the Battle of Kunersdorf, she manages to defeat the army of Frederick II. Of the 48 thousand soldiers, according to the German monarch himself, only 3 thousand remain alive. But the allies get entangled in orders and, instead of an immediate march on Berlin, disperse. Presumably, this «miracle» is associated with Catherine-Friderica, the future empress and her entourage – the commander-in-chief Apraksin and Chancellor Bestuzhev, who are playing their secret game at the court of Elizabeth. The second «miracle of the Brandenburg House», which Adolf Hitler hoped for a third time later, will take place in January 1762. Peter III, who ascended the throne, an ethnic German, a fanatical admirer of Frederick II, will break the treaty with Austria without explanation and conclude a separate peace.
Elizaveta Petrovna (1709 – 1761), the youngest daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine. The Empress gives rise to Gallomania. Since childhood, dreaming of becoming related to the Bourbons, she diligently studies French. Elizabeth is in a secret church marriage with Alexei Razumovsky. For a child born in this marriage, Princess Tarakanova (self-name – Elizaveta Vladimirskaya) posed herself or appeared to be one.
In 1761, the childless and unmarried Elizabeth dies of an undiagnosed illness after a sudden throat bleeding. She is inherited by the grandson of Peter the Great, the son of his daughter Anna from his second marriage and the Duke of Holstein, the Holstein-Gottorp (German) ducal dynasty. Actually, according to the dynastic rules of inheritance, Anna joins this clan. Her children can no longer be «Romanovs» at all. But, in the conditions of a political crisis, this trifle is not paid attention. The main thing now is at least a bit of «royal» blood.
So, Karl Peter Ulrich, aka Peter the Third Fedorovich, occupies the Russian throne. The health and upbringing of the boy is affected by the fact that at one time the prince was flogged with rods, put his knees on peas, and subjected to more sophisticated tortures. The young man seems to be inclined to military affairs. However, he attaches importance not to the maneuvers and material support of the army, but to drill and parades. At the age of 17, already at the Russian court, Peter was married to Sophia Frederick Augusta, a native of the German city of Stettin, the future Catherine II. The dignitaries even assign mentors to the couple of monarchs – an exemplary married couple. But, it doesn’t help much. Instead of fulfilling the duties assigned to her husband, according to contemporaries, in the evenings the prince plays with the tin soldiers. Peter is unpleasantly surprised when, in 1754, Catherine still gives birth to his son Paul (the future emperor). However, the emotional attachment between the spouses remains.
Under Peter III, some sensible laws begin to work, but these are, rather, the homework of influential nobles. The monarch’s own initiative is the return of East Prussia, which has been part of the Russian Empire for four years, to its former owner, beloved Emperor Frederick II. Not quite fulfilled idea – reduction of church property, abolition of monastic land tenure, ban on icons. The third remarkable idea of the native of Holstein is a dynastic war with Denmark, a long-time ally of Russia, for the Schleswig (territory in the south of Denmark) taken from the German ancestors of Peter III.
Peter is also thinking about marrying his favorite, Elizaveta Vorontsova. Relations with his legal wife, Catherine, naturally deteriorate somewhat. In particular, the emperor considers it possible to call her a «fool» in the presence of the court and foreign princes, for refusing to listen to the toast while standing.
Interested persons are preparing a palace coup. These things usually require high-quality cash. Catherine turns to the French and British for help. The French try not to understand subtle hints. But the British ambassador easily gives the requested amount: 100 thousand gold rubles.
Peter the Third hesitates to march to Denmark, wishing to properly celebrate his name day (June 28, 1762) in Peterhof. However, upon arriving at the palace, he does not find the official organizer of the holiday – his other half, Catherine. She is already in St.Petersburg, taking the oath of office from St. Synod, Senate, guards regiments and part of the population. Again hesitating disastrously, the monarch rushes on a yacht to Kronstadt. However, the garrison of the island-fortress has already managed to swear allegiance to Mrs. Catherine. The last way to save the throne and yourself is the army in East Prussia. But the emperor gets tired of such throwing. Peter returns to the residence and signs the decree of abdication.
Peter the Third Fedorovich (1728 – 1762), Duke of Holstein, Russian emperor. The monarch’s father is Karl Friedrich Holstein, nephew of the Swedish king. Mother – Anna Petrovna, the second daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine the First.
The only desire now is for the wife to allow her husband to leave for his native Holstein. This is theoretically possible. Hardly ever. The situation requires complete certainty.
Peter the Third is kept in the palace of the town of Ropsha (near St. Petersburg), under the supervision of the eminent Orlov brothers. The officers do not dare to finish off the emperor with their own hands. They find a way out. Senator Grigory Teplov and Fyodor Volkov are involved in the operation, an actor, founder of the Russian Theater, once not recognized by Peter III as a stage genius. The latter, as follows from the research of historians, is the most likely murderer of the emperor.
Catherine II ascends to the Russian throne. The Catherine Age, the Golden Age of the nobility opens. Yes, the German Empress, a representative of the Gottorp sovereign house of the Oldenburg dynasty, who took the throne through a palace coup. But, it is the very precariousness of the situation that compels Catherine to respect the interests of the parties, to find balance, to carefully study the processes taking place in society. She is not a regent under her son Paul, but, contrary to the rules, «at the will of all Our loyal subjects, explicit and unfeigned», a full-fledged empress.
One of the innovations is the secularization of monastic lands. Previously, the collection of taxes, the management of the villages belonging to the church was carried out by the clergy themselves. Farmers worked out corvée, performed a lot of natural obligations introduced «out of friendship», and fell into debt bondage. Now the peasants, numbering a million, and this is only males, are being freed from church feudal lords. They acquire many liberties, legal rights, are called «economic» and pay one and a half rubles a year to the state personally. Their villages are under the supervision of retired officers. Monasteries, the number of which is reduced by three times, are paid amounts for their maintenance from the state treasury.
The influence of Russia in Poland is growing. Polish and Lithuanian magnates
