Anna Ioannovna: years of government, history and services to Russia

For Russian weapons, 1709 was full of glorious victories. Under Poltava, Peter the Great defeated the army of Swedish King Charles Twelfth - Russian troops successfully knocked them out of the Baltic states. To consolidate his influence on the conquered lands, Peter the First decided to extradite one of his numerous relatives for the Duke of Courland, Friedrich Wilhelm.

The Tsar addressed the widow of his brother Praskovya Fyodorovna for advice: which of her daughters does she want to give away as a prince? And since she did not like the fiance-stranger terribly, she chose the unloved seventeen-year-old daughter Anna. This was the future Empress Anna Ioannovna.

Children and teenage years of the future empress

Anna was born on January 28, 1693 in Moscow, in the family of the elder brother of Peter the Great, Ivan the Fifth. She spent her childhood in Izmailovo with her mother and her sisters. As contemporaries noted, Anna Ioannovna was a child closed, taciturn and unsociable. From an early age she was taught literacy, German and French. She learned to read and write, but the princess did not master the dances and secular manners.

Anna's wedding was celebrated on October 31, 1710 in the unfinished Petersburg Palace of Menshikov. Early next year Anna Ioannovna and the Duke of Courland left for the capital Mitau. But on the way Wilhelm died unexpectedly. So the princess became a widow already a couple of months after the wedding.

Years before the reign of Anna

Peter the Great ordered Anne to stay in Courland. Realizing that his not-so-cute relative could not serve Russia's interests in this duchy, he sent Peter Bestuzhev-Ryumin along with her. In 1726, when Bestuzhev-Ryumin was recalled from Courland, Ernst Johann Biron appeared at the court of Anna - a nobleman who had not studied at the University of Konigsberg.

After the death of Peter the Great in the Russian Empire, the business up to that time was completely unheard of: a woman ascended to the throne of the Russian tsars ! Widow of Peter I, Empress Catherine. Rules it almost two years. Shortly before her death, the Privy Council decided to choose as grandson the grandson of Peter the Great, Peter Alekseevich. He entered the throne at the age of eleven, but died of smallpox at fourteen.

Conditional, or Execution of members of the Secret Society

The Supreme Privy Council decided to call Anna on the throne, while limiting her autocratic power. They composed the "Condition", where conditions were formulated on which Anna Ioannovna was invited to take the throne. According to this paper, without the permission of the Privy Council, it could not declare war on anyone, conclude peace agreements, command the army or the guard, raise or impose taxes, and so on.

On January 25, 1730, representatives of the secret society brought the "Condition" to Meta, and the Duchess, having agreed to all restrictions, signed them. Soon the new empress Anna Ioannovna arrived in Moscow. There on February 25, representatives of the capital's nobility gave her a petition with requests not to accept the condition, but to rule autocratically. And the empress listened to them. She publicly tore up the document and dispersed the Supreme Privy Council. Its members were exiled and executed, and Anna was crowned in the Assumption Cathedral.

Anna Ioannovna: the years of government and the influence of a favorite favorite on politics

During the reign of Anna Ioannovna, a Cabinet was created, in which the leading role was played by one of the Companions of Peter the Great, Vice-Chancellor Andrei Osterman. The favorite of the Empress Ernst Biron did not interfere in politics. Although Anna Ivanovna alone reigned alone, the years of her reign in Russian historiography are known as the Bironovshchina.

In January 1732, the imperial court moved to St. Petersburg. Here Anna, who has lived in Europe for a long time, felt more comfortable than in Moscow. Foreign policy in the reign of Anna Ioannovna was a continuation of the policy of Peter the Great: Russia is fighting for the Polish inheritance and enters the war with Turkey, during which Russian troops lost one hundred thousand people.

Merits of the Empress before the Russian state

What else did Anna Ioannovna do for Russia? The years of its rule are marked by the development of new territories. The state conquered the Azov fortress, the steppe between the Bug and the Dniester, but without the right to keep ships on the Black Sea. The Great Northern Expedition begins to work, Siberia and the coast of the Arctic Ocean and Kamchatka are explored.

According to the decree of the Empress, one of the most grandiose projects in the history of the Russian Empire begins: the erection of a colossal system of fortifications along the southern and southeastern borders of European Russia. This large-scale construction, which began in the reign of Anna Ioannovna, can be called the first cultural and social project of the Russian Empire in the Trans-Volga region. On the eastern borders of the European part of the empire is the Orenburg expedition, before which the government of Anna Ioannovna set numerous tasks.

Disease and death of the empress

While the guns thundered on the borders of the empire and soldiers and noblemen died in glory of the empress, the capital lived in luxury and entertainment. Anna's weakness was hunting. In the rooms of the Peterhof Palace there were always loaded guns, from which the empress fired on flying birds. She loved to surround herself and court jesters.

But Anna Anna Ivanovna knew how to shoot and have fun, her years of government are connected with very serious state affairs. Ten years of rule the empress, and all these years, Russia built, fought and expanded the borders. October 5, 1740 at dinner the Empress lost consciousness and, having been ill for twelve days, died.