Anna of Russia
Anna was born in Moscow as the daughter of Tsar Ivan V and his wife Praskovia Saltykova. Her father co-ruled Russia with his half-brother Peter the Great, yet mental disability limited his administrative capacity. Peter effectively ruled alone while Anna grew up in a disciplined household. Her mother raised three surviving daughters in an austere environment that valued thrift and religious observance above all else. Anna received education in French, German, and folklore alongside music and dancing lessons. She developed into an obstinate girl with a mean streak during these formative years. Thomas Carlyle later described her big cheeks as comparable to a Westphalian ham. The family moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg when Peter ordered them to relocate. This shift exposed Anna to court splendour after decades of austerity.
Peter the Great arranged for seventeen-year-old Anna to marry Frederick William, Duke of Courland on the 11th of November 1710. Her uncle provided a dowry of 200,000 roubles for the grand wedding feast. Two dwarfs performed parodies by jumping out of enormous pies at the celebration. Only twenty miles from St. Petersburg, Duke Frederick died on the 21st of January 1711. The cause remained uncertain, attributed variously to chills or alcohol effects. Anna proceeded to Mitau, now known as Jelgava, where she ruled for almost twenty years. Count Peter Bestuzhev served as her adviser throughout this period. Some sources claim she conducted a love affair with Ernst Johann von Biron while never remarrying. Her administrative experience in Courland became crucial when Russian nobles selected her as Empress over other candidates.
Tsar Peter II died childless in early 1730, rendering the male Romanov line extinct after nearly a century and a half. Four women held claims to the throne including Anna herself born in 1693. The Supreme Privy Council led by Prince Dmitri Golitzyn chose Anna despite her elder sister Catherine residing in Russia. They hoped Anna would remain malleable since she was childless and widowed. The Council convinced Anna to sign Conditions on the 18th of January 1730 that limited her powers severely. These terms required council consent before declaring war or imposing taxes. Anna arrived at her capital Mitau in Courland before traveling to Moscow. On the 20th of February 1730 she dissolved the Privy Council immediately upon arrival. A petition from 150 to 800 people urged her to repudiate the document on the 7th of March 1730. Anna tore up the Conditions and sent framers to Siberia or the scaffold. An aurora borealis appeared that night making the horizon appear blood-red according to one contemporary account.
Anna forced Prince Mikhail Alekseevich Golitsyn to become court jester and married him to unattractive Kalmyk maid Avdotya Buzheninova. She built an ice palace thirty-three feet high and eighty feet long for their wedding celebration. The structure contained icy beds, steps, chairs, windows, and logs of ice in a fireplace. The couple spent their wedding night inside this frozen building during extremely cold winter weather. Anna told them to keep bodies close if they did not wish to freeze to death. Guards eventually provided sheepskin coats after the maid traded a pearl necklace. Anna kept a shotgun by her window to blast birds whenever hunting urges struck. Her eccentric behavior included humiliating individuals with disabilities throughout her reign. These actions contributed significantly to her reputation as cruel and vulgar among contemporaries.
Anna founded the Cadet Corps in 1731 to train young boys starting at age eight for military service. The program incorporated rigorous schooling necessary for holding important military positions. Mathematics, astronomy, and botany formed core subjects taught at the Russian Academy of Science. The academy sponsored expeditions including the Bering Sea Expedition that studied Siberia and its people. Government and church frequently interfered with funding and altered data to match their viewpoints. The school never exceeded twelve students in university or barely over one hundred in secondary education. German professors brought Western perspectives to instruction despite these limitations. Theatre, architecture, engraving, and journalism were added to the curriculum during Anna's reign. The Imperial Theatre School founded on the 4th of May 1738 became Russia's first ballet school.
Russia fought the War of Polish Succession from 1733 to 1735 alongside Austria against Stanisław Leszczyński. The Russo-Turkish War lasted four and a half years costing hundreds of thousands of men and millions of rubles. Only the city of Azov and its environs resulted from this massive conflict. Osterman's southern expansion policy prevailed over previous treaties signed by Peter the Great. Münnich led Russia's first campaign against Turkey without ending in crushing disaster. Tatar hordes of Crimea had been exterminated while Russian grenadiers defeated twice their number of janissaries. Two Chinese embassies visited Moscow in 1731 then St Petersburg the following year. These represented China's only dispatches to Europe through the entire eighteenth century. Officials of the Chinese Empire kowtowed before foreign rulers for the first time ever recorded.
Anna declared grandnephew Ivan VI as successor while appointing Biron as regent as her health declined. She suffered kidney stones that caused slow painful death on the 28th of October 1740 at age forty-seven. Her final words focused entirely on Ernst Johann von Biron. Ivan VI was only two months old when Anna died leaving his mother Anna Leopoldovna detested. Elizabeth Petrovna gained favor shortly after Anna's death and locked Ivan VI in a dungeon. His mother was exiled immediately following these events. Anna was buried three months later on the 15th of January 1741. The succession crisis left uncertainty regarding Russia's future direction. Elizabeth Petrovna legitimized daughter of Peter the Great managed to secure power despite opposition from German counsellors.
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Common questions
When was Anna of Russia born and where did she grow up?
Anna of Russia was born in Moscow as the daughter of Tsar Ivan V and Praskovia Saltykova. She grew up in a disciplined household that valued thrift and religious observance before her family moved to St. Petersburg.
Who married Anna of Russia on the 11th of November 1710?
Peter the Great arranged for seventeen-year-old Anna of Russia to marry Frederick William, Duke of Courland on the 11th of November 1710. Her uncle provided a dowry of 200,000 roubles for their grand wedding feast.
What happened when Anna of Russia arrived in Moscow on the 20th of February 1730?
Anna of Russia dissolved the Supreme Privy Council immediately upon arrival in Moscow on the 20th of February 1730. She tore up the Conditions document that limited her powers and sent its framers to Siberia or the scaffold.
How many students attended the Cadet Corps founded by Anna of Russia in 1731?
The Cadet Corps founded by Anna of Russia in 1731 never exceeded twelve students in university or barely over one hundred in secondary education. The program incorporated rigorous schooling necessary for holding important military positions.
When did Anna of Russia die and what was the cause of death?
Anna of Russia suffered kidney stones that caused slow painful death on the 28th of October 1740 at age forty-seven. Her final words focused entirely on Ernst Johann von Biron before she died.