The era of palace coups. Coronation of Elizabeth Petrovna Overthrow of Paul I

Palace coup- this is the seizure of political power in Russia in the 18th century, the reason for which was the lack of clear rules for succession to the throne, accompanied by the struggle of court factions and carried out, as a rule, with the assistance of guard regiments.

There is no single scientific definition of a palace coup, and there are no clear time boundaries for this phenomenon. Thus, V. O. Klyuchevsky (the author of the term) dates the era of palace coups from 1725 to 1762. However, today there is another point of view - 1725-1801. (The fact is that V. O. Klyuchevsky could not mention the coup of March 11, 1801 in a public lecture given in the mid-80s of the 19th century - this was strictly prohibited).

There is an opinion that the Decembrist uprising of 1825 was also, in its own way, a palace coup, but most scientists consider this judgment controversial and unfounded.

Soviet historical science denied the existence of this “special” period in history; and in scientific literature the concept of “the era of palace coups” has always been enclosed in quotation marks. This showed the attitude towards both the term and the phenomenon itself.

Reasons for palace coups in Russia

The culprit of the instability of the supreme power in the 18th century in Russia turned out to be Peter I, who in 1722 issued the “Decree on Succession to the Throne.”

This regulatory legal act became the cause of palace coups in Russia.

Thus, the circle of possible contenders for the throne expanded.

After the death of Peter I, Russia entered a long period of palace coups. The emergence of this unique tradition in Russia was determined, on the one hand, by the enormous overstrain of the country’s forces during the twenty-five-year period of wars and reforms and the need, in connection with this, to adjust the government course, and on the other, by the conditions of the military-police state created by Peter I.

With the maximum nationalization of public life, the absence of legal political activity even in the bud, coups became the only way to resolve the contradictions between the main components of the system of absolutism - autocratic power, the ruling elite and the ruling class. By the end of the reign of Peter I, the tension in relations in this triangle reached a critical point, which was caused by an extremely unfavorable relationship between the system of benefits and the force of pressure “from above” for the nobility, as well as a sharp strengthening of autocratic power, which led to some separation from its own social support. These factors were complemented by a lack of unity within the ruling camp.

Already on the eve of the death of Peter I, January 25-26, 1725, a split arose among the highest ranks of the empire. One group (President of the Justice Collegium F. M. Apraksin, President of the Commerce Collegium D. M. Golitsyn, President of the Military Collegium A. I. Repnin, Senator V. L. Dolgoruky, President of the State Office Collegium I. A. Musin -Pushkin and Chancellor G.I. Golovkin) advocated the enthronement of Peter I’s grandson, Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich, and the establishment of a regency system - the rule of Peter I’s wife, Ekaterina Alekseevna, together with the Senate.

Another group (His Serene Highness Prince A.D. Menshikov, Prosecutor General of the Senate P.I. Yaguzhinsky, General I.I. Buturlin, diplomat and head of the Secret Chancellery P.A. Tolstoy, Vice-President of the Synod Feofan Prokopovich, etc.) defended Catherine's candidacy as an autocratic empress. The dispute went far, but assertiveness, skillful maneuvering and, most importantly, reliance at a critical moment on the Guards (Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky) regiments ensured the enthronement of Ekaterina Alekseevna after the death of Peter the Great on January 28, 1725.

Coup in favor of Ekaterina Alekseevna

After the death of the emperor, diplomat and associate of Peter I Andrei Ivanovich Osterman entered into an alliance with the most influential person of the Peter I era - A. D. Menshikov with the aim of enthroning Empress Catherine. Although, there were other contenders, in particular, the son of Tsarevich Alexei - Peter (the future Peter II).

The Duke of Holstein - the husband of the eldest crown princess Anna Petrovna - also tried to influence the outcome of events, although according to the marriage contract of 1724 this couple was deprived of the right to inherit the Russian throne. In contrast to the Menshikov-Osterman alliance, there was another group in Russia that rallied around the Duke of Holstein, Anna Petrovna’s husband.

However, even his introduction to the Supreme Privy Council did not help the duke to influence events in any way (he did not speak Russian and generally had a very weak idea of ​​\u200b\u200blife in Russia).

As a result of the coup organized by Menshikov with the support of the guard, it was Catherine I who came to power.

Catherine's inability to govern was compensated for by the creation in February 1726 of the highest government institution - the Supreme Privy Council, staffed by the new nobility, Peter's closest associates. Menshikov quickly took over the Supreme Privy Council and, taking advantage of the boundless trust of the sick Catherine, became the de facto ruler of the country.

Political reshuffles in the era of Peter II

After the death of Catherine I in 1727, the question of power arose again. This time, it was Alexei’s son, Peter II, who was declared emperor (according to the will of Catherine I). By the way, it should be noted that in July 1727 (that is, a month and a half after Catherine’s death), the “Charter on the Succession to the Throne” was withdrawn by Decree of the Supreme Privy Council.

Anna Petrovna and the “Holstein” group led by her made an unsuccessful attempt to plot against Menshikov-Osterman, and, ultimately, against the accession of the young Peter. (By the way, not only the Holstein Germans took part in this conspiracy, but also Count P. A. Tolstoy and General Buturlin). The planned coup failed. A.I. Osterman, having become the educator and mentor of the young tsar, tried to do his work in the most conscientious manner. However, despite all his efforts, Osterman was never able to exert the proper influence on the boy autocrat.

Of course, personal, informal communication with the sovereign gave Osterman truly limitless opportunities - this is how he gradually prepared overthrow of Menshikov. The latter did not want to be content with his already enormous power, which ultimately alienated the entire political and court elite. It should be noted that A.I. Osterman again does not play the most important role in the overthrow of the “semi-sovereign ruler”: Osterman only assists the Dolgoruky clan. The fact is that it was this family, thanks to the friendship of Ivan Dolgoruky with the young tsar, that quickly gained strength at court and in politics. Menshikov, who openly pushed Peter around, on the contrary, was losing his former power.

Osterman “bet” on the Dolgorukys: a foreigner in Russia (even if crowned with the glory of a skilled diplomat) can make his policy only in a close alliance with the Russian oligarchs.

However, in 1730 Peter II dies.

Anna Ioannovna and her “conditions”

After the death of Peter II, the question of succession to the throne arose again. The Dolgorukys' attempt to enthrone the former royal bride, Ekaterina Dolgoruky, was unsuccessful.

The Golitsyn family, which traditionally competed with the Dolgorukys, nominated Anna of Courland, the niece of Peter I, as heir.

Anna Ioannovna received the crown at the cost of signing the Conditions limiting her power in favor of the Supreme Privy Council. In Russia, instead of an absolute monarchy, a limited monarchy was established.

However, the majority of aristocrats (and representatives of other segments of the population) did not like this idea of ​​the “supreme leaders”. They considered the Conditions an attempt to establish a regime in Russia in which all power would belong to two families - the Golitsyns and the Dolgorukys. After Anna Ioannovna publicly broke the Conditions, the Dolgoruky clan was subjected to repression.

The reign of Anna Ioannovna was a time of fierce struggle around the throne. Her all-powerful favorite Biron, Field Marshal B. Kh. Minikh, the same Osterman and a new face in court politics - Artemy Petrovich Volynsky - took part in the struggle.

As a result, Volynsky was executed on charges of high treason and attempting to carry out a palace coup against Anna.

Already in 1730, Anna Ioannovna became concerned about the issue of an heir. Since she did not have her own children, she placed all her hopes on her niece, Elizabeth Christina of Mecklenburg. Having received the name Anna Leopoldovna at baptism, she was declared successor. Or rather, the future child of Anna Leopoldovna was declared the heir.

By decree of December 17, 1731, the autocrat restored Peter’s “Charter on Heritage” of 1722 into force. And then the population of Russia took an oath of allegiance to the unborn son of the Tsar’s niece.

In 1732, Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick Bevern of Blakenburg of Luneburg, a scion of one of the most ancient royal families in Europe - the Welfs, arrived in Russia. He came to Russia under the guise of entering the Russian service, but his main mission was to become the husband of Anna Leopoldovna. In 1739, his engagement and wedding to Anna Leopoldovna took place, and in 1740 the long-awaited heir was born.

Thus, the threat from possible contenders - Elizaveta Petrovna and Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein (the future Peter III) was eliminated.

In 1740 Anna Ioannovna died. In Russia, despite the fact that the heir, John VI, has been proclaimed (some authors call him John III), another palace coup is brewing...Biron is proclaimed regent.

Biron's regency - Minich's coup

The short period of the regency of Ernst-Johann Biron in historical works is covered and assessed quite unambiguously.

Biron's regency, which became possible with the active support of the same Minikh, Osterman, Cherkassky, lasted no more than three weeks. This speaks exclusively of E.I. Biron’s inability to govern the state independently, of his inability (or rather, unwillingness) to consolidate with those who could be useful to him.

Even having received the right to regency, Biron continues to fight with Minich. This time is also characterized by the confrontation between the regent and Anna Leopoldovna. In addition, Biron finally turns the princess’s husband, Anton Ulrich, against himself.

Discontent with the regent was brewing in the country. On November 8, 1740, another palace coup took place, only the “soul” of the conspiracy was Field Marshal General B. Kh. Minich.

The extremely ambitious Minikh counted on one of the first places in the state, but he did not receive either new posts or the expected title of generalissimo from the regent.

Adjutant G. Kh. Manstein describes in detail the arrest of Biron and his family in his “Notes on Russia”. In other words, the Germans carried out a coup against the Germans. In addition to the Germans, of course, Russian supporters of the regent also suffered.

For example, A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin - later a famous politician of the Elizabethan reign.

“Patriotic” coup of Elizaveta Petrovna

On November 25, 1741, another (and not the last in the 18th century) palace coup took place, and it was initiated by Elizaveta Petrovna, the youngest daughter of Peter I.

A lot has been written about this coup and almost all historical (and even more so fiction) literature interprets this event as "triumph of the Russian spirit", as the end of foreign dominance, as the only possible and even completely legal act.

V. O. Klyuchevsky calls Elizabeth as follows: “The most legitimate of all the successors and successors of Peter I.”

The name of Tsarevna Elizabeth was mentioned at every change of rulers since 1725, but each time the crown went to someone else.

Elizabeth has always been very calm about advice and calls to act for the sake of accession to the throne. It must be said that in 1741, “Petrov’s daughter” succumbed to the persuasion of her entourage only under the influence of fear of an unknown future.

In public opinion, Elizabeth, by the will of political circumstances, earned the reputation of the head of a certain “Russian” party opposing the dominance of foreigners at the courts of Anna Ioannovna and Anna Leopoldovna.

In this respect, the Elizabeth of 1741 was the exact opposite of the Elizabeth of 1725.

After the death of Peter, it was his daughters who, along with Catherine, were considered the main patrons of foreigners. Elizabeth in alliance with Anna Petrovna were symbols of Holstein influence on the Russian court. (Moreover, at that moment Elizabeth was considered the bride of the Lubeck Prince-Bishop Karl August, who later died of a transient illness. According to some sources, it was smallpox).

The patriotic feelings of Elizabeth's supporters were caused not so much by rejection of foreigners, but by their own interests.

The ease with which Minikh eliminated Biron also influenced the determination of Elizabeth’s supporters. In addition, the guards felt like a special force, a “hegemon,” so to speak. Minich himself once told them this: “Whoever you want to be a sovereign can be”.

In addition, there are inexorable facts indicating that Elizabeth collaborated with French and Swedish agents of influence - Shetardy and Nolken.

The night of the coup entered not only the history books, but also legends. There is a well-known phrase with which the crown princess led the guards on the assault: “You know whose daughter I am!” This was quite enough - Peter's authority was too great in all strata of society.

Elizabeth's victory brought to power a new generation of courtiers and prominent politicians - the Shuvalov family, M. I. Vorontsov, the Razumovsky brothers, and elevated A. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin.

Of course, after the overthrow of Minich, Osterman, Levenwolde, as well as the Brunswick family, German influence at the Russian court practically disappeared.

However, having established herself on the throne, Elizabeth declared as her heir the Holstein-Gottorp Prince Karl-Peter-Ulrich, the son of Anna Petrovna, whose wife some time later became Sophia-Augusta-Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst (Fike). The young princess has learned well the lessons that the Russian history of revolutions taught her - she will successfully implement them.

186 days of Peter III

The coup of June 28, 1762 (July 9, new style) in Russian and Soviet historical literature has always been interpreted unambiguously - smart, determined, patriotic Catherine overthrows her insignificant husband (in her opinion, an outcast and a traitor to Russian interests).

Vasily Klyuchevsky spoke about this event like this: “Mixed with the indignant national feeling in her (Catherine) was a smug consciousness that she was creating and giving the Fatherland her own government, albeit illegal, but which better than legal will understand and respect his interests.”

Catherine was already planning her future seizure of power in 1756. During the serious and prolonged illness of Elizabeth Petrovna, the Grand Duchess made it clear to her “English comrade” H. Williams that he had to wait only for the death of the Empress. (England at that moment was very beneficial from a change in political course in Russia).

However, Elizabeth died only in 1761 and her legal heir, Peter III, ascended the throne.

During his short reign, Peter implemented a number of measures that were supposed to strengthen his position and make his figure popular among the people. So, he abolished the Secret Investigation Office and gave the nobles the opportunity to choose between service and a carefree life on their estate. ( “Manifesto on the granting of freedom and liberty to the Russian nobility”).

It is believed, however, that the reason for the coup was precisely the extreme unpopularity of Peter III among the people. He was accused of disrespect for Russian shrines and the conclusion of a “shameful peace” with Prussia.

Peter led Russia out of the war, which depleted the country’s human and economic resources, and in which Russia fulfilled its allied duty to Austria (It should be noted that the thesis about the absence of “Russian interest” in the Seven Years’ War is controversial: during the hostilities it was not only conquered , but East Prussia was also officially annexed to Russia).

However, Peter made an unforgivable mistake by declaring his intention to move to recapture Schleswig from Denmark. The guards, who, in fact, supported Catherine in the upcoming coup, were especially worried.

In addition, Peter was in no hurry to be crowned, and in fact, he did not have time to comply with all the formalities that he was obliged to observe as emperor. Frederick II, in his letters, persistently advised Peter to quickly take the crown, but the emperor did not listen to the advice of his idol. Thus, in the eyes of the Russian people he was, as it were, a “fake tsar.”

As for Catherine, as the same Frederick II said: “She was a foreigner, on the eve of her divorce.” and the coup was her only chance (Peter emphasized more than once that he was going to divorce his wife and marry Elizaveta Vorontsova).

• Peter III: a modern sculptural portrait.

The signal for the start of the coup was the arrest of the officer, Preobrazhensky Passek. Alexey Orlov (brother of the favorite) early in the morning brought Catherine to St. Petersburg, where she addressed the soldiers of the Izmailovsky regiment, and then the Semyonovites. This was followed by a prayer service in the Kazan Cathedral and the oath of office of the Senate and Synod.

On the evening of June 28, a “march to Peterhof” was made, where Peter III was supposed to come to celebrate his name day and the name day of his heir Paul. The emperor's indecisiveness and some kind of childish obedience did their job - no advice or actions of those close to him could bring Peter out of states of fear and numbness.

He quickly abandoned the struggle for power and, essentially, for his life. The overthrown autocrat was taken to Ropsha, where, according to most historians, he was killed by his jailers.

Frederick II commented on this event: “He allowed himself to be overthrown like a child being sent to bed.”

Overthrow of Paul I

Paul I was strangled in his own bedroom on the night of March 11, 1801 in the Mikhailovsky Castle. The conspiracy included Agramakov, N.P. Panin, vice-chancellor, L.L. Benningsen, commander of the Izyuminsky light horse regiment P.A. Zubov (Catherine’s favorite), Palen, governor-general of St. Petersburg, commanders of the guards regiments: Semenovsky - N. I. Depreradovich, Cavalry Guard - F.P. Uvarov, Preobrazhensky - P.A. Talyzin, and according to some sources - the emperor's aide-de-camp, Count Pyotr Vasilyevich Golenishchev-Kutuzov, immediately after the coup was appointed commander of the Cavalry Regiment.

Initially, the overthrow of Paul and the accession of an English regent were planned. Perhaps the denunciation to the tsar was written by V.P. Meshchersky, the former chief of the St. Petersburg regiment stationed in Smolensk, perhaps by Prosecutor General P.Kh. Obolyaninov. In any case, the conspiracy was discovered, Lindener and Arakcheev were summoned, but this only accelerated the execution of the conspiracy. According to one version, Pavel was killed by Nikolai Zubov (Suvorov’s son-in-law, Platon Zubov’s older brother), who hit him with a golden snuffbox (a joke later circulated at court: “The Emperor died of an apoplectic blow to the temple with a snuffbox”). According to another version, Paul was strangled with a scarf or crushed by a group of conspirators who, leaning on the emperor and each other, did not know exactly what was happening. Mistaking one of the killers for the son of Constantine, he shouted: “Your Highness, are you here too? Have mercy! Air, Air!.. What have I done wrong to you?” These were his last words.

The funeral service and burial took place on March 23, Holy Saturday; committed by all members of the Holy Synod, headed by Metropolitan of St. Petersburg Ambrose (Podobedov).

Taking advantage of the weakness of the government and her popularity, especially in the guards barracks, Tsarevna Elizabeth, daughter of Peter I, carried out a new coup on the night of November 25, 1741 with the grenadier company of the Preobrazhensky regiment. And again, its main support was the guard, which was tired of the dominance of the Germans gathered at the Russian throne.

Having fervently prayed to God and vowed not to sign death sentences throughout her reign, Elizabeth, wearing a cuirass over her dress, only without a helmet and with a cross in her hand instead of a spear, in the barracks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, reminded the already trained grenadiers whose daughter she was, knelt down and, showing the cross to the kneeling grenadiers, she said: “I swear to die for you; do you swear to die for me?

Having received an affirmative answer, she led them to the Winter Palace, entered the ruler’s bedroom without resistance and woke her up with the words: “It’s time to get up, sister!” Anna Leopoldovna was arrested along with her husband.

Enthusiastically welcomed by the people and the guard, Elizabeth moved to the cleared Winter Palace that same day.

MOVEMENT AGAINST THE GERMANS. The combustible material of indignation, which had accumulated abundantly for 10 years, smoldered unnoticed. He was prevented from flaring up by the usual respect for the bearers of supreme power, the fulfillment of some noble desires of 1730, and something similar to political shame: they themselves put this yoke on themselves. But Anna's death loosened tongues, and Biron's insulting regency pushed them to action. The guard made a noise; The officers, meeting with the soldiers on the streets, loudly cried to them that the regency was given to Biron bypassing the emperor’s parents, and the soldiers scolded the officers, why didn’t they conceive.

Captain Brovtsyn gathered a crowd of soldiers on Vasilyevsky Island and grieved with them that Biron had been appointed regent. Cabinet Minister Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the regent’s creature, saw this, and, turning himself into a policeman, chased Brovtsyn with a naked sword, who barely managed to take refuge in Minikh’s house. Lieutenant Colonel Pustoshkin, remembering the year 1730, persuaded many, including guards officers, to submit a petition from the Russian nobility for the appointment of the prince-father as regent. Pustoshkin wanted to pass his request through the cabinet minister of Prince Cherkassky, one of the noble leaders of 1730, and he handed him over to Biron. The officers talked about the regent without touching the child emperor; the lower ranks understood the simpler and more radical idea about the throne itself. Under the son of the Duke of Brunswick, no matter who the regent is, domination will still remain in the hands of the Germans. A person is needed on the throne who can do without a regent and without the Germans.

Bitterness towards the Germans stirred national feeling; this new current of political excitement gradually turns minds towards Peter's daughter. Walking away from their oath to the child emperor, the guards soldiers talked about Princess Elizabeth. One guards corporal said to his comrades on this day: “Isn’t it a shame? This is what Emperor Peter I deserved in the Russian Empire: the crowned father’s daughter, the Tsesarevna, was dismissed.”

The excitement of the guards' circles was also communicated to the lower strata that came into contact with them. When the manifesto about the accession of Ivan Antonovich and the regency of Biron was sent to Shlisselburg, to the office of the Ladoga Canal, one clerk turned out to be tipsy. Those around him advised him to put himself in order for the oath, but he objected: “I don’t want to - I believe in Elizabeth-Petrovna.” The most modest ranks wanted to have their own political beliefs. This was how the night guards coup was prepared on November 25, 1741, which elevated the daughter of Peter I to the throne.

This coup was accompanied by violent patriotic antics, a frantic manifestation of national feeling, offended by the domination of foreigners: they broke into the houses where the Germans lived, and even crushed Chancellor Osterman and Field Marshal Minich himself. Guards officers demanded from the new empress that she rid Russia of the German yoke. She resigned some Germans. The Guard remained dissatisfied, demanding the total expulsion of all Germans abroad. During the Finnish campaign (then there was a war with Sweden), in a camp near Vyborg an open revolt of the guards arose against the Germans, pacified only thanks to the energy of General Keith, who, having captured the first rebel he came across, ordered to immediately call a priest to prepare the soldier for execution. V. K-sky

ELIZAVETA PETROVNA (12/18/1709–12/25/1761) - Russian empress from 11/25/1741, the youngest daughter of Peter I and Catherine I. Peter I loved his youngest daughter and called her Lisetka. He even named the sailing ship he sailed on in the Baltic Sea. Elizabeth did not receive a systematic education, and in her youth she had little interest in politics. After her mother, Catherine I, died in 1727, and her older sister Anna Petrovna got married and left for Holstein, Elizabeth became close to her nephew Peter Alekseevich (future Emperor Peter II). Friendly relations were established between them. There was even a plan to marry Peter and Elizabeth, but the Dolgorukov princes married Peter II to Catherine, the daughter of Prince A.G. Dolgorukov. Elizabeth was left to her own devices. She lived separately from the imperial court in the Pokrovskaya settlement near Moscow, in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky or in the Aleksandrovskaya settlement.

The Tsesarevna behaved simply and naturally: she easily got along with people, willingly visited the company of guards soldiers and officers, attended their weddings and baptized children. Elizabeth was cheerful, beautiful, witty, and always dressed with taste. Her popularity among the people and among the guards worried Empress Anna Ivanovna. She ordered the princess to live at court. A “small court” of Elizabeth arose, which was composed of noblemen devoted to her: brothers Alexander and Peter Shuvalov, Mikhail Vorontsov and life surgeon Johann Lestok. Alexei Razumovsky, a simple Cossack, a former church choir singer, also entered Elizabeth’s “small courtyard.” He became the crown princess's favorite, and, having become empress, she granted him the title of count and the rank of field marshal general.

After the death of Anna Ivanovna, her niece Anna Leopoldovna, who was extremely unpopular in noble circles, became the ruler of Russia under the young Ivan VI Antonovich. Taking advantage of the weakening of the supreme power, the ambassadors of France and Sweden began to push Elizaveta Petrovna to carry out a coup d'etat. Both familiar guards officers and noblemen devoted to her spoke about this. After some time, the crown princess agreed to oppose the government of Anna Leopoldovna.

On November 25 at 2 a.m., Elizaveta, accompanied by brothers A. and P. Shuvalov, M. Vorontsov and I. Lestok, appeared in the barracks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. She reminded the soldiers that she was the daughter of Peter the Great, ordered them to follow her and at the same time forbade them to use weapons unnecessarily. The guards enthusiastically swore allegiance to the new empress and, on her instructions, without shedding a drop of blood, they arrested and brought to the fortress Anna Leopoldovna, her husband Anton Ulrich, their son the infant sovereign Ivan Antonovich and Vice-Chancellor M. G. Golovkin, who advised Anna Leopoldovna declare yourself empress. The next day, a short manifesto was published about the accession of Elizabeth Petrovna to the throne.

From the very beginning of her reign, she declared herself to continue the work of her father, Peter I. All Germans on public service were dismissed, and those close to Anna Ivanovna A. Osterman, B. Minikh, Levenvolde were exiled by order of Elizabeth. The new empress appointed capable Russian people to important government positions.

Elizabeth's reign was quite humane for its time. The Secret Chancellery ceased to rage, and “the word and deed of the sovereign” became a thing of the past. The Empress not only did not sign a single death sentence, but actually abolished the death penalty in Russia.

Domestic policy Elizabeth was carried out in the interests of the nobility. To support entrepreneurship and ease the property situation of the nobles, the Noble Loan Bank was opened in May 1754 in St. Petersburg. This bank provided inexpensive loans to nobles at 6% per annum. The requirements for noble service were reduced. Under Peter I, young nobles had to begin serving as soldiers. Under Elizabeth, children were enrolled in the regiment from birth, and they appeared there already in the rank of officer. The nobles went on long-term vacations, sometimes lasting for years.

Elizabeth tried to support the merchants as well. In 1754, internal customs were liquidated and internal duties, which had long been collected along the roads of Russia and at the entrance to cities, were abolished. Duties on foreign goods. In the cities, magistrates were restored - bodies of city self-government “from first-class citizens.”

During the reign of Elizabeth, Russian science and art developed. The government supported cultural figures. The Academy of Sciences was reformed, Russian scientists came there. In 1755, on the initiative and direct participation of I. I. Shuvalov and M. V. Lomonosov, Moscow University was opened. In 1758, the Academy of Arts opened. The navigation school, founded under Peter I, was renamed the Naval Gentry Cadet Corps.

Some changes were also made in the structure of the state apparatus. Elizabeth abolished the Cabinet of Ministers and restored the Senate to the meaning it had under Peter I. The Chief Magistrate, Manufactory and Berg Collegiums were also restored. At the same time, local government remained in the forms it had taken after Peter I. In 1756, the Conference at the Highest Court was established - a permanent meeting of ten highest dignitaries and generals. They discussed "the most important foreign affairs."

Under Elizabeth, Russia again began to pursue an active foreign policy. The beginning of Elizabeth's reign coincided with the Russian-Swedish war of 1741–1743. The Swedes wanted to take revenge for their defeat in the Northern War. This war turned out to be successful for Russia: part of Finland went to it.

Until 1744, Elizabeth adhered to a pro-French orientation in foreign policy. This was due to the great influence that the French envoy Chetardie had on her. However, later Russian diplomacy reoriented itself towards an alliance with Austria against Prussia. In 1756, Russia entered the Seven Years' War to expand its borders in the west. In 1759, near Kunersdorf, the Prussian army suffered a crushing defeat. The following year, Russian troops briefly occupied Berlin, the capital of Prussia. The successful completion of the defeat of the Prussian army was prevented by the death of Elizabeth. Her successor Peter III sharply changed Russian foreign policy towards an alliance with Prussia.

The Empress was passionate about the fine arts. She loved the theater very much and watched the same performances several times. Under her, the Russian professional theaters of F. Volkov and A. Sumarokov appeared. No expense was spared for the Italian opera.

By order of Elizabeth, the architect V.V. Rastrelli built the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg - the residence of the Russian emperors, the Grand Palace in Peterhof, the Tsarskoye Selo Palace, in which the Amber Room was installed - a gift from the Prussian king Frederick William I to the Russian Tsar Peter I.

At the end of her life, Elizabeth was sick a lot. She stopped studying state affairs and entrusted the management of the country to P.I. and I.I. Shuvalov, M.I. and R.I. Vorontsov and others. Her favorite A.G. Razumovsky enjoyed great influence. Elizaveta Petrovna died at the age of 52. She is buried in St. Petersburg, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. I.V.

EMPRESS ELIZABETH. Empress Elizabeth reigned for twenty years, from November 25, 1741 to December 25, 1761. Her reign was not without glory, and not even without benefit. Her youth was not edifying. The princess could not take away either strict rules or pleasant memories from Peter’s homeless second family, where the first words that the child learned to pronounce were aunt, mother, soldier, and the mother was in a hurry to get her daughters married as soon as possible, so that in the event of the death of their father to have rivals in them for succession to the throne. Growing up, Elizabeth seemed like a young lady who had been raised as a girl.

All her life she didn’t want to know when to get up, get dressed, have lunch, and go to bed. The weddings of the servants gave her great entertainment: she herself took the bride to the crown and then from behind the door admired how the wedding guests were having fun. In her manner she was sometimes too simple and affectionate, sometimes she lost her temper over trifles and scolded whoever she came across, a footman or a courtier, with the most unfortunate words, and the ladies-in-waiting got it even more painfully.

Elizabeth found herself caught between two opposing cultural currents, brought up among new European trends and traditions of pious Russian antiquity. Both influences left their mark on her, and she knew how to combine the concepts and tastes of both: from Vespers she went to the ball, and from the ball she kept up with Matins, reverently honored the shrines and rituals of the Russian Church, copied from Paris descriptions of the Versailles court banquets and festivals, she passionately loved French performances and knew all the gastronomic secrets of Russian cuisine to a fine degree. The obedient daughter of her confessor, Fr. Dubyansky and a student of the French dance master Rambourg, she strictly observed fasts at her court, so that the gastronomic chancellor A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin was only allowed not to eat mushrooms with the permission of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and in the entire empire no one better than the empress could perform the minuet and Russian dancing.

The religious mood was warmed in her by an aesthetic feeling. The bride of all kinds of suitors in the world, from the French king to her own nephew, under the Empress Anna, saved by Biron from the monastery and the ducal Saxe-Coburgmeiningen slum, she gave her heart to the court singer from the Chernigov Cossacks, and the palace turned into a house of music: they signed up both Little Russian singers and Italian singers, and in order not to disrupt the integrity of the artistic impression, both of them sang both mass and opera together.

The duality of educational influences explains the pleasant or unexpected contradictions in Elizabeth’s character and lifestyle. Lively and cheerful, but not taking her eyes off herself, at the same time large and slender, with a beautiful round and ever-blooming face, she loved to make an impression, and, knowing that a man’s suit especially suited her, she established masquerades at court without masks , where men were required to come in full women's attire, in wide skirts, and ladies in men's court dress. The most legitimate of all the successors and successors of Peter I, but raised to the throne by the rebellious guards bayonets, she inherited the energy of her great father, built palaces in twenty-four hours and covered the then route from Moscow to St. Petersburg in two days, regularly paying for each driven horse.

Peaceful and carefree, she was forced to fight for almost half of her reign, defeated the first strategist of that time, Frederick the Great, took Berlin, killed a lot of soldiers on the fields of Zorndorf and Kunersdorf; but since the reign of Princess Sophia, life has never been so easy in Rus', and not a single reign before 1762 left such a pleasant memory. During two large coalition wars, exhausting Western Europe, it seemed that Elizabeth, with her 300,000-strong army, could become the arbiter of European destinies; the map of Europe lay before her at her disposal, but she looked at it so rarely that until the end of her life she was confident of the possibility of traveling to England by land; and she founded the first real university in Russia - Moscow. Lazy and capricious, frightened of any serious thought, disgusted with any business activity, Elizabeth could not enter into the complex international relations of the then Europe and understand the diplomatic intricacies of her chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin.

But in her inner chambers, she created for herself a special political environment of hangers-on and storytellers, gossips, headed by an intimate joint cabinet, where the prime minister was Mavra Egorovna Shuvalova, the wife of the well-known inventor and projector, and the members were Anna Karlovna Vorontsova, née Skavronskaya, a relative of the Empress, and some simple Elizaveta Ivanovna, who was called the Minister of Foreign Affairs. “The empress submitted all cases through her,” notes a contemporary. The subjects of this office were tales, gossip, gossip, all sorts of tricks and baiting the courtiers against each other, which gave Elizabeth great pleasure. These were the “spheres” of that time; important ranks and positions of bread were distributed from here; major government affairs were carried out here. These classroom studies alternated with festivities.

From a young age, Elizabeth was a dreamer and, while still a Grand Duchess, once, in an enchanted oblivion, she signed a business paper instead of her name with the words Flame of Fire... Having ascended the throne, she wanted to make her girlish dreams come true; an endless string of performances, pleasure trips, kurtags, balls, masquerades stretched out, striking with dazzling splendor and luxury to the point of nausea.

Sometimes the entire courtyard turned into a theater foyer: day after day they talked only about French comedy, about the Italian comic opera and its owner Locatelli, about the Intermezzos, etc. But the living rooms, where the palace inhabitants left the magnificent halls, were striking in their crampedness and squalor furnishings, sloppiness: the doors did not close, there was a draft in the windows; water flowed along the wall paneling, the rooms were extremely damp; Grand Duchess Catherine had huge gaps in the stove in her bedroom; Near this bedroom, 17 servants were crowded into a small chamber; the furniture was so sparse that mirrors, beds, tables and chairs were transported as needed from palace to palace, even from St. Petersburg to Moscow, broken, beaten and placed in temporary places in this form.

Elizabeth lived and reigned in gilded poverty; she left behind in her wardrobe too 15 thousand dresses, two chests of silk stockings, a bunch of unpaid bills and the unfinished huge Winter Palace, which had already absorbed more than 10 million rubles from our money from 1755 to 1761.

Shortly before her death, she really wanted to live in this palace; but she tried in vain to get the builder Rastrelli to hurry up and finish at least her own living rooms. French haberdashery stores sometimes refused to sell newfangled goods to the palace on credit.

For all that, in her, not like in her Courland predecessor, somewhere deep under the thick crust of prejudices, bad habits and spoiled tastes, there was still a man who sometimes broke through, either in a vow before seizing the throne not to execute anyone by death and in the decree of May 17, 1744, which fulfilled this vow, which actually abolished the death penalty in Russia, or in the non-approval of the ferocious criminal part of the Code drawn up in the Commission 1754 and already approved by the Senate, with exquisite types of the death penalty, then in preventing obscene petitions of the Synod about the need to abandon the vow given by the empress, then, finally, in the ability to cry from an unjust decision, snatched by the machinations of the same Synod. Elizabeth was an intelligent and kind, but disorderly and capricious Russian lady of the 18th century, whom, according to Russian custom, many scolded during her lifetime and, also according to Russian custom, everyone mourned after her death. V. K-sky

LE?YB-CAMPA?NIYA is the official name of the grenadier company of the Life Guards Regiment of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, which carried out a palace coup on November 25, 1741, as a result of which Elizaveta Petrovna, the daughter of Emperor Peter I, came to power.

The grenadiers received a new name by decree of December 31, 1741. Elizaveta Petrovna herself accepted the rank of captain of the Life Campaign. The captain-lieutenant of the Life Campaign was equated to a full general of the army, two lieutenants - to lieutenant generals, two second lieutenants - to major generals, an adjutant - to a brigadier, an ensign - to a colonel, sergeants - to lieutenant colonels, vice sergeants - to prime ministers. - majors, corporals - to captains, ordinary grenadiers (300 people) - to lieutenants.

All soldiers received hereditary nobility and coats of arms with the obligatory inscription “For loyalty and jealousy.” Life-Campanians served as internal guards of the palace and formed the empress’s personal convoy.

As a military unit, the Life Campaign was disbanded by Emperor Peter III in 1762. Subsequently, some of the Life Campaign members were enrolled by Empress Catherine II in the Cavalry Corps. V.V.

BESTOU?ZHEV-RU?MIN Alexey Petrovich (06/22/1693–06/10/1766) - count, statesman and diplomat, field marshal general, brother of M. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin.

At the insistence of his father, Pyotr Mikhailovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Alexey Petrovich, with his own money, received an education in Copenhagen and Berlin - a rarity for a Russian person at that time. In Europe, Alexey Petrovich learned Latin, German and French languages. From 1712 he served as a nobleman at the embassy in Holland, then in Hanover he was chamberlain at the court of the Elector. He returned to Russia with the rank of colonel and entered service at the court of Anna Ivanovna, the future empress.

From 1721 to 1740 Bestuzhev-Ryumin was envoy to Denmark and Hamburg. Then he rendered Anna Ivanovna a very important service: from the archives of the Duke of Holstein in the city of Kiel, the diplomat obtained the will of Catherine I, drawn up in favor of the descendants of Peter I.

In 1740, after the resignation and execution of A.P. Volynsky, Anna Ivanovna appointed Bestuzhev-Ryumin as cabinet minister. The diplomat managed to acquire Biron, the empress's favorite. After the death of the empress and the fall of Biron under Anna Leopoldovna, Bestuzhev-Ryumin was arrested, imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress and sentenced to death. Then she was replaced by a link to the village. Elizaveta Petrovna returned him from exile when she ascended the throne. She appointed him senator and vice-chancellor. In 1742 he became in charge of all Russian post offices. After Elizabeth's coronation, he, his father and older brother were elevated to the rank of count.

Count Bestuzhev-Ryumin headed Russian diplomacy. He advocated an alliance with England, Holland, Austria and Saxony against France, Prussia and the Ottoman Empire.

Bestuzhev-Ryumin also participated in palace intrigues. During the Empress's illness, he supported Catherine. For this, in 1759 he was arrested and sentenced to death, but it was replaced by exile to the village. When Catherine ascended the throne, she returned all his ranks and awarded him the rank of Field Marshal General. The Empress treated Bestuzhev-Ryumin with respect, but he no longer enjoyed any influence at court. HE.

On November 25, 1741, another (and not the last in the 18th century) palace coup took place, and it was initiated by Elizaveta Petrovna, the youngest daughter of Peter I.

A lot has been written about this revolution and almost all historical (and even more so artistic) literature interprets this event as a “triumph of the Russian spirit”, as the end of foreign dominance, as the only possible and even completely legal act.

V. O. Klyuchevsky calls Elizabeth as follows: “The most legitimate of all the successors and successors of Peter I.” The name of Tsarevna Elizabeth was mentioned at every change of rulers since 1725, but each time the crown went to someone else. Elizabeth has always been very calm about advice and calls to act for the sake of accession to the throne. It must be said that in 1741, “Petrov’s daughter” succumbed to the persuasion of her entourage only under the influence of fear of an unknown future.

In public opinion, Elizabeth, by the will of political circumstances, earned the reputation of the head of a certain “Russian” party opposing the dominance of foreigners at the courts of Anna Ioannovna and Anna Leopoldovna. In this respect, the Elizabeth of 1741 was the exact opposite of the Elizabeth of 1725.

After the death of Peter, it was his daughters who, along with Catherine, were considered the main patrons of foreigners. Elizabeth in alliance with Anna Petrovna were symbols of Holstein influence on the Russian court. (Moreover, at that moment Elizabeth was considered the bride of the Lubeck prince - Bishop Charles - August, who later died of a fleeting illness).

It should be noted that Elizabeth was not some special Russian patriot; she simply became the center of attraction for that court group that was currently removed from power. The patriotic feelings of Elizabeth's supporters were caused not so much by rejection of foreigners, but by their own interests.

The ease with which Minikh eliminated Biron also influenced the determination of Elizabeth’s supporters. In addition, the guards felt like a special force, a “hegemon,” so to speak. Minikh himself once told them: “Whoever you want to be sovereign can be.”

In addition, there are inexorable facts that indicate that Elizabeth collaborated with French and Swedish agents of influence - Chetardy and Nolken, and that it was foreign courts that played an important role in the princess’s (essentially) anti-government adventure. The night of the coup entered not only the history books, but also legends. There is a well-known phrase with which the crown princess led the guards on the assault: “Do you know whose daughter I am?” This was quite enough - Peter's authority was too great in all strata of society.

Elizabeth's victory brought to power a new generation of courtiers and prominent politicians - the Shuvalov family, M. I. Vorontsov, the Razumovsky brothers, and elevated A. P. Bestuzhev - Ryumin.

Of course, after the overthrow of Minich, Osterman, Levenwolde, as well as the Brunswick family, German influence at the Russian court practically disappeared. However, having established herself on the throne, Elizabeth declared as her heir the Holstein-Gottorp Prince Karl - Peter - Ulrich, the son of Anna Petrovna, whose wife some time later became Sophia - Augusta - Frederica of Anhalt - Zerbst (Fike). The young princess has learned well the lessons that the Russian history of revolutions taught her - she will successfully implement them.

b) unscrupulous embezzlement;

c) senseless cruelty;

d) all of the above is true;

e) the dominance of foreigners in Russia.

13. Which of the following applies to Paul’s policies:

a) adoption of a charter to cities;

b) permission for landowners to exile peasants to Siberia;

c) secularization of church land ownership;

d) issuing a decree on three-day corvee?

14. A weakness for hunting, dogs and horse riding (not inferior to men in this) nourished:

a) Catherine I;

b) Elizaveta Petrovna;

c) Anna Ivanovna;

d) Anna Leopoldovna;

d) Catherine II.

15. Read an excerpt from the historian’s work and name the empress in question:

“The most legitimate of all the successors and successors of Peter I, but raised to the throne by the rebellious guards bayonets, she inherited the energy of her great father, built palaces in twenty-four hours and covered the then route from Moscow to St. Petersburg in two days, regularly paying for each driven horse . Peaceful and carefree, she was forced to fight for almost half of her reign, defeated the first strategist of that time, Frederick the Great, took Berlin, killed countless soldiers on the fields of Zorndorf and Kunersdorf... She also founded the first real university in Russia - Moscow.”

a) Anna Leopoldovna;

b) Anna Ivanovna;

c) Elizaveta Petrovna;

d) Catherine I.

The era of palace coups

Option 2

1. The daughter of Peter I Elizabeth, having reigned in 1741 during another palace coup, ruled:

a) during the year;

b) more than two years;

c) over 10 years;

2. Specify dates:

a) the creation of the Noble Corps;

b) the reign of John VI Antonovich;

c) the reign of Catherine II Alekseevna;

d) repeal of the Decree on Single Inheritance;

e) the reign of Peter II Alekseevich;

f) the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna;

g) organization of the Great Northern Expedition;

h) wars between Russia and France “for the Polish inheritance”;

i) the reign of Anna Ioannovna;

j) institutions of the Academy of Sciences;

k) the activities of the Supreme Privy Council;

l) opening of the first publicly accessible theater.

1) 1725–1727;

3) 1726–1730;

4) 1727–1730;

5) 1730–1740;

7) 1733–1734;

8) 1733–1743;

9) 1740–1741;

3. Which of the Russian monarchs was on the throne for only six months:

b) Ivan VI;

c) Catherine I;

d) Peter III;

d) Boris Godunov?

4. Moscow merchants presented Elizaveta Petrovna with a large diamond on a gold plate and a large sum of money. This was a sign of gratitude:

a) for the nobility to obtain a monopoly right to distill alcohol;

c) granted a constitution for the territories under the control of the rebels;

d) all of the above is true;

d) only a) and b) are true.

6. Place the following events in chronological order:

a) creation of boards;

b) adoption of the Council Code;

c) drawing up an “Order” to the Statutory Commission;

d) the election of Mikhail Romanov to the throne.

7. In 1775, the government divided the country into provinces and districts with approximately equal numbers of male souls (300–400 thousand and 30 thousand souls, respectively). The number of provinces was:

8. Which of the following refers to the policies of Catherine II:

a) adoption of the Manifesto on the freedom of the nobility;

b) adoption of a decree on unified inheritance;

c) adoption of the Charter to the cities;

d) adoption of the Manifesto on the inviolability of autocracy.

9. The government of Catherine II issued a “Charter on the rights, liberties and advantages of the noble Russian nobility” in ... year:

10. “Order” for the Statutory Commission of 1767–1768. was written:

a) Catherine II;

11. Which of the following refers to the results of the activities of the Statutory Commission of 1767–1768:

a) adoption of a new Code;

b) approval of the Manifesto on the freedom of the nobility;

c) development of a Manifesto on the inviolability of autocracy;

d) dissolution of the commission that failed to develop a new set of laws?

12. “Charter of Grant” to cities where the merchant elite received greater access to city government, exemption from poll tax and conscription, appeared in ... year :

13. Which of the following refers to the policy of Catherine II in the field of education:

a) opening of Moscow University;

b) the establishment of the gentry (noble) corps for the training of officers;

c) transforming digital schools into soldiers’ schools;

d) founding of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy?

5. Which states, besides England and Russia, were part of the fourth coalition against France?

a) Piedmont and Türkiye;

b) Austria and Bavaria;

c) Prussia and Sweden.

6. In the fall of 1812, the plan was to force Napoleon to retreat from Moscow along the devastated Smolensk road. What were Napoleon's plans?

a) retreat along the Vladimir road;

b) retreat through Yaroslavl;

c) make a withdrawal through Kaluga and Tula.

7. Name one of the leaders of the peasant partisan detachment during Patriotic War 1812:

8. What form of government should Russia have adopted according to N. Muravyov’s project? ?

a) democratic republic;

b) autocratic monarchy;

c) constitutional monarchy.

9. Why were the Decembrists forced to act in December 1825 earlier than planned?

a) Alexander I suddenly died;

b) the unification of the Southern and Northern societies took place;

c) the plan for the uprising was ready and members of society did not want to waste time.

10. Who could a noble challenge to a duel?

a) a person of any class;

b) only a nobleman;

c) only equal in rank.

Russia in the first half of the 19th century

Option 3

1. What transport arteries of the country were in the first half of the 19th century? were the main ones ?

a) railways;

b) rivers and canals;

c) highways and dirt roads.

2. To whom was the throne transferred according to the Law on Succession to the Throne, issued by Paul I in 1797?

a) eldest son;

b) the emperor's wife;

c) the emperor's brother by seniority.

3. When was Alexander I’s rescript banning the activities of secret societies and Masonic lodges announced?

4. Who initiated the creation of military settlements in Russia?

b) A. X. Benkendorf;

5. According to the Treaty of Tilsit between Russia and France:

a) Russia paid indemnity to France;

b) the Russian army was limited in number;

c) Russia became an ally of France against England.

6. M . I. Kutuzov was out of favor with Alexander I; however, the latter appointed him commander-in-chief of the Russian army in 1812. Why was this decision made?

a) due to disagreements in the command of the Russian army and the need to appoint a person who enjoyed generally recognized authority;

b) with the fact that no one else could lead the Russian army;

c) at the request of the people and the army.

7. After the defeat on the Berezina River, Napoleon abandoned his army. Where did it happen?

c) in Vilna.

8. Where was the Northern Society of Decembrists formed?

a) in Moscow;

b) in St. Petersburg;

c) in Pskov.

9. When did the uprising of the Chernigov regiment take place?

10. Which of the following belonged to the class of Russian nobility in the 19th century?

a) Georgian princes, khans and beks of annexed Turkestan;

b) all officials from class XIV according to the “Table of Ranks”;

c) all teachers of gymnasiums, secondary schools and higher educational institutions.

Test 2

Russia in 1825–1855

Option 1

1. Who in Russia in the first half of the 19th century. was the monopoly owner of the land?

a) church;

b) nobles;

c) officials.

2. In 1837–1841 carried out an administrative reform, as a result of which state peasants:

a) became legally free landowners;

b) fell under the power of landowners;

c) became monastic peasants.

4. What is included in the concept of the “Eastern Question”?

a) the struggle for Iran to join Russia;

b) establishing peace in the East;

c) contradictions between European powers regarding the division of the Ottoman Empire.

5. The Caucasian War ended in ... year:

6. Which Russian doctor used anesthesia during the Crimean War?

7. Indicate one of the ranks of the white clergy:

b) metropolitan;

c) archimandrite.

8. How many universities were there in Russia in the first half of the 19th century?

9. Which printing houses predominated in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century?

a) state-owned;

b) private;

c) with mixed capital.

11. Why did Nicholas I ascend the Russian throne in December 1825, and not his older brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich?

a) the legal heir Constantine voluntarily renounced the throne;

b) the guard forced the legal heir of Constantine to abdicate the throne;

c) the palace intrigue in favor of Nicholas I was a success.

12. What happened in Russia in the first half of the 19th century. the main means of delivering goods?

c) horse-drawn transport.

13. Which of the Russian utopian socialists collaborated in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski?

14. Indicate the dates of the Russian-Iranian war in the second quarter of the 19th century:

a) 1826–1828;

b) 1828–1831;

c) 1834–1836.

15. For what purpose was the London Convention concluded between Russia, England, Austria, Prussia and Turkey?

a) for the purpose of a joint attack on Iran;

b) for the purpose of providing collective assistance to the Turkish Sultan against the Egyptian Pasha;

c) in order to maintain peace in the Middle East.

16. Which work reflects the events of the Crimean War?

a) in “Favorite”;

b) in “Sevastopol Stories”;

c) in Port Arthur.

Russia in 1825–1855

Option 2

1. Which one European country was the main importer of goods from Russia in the first half of the 19th century?

a) England;

b) France;

c) Prussia.

2. Who was directly subordinate to the political police (III Department) during the reign of Nicholas I?

a) the Minister of Police;

b) the Minister of Internal Affairs;

c) Emperor Nicholas I.

3. What is Slavophilism?

a) religious movement;

b) the idea of ​​​​the superiority of the Slavic race;

c) the theory of a special path of development of Russia.

4. When was the Treaty of Adrianople signed between Russia and Turkey?

a) In 1828;

5. What ideal of a ruler did Nicholas I adhere to?

a) constitutional monarch;

b) sovereign knight;

c) sovereign commander.

6. Who led the uprising in Poland in 1830?

a) patriotic circles of the gentry;

b) Catholic Church;

c) peasantry.

7. Who are Westerners?

a) religious sect;

b) representatives of Western European countries - investors in Russia;

c) supporters of the Western European path of development of Russia.

8. Indicate the dates of the Russian-Turkish war in the second quarter of the 19th century:

a) 1828–1829;

b) 1827–1828;

c) 1829–1830.

9. What is the name of the book by A. de Custine, who described the Russian Empire in the era of Nicholas I?

a) “Russia in 1839”;

b) “Russia in the Dark”;

c) “Colossus with feet of clay.”

10. Russia faced the interests of which European state in the Middle East in the second quarter of the 19th century?

a) England;

b) Austria;

c) Italy.

11. Which of the following was a Westerner?

12. What was Russia’s position in relation to the Greek national liberation movement of the 1820s?

a) maintained a position of neutrality;

b) helped suppress the Greek uprising;

c) provided diplomatic and military assistance to the Greek rebels.

13. How did the Caucasian War end in 1864?

a) the capture of Kbaadu by Russian troops;

b) the arrest of Shamil in Gunib;

c) the capture of Kars by Russian troops.

14. What is fast food?

a) food for newlyweds;

b) royal treat;

c) food consumed during fasting.

15. What was the reason for the start of the Crimean War?

a) the demand of Nicholas I to place all Orthodox Christians in Turkey under his protection;

b) insulting the Russian ambassador in Turkey;

c) regular Cossack raids on Turkish villages.

16. Which lyceum did you study at?

a) in Nezhinsky;

b) in Demidovsky;

c) in the Imperial Alexandrovsky.

17. Which famous Russian surgeon participated in the defense of Sevastopol?

18. Russian composer, former serf of Count A. Orlov, author of the song “Bell”:

Russia in 1825–1855

Option 3

1. What was the proportion of the urban population of Russia in the 1860s?

2. Which body was involved in the development of peasant reform?

a) II Department of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery;

b) Main Committee for Peasant Affairs;

3. What deadline was set for peasants to make redemption payments for the land?

4. From which state was the system of elections to city councils borrowed according to the reform of 1870?

a) from Prussia;

b) in England;

c) in France.

a) for merchants;

b) for peasants;

c) for citizens who had a property qualification below 1 thousand rubles.

6. What was one of the symbols of the period 1856–1861?

a) barracks and office;

b) perestroika;

c) publicity.

7. Who was at the head of the “People’s Retribution” organization, created in Moscow in 1869?

8. Who was a contemporary of Alexander II?

9. In connection with which the question arose about the need to join Central Asia to Russia?

a) due to the need to strengthen Russia’s borders;

b) due to the need to raise the peoples of Central Asia to a higher cultural level;

c) due to the cessation of cotton supplies from the USA.

10. What were called dozhinkas in the everyday life of Russian peasants?

a) one of the types of help;

b) agricultural religious holiday;

c) the beginning of the harvest.

Russia in 1825–1855

Option 4

1. Which city of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century. was third in population after St. Petersburg and Moscow?

b) Odessa;

c) Warsaw.

2. Why was Alexander II called the Tsar-Liberator?

a) because he exempted the nobles from paying taxes;

b) because he freed the peasants from serfdom;

c) because he freed the townspeople from state duties.

3. To carry out the redemption of land, according to the law of February 19, 1861, the peasant had to pay 20–25% of the entire redemption amount at a time. Who paid the landowners the rest?

7. Supporters of what direction of social thought of the 1860s. adhered to the idea that " new order establish no other way than through wise transactions with the old" ()?

b) revolutionary democracy;

9. Which city was the capital of the Kokand Khanate in Central Asia?

b) Tashkent;

c) Alma-Ata.

10. On what basis was the life of Russian peasants built?

a) based on “Domostroy”;

b) based on oral customs and traditions;

3. What was taken as a model when creating a system of peasant public administration in post-reform Russia?

a) the system of peasant self-government in France and Germany;

b) a system of peasant self-government in the state village, developed;

c) the practice of military settlements during the time of Alexander I.

4. Who owned the local executive power under the zemstvo reform of 1864?

a) zemstvo assembly;

b) zemstvo government;

c) to the assembly of the nobility.

a) foreigners;

c) primary school teachers.

6.In 1866, student D. Karakozov made an attempt on the life of Alexander II in St. Petersburg. What organization did he belong to?

a) to the circle;

b) to the organization “Land and Freedom”;

c) to the “Northern Union of Russian Workers”.

7. Which magazine in the second half of the 1850s became a vehicle for the ideas of “peasant socialism”?

a) “Russian antiquity”;

b) “Contemporary”;

c) “Rural improvement”.

8. How much did Russia gain from the sale of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to the United States?

a) 267 million rubles;

b) 2 billion rubles; ,

c) 14 million rubles.

9. On what religious holiday in a Russian village was the burning of an effigy and the capture of a snowy town held?

a) for Epiphany;

b) for Christmas;

c) on Maslenitsa.

Option 3

1.Who was the chairman of the State Council and the Committee of Ministers during the peasant reform?

2. What did the reform of 1861 give to the peasants?

a) equal class rights with the burghers;

b) land without any redemption;

c) personal freedom.

3. In which region of Russia did feudal relations last the longest during the post-reform period?

a) in Central Russia;

b) in Transcaucasia;

c) in the Baltic provinces.

4.Who owned the executive power in city government according to the City Regulations of 1870?

a) city government;

b) city council;

c) the governor.

5. Whose participation in court was mandatory under the judicial reform of 1864?

a) a representative of the local administration;

b) investigator;

c) a sworn attorney.

7. How many years did you study in gymnasiums in the second half of the 19th century?

8. During the Polish uprising of 1863, a chauvinist campaign began in Russia. Who led it?

9. When did the Russian-Turkish war begin in the second half of the 19th century?

a) In 1878;

10. Who created the revolutionary organization “Land and Freedom”?

a) radical heterodox intelligentsia;

b) aristocratic circles of the nobility;

c) peasants.

Russia in the second half of the nineteenth century

Option 4

1. Which Russian public figure supported the Polish uprising of 1863?

2. “The Bell”, published in London and was:

b) newspaper;

c) a magazine.

3. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1877–1878. Caucasian theater of military operations :

a) was not open;

b) was open, but there were practically no active hostilities;

c) the fighting was very active, during the war Abkhazia was liberated, Sukhumi, Bayazet, Kare were taken.

4. What was one government tithe equal to?

5. Who was the Minister of the Interior in 1855–1861?

b) Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich;

6. Why were the Editorial Commissions created under the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs, established in March 1859?

a) to collect and summarize statistical data;

b) to draw up a draft law on the liberation of peasants;

c) to draw up the final report of the Main Committee.

7. What event happened during the reign of Alexander II?

a) Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878;

b) Napoleon III came to power in France;

c) heroic defense of Sevastopol.

10. Who was a contemporary of Alexander II?

“Patriotic” coup of Elizaveta Petrovna

So, until then, the daughter of Peter I, Princess Elizabeth, who had been in the shadows until then, supported by the guard, carried out another (and not the last in the 18th century) palace coup and was proclaimed empress. She reigned for 20 years - from 1741 to 1761.

A lot has been written about this revolution, and almost all historical (and even more so fiction) literature traditionally interprets this event as a “triumph of the Russian spirit”, as the end of foreign dominance, as the only possible and even completely legal act. It is alleged that it was of a “patriotic”, “anti-German” character and was the culmination of the struggle of the Russian nobility against the “dominance of foreigners” in the country. In fact, the guards who participated in the conspiracy were inspired by the idea of ​​​​restoring strong autocratic power in Russia, which had been shaken under the infant emperor.

V. O. Klyuchevsky says the following about Elizabeth: “The most legitimate of all the successors and successors of Peter I.” The night of the coup entered not only the history books, but also legends. There is a well-known phrase with which the crown princess led the guards on the assault: “Do you know whose daughter I am?” This was quite enough - Peter’s authority was too great in all strata of society.

Interestingly, the name of Tsarevna Elizabeth was mentioned at every change of rulers since 1725, but each time the crown went to someone else. Elizabeth was always quite calm about advice and calls to act for the sake of accession to the throne. It must be said that in 1741, “Petrov’s daughter” succumbed to the persuasion of her entourage only under the influence of fear of an unknown future.

In public opinion, Elizabeth, by the will of political circumstances, earned the reputation of the head of a certain “Russian” party opposing the dominance of foreigners at the courts of Anna Ioannovna and Anna Leopoldovna. In this respect, the Elizabeth of 1741 was the exact opposite of the Elizabeth of 1725.

After the death of Peter, it was his daughters who, along with Catherine, were considered the main patrons of foreigners. Elizabeth, together with Anna Petrovna, was a symbol of Holstein influence on the Russian court. Moreover, at that moment, Elizabeth was considered the bride of the Lubeck prince-bishop Karl August, who later died of a fleeting illness.

It should be noted that Elizabeth was not some special Russian patriot; she simply became the center of gravity of that court group, which at that moment found itself removed from power. The patriotic feelings of Elizabeth's supporters were caused not so much by rejection of foreigners, but by their own interests. Elizabeth's victory brought to power a new generation of courtiers and prominent politicians - the Shuvalov family, M. I. Vorontsov, the Razumovsky brothers, and elevated A. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin.

The ease with which Minikh eliminated Biron also influenced the determination of Elizabeth’s supporters. In addition, the guards felt like a special force, a “hegemon,” so to speak. Minikh himself once told them: “Whoever you want to be sovereign can be.” They wanted to - and they were able to.

In addition, there are inexorable facts confirming that it was foreign courts that played an important role in the princess’s (essentially) anti-government adventure, that Elizabeth collaborated with French and Swedish agents of influence - J. Chetardie and Nolken, and also played an active role in preparing the coup. foreigner" Johann Lestok.

It is also important that under Elizabeth there were no fundamental changes in the composition of the ruling elite of the state apparatus - only the most odious figures were removed. Outwardly, it seemed that “new” times had arrived. The Cabinet of Ministers was abolished, and the personal office of the Empress was established, similar in the nature of its functions to the Cabinet of Peter I. The institute of prosecutors, the Chief Magistrate, the Berg and Manufactory Collegium, etc., which had been abolished in the previous period, were restored. A return to the Petrine order in the church was announced. management.

Empress Elizabeth founded the first real university - Moscow. On the very first day after the coup, a temporary body was created - “assembly of Messrs. ministers and generals" of 11 people, called the "council of eleven". Subsequently, the role of the imperial council was played by “meetings” specially convened by Elizabeth, and in 1756 the Conference at the Highest Court was established - the direct successor to the Supreme Privy Council and the Cabinet of Ministers. Thus, we can talk about the stability of the highest councils under the person of the monarch as an institution of Russian absolutism, its necessary element. The Secret Investigation Office has been preserved - the successor to the gloomy memory of the Preobrazhensky Order.

The supreme power became stable for a time. And the frivolous beauty on the throne indulged in entertainment. She was surrounded by capable statesmen(Shuvalovs, Vorontsov, etc.). But there were also completely random people among them. The highest military rank of field marshal was given to the former simple Ukrainian Cossack A.K. Razumovsky, who never served in the army. He became the morganatic husband of Empress Elizabeth, with whom she secretly married.

There are different assessments of Elizaveta Petrovna’s activities. Some historians argue that her time was distinguished by humanity and religious tolerance, the strengthening of the role of the nobility in the state, the flourishing of manufacturing and trade, further development education; others believe that no fundamental and significant changes have occurred in the state and society. Therefore, when speaking about the activities of this ruler, it is necessary to take into account and take into account both points of view.

Elizaveta Petrovna

For example, according to Klyuchevsky, she was an intelligent and kind, but disorderly and wayward Russian lady of the 18th century, whom, according to Russian custom, many scolded during her lifetime and, also according to Russian custom, everyone mourned after her death.

Having ascended the throne through a coup, Elizaveta Petrovna did not feel secure enough on it. Therefore, in order to strengthen her position, she became concerned about organizing the affairs of succession to the throne. Of course, after the overthrow of Munnich, Osterman, Levenwolde, as well as the Brunswick family, German influence at the Russian court practically disappeared. However, having established herself on the throne, Elizabeth declared her nephew, Prince Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp, the son of her sister Anna, as her heir. On February 5, 1762, almost immediately after the death of Elizabeth, he was officially declared heir to the Russian throne.

But the Brunswick House - like everything forbidden in Rus' - attracted and seduced dreamers. Moreover, Anna Leopoldovna, Anton and, of course, the young and disgraced Ivan VI Antonovich did not start any intrigues themselves, but were an exciting bait for fans of strategic games, especially since the technique had already been worked out. It was urgent to marry Duke Karl Peter Ulrich so that he could quickly produce offspring and designate a dynastic branch.

The empress's advisers were of the same opinion and began to propose brides. Bestuzhev promoted the Saxon princess Maria Amalia. The Polish princess, daughter of Augustus III, was an advantageous match - she would contribute to the unification of Russia and Poland. This frightened the secret admirers of the Franco-Prussian alliance, and they hastened to find another option. The Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst was in the Prussian service; his wife, Elizabeth of Holstein, a relative of young Peter, was also the sister of the heir to the Swedish throne. And this couple had a daughter, Sophia Augusta Frederica (Princess Fike). In her favor, Lestocq and teacher Petra Bruemmer tried to adjust the rule of Vassian Toporkov: “You must choose someone for whom marriage would be true happiness.” Only this time the experienced schemers outsmarted themselves! It has long been known that a person raised from the dirt strives for riches as many times stronger than a prosperous and noble one, as many times his children's toys - if they existed at all - are cheaper than the gilded rattles and porcelain wind-up dolls of a rich heir. There was also another very significant point: the Protestant Sofia Augusta Frederica was much easier to convert to Orthodoxy than the ardent Catholic Maria Amalia. Somewhere on the horizon, the pale ghost of Marina Mnishek seemed to the most impressionable.

The invitation of Empress Elizabeth came in mid-December 1743, and on February 3, 1744, Sophia Augusta Frederica arrived in St. Petersburg. After 6 days, the bride was delivered to Moscow - a fantastic speed of travel for those times. The groom did not know anything; in the midst of all the trouble they forgot to notify him.

Three teachers were assigned to the 14-year-old bride - Greek faith, Russian language and dance. The girl took up studying the wisdom so seriously that she almost died. She jumped out of bed at night and re-read “Russian notes,” and the drafts in the palace were according to the climate. It all ended with severe pneumonia. The month of fever was survived only thanks to Lestocq. Elizabeth of Holstein tried to bring her Lutheran pastor to the princess, but Fike snapped: “What is this for?” - and called Stefan Theodore, a teacher of Orthodoxy. Elizabeth was touched and hugged the sick woman like her own daughter.

The disease subsided with God's help, but the intrigue continued. Lestock's French party triumphed early. The disgraced Vice-Chancellor Bestuzhev managed to intercept letters from Ambassador Chetardy, an active Franco-Prussian supporter, and, moreover, decipher them with the help of Academician Goldbach. Therefore, when he had to justify himself based on Lestok’s denunciations, he showed the Empress a transcript, which, among other things, caricatured Elizabeth herself: she doesn’t like to think - she keeps fools as ministers for this, and saves money on the war in order to squander it on carousing, and she loves to change her clothes five times a day, and indulges in love left and right, and the main pleasure for her is to shine in the palace among the lackeys. Chetardie's head was dangerously close to the chopping block. But it ended with deportation.

The investigation materials fully exposed the espionage or at least subversive activities of the bride, Princess Fike. Lestok tried to send her away out of frustration, but Elizabeth was not angry with her future daughter-in-law. On June 28, 1744, the anointing of Ekaterina Alekseevna took place - this is how Sofia Augusta Frederica was christened. The Petersburg Gazette wrote about this - it was almost an enlightened century! The next day, the name day of the Grand Duke was celebrated, and as a gift, his betrothal to the newly baptized Grand Duchess took place.

But in the fall, the heir fell ill, he was diagnosed with smallpox, and everyone thought that this Peter would follow the previous one. But the prince recovered, on February 10, 1745 he turned 16 years old, and they began to prepare him for the wedding. We prepared for six months. The wedding took place on August 21 and was celebrated with extraordinary pomp for 10 days.

The end of the year was spent in diplomatic work. Elizabeth skillfully maneuvered and avoided participating in European wars, where the British, Germans, and Swedes tried to drag her into.

In March 1746, the court received news of the death of Anna Leopoldovna, who was imprisoned with her family on the shores of the White Sea. She was buried in St. Petersburg, in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. And her son Ivan was destined for the fate of a lifelong prisoner, a Russian " iron mask" Elizabeth's fear of a possible new coup forced her to hide the deposed emperor more and more carefully. At first, Elizabeth intended to expel the Brunswick family from Russia (as was officially stated in the manifesto justifying her rights to the throne), but changed her mind, fearing that she would be dangerous abroad, and ordered the former regent and her husband to be imprisoned. In 1742, secretly for everyone, the whole family was transferred to the suburbs of Riga - Dynamünde, then, in 1744, to Oranienburg, and then - away from the border, to the north of the country - to Kholmogory, where little Ivan was completely isolated from his parents. In 1756 he was transported from Kholmogory to solitary confinement in the Shlisselburg fortress. In the fortress, Ivan (officially called the “famous prisoner”) was in complete isolation; he was not allowed to see anyone, not even the serf servants. During his entire imprisonment, he never saw a single human face. However, the facts indicate that, separated from his parents at the age of four, Ivan was a normal boy. There is no doubt that he knew who he was and who his parents were. This is evidenced by official correspondence from the time of Dynamünde. Colonel Chertov, sent to prepare a cell for Ivan, received an order: the room should be without windows so that the boy “due to his playfulness would not jump out of the window.” Later, already in 1759, one of the guards reported that the secret prisoner called himself the emperor. As one of those present at the conversation between Emperor Peter III and Ivan in 1762 in Shlisselburg recalled, Ivan replied that his parents and soldiers called him emperor. He also remembered a kind officer named Korf, who took care of him and even took him for a walk. All this says only one thing - the boy was not an idiot, physically and mentally ill, as he was sometimes portrayed. There is evidence that in 1759 Ivan began to show signs of inappropriate behavior. Empress Catherine II, who saw him in 1762, spoke about this with complete confidence, but some believed that it was just a pathetic simulation.

It was beneficial for the authorities to present Ivan as a madman. On the one hand, this justified the severity of keeping a prisoner - after all, in those days, mentally ill people were kept like animals, on chains, in cramped closets, without care or human sympathy. On the other hand, the idea of ​​Ivan as a madman made it possible to justify the murder of the unfortunate man, who, as a mental patient, could not control himself and therefore could easily become a toy in the hands of adventurers.

To prove the prisoner’s insanity, jailers write about his inadequate, in their opinion, reaction to the actions of the guards: “In June, the seizures took on a violent character: the patient shouted at the guards, swore at them, attempted to fight, twisted his mouth, and swung at the officers.” From other sources we know that the security officers treated him rudely, punished him - deprived him of tea, warm clothes, possibly beat him for being obstinate, and most certainly teased him like a dog sitting on a leash. There is a message about this from officer Ovtsyn, who wrote in April 1760 that the prisoner is healthy and restless at times, but “the officers drive him to this point, they always tease him.” Ivan, of course, hated them, his tormentors, and scolded them, and this was the natural reaction of a mentally normal person to inhuman treatment.

The prisoner's situation was terrible. He was kept in a cramped, narrow room, the small windows of which were constantly closed. For many years he lived by candlelight and, not having a watch with him, did not know the time of day and night. As a contemporary wrote, “he could neither read nor write, loneliness made him thoughtful, his thoughts were not always in order.” To this we can add an excerpt from the instructions to the commandant given in 1756 by the head of the Secret Chancellery, Count Alexander Shuvalov: “The prisoner should not be allowed out of the barracks, but when someone is let in to clean up all uncleanness in the barracks, then the prisoner should be behind a screen so that they cannot see him.” " In 1757, a clarification followed: no one should be allowed into the fortress without a decree from the Secret Chancellery, not excluding generals and even field marshals.

While Ivan was in captivity, many attempts were made to free the deposed emperor and restore him to the throne. The last attempt turned out to be death for the young prisoner. In 1764, when Catherine II was already reigning, second lieutenant V. Ya. Mirovich, who was on guard duty in the Shlisselburg fortress, won over part of the garrison to his side, calling for the release of Ivan. However, Ivan’s guards were given secret instructions to kill the prisoner if they tried to free him (even after presenting the empress’s decree about this), so in response to Mirovich’s demand for surrender, they stabbed Ivan and only then surrendered. Mirovich was arrested and beheaded in St. Petersburg as a state criminal. There is an unconfirmed version according to which Catherine provoked him in order to get rid of the former emperor.

The “famous prisoner” is believed to be buried in the Shlisselburg fortress; he is the only one Russian emperors(if we consider the found and reburied remains of Nicholas II to be genuine), whose burial place is now not exactly known.

In December 1747, the last hero of bygone times, Lestok, who imagined a lot about himself, was “finished off.” Lestocq was arrested for his connections with Prussian and Swedish agents, the “pension” he received from them, and intrigues against Russia’s allies. Bestuzhev won, Russian diplomacy has now become truly Russian.

And the young Princess Sophia Augusta Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst learned well the lessons that Russian reality taught her - she will put them into practice no less successfully than her mentors in Russian political history.

On November 17, 1761, Elizabeth began to have febrile seizures. She could not be disturbed, but the advisers constantly reported about the disorder in business, the disobedience of officials, and the lack of money. December 12 – a new, especially severe attack. True, on December 20 there was unexpected relief, but on December 22 at 10 pm the empress began vomiting blood with a cough. Some other signs were also discovered, from which doctors concluded that there was a direct threat to life. Elizabeth confessed and received unction, ordered the reading twice, and herself repeated the prayers of departure. The agony continued throughout Christmas night and almost the entire day of Christ’s coming. Elizaveta Petrovna died at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon on December 25, 1761.

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