Empress Anna of Russia

Empress Anna of Russia
Name	Anna Ioannovna
Title	Empress of Russia
Reign	28 October 1730 – 17 October 1740
Predecessor	Peter II of Russia
Successor	Ivan VI of Russia
House	House of Romanov
Father	Ivan V of Russia
Mother	Praskovia Saltykova
Birth date	7 February 1693
Birth place	Kolomenskoye
Death date	17 October 1740
Burial place	Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra

Empress Anna of Russia was the daughter of Ivan V of Russia who reigned as Empress of Russia from 1730 until 1740. Her decade-long rule intervened between the reigns of Peter II of Russia and Elizabeth of Russia, marked by reliance on German advisers, the ascendancy of the Supreme Privy Council attempt to limit autocracy, notable court excesses, and involvement in conflicts such as the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739). Anna’s reign influenced succession disputes culminating in the installation of Ivan VI of Russia and set the stage for Elizabeth’s coup.

Early life and family

Anna was born at Kolomenskoye into the senior branch of the House of Romanov as the daughter of Tsar Ivan V and Praskovia Saltykova. Her familial network connected her to dynasts including Peter the Great, Catherine I of Russia, and members of the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy such as Patriarch Adrian of Moscow. Her upbringing occurred amid regencies and power struggles following Ivan V’s death, involving figures like Sophia Alekseyevna and Alexander Danilovich Menshikov. Anna’s marriage prospects and personal alliances touched the Holstein-Gottorp claim through relations with Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and linked to European courts including Saint Petersburg and Moscow elites.

Accession to the throne

Following the death of Peter II of Russia in 1730, the Supreme Privy Council—including nobles such as Gavriil Golovkin, Aleksey Dolgorukov, Burkhard Christoph von Münnich allies, and Count Andrei Osterman associates—invited Anna to assume the throne under conditions known as the "Conditions" designed to curtail sovereign power. The proposed limitation provoked opposition from provincial elites like the Boyar Duma factions, urban merchants from Novgorod, provincial gentry in Belorussia, and military officers connected to Russian regiments, resulting in Anna’s rejection of the constraints and the exile of prominent councilors including members of the Dolgorukov family.

Domestic policies and administration

Anna’s domestic administration centralized authority with reliance on trusted foreigners such as Ernst Johann von Biron and Burkhard Christoph von Münnich, while promoting officials from German and Baltic families like the Muscovite nobility’s rival houses. She restored institutions reshaped during Peter the Great’s reforms, interacted with the Senate and used instruments like ukazes enforced by police chiefs in Saint Petersburg. Anna’s rule featured judicial adjustments affecting litigants in Moscow and the provinces and administrative appointments in Siberia and Kazan Governorate. Her policies influenced estates of nobility such as the Boyars and service nobility tied to Table of Ranks precedents, leading to tensions with landholders in Ukraine and Belarus.

Foreign policy and military affairs

Anna’s foreign policy engaged major actors including the Ottoman Empire, Kingdom of Sweden, Poland–Lithuania, Electorate of Saxony, and the Habsburg Monarchy. Military campaigns were guided by generals like Burkhard Christoph von Münnich and naval officers under the Imperial Russian Navy. The Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739) resulted in engagements near the Dnieper and the Crimean Khanate frontier and concluded with the Treaty of Belgrade (1739) and the Convention of Ganja negotiations affecting relations with the Safavid successor states and Persia. Anna’s diplomacy intersected with continental diplomacy involving France, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, and dynastic considerations related to Holstein-Gottorp and the House of Habsburg.

Court life, favorites, and palace politics

Court life under Anna was dominated by favorites such as Ernst Johann von Biron (often simply "Biron"), whose elevation alarmed established families including the Dolgorukov family and the Golitsyn family. Palace politics featured intrigues by courtiers like Anna Leopoldovna’s supporters, ceremonial rivalry between St. Petersburg and Moscow salons, and entertainments influenced by visiting European artists from France and Italy and performers associated with the Imperial Theatres (Saint Petersburg). The Empress’s reliance on foreigners provoked backlash among Russian grandees like Prince Mikhail Golitsyn and military commanders from regiments garrisoned in Riga and Reval (Tallinn). Scandals at the court implicated officials in property disputes adjudicated by the Senate and punctuated relations with the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy.

Cultural and economic developments

Anna’s reign saw cultural patronage that affected institutions such as the Imperial Academy of Sciences (Saint Petersburg), the Imperial Ballet, and art collections influenced by collectors from France and Germany. Economic activity involved trade through ports like Saint Petersburg and Archangel (Arkhangelsk), merchant houses in Novgorod and Pskov, and fiscal policies shaped by ministers like Gavriil Golovkin and fiscal agents tied to the treasury. Urban projects in Saint Petersburg and estate investments by nobles from the Baltic provinces coexisted with agrarian relations on serf households in Central Russia and administrative reforms affecting the Siberian fur trade and mining operations in the Ural Mountains.

Death and succession

Anna died in Saint Petersburg on 17 October 1740 and was interred at the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Her death precipitated the succession of Ivan VI of Russia as an infant under the regency of Anna Leopoldovna, and intensified rivalries culminating in the 1741 coup by Elizabeth of Russia. The posthumous careers of her favorites—most notably Ernst Johann von Biron and Burkhard Christoph von Münnich—were shaped by arrests, exiles, and later rehabilitations during the reigns of Elizabeth of Russia and Catherine the Great.

Category:18th-century Russian monarchs Category:House of Romanov Category:Women in 18th-century politics