The Era of Palace Coups

The era of palace coups

1725-1762

The palace coups. In pre-revolutionary Russian historiography the period of 1725-62 was called the era of palace coups. It was for a long time considered that frequent changes of power were the result of the decree of 1722, which allowed the tsar himself to appoint his successor, and a special role of the Guards, created by Peter I. In reality, after the emperor's death (1725) experienced pragmatist politicians, brought up by him, found themselves in power, whose activity was determined by the political and socio-economic circumstances of the country's development. In fact, this time was a period of testing the reforms of Peter I by real life, their adaptation to it and a certain adjustment.

Modern historiography looks upon the palace coups of 1725-62 as a complicated socio-political phenomenon and distinguishes between them the events connected with struggle of political groups and state coups of 1741 and 1762 which resulted in overthrow of the legitimate supreme power and were to some extent a reflection of public sentiments. The situation in the Romanov dynasty also played its role in these events. After the death in 1718 of Peter I's son by his first marriage, Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, and the death in 1719 of his son by his second marriage, Tsarevich Peter Petrovich, Alexei's son Peter, who was 9 years old when his grandfather died, remained the sole heir in the male line. According to one of the versions Peter I supposed to bequeath the throne to his elder daughter Anna Petrovna, but then he decided to marry her off to the Duke of Holstein and in 1724 organized the coronation of his second wife Catherine I (who ruled in 1725-27). As a result, when the emperor died without leaving an order for an heir, it was his widow who had the most legal rights to the throne. According to her will, Peter II, her grandson in 1727, inherited the throne, but there was a dynastic crisis after his death in 1730. Under such circumstances, it was legitimate to invite to the throne a representative of the older branch of the Romanov dynasty, Anna Ivanovna, Peter I's niece (who ruled in 1730-40). That, in turn, in 1740 declared the successor of her nephew-in-law - the child Ivan Antonovich, son of Princess Anna Leopoldovna, who in November 1741 was overthrown by Elizaveta Petrovna. The new Empress, who ruled in 1741-61, declared her nephew Peter Fyodorovich, who was also deposed in June 1762 by his wife Catherine II, who had no legal rights to the throne, heir to the throne. The order of succession to the throne was determined in 1797 by Paul I, but Paul I was overthrown and killed in a coup of 1801.

Internal Politics. Period of the 2nd half. 1720-30-ies was characterized by the aggravation of the struggle of court factions for power. During the reign of Catherine I the leading role in the state was pretended by A.D. Menshikov, but with the accession to the throne of Peter II he found himself in disgrace. The young emperor was under the influence of A. G. and I. A. Dolgorukov, as well as A. I. Ostermann. During the interregnum in 1730 the members of the Supreme Privy Council on the initiative of D. M. Golitsyn made an attempt to limit the power of the monarch, forcing Anna Ivanovna to sign the Conditia - the terms of her accession to the throne, which diminished the power of the Empress in favor of the Supreme Privy Council. However, these actions have caused discontent among the masses of the nobility, whose representatives have drawn up a number of projects of state structure. In the face of confrontation between the members of the Supreme Privy Council and the nobility the relatives of the new Empress managed to attract to their side of the Guards and with its help restore autocracy. The initiators of the Verkhovnikov's plot were exiled, and the real power was in the hands of Alexander I. Osterman and the Empress's favorite, E. I. Biron, who competed with each other. The victim of this rivalry was the cabinet minister A. P. Volynsky - Biron's protégé, then his opponent. In the 1730s there were many persons of non-Russian origin in government posts. Contrary to what some historians claim, they did not form a single "German party", but fought for power and influence at court both among themselves and with the Russian representatives of the political elite. Most "foreigners" faithfully served Russia, finding in it a second homeland. The main content of domestic policy in 1725-41 was defined by the crisis condition of the country's finances. The Northern War of 1700-21 resulted in devastation of the peasantry which responded to the pressure of the State by mass escapes. This caused discontent among the nobility, whose financial demands had dramatically increased under the new cultural conditions. The state itself also experienced significant financial difficulties, since the maintenance of the regular army and navy, as well as the continuation of the foreign policy of Peter I, required a huge expenditure. In order to overcome the crisis, measures were taken to reduce public spending by eliminating some, considered superfluous, institutions. In 1727, the posts of county governors were restored; in 1727, the courts above courts, the Chief Magistrate, and the Manufactory Board were abolished; decisions on the abolition of cash payments for some categories of civil servants were taken. The structure of the central and local authorities underwent changes throughout the 18th century, but the foundations of the administrative system created by Peter I and the principles of its functioning were retained.

The most important changes in the administrative system were associated with the establishment of the Supreme Privy Council (1726-1730) and the Cabinet (1731-41). These supreme bodies had filled a kind of lacuna in the Petrine system of administration, which had revealed the lack of sufficient political will of the country's supreme rulers.

Another way of improving matters was to improve the mechanism of tax collection. They tried to solve this problem by transferring the responsibility for tax collection from the military department to local authorities and landlords. But by the 1730's it had become clear that this measure had not yielded results, and special execution teams were sent to the villages, which cruelly dealt with delinquents. In the second half of the 1730's. In the second half of the 1730s a number of decrees were issued, which identified large landlords as the main culprits of chronic arrears. The government threatened them with all sorts of penalties up to confiscation of estates and capital punishment.

Special attention of the rulers of Russia of the 2nd half. Russia's rulers of the second half of the 1720-30s paid special attention to the development of trade, rightly believing that it was in this area where significant profits could be gained as soon as possible. The new customs tariff (1731) practically abolished the duties on exported goods and reduced the duties on imported goods which had analogues in Russia from 75 to 20%. There were removed restrictions on trade through the port of Arkhangelsk and allowed free trade in a number of goods which had previously been given to pay-off. As a result of these measures the volume of foreign and domestic trade increased significantly. Further growth of industrial production, especially of ironworks, contributed to development of trade. By the end. By the end of 1730s Russia was in first place in the world for the production of iron. However, by this time it had become clear that the state did not have enough funds to expand industrial production, and it was decided to transfer state enterprises into private hands. However, mainly big nobles became new owners of factories and plants, who spent the gained profit not for expanding of production, but for satisfying their personal needs.

The events of 1730, which accompanied Anna Ivanovna's accession to the throne, demonstrated the transformation of the nobility into an independent political force. In 1731, the provisions of the Decree on Sole Inheritance of 1714, which restricted the rights of the nobility to dispose of land property, were abolished. In the same year for training and education of children of the nobility in St. Petersburg was established a naval cadet corps. Education there was an opportunity to bypass the rules of Peter I prescribing the nobles to begin serving in the lower ranks. In 1736 the term of service of nobles was limited to 25 years. In 1736 followed the decree which continued the policy of Peter I on strengthening the institutions of serfdom: the owners of the enterprises hired by them on the terms of free employment and received during the period of work a specialty.

The illegitimate nature of Elizabeth's seizure of power (1741) forced the new government to develop an official ideology to justify it. This ideology was based on the denigration of its predecessors, who had allegedly betrayed the legacy of Peter the Great, as well as on the proclamation of a course of succession toward this legacy and the creation of a cult of the empress's father. The first measures of the new power were directed on realization of the declared program: the Cabinet of the Ministers was liquidated, the Chief Magistrate, the Manufactory Board and the Berg Board were recreated, and the importance of the Senate was restored. In 1742 it was decided to conduct audits to regulate the collection of taxes (in the future the audits were held regularly every 15 years). The number of decrees of 1740's - early 1750's confirmed the Petrine legislation on the issues of serfdom including the right of non-noblemen factory owners to buy peasants to the factories. However in 1752 this right was limited. The apotheosis of the serfdom institution development was the decree of 1760, which permitted the landlords to send their peasants to settle in Siberia in exchange for the recruits. For the government, the decree was associated with the search for additional opportunities to develop Siberia. The peasants that were resettled there were released from serfdom and often found themselves in more favorable conditions of life and farming. By the end of the 1740s. The arsenal of habitual measures to replenish the State Treasury had been exhausted by the late 1740s, and the Government had to undertake a number of serious reforms initiated by Pavel I. Shuvalov. In 1747 the prices for salt and wine, sale of which was a state monopoly, were raised. The received profit was deducted from the amount of per capita tax which was planned for the year and the rest part was divided by the number of taxpayers, and the tax amount was reduced the next year. In 1754 the internal customs were abolished and at the same time the duties on imports were raised. This reform contributed to the transformation of the entire country into a single economic space. In 1754 were established the first two banks in Russia - the Gentleman's Bank and Merchant's Bank, issuing loans on bail of property. In the same year a Commission for drafting a new code of laws (Ulozhennaya Commission) was established; however the draft developed by the beginning of 1760s had a pronounced proletarian character and was not approved by the Empress. In the sphere of economy the Government continued its policy of support of industry and trade. In 1757 it adopted a new protectionist customs tariff. A characteristic feature of that period was active involvement of the big nobility into entrepreneurial activity which displaced the merchants. The nobility became owners of the former state enterprises, received a monopoly right to trade in certain types of goods, to extract certain types of valuable animals, etc. In 1755 a decree was issued, which established the monopoly of the nobility on distilling and turned distilleries into a part of the barch economy.

In general, the reign of Elizabeth of Russia was a time of relative political and social stability, which contributed to the economic and cultural development of the country.

The 6 months of Emperor Peter III in power were marked by serious changes in domestic and foreign policy. 18.2 (1.3).1762 was issued a Manifesto on the freedom of the nobility, under which the nobles were freed from compulsory service and turned into the only free estate in Russia. The Manifesto created the basis for the formation of corporate consciousness of the nobility and the social type of Russian rural landlords, and for the emergence of the nobility's estate culture. On the other hand, a gap between nobility and other social strata was sharply increased. The Manifesto destroyed the hierarchy of subordination of all social groups to the state, which had existed for centuries, disrupted the social balance it ensured, and interrupted the connection between the state and the serfdom through the landlords, whose possession of serfs was conditioned by service. This meant a sharp increase in the amount of proprietary rights of the nobility, the loss of supreme sovereignty of the state over a large part of its subjects. This trend was reinforced by a number of other decrees, in particular the ban on the purchase of peasants to factories by nonnoblemen. All this, in fact, created a new political reality in the country.

The second serious innovation of that time was a drastic change in church policy which manifested itself in an attempt of secularization (alienation in favor of the state) of church lands. Religious tolerance was also declared, in particular toward the Old Believers, whose persecution was stopped. The third important reform of that reign was the abolition in 1762 of the Secret Investigation Office, an organ of political investigation which for many decades had terrified the subjects. The use of the phrase "sovereign's word and deed" was forbidden, and the investigation of political crimes was entrusted to the judicial authorities which had jurisdiction over the usual criminal cases.

Foreign Policy. The nature and direction of foreign policy in these years was determined by the unsolved problems in the south and southeast. In the first years after the death of Peter I the leadership of the country tried to avoid aggravation of relations with the Ottoman Empire. In 1726 a treaty was signed with Austria, under which both parties agreed to conduct a joint policy in Europe, including with respect to the Ottoman Empire. This contract determined the main directions of the Russian foreign policy for several decades.

In 1733 Russia in alliance with Austria and Saxony went to war with France in order to prevent election of the French protege to the Polish throne. As a result of the Russian troops most of the Polish magnates sided with August III, Elector of Saxony. The war for the Polish Succession ended with the Treaty of Vienna in 1738, which allowed Russia to further strengthen its influence in Rzeczpospolita.

By the middle of the 1730s, when Russia joined the Rech Pospol. 1730-ies, when Russia returned to Persia the seized lands, for the development of which it lacked funds, the relations with the Ottoman Empire were aggravated again. The latter, with the help of its ally, the Crimean Khan, tried to take control of these territories. The Russian-Turkish war of 1735-39 was connected with a great loss of life and expenditures for Russia. By 1739 the Russian government tried to make peace by all means. Under the Peace of Belgrade (1739), signed under pressure from the European powers, Russia relinquished all its territories, except Azov. The Russian-Swedish war of 1741-43, caused by the desire of the Swedish government to get revenge and return the lost Baltic lands, ended with the Peace of Abos in 1743, under which Russia not only kept all the acquisitions in this region, but also slightly expanded them.

By the middle of the 18th century Russia became an active participant in the Baltic lands. In the 18th century Russia became an active participant in the international process and all European countries tried to cooperate with it. After the Russian-Swedish war of 1741-43 the country lived in peace for nearly 15 years. In the center of its foreign policy doctrine remained an alliance with Austria. Meanwhile, in the international arena during these years there was a regrouping of forces associated with the activation of Prussia, led by King Frederick II. Prussia and its ally France tried to draw Russia to their side, but St. Petersburg saw in Prussian strengthening a threat and felt the need to counter it. At the same time a policy of rapprochement with Great Britain was started: in 1746-47 the so called subsidy convention was signed with Great Britain which obliged Russia to allocate a 30 thousand corps for the war against France. Its deployment on the Rhine contributed to the conclusion of the Peace of Aachen in 1748, which ended the War of Austrian Succession in 1740-48, and simultaneously led to a rupture in relations with France.

By the middle. 1750s a new regrouping of forces took place in Europe due to the aggravation of relations between France and Great Britain over the North American colonies. Fearing the loss of its possessions in Germany, Britain agreed to an alliance with Prussia, which led to the rupture of the latter with France and to the conclusion in 1756 of the Franco-Austrian alliance treaty. This, in turn, led to the rupture of Russian-British and restoration of Russian-French relations, which led to a new military conflict. In the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 Russia, together with Austria and France, opposed Great Britain and Prussia. It was the first war in which Russia participated on an equal footing with the leading European powers. Despite the mediocrity of Russian commanders, the war was in general quite successful for Russia. The Russian troops won a series of victories, in 1758 occupied the Eastern Prussia and even led the locals to the oath of allegiance to the Russian Empress. In the fall of 1760 the Russian-Austrian troops briefly entered Berlin. But all the successes were wiped out after the death of Elizaveta Petrovna in Dec. 1761 by her successor Peter III: hostilities were stopped, and an alliance treaty was signed with Prussia. Russian troops were withdrawn from Prussian boundaries without any conditions and contributions. Simultaneously Russia began to prepare for war with Denmark for the Duchy of Schleswig, which was part of the ancestral lands of Emperor Peter III as the Duke of Holstein.

Russian society in the 1730-50's. This era was the time when the reforms of Peter I in the field of public life began to give the first results. Europeanized style of life became more and more entrenched among the educated nobility, and the emperor's court with its opulence and luxury became a model for imitation. The mores of the court also gradually evolved. If under Anna Ivanovna there were still archaic forms of entertainment, under Elizabeth Petrovna it became impossible. In the 1740-50s St. Petersburg had a court orchestra, which performed French and Italian music, the Italian opera was extremely popular, and many-hour theatrical performances. The Baroque architectural style which became especially fashionable at that time corresponded to the desire for ostentatious luxury. The atmosphere of active perception of European artistic culture promoted development of Russian national culture. The 1740-50s was the time of flourishing of scientific and literary activity of M.V. Lomonosov, formation of professional Russian theater, Russian portrait painting, etc. In 1755 on I. I. Shuvalov's initiative was founded Moscow University, in 1757 - Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. On this cultural background a difficult and contradictory process of formation of Russian national consciousness was going on, which was feeding both the ideas of imperial superiority and orientation on west-European philosophical and social ideas. In the middle. In the 18th century in Russia appeared people who were fond of the ideas of the French Enlightenment and entered into correspondence with Voltaire and other philosophers. The phenomenon of public opinion emerged, covering not only the nobility, but also the urban environment.