Imperial Russia
Outline #5
Professor Knight

Russia from Peter I to Catherine II: The Era of Palace Coups

I.  Succession Crisis of 1730
	Supreme Privy Council
	Empress Anna Ivanovna (ruled 1730-1740)
	The Crisis of 1730
		“Conditions” of the Supreme Privy Council
		Proposals of the Nobility
	Ernst Jochan Biron (Bironovshchina)

II.  The Reign of Empress Elizabeth –1741-1761
	Emperor Ivan VI (1740-41)
	Anna Leopoldovna of Brunswick
	Elizabeth stages palace coup—November 1741
	Favorites:  Cyril Razumovsky, Peter Shuvalov, A. P. Bestuzhev, M. I. Vorontsov
	Court life under Elizabeth
		Balls, Masquerades, Outings, Church services.
	Restoration of Petrine System
	Role of foreigners, non-Russians
		Ukrainians, Baltic Germans

III.  The “Empire of the Nobility”
	Spread of Serfdom
		State grants new lands to nobles
		Barshchina (Labor payment)
		Obrok (Cash payment)
	Amelioration of Service Burdens
	Impoverishment of Nobility
	Lack of class solidarity
	Patronage networks
	Peasant Entrepreneurship