Anna Ioannovna

👶 Anna Ioannovna was born in 1693 and was the daughter of Tsar Ivan V, co-ruler with Peter I, which made her a representative of the senior branch of the House of Romanov, one that remained in the shadow of her more celebrated relatives for a long time. In 1710, for political reasons, Peter I married his niece off to Duke Frederick William of Courland, but the young husband died just a few months after the wedding while returning from St. Petersburg to Courland. Widowed, Anna was forced to spend nearly two decades in Courland in straitened financial circumstances, suffering humiliations and constant dependence on the favor of the Russian court and the local nobility. 📜 After the sudden death of Peter II in 1730, the Supreme Privy Council, composed of representatives of the most prominent aristocratic families, decided to invite Anna to the Russian throne, hoping to limit her power in their own favor. The candidate was presented with the so-called "Conditions" — written stipulations that significantly curtailed the monarch's autocratic authority in favor of the Supreme Privy Council, including bans on declaring war, introducing new taxes, or granting estates without the council's consent. Anna initially signed these conditions, but having secured the support of the guard and part of the nobility, who resented the dominance of the aristocratic oligarchy, she soon publicly tore up the Conditions and restored full autocracy. 🏛️ Having established herself on the throne, the empress abolished the Supreme Privy Council, replacing it with the Cabinet of Ministers, and dealt harshly with members of the Dolgorukov and Golitsyn families who had attempted to limit her power. Foreigners, predominantly of German origin, played a significant role in governing the state under Anna Ioannovna, among whom her favorite Ernst Johann Biron stood out in particular, his name giving rise to an entire era known as "Bironovshchina," marked by the dominance of foreigners in key positions and an atmosphere of denunciation and repression. ⚔️ Anna Ioannovna's reign was also marked by important foreign policy events, including the War of the Polish Succession and the Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739, which demanded enormous strain on the country's strength and resources for rather modest territorial gains. Domestically, the empress restored some Petrine institutions, founded the Noble Cadet Corps, and had the famous Ice House built, which became a symbol of the whimsical and at times cruel court life of the era. Anna Ioannovna died in 1740, naming as her successor the infant Ivan VI under the regency of Biron, which sparked a new round of palace struggles for power.