Elizabeth or Elizaveta Petrovna reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian monarchs because of her decision not to execute a single person during her reign, her numerous construction projects, and her strong opposition to Prussian policies.
Anna Ioannovna, also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much of her administration was defined or heavily influenced by actions set in motion by her uncle, Peter the Great, such as the lavish building projects in St. Petersburg, funding the Russian Academy of Science, and measures which generally favored the nobility, such as the repeal of a primogeniture law in 1730. In the West, Anna's reign was traditionally viewed as a continuation of the transition from the old Muscovy ways to the European court envisioned by Peter the Great. Within Russia, Anna's reign is often referred to as a "dark era".
Peter II Alexeyevich was Emperor of Russia from 1727 until 1730, when he died at the age of 14. He was the only son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg. After Catherine I's death, Alexander Menshikov controlled Peter II, but was thwarted by his opponents and exiled by Peter. Peter was also influenced by favorites like Prince Aleksey Dolgorukov, leading to a neglect of state affairs and the tightening of serfdom. Peter's reign was marked by disengagement, disorder, and indulgence. He was engaged to Ekaterina Dolgorukova, but died suddenly of smallpox before the marriage, thus making him the last male agnatic member of the House of Romanov.
Ivan VI Antonovich, also known as Ioann Antonovich, was an infant emperor of Russia from October 1740 until he was overthrown by his cousin Elizabeth Petrovna in December 1741. He was only two months old when he was proclaimed emperor and his mother, Anna Leopoldovna, named regent, but the throne was seized in the coup after a year. Ivan and his parents were imprisoned far from the capital, and spent the rest of their lives in captivity.
Ernst Johann von Biron was a Duke of Courland and Semigallia and briefly regent of the Russian Empire in 1740.
Count Andrey Ivanovich Osterman was a German-born Russian statesman who came to prominence under Tsar Peter I of Russia and served until the accession of the Tsesarevna Elizabeth in 1741. He based his foreign policy on the Austrian alliance. General Admiral.
Anna Leopoldovna, born Elisabeth Katharina Christine von Mecklenburg-Schwerin and also known as Anna Carlovna, was regent of Russia for just over a year (1740–1741) during the minority of her infant son Emperor Ivan VI.
Artemy Petrovich Volynsky was a Russian statesman and diplomat. His career started as a soldier but was rapidly upgraded to ambassador to Safavid Iran, and later as Governor of Astrakhan during the reign of Peter the Great. He was later accused of corruption and stripped of nearly all his powers, before Catherine I of Russia sent him to govern the vast Governorate of Kazan. Anna of Russia appointed Volynsky one of her three chief ministers in 1738. After beating the noted poet Vasily Trediakovsky, Volynsky was arrested on charges of conspiracy and misconduct. Volynsky's archenemy Ernst Johann von Biron had him sentenced to death and beheaded on 27 June 1740.
The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was a duchy in the Baltic region, then known as Livonia, that existed from 1561 to 1569 as a nominally vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and subsequently made part of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom from 1569 to 1726 and incorporated into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1726. On March 28, 1795, it was annexed by the Russian Empire in the Third Partition of Poland.
Burkhard Christoph Graf von Münnich was a German-born army officer who became a field marshal and political figure in the Russian Empire. He carried out major reforms in the Russian Army and founded several elite military formations during the reign of Empress Anna of Russia. As a statesman, he is regarded as the founder of Russian philhellenism. Like his father, Münnich was an engineer and a specialist in hydrotechnology. He had the rank of count of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg was a German prince and military officer.
Prince Karl Christian Joseph of Saxony - in English, Charles of Saxony - was a German prince of the House of Wettin and Duke of Courland and Semigallia. Born in Dresden, he was the fifth son of Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, and Maria Josepha of Austria. He is an ancestor of the Italian House of Savoy.
The Izmaylovsky Regiment was one of the oldest regiments of the Imperial Russian Army, a subdivision of the 1st Guards Infantry Division of the Imperial Russian Guard. It was formed in Moscow on 22 September 1730 as Empress Anna's personal life guards, named after the Romanov ancestral estate of Izmaylovo.
Benigna Gottliebe von Trotta genannt Treyden, was a Duchess consort of Courland. She married the Duke of Courland, Ernst Johann von Biron, on 25 February 1723.
Baron Johann Albrecht von Korff was a Russian diplomat, and was the president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1734–1740).
Events from the year 1739 in Russia
Events from the year 1729 in Russia
Events from the year 1731 in Russia
Prince Alexander Borisovich Kurakin was a statesman and diplomat from the Kurakin family: an Active Privy Councillor, the Ober-Stallmeister (1736), a senator.
Events from the year 1742 in Russia
