Anna of Russia

Anna Ivanovna (1693-1740) Anna Iannovna Romanov

Anna was married to Fredrick William von Kurland, Duke of Kurland in November 1710. On the return trip from Saint Petersburg in January 1711 her husband died. Anna continued ruling as duchess of Kurland or Couronia (see Livonia , later Latvia.

Domestic policies

She was the daughter of Ivan V, as well as the niece of Peter the Great. On the death of Peter II, at the time the current czar of Russia, the supreme privy council made Anna the czarina in 1730. They had hoped that she would be a figurehead at best, and malleable at worst, and convinced her to sign articles that limited her power. However, these proved of minor inconvenience to her, and soon she had re-established herself as the autocratic ruler, using her popularity with the imperial guards and lesser nobility. One of her first acts to consolidate this power was in restoring the security police which she used to intimidate and terrorize those who opposed her and her policies.

Foreign policies

Having a distrust of Russian nobles, she kept them from powerful positions, instead giving those to Baltic Germans. Ernst Johann von Biron was her most favored and was able to influence her policies. She allied with Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor at the time, and committed Russia during the War of Polish Succession (1733-1735). Afterwards, she made Augustus III the king of Poland. In 1736 she attacked Turkey, but Charles made a separate peace with Turkey, forcing Russia to do so as well, giving up all recently captured territories with the exception of Azov. Her reign began the Russian capture of territories in central Asia.