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A Re-Examination of the "Dark Era" of Anna Ioannovna

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2019

Alexander Lipski
Alexander Lipski*
Affiliation:
Department of Foreign Studies, Michigan State University
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Extract

Most historians consider the reign of Anna Ioannovna (1730-40) one of the saddest epochs in Russian history. It is the purpose of this article to examine the chief accusations levelled against Anna Ioannovna's government, with a view to determining to what extent they are justified.

The severe condemnation of Anna's era by two outstanding historians, Professors S. F. Platonov and V. O. Kljuchevskij, is typical for the views generally held of her reign.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , December 1956 , pp. 477 - 488
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1956

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References

1 Platonov, S. F., Lekcii po russkoj istorii (St. Petersburg, 1901), pp. 473-74Google Scholar.

2 Kljuchevskij, V. O., Kurs russkoj istorii (Moscow, 1908), IV, 390-93.Google Scholar

3 Miljukov, P., Gosudarstvennoe khozjaistvo Rossii v pervoj chetverti XVIII stoletija i reform Petra Velikogo, 2nd ed. (St. Petersburg, 1905), p. 456 Google Scholar.

4 Ibid., p. 675.

5 Regarding the organization and function of the cabinet, see p. 483.

6 Most legislative acts of Anna's reign are to be found in Potnoe sobranie zakonov rossijskoj imperii s 1649 god (thereafter cited as P. S. £.), ser. 1, (St. Petersburg, 1830), Vol. VIII-IX.

7 Stroev, V., Bironovshchina i kabinet ministrov (Moscow, 1909-1910), I, 170-71Google Scholar; Solovev, S., Istorija Rossii s drevnejshikh vremen (Moscow, 1865-79), XX, 189-90Google Scholar.

8 Anna had been married by Peter the Great to Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Courland in 1711. Her husband had died shortly after the wedding.

9 Kulomzin, A. N., “Gosudarstvennye dokhody i razkhody v Rossii XVIII-go stoletija,” Vestnik Evropy, III (1869), 344.Google Scholar

10 Stroev, op. cit., I, 170-71; Solovev, op. cit., XX, 189-90.

11 Cabinet resolution, September 16, 1736, Sbornik, CXIV, 454-56.

12 S. Goric, “Iz istorii osvoenija severnogo puti,” Krasnyj Arkhiv, LXXI (1935), 138.

13 N. D. Chechulin, Ocherki po istorii russkikh finansov v carstvovanie Ekateriny II (St. Petersburg, 1906), p. 32.

14 Kljuchevskij, op. cit., IV, 190.

15 Imperial decree, June 16, 1731, P. S. Z VIII, 478.

16 Imperial resolution, May 19, 1732, Sbornik, CIV, 415; Senate decree, June 14, 1739, P. S. Z., X, 799-805; incoming report to the cabinet, October 30, 1739, Sbornik, CXXX, 422-23; cabinet journal, November 26, 1739, Ibid., CXXX, 543.

17 Regarding the function of the senate, see p. 484.

18 Senate decree, March 12, 1734, P. S. Z, IX, 281.

19 V. N. Bondarenko, Ocherki finansovoj politiki kabineta ministrov Anny loannovny (Moscow) 1913), pp. 228-31.

20 Gautier, I., Istorija oblastnogo upravlenija v Rossii ot Petra I do Ekateriny II (Moscow, 1913), I, 462.Google Scholar

21 Imperial decree, September 7, 1737, P. S. Z, X, 258.

22 In 1734 the total arrears of the head tax amounted to 845,967 rubles. In 1739, according to incomplete reports received by the senate, they amounted to 1,622,908 rubles. Senate decree, January 23, 1735, P. S. Z., IX, 466-72; Imperial decree, January 15, 1739, Ibid., X, 697-702.

23 Incoming report to the cabinet, May 15, 1737, Sbornik, CXVII, 294; cabinet resolution, April 13, 1739, Ibid., CXXVI, 365-68.

24 Imperial decree, July 29, 1740, P. S. Z, XI, 200-03.

25 E. P. Karnovich, “Znachenie Bironovshchiny v russkoj istorii,” Otechestvennye zapiski, CCX (October, 1875), 541-82.

26 Stroev, op. cit., I, 34. “Imperial decree, March 24, 1731, P. S. Z., VIII, 404-05; senate decree, April 6, 1731, Ibid., VIII, 448-49.

28 Ushakov had taken part in the trial of Peter the Great's son Aleksej. Imperial list of rewards, January 14, 1719, Sbornik, XI, 377.

29 Imperial decree, August 10, 1731, P. S. Z., VIII, 530-32.

30 This view has also been confirmed by Stroev, who examined the state archives, and Titlinov, who investigated the synodal archives, Stroev, op. cit., I, 163; B. V. Titlinov, Pravitel'stvo imperatricy Anny Ioannovny v ego otnoshenijakh k delam pravoslavnoj tserkvi (Vilna, 1905), pp. 12-13.

31 Cabinet journal, March 19, 1733, Sbornik, CVI, 151; letter from the cabinet ministers to Ushakov, July 31, 1734, Ibid., CVIII, 303.

32 I. Chistovich, “Feofan Prokopovich, i ego vremja,” Sbornik otdelenij russkogo jawka i slovesnosti imperatorskoj akademii nauk, IV (1868), 339.

33 I. Nil, “Istoricheskij ocherk Nikolaevskoj beljurusskoj pustyni,” Chtenija v imperatorskom obshchestve istorii i drevnostej rossijskikh pri moskovskom universitete (cited thereafter as Chtenija), II (1875), 20.

34 Stroev, op. cit., I, 168.

35 The Church Regulation provided for the establishment of a Clerical College, named Most Holy Synod (Svjatejshij Sinod), which administered church affairs instead of a patriarch. The Church Regulation also contained stipulations designed to eliminate abusej from religious practices. Regulation for the Clerical College, January 25, 1721, P. S. £., VI, 314-6.

36 Cabinet journal, June 26, 1736, Sbornik, CXIV, 286; cabinet journal, June 8, 1738, Ibid., CXX, 461; cabinet journal, August 5, 1736, Ibid., CXIv, 366.

37 Report of A. I. Ushakov, April 6, 1739, Sbornik, CXXVI, 518.

38 Imperial decree, February 24, 1728, P. S. Z; VIII, 15-16.

39 Imperial decree, October 29, 1735, Ibid., IX, 595-98.

40 During the first year of Anna's reign the senate was officially the chief governing body. However, there is good reason to believe that the cabinet functioned unofficially soon after Anna's accession. Copy of Imperial decree, October 18, 1731, Sbornik, CIV, 1-2; Ibid., CIV, xxxiv (preface); V. N. Latkin, Uchebnik istorii russkago prava perioda imperii (St. Petersburg, 1899), p. 277.

41 Imperial decree, December 30, 1731, Sbornik, CIV, 106; Imperial decree, April 2, 1733, Ibid., CVI, 161-62; Latkin, op. cit., p. 278.

42 Imperial decree, June 9, 1735, P. S. Z., IX, 529; cabinet journal, July 11, 1738, Sbornik, CXXIV, 53-54; S. Fedorov, ed., 200-letie kabinet ego imperatorskogo vetichestvo (St. Petersburg, 1911), p. 295.

43 Fedorov, op. cit., p. 291; Stroev, op. cit., I, 27.

44 Regarding the organization of the colleges, footnote 47.

45 There were frequent changes in the composition of the senate. Four senators served continuously during Anna's reign: V. I. Novosil'cev, Count M. G. Golovkin, Prince Ivan I. Trubeckoj, and A. I. Ushakov. Imperial resolution, November 26, 1732, Sbornik, CIV, 510-11; cabinet resolution, March 11, 1736, Ibid., CXIV, 113-14; order of the senate, July 13, 1739, Senatskij arkhiv (St. Petersburg, 1889), II, 18-19.

46 Latkin, op. cit., pp. 257-58; M. F. Vladimirskij-Budanov, Obzor istorii russkago pram, 4th ed., (St. Petersburg & Kiev, 1905), p. 258; A. Filippov, “Doklad imperatrice Elizavete Petrovne o vosstanovlenii vlasti pravitel’ stvujushchogo senata,” Zhurnal ministerstw narodnogo prosveshchenija, CCCIC (1897), 274-91.

47 Peter the Great had established eleven colleges, i.e. central government bodies with separate functions, such as war, navy, foreign affairs, in 1718-19. Each college had a president, a vice-president, four counsellors, and four assessors. General regulation for colleges, February 28, 1720, P. S. Z., VI, 14-1-60; Latkin, op. cit., pp. 300-303.

48 Stroev, op. cit., I, 176-77; cabinet resolution, April 16, 1737, Sbornik, CXVII, 220; incoming reports to the cabinet, January 16, 1737, Ibid., CXVII, 24; Imperial decree, June 7, 1736, Ibid., CIV, 356.

49 Peter the Great had divided Russia into eleven territorial units, the gubernijas, which, in turn, were subdivided into forty-seven provinces. Imperial decree, May 29, 1719, P. S. Z; V, 701-10.

50 Imperial resolution, February 5, 1739, Sbornik, CXXVI, 105; cabinet journal, March 8, 1732, Ibid., CIV, 193; copy of Imperial rescript, June 6, 1734, Ibid., CVIII, 199; report of the Registrar of Nobles (gerol'dmejster), September 8, 1733, Ibid., CVI, 430-32; report of the Registrar of Nobles, November 8, 1733, Ibid., CVI, 557-60.

51 Instruction for Actual State Counsellor Tatishchev, March 23, 1734, P. S. Z Ix 290-96; Imperial decree, October 29, 1735, Ibid., IX, 595-98; N. Popov, V. N. Tatishchev i ego vretnja (Moscow, 1861), pp. 37-38, 150.

52 Cabinet deliberation, confirmed by the empress July 14, 1735, Sbornik, CXI, 257-58; cabinet report approved by the empress, September 22, 1737, P. S. Z., X, 281-87; instructions for Captain Beer, November 23, 1736, Ibid., IX, 988-92; Imperial decree, September 14, 1738, Ibid., X, 612-13.

53 Certain manufacturers could sell their products without paying internal customs dues. They were exempted from state service, and their homes freed from quartering of troops. Imperial resolution, June 28, 1736, Sbornik, CXIV, 294-95; privileges given to the descendants of the merchant Miklaev, P. S. Z., IX, 576-78; Imperial decree, July 31, 1734, Sbornik, CVIII, 298; Imperial decree, August 8, 1734, Ibid., CVIII, 318; Imperial privileges given to the merchant Eremeev and associates, September 18, 1736, Ibid., IX, 932-35.

54 Opinion pronounced at the special cabinet session, confirmed by the empress, January 29, Sbornik, CVIII, 22-23; Imperial decree, January 31, 1734, Ibid., CVIII, 24-25.

55 Imperial decree, January 31, 1734, Ibid., CVIII, 26.

56 When Peter the Great conquered Livonia and Esthonia in 1710-11, he confirmed the ancient privileges of the German population in these two Baltic countries. Points agreed upon between the knighthood of the Esthonian Duchy and Colonel-General Bauer, September 28, 1710, P. S. Z; IV, 567-75; points agreed upon between the Livonian nobility and Field Marshal Sheremetev, July 4, 1710, Ibid., IV, 519-26; J. Eckardt, Livland im achtzehnten Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1876), I, 168-69.

57 Solovëv, op. cit., XIX, 302-03.

58 Old Believers was the name given to a group who refused to accept the church reforms effected by Patriarch Nikon in 1654. Since Nikon's reforms were accepted officially Old Believers were not only regarded as opponents of the church but also of the state. Titlinov, op. cit., pp. 418-19; senate decree, June 18, 1733, P. S. Z Ix , 169-70; senate decree, May 8, 1730, Ibid., VIII, 275.

59 Manifesto, February 22, 1735, P. S. Z., IX, 482-83.

60 Senate decree, February 14, 1732, Ibid., VIII, 631; senate decree, February 26, 1735, Ibid., IX, 483; Imperial decree, September 11, 1740, Ibid., XI, 248-56.

61 Imperial decree, September 11, 1740, Ibid., XI, 248-56.

62 Solovev, op. cit., XX, 5-58.

63 Ibid., XX, 383-84.

64 Defeated by the Turkish forces, Peter had to surrender the port of Azov which he had gained previously. H. Übersberger, Russlands Orientpolitik in den letzten zwei Jahrhunderten (Stuttgart, 1913), pp. 108-11; Stroev, op. cit., II, 24.

65 Austria had concluded separately a humiliating peace. Übersberger, op. cit., pp. 233-35.

66 Ibid., p. 240, Münnich's victory at Stavuchane and his capture of Khotin had been especially impressive. Ibid., p. 264.

67 A. Viskovatov, Kratkaja istorija pervogo kadetskogo korpusa (St. Petersburg, 1832), 1-19.

68 F. A. Golder, Russian expansion on the Pacific (1641-1850), (Cleveland, 1914), p. 170; L. S. Berg, Otkrytie Kamchatki i ekspedicii Beringa (Moscow & Leningrad, 1946), p. 129.

69 I. Zabelin, Opyty izuchenija russkikh drevnostej i istorii (Moscow, 1873), II, 444; R. Mooser, Annates de la musique et des musiciens en Russie au XVIII Steele (Geneva, 1948), I, 40-60; J . von Stahlin, “Von der Musik in Russland,” in J. Haigold, Beylagen zum veranderten Russland (Riga & Mitau, 1769), II, 86-88.

70 J. von Stahlin, “Von der Tanzkunst in Russland,” in J. Haigold, Beylagen zum veranderten Russland (Riga & Mitau, 1769), II, 12-13; S. Lifar', Istorija russkogo balleta (Paris, 1945), pp. 26-29.

71 Platonov, op. cit., p. 452.