[1] See also _Hist. MSS. Comm., MSS. of Duke of Rutland at Belvoir_,
ii. 109.
[2] Dalrymple's _Memoirs_, ii. 175.
[3] Dalrymple's _Memoirs_, ii. 249.
[4] Lord Ailesbury's _Memoirs_, 293.
[5] Macpherson i. 241; Clarke's _Life of James II_., ii. 476. The
letter, which is only printed in fragments, is not in Anne's style,
and if genuine was probably dictated by the Churchills.
[6] Luttrell ii. 366, 376.
[7] Macpherson i. 257; Clarke's _James II_., ii. 559. See also
Shrewsbury's anonymous correbpondent in _Hist. MSS. Comm. Ser.; MSS.
Duke of Buccleugh at Montagu House_, ii. 169.
[8] Macaulay iv. 799 _note_
[9] Swift's _Mem. on the Change of the Ministry._
[10] _Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough_, p. 225.
[11] For their names see Hume and Smollett's _Hist_. (Hughes, 1854)
viil. 110.
[12] See also _Hist. MSS. Comm. Ser._ Rep. vii. App. 246b.
[13] _Ibid. Portland MSS_. v. 338.
[14] Sir J. Leveson-Gower to Lord Rutland, _Hist. MSS. Comm., Duke of
Rutland's MSS_. ii. 173.
[15] See Bolingbroke's _Letter to Sir W. Wyndham_.
[16] _Private Correspondence_, ii. 120.
[17] _Hist. MSS. Comm., MSS. of Marq. of Bath at Longleat_, i. 237.
[18] _Notes and Queries_, xi. 254.
ANNE (1693-1740), empress of Russia, second daughter of Tsar Ivan V.,
Peter the Great's imbecile brother, and Praskovia Saltuikova. Her
girlhood was passed at Ismailovo near Moscow, with her mother, an
ignorant, bigoted tsaritsa of the old school, who neglected and even
hated her daughters. Peter acted as a second father to the Ivanovs, as
Praskovia and her family were called. In 1710 he married Anne to
Frederick William, duke of Courland, who died of surfeit on his journey
home from St Petersburg. The reluctant young widow was ordered to
proceed on her way to Mittau to take over the government of Courland,
with the Russian resident, Count Peter Bestuzhev, as her adviser. He was
subsequently her lover, till supplanted by Biren (q.v.). Anne's
residence at Mittau was embittered by the utter inadequacy of her
revenue, which she keenly felt. It was therefore with joy that she at
once accepted the Russian crown, as the next heir, after the death of
Peter II. (January 30, 1730), when it was offered to her by the members
of the supreme privy council, even going so far as to subscribe
previously nine articles which would have reduced her from an absolute
to a very limited monarch. On the 26th of February she made her public
entry into Moscow under strict surveillance. On the 8th of March a _coup
d'etat_, engineered by a party of her personal friends, overthrew the
supreme privy council and she was hailed as autocrat. Her government, on
the whole, was prudent, beneficial and even glorious; but it was
undoubtedly severe and became at last universally unpopular. This was
due in the main to the outrageous insolence of her all-powerful
favourite Biren, who hated the Russian nobility and trampled upon them
mercilessly. Fortunately, Biren was sufficiently prudent not to meddle
with foreign affairs or with the army, and these departments in the able
hands of two other foreigners, who thoroughly identified themselves with
Russia, Andrei Osterman (q.v.) and Burkhardt Munnich (q.v.) did great
things in the reign of Anne. The chief political events of the period
were the War of the Polish Succession and the second[1] Crimean War. The
former was caused by the reappearance of Stanislaus Leszczynski as a
candidate for the Polish throne after the death of Augustus II.
(February 1, 1733). The interests of Russia would not permit her to
recognize a candidate dependent directly on France and indirectly upon
Sweden and Turkey, all three powers being at that time opposed to
Russia's "system." She accordingly united with Austria to support the
candidature of the late king's son, Augustus of Saxony. So far as Russia
was concerned, the War of the Polish Succession was quickly over. Much
more important was the Crimean War of 1736-39. This war marks the
beginning of that systematic struggle on the part of Russia to recover
her natural and legitimate southern boundaries. It lasted four years
and a half, and cost her a hundred thousand men and millions of roubles;
and though invariably successful, she had to be content with the
acquisition of a single city (Azov) with a small district at the mouth
of the Don. Yet more had been gained than was immediately apparent. In
the first place, this was the only war hitherto waged by Russia against
Turkey which had not ended in crushing disaster. Munnich had at least
dissipated the illusion of Ottoman invincibility, and taught the Russian
soldier that 100,000 janissaries and spahis were no match, in a fair
field, for half that number of grenadiers and hussars. In the second
place the Tatar hordes had been well nigh exterminated. In the third
place Russia's signal and unexpected successes in the Steppe had
immensely increased her prestige on the continent. "This court begins to
have a great deal to say in the affairs of Europe," remarked the English
minister, Sir Claudius Rondeau, a year later.
The last days of Anne were absorbed by the endeavour to strengthen the
position of the heir to the throne, the baby cesarevich Ivan, afterwards
Ivan VI., the son of the empress's niece, Anna Leopoldovna, against the
superior claims of her cousin the cesarevna Elizabeth. The empress
herself died three months later (28th of October 1740). Her last act was
to appoint Biren regent during the infancy of her great-nephew.
Anne was a grim, sullen woman, frankly sensual, but as well-meaning as
ignorance and vindictiveness would allow her to be. But she had much
natural good sense, was a true friend and, in her more cheerful moments,
an amiable companion. Lady Rondeau's portrait of the empress shows her
to the best advantage. She is described as a large woman, towering above
all the cavaliers of her court, but very well shaped for her size, easy
and graceful in her person, of a majestic bearing, but with an awfulness
in her countenance which revolted those who disliked her.
See R. Nisbet Bain, _The Pupils of Peter the Great_ (London, 1897);
_Letters from a lady who resided some years in Russia (i.e._ Lady
Rondeau) (London, 1775); Christoph Hermann Manstein, _Memoires sur la
Russie_ (Amsterdam, 1771; English edition, London, 1856); Gerhard
Anton von Haiem, _Lebensschreibung des Feldm. B.C. Grafen von Munnich_
(Oldenburg, 1803); Claudius Rondeau, _Diplomatic Despatches from
Russia, 1728-1739_ (St Petersburg, 1889-1892). (R. N. B.)