How Russia almost became a German empire: the "Braunschweig family" in the Russian monarchy

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The great tsar and reformer Peter I, with his decree on succession to the throne, laid a "time bomb": there were no clear rules for the transfer of power, anyone could now claim the throne. After his death until the end of the "era of palace coups", each subsequent accession was preceded by a palace turmoil (hidden intrigue or open blow). The most short-lived and less expressive was the reign of representatives of the so-called "Braunschweig family", who came to power on the wave of national discontent with the "Bironism".

Where was Anna Leopoldovna born and how was she brought up - the future Empress of Russia?

Her mother was the eldest of the five daughters of Tsar Ivan V and Tsarina Praskovya, Catherine, who was the niece of Peter I. It was he who married the latter to the Duke of Mecklenburg Karl-Leopold. Russia and the German duchy were at that time at war with the Swedes. The duke needed to return the city of Wismar, and the Russian tsar needed a base for his warships. But the duke turned out to be a bad ally and a nasty spouse (a headstrong despot and madcap, moreover, quarrelsome, stingy and ill-mannered). In 1722, Catherine and her daughter Elizabeth-Catherine-Christina asked to return to Russia, and they were not refused. Tsarina Praskovya adored her granddaughter, only the atmosphere in her house could not benefit the young princess. In 1733, after the adoption of Orthodoxy, she received the name Anna.

In 1730, the Russian throne was taken by Anna Ioanovna - Catherine's aunt, who brought her and her daughter closer to the court. She fell in love with Anna Leopoldovna very much, so she decided that it was her future son who would become the heir to the throne, that the grandchildren of Tsar Ivan V should take him, and not the descendants of Peter I - daughter Elizabeth or grandson Karl-Peter-Ulrich. But the trouble is that it was not much better for the upbringing of the future mother of the heir to the throne to stay under Anna Ioanovna, during whose ten-year reign the country fell into decay. The stifling atmosphere of denunciations, the revelry of the secret office, which seized people and threw them into dungeons on the slightest suspicion of disloyalty to the Empress and her entourage, the dominance of Courland Germans in the power structures. Anna Ioanovna herself, in her essence and level of thinking, was a provincial landowner and in no way attracted to the empress. Therefore, of course, she could not set a good example for Anna Leopoldovna.

Why did Anna Ioanovna intend to marry Anna Leopoldovna to the German duke?

Adjutant General Karl Levenwolde was sent to Europe to find a suitable candidate. He found the most promising Anton Ulrich Braunschweig-Bevern-Luneburgsky. One of his aunts was the wife of Charles VI. One of his two sisters became the wife of the King of Prussia, and the other - the Danish king. In addition, George I (King of Great Britain) was Anton Ulrich's uncle.

Anna Ioanovna could object nothing to such a groom. In 1733, the eighteen-year-old prince arrived in Russia. Officially - for military service, but it was implied - to subsequently marry Anna Leopoldovna (the latter at that time was only 14 years old). The young duke made a good and brilliant military career: he took part in the military campaign against the Turks, proved himself as a brave warrior and a good commander in the capture of Ochakov.

How Anna Leopoldovna ended up at the helm of the state and how she lost the fight for the throne to her aunt Elizaveta Petrovna

After the death of Anna Ioanovna, according to her will, Duke Biron became regent under John VI (Antonovich). Unlimited power went to a person who had no right to it. Biron did not put the royal family in anything and in every possible way promoted his henchmen to all government posts.

This state of affairs did not suit anyone. The guards grumbled and wanted Anton as regent - his authority among the military was very high. But the prince was completely inexperienced in political intrigue. Therefore, the conspiracy against Biron that was brewing under his leadership quickly came to naught. The cause was helped by the separation of interests of the three Germans who held power in their hands - the Duke of Biron, Vice-Chancellor Ostermann and Field Marshal Munnich. The latter turned out to be the fastest and made a pre-emptive move. With the consent of Anna Leopoldovna and with the help of the Preobrazhensky regiment subordinate to him, he arrested Biron, whom the court sentenced to exile in Pelym.

Anna Leopoldovna became regent under her son John. For several years she had already been in love with the Saxon envoy of Count Linar, so her subjects had every reason to expect that he would become the second Biron.

But while Linar went on his business to Saxony, a palace coup took place in Russia. Anna Leopoldovna has long and constantly been reported about a conspiracy against her, but she did not attach much importance to this. And when she still wanted to make sure that this was not so, she went to her aunt Elizaveta Petrovna. She assured her that this was out of the question, and that same night she led the grenadiers to seize power into her own hands.

"Braunschweig family" - state exiles

Before the newly-minted empress, the question arose - what to do with the "Braunschweig family"? The idea of letting them go abroad was immediately ruled out, there they could easily find allies to carry out a counter-coup. Anna Leopoldovna and Anton Ulrich, together with their children, were placed in the well-guarded Riga Castle.

After that, the chamberlaine Turchaninov tried to organize a conspiracy to return the throne to Ioann Antonovich, the family was sent away from the capital to the Dunamünde fortress, where their daughter Lisa was born. In 1744, the family was exiled to the Ryazan province and placed in the Ranenburg fortress.

Freedom without the right to offspring, or how the fate of the members of the "Braunschweig family"

At first, it was decided to send the "Braunschweig family" to Solovki, but they were left in Kholmogory, where they later had three more children - Lisa, Peter and Alexei. John Antonovich will become an "iron mask" in the Russian manner - he will spend his whole life in isolation, away from his relatives (first Oranienburg and Kholmogory, and then the fortress in Shlisselburg, where he will be placed in a solitary confinement cell, where he will be listed as an unnamed prisoner). Nobody will be able to communicate with him. At the age of 24, he will die at the hands of the guards while trying to free him.

Anna Leopoldovna died in 1746 during her last childbirth, which was difficult. Her husband raised children with great love and was a good father to them. After his death in 1780, the children were sent to their aunt, Queen Juliana Maria of Denmark. All their requests for return were refused.

But this era also knows another secret - whether Catherine II and Grigory Potemkin were legal spouses.