Palace coup of 1741

This coup was not a surprise to anyone. Rumors about him were spreading around the capital and became the property of the government. The threads of the conspiracy did not spread to the heart of high society, and Elizabeth’s circle of supporters was limited mainly to the “gentlemen” of her court. The coup was prepared by those who became Elizabeth’s pillars during her reign, life physician I. G. Lestok , her favorite A. G. Razumovsky , as well as brothers Alexander and Peter Shuvalov and M. I. Vorontsov . The leaders of the plot were Lestock and Elizabeth herself.

Diplomatic and financial support for the conspiracy was provided by the French envoy Marquis de Shetardy . The French government did not like the fact that the head of Russian diplomacy, A. I. Osterman, firmly held on to the Austro-Russian alliance . On the eve of the inevitable war for the Austrian inheritance, the French sought to destroy the Austro-Russian bow. In addition, long-standing allied relations with Sweden forced the French to act in the Swedish interests in the context of the outbreak of the Russian-Swedish war . The Swedes believed that the confusion generated by the coup in St. Petersburg would inevitably weaken the position of the Russians.

Elizaveta Petrovna

The center of the movement in favor of the daughter of Peter I was the barracks of the Guards Preobrazhensky regiment . Worked a lot to win the sympathies of the guards and the crown princess herself. She often spent time in barracks “without etiquette and ceremonies”, gave the guards money and baptized their children. The soldiers did not call her otherwise than "mother." She, in turn, called them "my children."

In 1737, the government of Anna Ioannovna executed the ensign of the Preobrazhensky regiment A. Baryatinsky for his intention to raise “a man with three hundred friends” for the sake of Elizabeth. In 1740, the guards who arrested Biron , judging by the confessions of Minich , expected that power would pass to Elizabeth. For them, Peter's daughter turned into a symbol of national statehood, opposed to the dominance of the "Germans."

The guard was determined to take decisive action. In June 1741, several guardsmen met Elizabeth in the Summer Garden and told her: "Mother, we are all ready and just waiting for your orders . " In response, they heard: “Separate, behave quietly: the minute to act has not yet come. I command you to warn. "

The ruler, Anna Leopoldovna , as well as her ministers were repeatedly warned about the ambitious intentions of Elizabeth. Spies reported this, diplomats from different countries wrote. But most of all, the first minister of Osterman was alarmed by the letter that came from Silesia , from Breslavl . A well-informed agent reported that the conspiracy of Elizabeth had finally taken shape and was close to implementation; it was imperative to immediately arrest the life doctor of Tsarevna Lestok, in whose hands all the threads of the conspiracy were concentrated.

Anna Leopoldovna did not obey those who advised to detain Lestok. At the nearest kurtag at the court on November 23, 1741, interrupting the card game, the ruler got up from the table and invited her aunt to the neighboring room. Holding a Breslav letter in her hands, she tried to restrain Elizabeth in a family way. When both ladies again came to the guests, they were very excited that the diplomats present at the kurtag immediately noticed. Soon Elizabeth went home. As General K. G. Manstein wrote in his Notes, “the princess perfectly withstood this conversation, she assured the Grand Duchess that she never had the thoughts to do anything against her or against her son, that she was too religious to to violate the oath given to her, and that all this news was communicated by her enemies who wanted to make her unhappy ... "

Upon returning home, Elizabeth gathered her supporters for a meeting at which it was decided to make a coup in the evening of the next day. The prudence of this step was confirmed, since the next day the guards regiments were ordered to come out from St. Petersburg to war with the Swedes .

On November 24, 1741, at 11 p.m., Elizabeth received a message that the guards were ready to support her “revolution”. Lestock sent two observers to Osterman and Minich to find out if the alarm was there. They did not notice anything suspicious. Lestock himself went to the Winter Palace .

Returning to Elizabeth, Lestok found her praying in front of the icon of the Mother of God. Subsequently, it was suggested that it was at that moment that she vowed to abolish the death penalty , in case of success of a dangerous enterprise.

All her close associates gathered in the next room: Razumovsky, the Shuvalov brothers, Mikhail Vorontsov , the prince of Hesse-Gomburgsky , his wife Anastasia Trubetskaya and relatives of the princes: Vasily Saltykov (uncle Anna Ioannovna), her cousins Skavronsky , Efimovsky and Gendrikov .

Tsesarevna donned a cavalry cuirass , sat in a sleigh and went along the dark and snowy streets of the capital to the barracks of the Preobrazhensky regiment. There she turned to her followers with words that reproduce differently in historical works: “My friends! As you served my father, in the present case, serve me your loyalty! ”Or:“ Guys! You know whose daughter I am, follow me. ” The guards answered: "Mother, we are ready, we will kill them all." Elizabeth objected: "If you want to do this, then I will not go with you." Realizing that the hatred of her supporters was against foreigners, she immediately announced that she was "taking all these foreigners under her special protection." She took the cross, knelt down, and behind it all those present, and said; “I swear to die for you, do you swear to die for me?” “We swear !!!”, the crowd thundered.

Coming out of the sled on Admiralteyskaya Square , Elizabeth, accompanied by three hundred soldiers, went to the Winter Palace. The soldiers were nervous, in a hurry, the princess hardly walked in the snow. Then the grenadiers grabbed her on their broad shoulders and brought her to the Winter Palace . All entrances and exits were immediately blocked, the guard immediately went over to the side of the rebels. The grenadiers rushed to the imperial apartments on the second floor. The soldiers woke up and arrested Anna Leopoldovna and her husband Anton Ulrich .

Shetardi in his report to France noted: “Having found the Grand Duchess ruler in bed and the maid of honor Mengden lying beside her, Princess [Elizabeth] was the first to announce the arrest. The Grand Duchess immediately obeyed her orders and began to conjure her not to inflict violence on either her family or the maid of honor Mengden, whom she very much wanted to keep with her. The new empress promised her that . ” Minich, who at about the same minutes was impolitely woken up and even beaten by the rebels, wrote that, breaking into the ruler’s bedroom, Elizabeth uttered a banal phrase: “Sister, it’s time to get up!” There are others besides these versions. Their authors believe that, having occupied the palace, Elizabeth sent Lestok and Vorontsov with soldiers to "storm" the ruler’s bedroom, and she herself was not present when the niece was arrested.

Anna Leopoldovna and Anton Ulrich went down from the apartment to the street, got into the sleigh prepared for them and allowed themselves to be taken away from the Winter Palace. However, not everything went smoothly with the "arrest" of the one-year-old emperor. The soldiers were given a strict order not to make noise and to take the child only when he wakes up. For about an hour they stood silently at the cradle, until the boy opened his eyes and screamed in fear at the sight of the grenadiers. In addition, in the confusion of the gatherings in the bedroom, the four-month-old sister of the emperor, Princess Ekaterina Antonovna, was dropped on the floor. As it turned out later, she was deafened by this blow.

Emperor Ivan Antonovich was brought to Elizabeth, and she, taking him in her arms, allegedly said: “Baby, you are not to blame for anything!” Nobody really knew what to do with the baby and his family. So with a child in her arms, Elizabeth went to her palace. Upon returning home, she sent grenadiers to all corners of the city, primarily to the location of the troops, from where they brought regimental banners to the new empress. Couriers were sent for all the nobles with orders to immediately appear at the palace.

By the morning of November 25, 1741, the oath and the manifesto were ready, which proclaimed that Elizabeth I Petrovna ascended the throne "according to the law, by the proximity of blood to autocratic .. parents" . Prince AM Cherkassky , secretary Brevern and the new head of Russian diplomacy A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin , who were appointed by the chancellor, worked on these documents.

The regiments called and built at the Winter Palace took the oath. The soldiers were attached first to the gospel and the cross, then they approached the festive cup. To the cries of Vivat , salvos from the bastions of the Admiralteyskaya and Petropavlovskaya fortresses, Elizabeth solemnly and decently proceeded to her residence.

On November 28, a second manifesto was published, in which the right of the daughter of Peter I to the Russian crown was reinforced by reference to the will of Catherine I. Ivan Antonovich was declared an unlawful sovereign who did not have any claim, line and right belonging to the all-Russian throne . Coins with his image were withdrawn from circulation, and many sheets with the oath of allegiance to him were publicly burned in the squares "during a drum fight."

For the personal protection of the empress in the event of attempts to seize the reins of supreme rule from her in December 1741, a special label company was established. The most powerful people of the previous reign — Minich , Levenwold, and Osterman — were sentenced to death, replaced by exile in Siberia, in order to show Europe the tolerance of the new autocrat. The Braunschweig family was expelled to Europe, but was detained along the way in Riga until their fate was finally decided.

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• The manifesto "On the accession to the All-Russian Throne of the Empress Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, and on taking the oath . " 11/25/1741. Project of the Russian Military Historical Society "100 main documents of Russian history."