Empress Anna Of Russia Essay, Research Paper
Russia is a nation with a rich past and a history of royalty that cannot
be compared with any other in the world. There were memorable rulers,
including Catherine and Peter the Great, and rulers that Russia and the rest of
the world would like to forget, such as Ivan the Terrible. However short their
reign, or how seemingly insignificant their actions, all have had an effect on
Russia?s history and have left plenty of colorful images to be written down
into history books. One can argue about how important one ruler was, and
some were more important than others, but some were very insignificant and
are scarcely heard of. A Russian ruler that is rarely heard of is Empress
Anna, a ruler in the mid 1700s. Anna is not well known because she did little
during her reign and that which she accomplished was questionable and her
motives controversial. Anna should not be considered a significant ruler in
Russian history because of her short reign, unimportant involvement in
Russia?s foreign affairs, and possible mental handicap.
Empress Anna began her reign in 1730 and it ended in 1740. 10 years
is a short amount of time to do anything memorable. Most Russian royalty
that were famous and memorable ruled for much longer than that. Peter II, the
ruler before Anna, died at the age of fourteen and is not well known. The
ruler after Anna was two months old when he became ruler of Russia, Ivan
VI, he is also unheard of. Catherine II is known as Catherine the Great and
ruled for thirty-three years. Catherine the Great is also one of the more well
known Russian rulers, with Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great. Peter the
Great ruled for thirty six years and did many things for Russia and whether or
not one agrees with his actions, Peter did accomplish a great deal, for or in
spite of the good of the country. Even Ivan IV, the Terrible, was a much
more famous ruler than Anna. Ivan IV ruled for fifty-one years and while
known for all the horrible things he did, like lowering the populations of his
own country, was still more well known than rulers that have done little but
good. Anna was neither significant, nor did she accomplish anything, good or
bad, for the people or for herself. (Grey 142)
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Empress Anna did not do anything significant during her reign which is
another important reason why she was not a notable ruler in Russian history.
Despite the two wars fought during her reign, she was not well known
because she didn?t do anything. Since the
reign of Peter the Great, Russia had been fighting with Persia and continued
to do so during the reign of Anna. Although Russia and Persia reached
indefinite peace with Persia, it was not even a result of her own doing.
Andrei Ostermann, Vice Chancellor and a skilled negotiator, did the
peacemaking and that was one of the more memorable events in Anna?s
reign, though in itself, the peacemaking was not notable. (Grey, 151-53)
The outcome of the other war fought during Anna?s reign was bitterly
disappointing and intensified the anger and discontentment of the population
against her. The Russians were humiliated and were tired of the heavy taxes.
The empress?s troublesome spending also had a harsh effect on Russia?s
economy. The war against Turkey had been a drain on the economy and the
military was depleted because of the Turkish campaign. The government
officials turned brutal in collecting taxes and soon all authority in Russia was
hated. Anna created more problems than she tried to fix and was known as
an insignificant ruler in Russian history because of this. Anna was just
another typical Russian royal, one who did most everything for herself and
forgot that she was the matriarch of a country that desperately needed
guidance. (Grey 153)
Anna was a typical ruler in the way that she was ignorant and did little
for the good of her people. She was however, very strange with her habits,
hobbies, and pastimes which could make one question about her state of
mental health. If Anna was not mentally sound, were the few actions she
made justifiable? I
personal collection of dwarfs and jesters. Past czars and most of Europe
practiced this custom and Anna was no exception. Anna, however, took her
?collection? and made it into one of her favorite things with which to play and
experiment. Anna?s delight in the grotesque and malformed was extreme and
she took pleasure in torturing and
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humiliating the members of her collections. Members of her corps of
buffoons were sometimes ordered to line up and kick each other and perform
other degrading tasks.
Blood flowed frequently and injuries were numerous all for the entertainment
of the Empress. (Grey 148-49)
The Empress also used her collection and strange habits to seek
vengeance on others who had committed something she interpreted as a
horrible crime. Prince Mikhail Golistyn had married a Catholic woman and
changed his faith. Anna, a bigoted Orthodox, discovered this and was
outraged. Anna made him a court jester and he was ordered to sit upon a
basket of eggs and wait for them to hatch, cackling like a hen the whole time.
Golitsyn?s wife died and Anna decided despite the fact that he was fifty years
old, he needed a new bride. She picked Anna Buzheninova to be his bride, a
court freak because she was so ugly. Anna declared that he was to have a
magnificent wedding to celebrate. (Grey 149)
The winter of 1739-40 was exceptionally cold and Anna had an ice
palace eighty feet long by thirty-three feet high built for the newlyweds,
complete with clothes, slippers, and a four-poster bed completely carved out
of ice. The couple was carried in a large iron cage strapped on top of an
elephant. The guests, numbering over 300, were brought in sleds drawn by
deer, oxen, goats, dogs, and some rode on the backs of camels. The wedding
feast was magnificent and when the festivities were over, the couple was led
to their bedchamber, disrobed, and put into their ice bed. Guards were
ordered to make sure the couple didn?t leave till morning. (Grey 149)
Empress Anna had a strange hobby of collecting malformed people and
using them sadistically. She tortured those who did her wrong and did it in a
way so peculiar, it is hard to be imagined. Though everyone has their own
strange habits and hobbies, Anna?s were extreme and could definitely indicate
a problem with her mental health. Many rulers were mentally retarded and
that was the cause of many of the decisions they made. Perhaps Anna was a
bit disturbed mentally and it was not detectable by physical appearance, as
with
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some mentally disabled. Clearly Anna had some sort of mental problem
because had she not, she most likely not have done the things she did. Other
Russian rulers with their own
collection of freaks and the malformed did not treat their ?collections? the
same way Anna did.
Empress Anna is not a ruler that should be remembered. She was
probably borderline psychotic and her actions are most likely unjustifiable.
Her reign was too brief for anything significant to happen, unlike those of the
?Greats? like Catherine II and Peter II. Anna was just another Russian ruler
who did nothing for her country and should not be remembered for being
something she was not. Anna should not be known as being a significant part
of Russian history; she should remain a small paragraph in encyclopedias and
no one should worry about remembering her name. Empress Anna left her
country in even worse condition than she received it, and left Russia in ruins.
Anna only disappointed her people, and disappointment does not get one into
the illustrious books of Russian history.
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Grey, Ian. The Romanovs. New York: Doubleday & Co. 1970.
Harcave, Sidney. Russia: A History. J.B. Lippincott Co. 1952.
Maclean, Fitzroy. All the Russias: The End of an Empire. New York: Smithmark
Publishers, Inc. 1992.
Mazour, Annatole G. Russia Past and Present. New York: D. Van Nostrand