Russian palace revolutions

Yevgeny Lansere : Soldiers of the Preobrazhensk body guard regiment announce the Empress Elisabeth

Russian palace revolutions is a term used in historical studies since the 19th century to denote the changes in the governance of the Russian Empire brought about several times by upheavals in the period from the death of Peter the Great to the accession of Catherine II (1725–1762). The palace revolutions were not popular uprisings with fundamental changes in the political and social system. Rather, they were short-lived actions with little violence, in which only one political leadership group was replaced by another.

The driving element behind these radical personnel changes in the political elite were influential parties of the nobility at court , which fought for power and wealth in cooperation with the guard . Within the warring parties, the system of patronage , which was essentially based on kinship, common traditions, forms of personal dependency, contractual relationships and corruption, played the decisive role as a cohesive factor.

The numerous coups during the four-decade period were fueled by the dubious legitimacy of some governments and the lack of consensus on the mechanism for allocating legitimate political power. The succession regulation of the first Russian emperor from 1722, according to which every ruling ruler of Russia should choose his successor at his own discretion, formed the basis of the lack of legitimation and breeding ground for the many coups. Another condition was the lack of male descendants capable of governing from the death of Peter's son Alexei (1690–1718) to Catherine II.

A total of five palace revolutions can be identified for the period mentioned.

• The ascension to the throne of Catherine I on January 28, 1725, largely dictated by Alexander Menshikov ,
• the overthrow of Menshikov by the Dolgoruki party under Peter II in September 1727,
• the replacement of Ernst Johann von Biron as regent for the minor Ivan VI. by Anna Leopoldowna , the Emperor's mother on November 9, 1740,
• Elizabeth's putsch on November 25, 1741
• and the fall of Peter III. by Catherine II on June 28, 1762.

literature

• Troickij, SM, Istoriografija "dvorchovych perevorotov" v Rossii XVIII v., In: Vopr. Is., 1966; Mavrodin, VV, Klassovaja borʼba i občšestvenno-politčeskaja myslʼv Rossii v VXIII v. (1725-1773), L 1964, pp. 97-158
• Hans-Joachim Torke: Lexicon of the History of Russia, CH Beck, Munich 1985