Military and economic reforms of Anna Ioannovna

During the reign of Peter the Great, Russia became one of the leading European powers. To a large extent, this was facilitated by reforms actively carried out by the emperor. However, this process slowed down in the era of palace coups - a 37-year period in Russian history.

During this time on the throne was replaced by six princes, one of which was Anna Ioannovna. It can not be said that during the ten years of her reign, the country's leadership was launched. Nevertheless, the reforms of Anna Ioannovna's rule were mainly carried out in the interests of the nobility.

The vacant throne

In January 1730, the Emperor Peter II died unexpectedly from smallpox . Such events always caused a court fever. When it became clear that the days of Peter were numbered, the Supreme Privy Council gathered to determine the candidacy of the future sovereign. Each court group proposed its candidate.

In the end, Prince Dmitry Golitsin managed to persuade the members of the Council to put Anna Ivanovna, the widow of the Duke of Courland, in the right position, on the vacant throne. True, in exchange for the kingdom it was required of her to sign certain conditions, or, as they said then, the condition. In fact, it was about limiting the autocratic power.

The Courlandese duchess accepted the conditions of the supreme leaders and on February 15 solemnly entered Moscow. Very soon they wanted to limit the power of the empress regretted their choice. We can say that the reforms of Anna Ioannovna began with the liquidation of the Supreme Privy Council, which constituted the above conditions.

One of the Romanovs

The new empress of Russia was the niece of Peter the Great. She was the middle daughter of his stepbrother Ivan (John). Like all Russian princesses, she was taught reading, arithmetic, writing, geography, dancing and foreign languages.

Her life proceeded in the Kremlin, and then in the tsar's residence in Izmaylovo, until Peter I decided to consolidate the successes in the Northern War by marrying one of his nieces with the Duke of Courland. The choice fell on Anna.

However, her marriage was short-lived: two months later the duke died. Anna was only 17 years old, but Russia's political interests ordered her to keep widowhood, leading a bleak life in Courland.

Therefore, when a messenger arrived from Moscow, Anna signed the condition and immediately set off. The first reception she arranged showed that the empress knew how to draw the army to her side. The subsequent reforms of Anna Ioannovna in the military sphere once again stressed this.

The new government

Any autocrat needs counselors. Anna Ioannovna was no exception in this respect either. Management reforms, as already noted, began with the abolition of the Supreme Privy Council. Instead, the empress created the Cabinet of Ministers, and also returned that significance to the Senate, which he had under Peter I.

During the first two years of the new reign, the court waged a struggle for influence on Anna Ioannovna between Russian aristocrats and descendants from Courland, which ended in the victory of the latter. Special location of the Empress enjoyed Ernest Biron. It is no coincidence that ten years of the reign of Anna Ioannovna went down in history under the name "bironovshchina".

In addition to the Cabinet in 1731, under the decree of the Empress, the Office of Secret Investigative Affairs, engaged in political crimes, was restored. Another administrative act of Anna Ioannovna was the decision to move the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 1732.

The mountain of laws does not mean legality

The researchers calculated that Anna Ioannovna signed at least three and a half thousand decrees during her reign. The main reforms concerned the situation of the nobility, the army and the economy. Despite such an abundance of legislative acts, there were not really many really important laws for the development of Russia.

The bureaucratic apparatus created under Peter the Great by the time of Anna Ioannovna's rule grew so much that the central government was practically incapable of controlling it. To establish a clear functioning of the state machinery, new, more stringent decrees were issued, but nothing changed.

The noble reforms of Anna Ioannovna

The list of them, undoubtedly, is headed by a decree of 1730, repealing the Petrine law on common heritage, which all the nobles asked. Going to meet them, the government of the new empress thoroughly strengthened its social base. Now the landlords could freely dispose of the main property - the estate, and their younger sons, provided with inheritance, did not need official service.

Another epoch-making decree for the nobility was adopted in 1736. If Peter I ordered the gentry to carry the state service for life, then Anna Ioannovna reduced this period to 25 years. Moreover, because of wounds or illnesses, he was allowed to resign earlier. After the end of the war with the Turks in 1739, thousands of nobles, using this decree, left service for the good of the state and returned to their estates.

Army and Navy

It is well known what great importance Peter the Great attached to the conquests of the exits to the sea and the fleet itself. Nevertheless, after his death, not a single ship was built in Russia. In order to save money, military vessels did not go to sea, which affected the training of their crews.

The military reform of Anna Ioannovna began with the restoration of the navy. In the first year of her reign, the 66-gun ship "Glory of Russia" was laid, and the next two more. By its decree, the Military Maritime Commission was established, which proposed again to open a port and shipyards in Arkhangelsk . Since 1731, regular military exercises that have not been carried out for a long time have resumed in the Baltic Sea .

However, the reforms of Anna Ioannovna were not confined to caring for the fleet. Thus, in 1732, by her order, the first land gentry corps was opened, which laid the foundation for the Cadet movement in Russia. In addition, new regiments were formed: Konnogvardeisky and Izmailovsky.

Trade and Industry

Anna Ioannovna's economic reforms mainly concerned industry. Firstly, the Empress's government abolished the strict customs regulations. Although it was created to protect the products of Russian industry from foreign competitors, it actually did more harm than good.

Reduction of customs tariffs under Anna Ioannovna, on the contrary, favored the development of trade, as well as the establishment of the country's first borrowed banks.

The fortress system did not weaken its grip in the years of her rule. In conditions of backward production, this, of course, brought good incomes. In 1736, the empress's decree virtually eliminated the class of civilian workers. From that moment on, all of them, together with their families, were attached to the manufactories.

It may seem that the reforms of Anna Ioannovna in regard to industrial production were progressive. In reality, they suppressed the capitalist initiative. The government tightly controlled the entire production process and, with the slightest violation of the law, confiscated the factories in favor of the treasury.

Results of the Board

Thus, the reforms of Anna Ioannovna can be briefly described as aimed at strengthening autocratic power, satisfying noble petitions and strengthening serfdom.

Her reign lasted only ten years. In historical literature, it has not received flattering ratings. On the one hand, Anna Ivanovna is blamed for the dominance of the Germans in the state apparatus, on the other, brutal persecution of political opponents.

Whatever it was, but considering the reforms of her rule, it can not be denied that some of them still served for the benefit of Russia's future development.