Peter III - Emperor - Biography.com Peter III Peter III was emperor of Russia for a mere six months in 1762 before he was overthrown by his wife, Catherine the Great, and assassinated in 1762. IN THESE GROUPS Famous People Who Died in Ropsha Synopsis Peter III was emperor of Russia for a mere six months in 1762. During his reign, he withdrew from the Seven Years War and formed an alliance with Prussia to wage war against Denmark, which made him an unpopular leader. His wife, Catherine the Great, suspected he was set to divorce her and conspired with her lover to overthrow him. He was subsequently assassinated on July 17, 1762, in Ropsha, Russia. Early Life Peter III was born Karl Peter Ulrich on February 21, 1728, in Kiel, in the duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. The only son of Anna Petrovna and Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, he was the grandson of two emperors, Peter the Great of Russia and Charles XII of Sweden.

Karl's parents died when he was young, and he was placed in the care of tutors and officials at the Holstein court, who groomed him for the Swedish throne. Karl was cruelly raised by his mentors and punished for being a poor student. Though he showed interest in the arts, he failed nearly every academic subject. He loved military parades and dreamed of being a world-famous military warrior. At age 14, he was brought to Russia by his aunt Elizabeth when she became empress, renamed Pyotr Fyodorovich, and proclaimed heir to the throne. Peter resented living in Russia and often complained the Russian people would never accept him. A Contentious Marriage On August 21, 1745, Peter married Sophie Frederica Auguste, a princess from Anhalt-Zerbst in Saxony, who took the name Catherine. The marriage, politically arranged by Peter's aunt, was a disaster from the start. Catherine was a young woman of prodigious intellect, while Peter was a child in a man's body. They had one son, Paul, the future emperor, and a daughter, Anna, who died before she was 2.

Later, Catherine alleged that Paul was not Peter's son and that she and Peter had never consummated their marriage. During their 16 years together, Catherine and Peter took numerous lovers. It is believed Empress Elizabeth shielded Peter from government affairs, possibly because she suspected he was mentally incapable. He hated being in Russia. His allegiance was toward his homeland and Prussia. He didn't care about Russia's people and hated the Orthodox Church. Nonetheless, Peter succeeded Elizabeth when she died on December 25, 1761. Much of what has been known about Peter III was drawn from his wife's memoirs, which depict him as an idiot and a drunkard, prone to brutal practical jokes and interested only in playing soldier. A Controversial Reign Once on the throne, Peter III reversed his aunt's foreign policy, withdrew Russia from the Seven Years War and struck an alliance with Prussia, Russia's enemy. He set out to wage war against Denmark and gain back his native land of Holstein. The move was seen as a betrayal of Russian war sacrifices and alienated him politically among the military and powerful court cliques.

While historically Peter's actions have been viewed as treasonous, recent scholarship has suggested they may have been part of a pragmatic plan to expand Russia's influence westward. Peter III also instituted many domestic reforms that today seem democratic, including proclaiming religious freedom, abolishing the secret police and outlawing the killing of serfs by their landowners. He established the first state bank in Russia and encouraged mercantilism by increasing grain exports and placing embargos on materials that could be found in Russia. There is wide speculation as to Peter III's demise. Traditionally, it has been believed that he had alienated the Orthodox Church and much of the nobility with his reforms, and that because his personality and policies were seen as so bizarre and unpredictable, these factions went to Catherine for help and plotted against him. But recent scholarship points to Catherine as the mastermind of a conspiracy to rid herself of her husband because she thought he was going to divorce her. On June 28, 1762, Peter III was arrested and forced to abdicate. He was taken to Ropsha, outside St.

Petersburg, where he was supposedly assassinated on July 17, though this has never been confirmed, and some evidence shows he might have committed suicide. Related Videos Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us ! Citation Information Peter III of Russia - YouTube Peter III of Russia Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Dec 15, 2014 Peter III (21 February 1728 – 17 July [O.S. 6 July] 1762) (Russian: Пётр III Фëдорович, Pyotr III Fyodorovich) was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was born as Karl Peter Ulrich, son of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. The German Peter could hardly speak Russian and pursued a strongly pro-Prussian policy, which made him an unpopular leader.

He was likely assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his German wife Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, who succeeded him to the throne as Catherine II. Emperor Peter III, 1762 Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias Reign 5 January 1762 – 9 July 1762 Predecessor Elizabeth Consort Catherine II of Russia Issue Paul I of Russia House House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov Father Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Mother Anna Petrovna of Russia Born 21 February 1728 Died 17 July 1762 (aged 34) Ropsha Burial Peter and Paul Cathedral Religion Eastern Orthodox Peter III (21 February 1728 – 17 July [O.S. 6 July] 1762) (Russian: Пётр III Фëдорович, Pyotr III Fyodorovich) was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was born as Karl Peter Ulrich, son of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.

The German Peter could hardly speak Russian and pursued a strongly pro-Prussian policy, which made him an unpopular leader. He was likely assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his German wife Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, who succeeded him to the throne as Catherine II. Contents 1 Early life and character 2 The reign 2.1 Foreign policy 2.2 Domestic reforms 2.3 Overthrow 3 Aftermath 4 Cultural references 5 Ancestry 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External links Early life and character Peter was born in Kiel, in the duchy of Holstein-Gottorp. His parents were Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (nephew of Charles XII of Sweden), and Anna Petrovna, a daughter of Emperor Peter I and Empress Catherine I of Russia. His mother died three months after his birth. In 1739, Peter's father died, and he became Duke of Holstein-Gottorp as Charles Peter Ulrich (German: Karl Peter Ulrich).

When his aunt, Anna's younger sister Elizabeth, became Empress of Russia, she brought Peter from Germany to Russia and proclaimed him her heir presumptive in the autumn of 1742. Previously in 1742, the 14-year-old Peter was proclaimed King of Finland during the Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743), when Russian troops held Finland. This proclamation was based on his succession rights to territories held by his childless granduncle, the late Charles XII of Sweden who also had been Grand Duke of Finland. About the same time, in October 1742, he was chosen by the Swedish parliament to become heir presumptive to the Swedish throne. However, the Swedish parliament was unaware of the fact that he had also been proclaimed heir presumptive to the throne of Russia, and when their envoy arrived in Saint Petersburg in November, it was too late. It has been reported that the underage Peter's succession rights to Sweden were renounced on his behalf. Empress Elizabeth arranged for Peter to marry his second cousin, Sophia Augusta Frederica (later Catherine the Great), daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst and Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp.

The young princess formally converted to Russian Orthodoxy and took the name Ekaterina Alexeievna (i.e., Catherine). They married on 21 August 1745. The marriage was not a happy one, but produced one son: the future Emperor Paul; and one daughter: Anna Petrovna (20 December 1757 – 19 March 1759). Catherine later claimed that Paul was not fathered by Peter: that, in fact, they had never consummated the marriage.[1] During the sixteen years of their residence in Oranienbaum, Catherine took numerous lovers, while her husband did the same thing she did in the beginning.

Portrait by Alexei Antropov of Emperor Peter III, 1762 Category Peter III | emperor of Russia | Britannica.com emperor of Russia Alternative Titles: Karl Peter Ulrich, Herzog von Holstein-Gottorp, Pyotr Fyodorovich Peter III Karl Peter Ulrich, Herzog von Holstein-Gottorp born Nicholas II Peter III, Russian in full Pyotr Fyodorovich, original name Karl Peter Ulrich, Herzog (duke) von Holstein-Gottorp (born February 21 [February 10, Old Style], 1728, Kiel , Holstein-Gottorp [Germany]—died July 18 [July 7, Old Style], 1762, Ropsha, near St. Petersburg , Russia ), emperor of Russia from January 5, 1762 (December 25, 1761, Old Style), to July 9 (June 28, Old Style), 1762.

Peter III, oil on canvas by Lucas Conrad Pfanzelt (also spelled Pfandzelt or Fanzelt), 1761; in the … Fine Art Images/Heritage-Images Son of Anna , one of Peter I the Great’s daughters, and Charles Frederick , duke of Holstein-Gottorp, the young duke was brought to Russia by his aunt Elizabeth shortly after she became empress of Russia (December 5–6, 1741). Renamed Peter (Pyotr Fyodorovich), he was received into the Russian Orthodox Church (November 18 [November 7, Old Style], 1742) and proclaimed the heir to the Russian throne. On August 21, 1745, he married Sophie Frederike Auguste, a princess from Anhalt-Zerbst, in Germany , who took the name Catherine ( Yekaterina Alekseyevna ). Peter, who was mentally feeble and extremely pro-Prussian, not only alienated the affections of his wife soon after their marriage but also failed to gain the favour of politically powerful court cliques.

His popularity diminished further after he succeeded Elizabeth and, reversing her foreign policy, made peace with Prussia and withdrew from the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), formed an alliance with Prussia, and prepared to engage Russia in a war against Denmark to help his native Holstein gain control of Schleswig. Even when he relieved the gentry of their obligation to serve the state (March 1, 1762), he did not gain supporters. When he offended the Russian Orthodox Church by trying to force it to adopt Lutheran religious practices and also alienated the imperial guards by making their service requirements more severe and threatening to disband them, Catherine, who suspected that he was planning to divorce her, conspired with her lover Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov and other members of the guard to overthrow him. On July 9 (June 28, Old Style), 1762, Catherine, with the approval of the guard, the senate, and the church, became Catherine II, empress of Russia. Peter, who was at his residence at Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov), near St.

Petersburg, formally abdicated on July 10 (June 29, Old Style); he was arrested and taken to the village of Ropsha, where, while in the custody of one of the conspirators, Aleksey Grigoryevich Orlov, he was killed. Learn More in these related articles: On July 17, 1762, Czar Peter III of Russia was... - tribunedigital-chicagotribune On July 17, 1762, Czar Peter III of Russia was... July 17, 1987 On July 17, 1762, Czar Peter III of Russia was assassinated in a plot abetted by his wife, Catherine II, who succeeded him to the throne. In 1841 the first issue of Punch, the English humor periodical, was published in London. In 1898 the Spanish garrison in Santiago, Cuba, surrendered to U.S. forces in the Spanish-American War. In 1906 Gary was incorporated. In 1936 the Spanish Civil War began as Gen. Francisco Franco led a military revolt.

In 1945 the leaders of the World War II allies--President Harry Truman, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Premier Josef Stalin--opened the Potsdam Conference to determine the occupation zones of Germany. In 1955 Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif. On the same date, Arco, Idaho, a town of 1,200 people, became the first community in the world to receive electric power from atomic energy. In 1967 United Nations observers began supervising a cease-fire between Israel and Egypt after the Six-Day War. In 1972 Kozo Okamoto, a Japanese radical, was sentenced to life imprisonment in Israel for his role in an airport massacre. In 1975 three U.S. astronauts and two Soviet cosmonauts linked their Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft in orbit. In 1979 Nicaragua`s President Anastasio Somoza flew to temporary exile in Florida. In 1981 two walkways collapsed above the lobby of Kansas City`s Hyatt Regency Hotel, killing 111 people and injuring 190.

MORE: Profile for Peter III of Russia from Sins of the Empress (page 1) Join Peter III of Russia Peter III (21 February 1728 – 17 July [O.S. 6 July] 1762) (Russian: Пётр III Фëдорович, Pyotr III Fyodorovich) was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was very pro-Prussian, which made him an unpopular leader. He was likely assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his wife, who succeeded him to the throne as Catherine II. [close] Peter III (21 February 1728 – 17 July [O.S. 6 July] 1762) (Russian: Пётр III Фëдорович, Pyotr III Fyodorovich) was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was very pro-Prussian, which made him an unpopular leader. He was likely assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his wife, who succeeded him to the throne as Catherine II.

edit descriptions of this character Peter III - Tsar - Romanov - Russian Rulers - Biographies - - RusArtNet.com Russian Rulers Born: 1728, Kiel Died: 1762, Ropsha Peter III was born in Kiel on 10 February 1728. He was the son of Duke Carl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp and Anna Petrovna , daughter of Peter the Great . When the child was born, he was given the name of Carl Peter Ulrich. Carl Peter Ulrich never saw his mother, who died less than two weeks after his birth. Neither did he see much of his father, who handed him over to the care of ignorant and brutal officers. At the age of ten, he was once discovered in a state of inebriation. In 1739, Carl Friedrich died and his eleven-year-old son succeeded him as the duke of Holstein-Gottorp. He was brought up by his father’s cousin, Adolf Friedrich, who was the prince-bishop of Lübeck and, later, the king of Sweden.

Carl Peter Ulrich was both the grandson of Peter the Great and the great-nephew of King Charles XII of Sweden (through his grandmother, Princess Hedvig Sofia of Sweden, who married Duke Friedrich IV of Holstein-Gottorp). The boy was raised as a Protestant, in a pro-Swedish vein – at a time when Sweden had just lost the Great Northern War and vast territories to Russia. The future Russian emperor was educated by the marshal of the Holstein court, a brutal and dim-witted Swedish count called Otton von Brümmer. Bullied and harshly punished for the slightest misdemeanour, the sickly child developed a lifelong hatred of learning. He was particularly bored by Latin – the language of science – and removed every book in Latin from his library. Besides a love of military drilling, parades and drinking, the young duke’s only other passion in life was music. He became an accomplished violinist and later mounted Amor prigioniero, an opera written by the court composer Francesco Domenico Araia. After Elizabeth Petrovna seized power in 1741, she invited her nephew to St Petersburg to ensure that the throne passed to her father’s descendants.

Carl Peter Ulrich converted to Russian Orthodoxy and was proclaimed the heir presumptive on 7 November 1742. His official title was “Grand Duke Peter Fyodorovich, Grandson of Peter the Great.” When the Swedes complained that he was also heir to their throne, Elizabeth sent them Peter’s official act of renunciation in August 1743. In reality, Peter was horrified at the idea of one day becoming emperor of Russia. Plucked from his homeland, he only wanted to return to Holstein. He was pro-German in every way and idolised Frederick the Great. When Russia entered the Seven Years War against Prussia in 1756, the heir to the throne secretly supported the enemy. He cheered the victories of the Prussian army and lamented any Russian successes. Peter’s antipathy towards all things Russian irritated the empress. Elizabeth gave him Russian tutors, but his dislike of learning meant that he preferred to spend his time in the company of the servants who had followed him from Holstein to St Petersburg. He felt out of place at the Russian court, where he fell into a life of lies and pretence, knowing that his every move was closely watched by his aunt’s spies.

Elizabeth Petrovna hoped that marriage might bring her nephew to his senses. Her choice of bride was Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste from the minor German principality of Anhalt-Zerbst. The girl’s father was a Prussian general, while her mother was a cousin of Peter’s own father, Duke Carl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp. This meant that Peter and Sophie were second cousins. Princess Sophie came to Russia and converted to Russian Orthodoxy on 28 June 1744 as Catherine Alexeyevna . The couple were married in St Petersburg on 21 August 1745. The celebrations began early in the morning with a cannon salute from the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the ramparts of the Admiralty . The wedding procession emerged from the Winter Palace and proceeded to the Church of Our Lady of Kazan , headed by a detachment of horse guards and accompanied by a cortege of pages, attendants and liveried courtiers. After the marriage ceremony in the Kazan Cathedral, the couple returned to the Winter Palace, where the halls were specially decorated for the occasion by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli .

The Italian architect designed “figured tables decorated with fountains and cascades, arranged in the four corners of the hall and surrounded by vases and allegorical statuettes; everything was richly decorated with gilded sculptures … clementine and myrtle trees stood on each side of the cascades, forming a wonderful garden.” After a state ball , Elizabeth Petrovna led the newly-weds to their chambers in the Winter Palace. The following morning, musicians arrived from the guards regiments to perform marches and drum rolls beneath their windows. The entire programme of banquets, suppers, balls, masquerades and theatrical performances lasted ten days. Roast bulls and other refreshments were served to the common people in front of the Winter Palace. Ships decorated with flags and multi-coloured lanterns stood at anchor on the River Neva. Music, cannon fire and bells rang out everywhere. The celebrations ended with a visit to the St Alexander Nevsky Monastery on 30 August – the official holiday of the Order of St Alexander Nevsky. In the evening, a firework show was held in front of the Winter Palace. Peter did not attempt any spiritual or physical intimacy with his wife.

He was more interested in playing at soldiers, drilling his servants and practising shooting. Catherine later recalled being forced to join in these war games in 1747: “[My husband] taught me military exercises and, thanks to him, I am still able, to this day, to handle a rifle with the precision of the most experienced grenadier. He would even make me stand guard for hours on end, with a musket on my shoulder, at the door connecting our two rooms.” All this time, Elizabeth was growing increasingly worried about Peter’s apathy and Catherine’s guile. Although outwardly deferential to the empress, her niece was secretly making her own ambitious plans, which she discussed with the chancellor, Count Alexei Bestuzhev-Ryumin. In 1758, Elizabeth learnt of their alliance and launched an investigation, but Catherine managed to escape suspicion. Catherine gave birth to two children – the future Paul I in 1754 and a daughter called Anna, who was born in 1757 and died in 1759. Immediately after Paul was born, he was removed from his mother by Elizabeth Petrovna.

The empress decided to bring the boy up herself and toyed with the idea of making him her heir and banishing his parents to Germany. But Elizabeth died on 25 December 1761 and her nephew ascended the throne as Peter III. This signalled the start of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov dynasty, which ruled Russia until 1917. Peter made a disastrous start to his reign by withdrawing Russia from the Seven Years War and concluding peace with his idol, Frederick the Great, when the Prussians were on the point of capitulation. All the Russian victories and sacrifices were in vain. Eastern Prussia was returned to Frederick and Russia received no indemnities or compensations. Peter III then joined Prussia in a defensive alliance against Denmark, which had wrenched Schleswig away from Holstein during the Great Northern War. This caused widespread discontent in the Russian army. Peter was overjoyed when King Frederick made him an honorary Prussian general. He began reorganising the Russian army along Prussian lines, preparing to declare war on Denmark.

Peter also made himself unpopular by freeing Count Burkhard Christoph von Münnich, Ernst Johann von Biron and the other Germans previously sent into exile by Elizabeth Petrovna. He called the Russian officers “janissaries” – the bodyguards of the Ottoman sultan – and threatened to replace their regiments with his own guard from Holstein and other foreign countries. Although Catherine II later attempted to portray everything done by Peter III in a bad light, several important projects were nevertheless begun by the emperor. He attempted to revive the Russian fleet, persuading many British officers to enter Russian naval service. He freed all male members of the nobility from compulsory service in the military or government. He also granted the nobility the freedom to travel abroad. These decrees marked the beginning of important class reforms in Russia, liberating entire sections of the population from the invasive power of the autocracy and state. The emperor ended the persecution of the Old Believers, broke up a series of monopolies and founded the State Bank. He banned the “word and deed” system, which encouraged people to verbally inform on those not loyal to the throne. The Secret Chancellery of Investigations, which had struck fear into the population, was abolished.

But the rest of the country failed to appreciate the reforms of Peter III. Denunciations still continued – they were now made in written form – and the functions of the Secret Chancellery simply passed to the Secret Department of the Russian Senate. The nation seethed at Peter’s unconcealed disdain for Russian customs and traditions and his stubborn refusal to adopt the spirit, culture and aims of his new homeland. The army hated the new Prussian uniforms and opposed the planned war against Denmark. Other Russians had reasons for disliking their new ruler. Peter passed the law secularising church property which his predecessor had refused to sign. Soon, a plot was hatched in St Petersburg to replace Peter with his wife Catherine, who cleverly exploited these moods. By summer 1762, almost all the imperial guard regiments had joined the conspiracy. Peter III was not inherently evil, but unlike his young and ambitious wife, he did not possess the wily mind or sophisticated skills of a politician. As emperor, he badly misjudged the situation. He remained as conceited and ill-mannered as before and, most importantly, continued to flaunt his disregard for public opinion and lived openly with his mistress.

Peter and Catherine did not like one another and both took lovers. While Catherine was prudent about her extramarital affairs, not drawing outward attention to herself, Peter publicly proclaimed his love for Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova. There were rumours that he was going to divorce his wife and banish her to a nunnery, so that he could marry Vorontsova. Catherine was not one to meekly await her fate and hatched a plot to overthrow the emperor. By this time, she had fallen in love with an artillery officer called Grigory Orlov . With the help of Orlov and his brothers, Catherine established close ties with the imperial guards vehemently opposed to the new emperor. When one of the group, Captain Pyotr Passek, was suddenly arrested on 27 June 1762, the plotters feared that their conspiracy was in danger of being discovered and decided to make their move. Early in the morning of 28 June, Alexei Orlov drove to Peterhof, where Catherine was living in the wooden wing next to Monplaisir .

Aware of the final preparations, she had endeavoured to avoid spending the night at Oranienbaum , where the emperor had, as usual, performed for guests on his violin. Although Catherine was obliged to be present, she had later taken leave of her husband – for the last time ever – and returned to Peterhof. The empress herself describes what happened next: “I was sleeping peacefully in Peterhof at six in the morning of 28 June. The [previous] day had passed extremely anxiously for me, as I was aware of all that was being prepared. Alexei Orlov entered my room and told me with great composure: ‘It is time for you to get up; everything is ready for you to be proclaimed.’ I asked him for details and he told me that Passek had been arrested. I lost no time in getting dressed as quickly as I could, without bothering about my toilette, and got in the carriage that he had brought.” This scene is described in Claude-Carloman de Rulhière’s Anecdotes sur la révolution de Russie en 1762: “Having no time for second thoughts ...

Catherine ran to the park gates.” Some hitch occurred, however, with the hired carriage. In her memoirs, which Catherine writes in the third person, she claims that “she lost over half an hour, going through the gardens, and, as a result, could not find the carriage and was recognised on the street by several passers-by. She only had a chambermaid with her, who would not leave her for the world, and her valet [Vasily Shkurin], who hunted high and low for the carriage.” This was probably the most dramatic and comic moment of the coup, when the fate of her whole life hung in the balance. But the carriage eventually appeared with Orlov in the coachman’s seat. Catherine got in and drove off to St Petersburg, where she was declared empress. At two o’clock, Peter III and his company arrived at Peterhof for the planned banquet in honour of the feast day of St Peter and St Paul. Catherine’s apartments were empty and they could not find her anywhere in the park. She later wrote that when Peter “learnt that the empress had left Peterhof...

he looked for her everywhere, even under the bed.” An officer arrived from St Petersburg with the news that the Izmailovsky Regiment had revolted. Peter wandered round the garden, “asking everyone who remained there [what to do], but could not resolve to do anything. The old fieldmarshal, Count Burkhard Christoph von Münnich, suggested that the emperor go straight to the barracks of the mutinous regiment and personally put down the rebellion. But Peter, as Catherine writes, “chose the weakest option, continuing to walk up and down the garden, and, finally, sat down to dine.” He dispatched a series of couriers, followed by his dignitaries, to find out what was happening in St Petersburg. Upon arriving in the capital, they all deserted the emperor and swore a new oath of loyalty to Catherine. Time was of the essence and Catherine acted quicker than her husband. She sent loyal officers to Kronstadt, so that when Peter sailed there from Peterhof in the evening, he was not allowed to dock. Patrol boats loomed on the horizon, cutting off any escape route to Estonia or the West. Peter returned to Oranienbaum, arriving in the middle of the night.

He locked himself up in his palace, surrounded by his Holsteiner troops. Soon, realising the futility of resistance, he surrendered and threw himself at the mercy of the victors. As Frederick the Great later scathingly wrote: “The emperor allowed himself to be overthrown like a child being sent to bed.” In the evening of 28 June 1762, Catherine gathered her troops and set off down the coastal road to Oranienbaum for her ultimate showdown with her husband. Approaching Strelna, she decided to stop for the night at the St Sergius Hermitage of the Trinity. The following day, the empress received a constant stream of dispatches from her husband, either begging for reconciliation or asking to be exiled to Holstein. Peter offered to renounce his rights to the throne in exchange for his violin, dog, Negro servant and Elizaveta Vorontsova. Catherine agreed to everything – except Vorontsova. The emperor was arrested at Oranienbaum on 29 June 1762, along with Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova.

After he had signed his act of abdication, he was separated from his mistress and taken to the hunting palace at Ropsha, where he was closely guarded by an armed convoy headed by Alexei Orlov. Peter III did not live long at Ropsha. A week later, reports spread that the former emperor had unexpectedly taken ill and died. Although Catherine did not issue any explicit instructions to kill her husband, the letters of Alexei Orlov suggest that she had a chance to forestall this tragedy, but chose not to act. On 2 July, Alexei Orlov wrote to the empress from Ropsha: “Mother and most merciful sovereign, we all wish thee to prosper for countless years. As I write this letter, the whole detachment and I are fine. Only [Peter III] has fallen very ill, he has caught unexpected colic, and I fear that he might die tonight. Yet I am even more afraid of his returning to life.” Orlov goes on to explain why he is so fearful of the emperor recovering: “The first danger is that he speaks such claptrap, which is not pleasant for us at all.

The other danger is that he really is a threat to us all, for he sometimes so speaks of wanting to be back in his former position.” The main reason for the forthcoming tragedy was that the emperor was guarded by those directly involved in the plot to overthrow him. Orlov and the others were technically guilty of treason and naturally interested in ridding themselves of Peter forever, so that he could not reclaim his throne and take revenge on them. Catherine could not help understanding Orlov’s train of thought, but said nothing and did not change the prison guards at Ropsha. Peter did indeed fall ill on 30 June, suffering from nervous shock. But the doctors who attended him on 3 and 4 July said that he was already better. On 6 July, Orlov sent two final letters to the empress. The first states: “Mother and most merciful sovereign, I do not know where to begin. I am afraid of the anger of Thy Majesty, that thou wouldst not think anything violent of us, or that we were the reason for the death of the villain of both thee and all of Russia, as well as our law. Now Maslov, the man-servant appointed to look after him, has also taken ill.

And [Peter III] himself is now so ill that I do not think that he will live until evening. He is almost completely unconscious, of which the entire detachment is already aware, and prays to God that we are delivered from him as quickly as possible. The aforementioned Maslov and the dispatched officer can report to Thy Majesty, as to what a state he is now in, shouldst thou so think to doubt me.” This letter suggests that matters were drawing to their inevitable conclusion. In the morning, Peter’s servant, Maslov, was suddenly “taken ill.” He was separated from Peter and taken to St Petersburg, so that he could not testify whether or not his master had indeed suffered a relapse. Even more suspiciously, Orlov – a man with no medical training – predicts that the emperor will die before the end of the day. His diagnosis sounds more like a death sentence – which is what it was. At six o’clock in the evening of 6 July, Alexei Orlov wrote his last letter to Catherine from Ropsha: “Mother and most merciful sovereign, how can I explain, describe what has happened? Thou wilt not believe thy faithful servant, but so help me God I speak the truth, Mother.

I am ready to go to death, but I myself know not how this mischief happened. We are ruined if thou dost not have mercy. Mother – he is no more. But nobody thinks it, and what were we thinking of to raise our hands against our sovereign. But, Thy Majesty, the mischief is done. He struggled behind the table with Prince Fyodor [Baryatinsky], but we succeeded in separating them, and he is no more. I myself do not remember what we did, but the whole lot of us are guilty and worthy of punishment. Have mercy upon me, if only for my brother’s sake. I make my confession to thee and it is no good investigating. Forgive us or order an end to be made of us quickly. The world is unmerciful, we have displeased thee and lost our souls forever.” The deed was done, only in what circumstances, no one will ever know. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Orlov asks Catherine not to hold an inquiry – something clearly in the interests of both parties. Any investigation would have spotted the clear contradiction between Orlov’s last two letters of 6 July.

The first states that Peter was “almost completely unconscious,” while the second claims that, later that day, he had drunk with his prison guards, quarrelled and started a fight. Catherine also spotted the inconsistencies, but looked at the dilemma from a different angle. The important thing for her was that her husband was now dead and she no longer had to worry about what to do with the deposed emperor. In a letter to one of her former lovers, Stanislaw August Poniatowski, Catherine offers a different account of the death of her husband, claiming that he died of irritable bowel syndrome: “Fear brought on diarrhoea, which continued for three days, but ended on the fourth. That day, he got terribly drunk... He suffered an attack of haemorrhoidal colic, accompanied by rushes of blood to the brain. He spent two days in this state, followed by a dreadful infirmity, and, despite the best efforts of the doctors, breathed his last... I ordered a post-mortem to be carried out, but they could not find the slightest trace of poisoning.

He had died of enteritis and apoplexy.” Towards the end of the letter, the empress adds a malicious detail, hinting that he died of cowardice: “His heart was unusually small and all wrinkled.” Peter III was officially said to have died of haemorrhoidal colic. No one was allowed near his body when it lay in state for three days in a Holstein army uniform at the St Alexander Nevsky Monastery. One eyewitness wrote: “The sight of his corpse was extremely pitiful, evoking horror and fear. His face was black and swollen, though completely recognisable.” Catherine claimed to be ill and did not attend her husband’s funeral. After ruling Russia for only 186 days, Peter III was interred in the Annunciation Burial Vault of the St Alexander Nevsky Monastery , alongside the former regent of Ivan VI , Anna Leopoldovna . He did not even manage to crown himself. When his son Paul I, a stickler for order, succeeded to the throne in 1796, he disinterred the emperor’s remains, placed an imperial crown on them and reburied them in the St Peter and St Paul Cathedral .

Those who had taken part in his murder were forced to carry the royal regalia during the reburial ceremony. Peter III, czar of Russia Encyclopedia > History > Biographies > Russian, Soviet, and CIS History: Biographies Peter III Peter III, 1728–62, czar of Russia (1762), son of Charles Frederick, dispossessed duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and of Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his aunt, Czarina Elizabeth. One of his first acts was to take Russia out of the Seven Years War and to conclude an alliance with Frederick II of Prussia, whom he passionately admired. He thus saved Prussia from almost certain defeat and sacrificed all the advantages Russian arms had gained in the conflict. In 1744, Peter had married Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, who was to become Czarina Catherine II . Although he was dissolute and, it is alleged, mentally unbalanced, Peter's domestic policy was in some respects liberal. He abolished the secret police and granted greater religious freedom, and he virtually ended the nobles' obligation to give service to the state.

He aroused hostility, however, by his contempt for the Orthodox Church and by his concern with gaining Holstein. In the summer of 1762 a conspiracy against Peter, headed by Catherine's lover Grigori Orlov and his brother Aleksey, was set in motion. Catherine was proclaimed sole ruler, and the imperial guards, led by Catherine in person (who had donned the guards' uniform), set out for Peterhof, where they forced Peter to sign his abdication. A few days later he was assassinated by his guards, probably led by Aleksey Orlov. Catherine's role in this is uncertain. Peter's claim to ducal Holstein passed to his son Paul (later Czar Paul I), in whose name Catherine ceded it to Denmark in exchange for Oldenburg in 1773. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. Romanov Encyclopedia > History > Biographies > Russian, Soviet, and CIS History: Biographies Romanov Romanov (rōˈmənŏf, Rus.

rəmäˈnəf) [ key ], ruling dynasty of Russia from 1613 to 1917. The name Romanov was adopted in the 16th cent. by a family of boyars (great nobles) that traced its beginnings to the 14th cent. Czar Ivan IV took as his first wife Anastasia Romanov. Anastasia's brother, Nikita, was a regent for her son, Czar Feodor I . Nikita's son, Philaret, whom Boris Godunov forced to take monastic vows, was patriarch of Moscow from 1619 until his death in 1633. Michael , Philaret's son, was chosen in 1613 as czar of Russia; his election ended a turbulent period in Russian history. Except for the period from 1722 to 1797, the succession was thereafter regulated by the law of primogeniture. The direct successors of Michael were Alexis (1645–76) and Feodor III (1676–82).

Ivan V and Peter I (Peter the Great) reigned jointly under the regency of their sister Sophia Alekseyevna until 1689, when Peter assumed sole rule. In 1721, Peter took the title emperor of Russia in addition to that of czar; the new title was borne by all his successors. His succession decree of 1722 denounced the law of primogeniture and declared that the choice of a successor lay solely with the ruling emperor. In 1723, Peter made his consort joint ruler as Catherine I , and after his death (1725) she continued to rule until she died in 1727. Peter's son by his first marriage, Czarevich Alexis , had been executed in 1718. His second marriage, with Catherine, produced two daughters: Anna, who married Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp, and Elizabeth. They were bypassed in the succession of 1727 in favor of Peter II (1727–30), son of Czarevich Alexis.

Peter II was the last of the direct male Romanov line, and on his death Anna , duchess of Courland, a daughter of Ivan V, ascended the throne. She died without heirs and was succeeded (1740) by Ivan VI, a great-grandson of Ivan V. He was a German, son of the duke of Brunswick and of Anna Leopoldovna, a princess of Mecklenburg. The rule of foreigners was unpopular, and Peter I's daughter Elizabeth executed a coup in 1741 and was proclaimed czarina. Her nephew Peter III succeeded her in 1762 but was deposed (and probably assassinated) that year in a coup that made his consort, a princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, empress as Catherine II (Catherine the Great). There was some argument as to the paternity of Catherine's son and successor, Paul I (1796–1801), but it is now generally believed that he was the son of Peter III. Paul, who was assassinated, restored the succession by primogeniture in 1797.

His successors reigned as Alexander I (1801–25), Nicholas I (1825–55), Alexander II (1855–81; assassinated), Alexander III (1881–94), and Nicholas II (1894–1917). The marriage of Nicholas II to Princess Alix of Hesse (Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna ) brought hemophilia into the family; their son, Czarevich Alexis (1904–18), was afflicted with the disease. In 1918, after the Russian Revolution, Nicholas II and his immediate family were executed. The members of the Romanov family who escaped execution fled abroad. See D. Lieven, Russian Rulers before the Revolution (1989); R. K. Masie, The Romanovs (1995), M. D. Steinberg and V. M. Khrustaëv, The Fall of the Romanovs (1995); J. Van der Kiste, The Romanovs, 1818–1959 (1998), and J. C.

Perry and C. V. Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs (1999). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

Question: Who succeeded Peter III of Russia in 1762?
Answer: Catherine II (The Great)