The Tang Dynasty produced a Wu Zetian, and later generations still talk about it with relish. Why? Because empresses are too rare in our history, especially in the Great Unification Dynasty, there is only such a thing as Wu Zetian.
Tsarist Russia is different, before and after Tsarist Russia, a total of 4 empresses, all of them are fierce. The point is that there were also 2 very famous monarchs, one was Elizabeth I and the other was Catherine II.
The first empress, Catherine I.
Catherine I was the wife of Peter the Great. Peter the Great had sons, daughters, and grandchildren. But these descendants of him, before Catherine I, will stand aside.
She was originally Lithuanian, but in the Great Northern War, she became a prisoner of the Russian army. At that time, Peter the Great was fighting with the Kingdom of Sweden for the Baltic coast, and Catherine I was favored by Peter the Great after her capture.
Since Peter the Great's ex-wife was banished, Catherine I quickly became the official wife of Peter the Great, that is, the empress of the Russian Empire.
The reason why she is so favored, in addition to being related to beauty, there is another important reason, that is, good health. So how good was Catherine I's body?
- First, her arm strength is amazing. Peter the Great's marshal staff was very heavy, and once he asked the orderlies around him to raise the marshal's staff with one hand, but the young man tried and could not lift it, but the empress Catherine I easily raised it, which frightened everyone present.
- Second, she is optimistic and cheerful. People who are physically good are relatively more cheerful psychologically, which is exactly what Peter the Great lacks. Because Peter the Great suffered from epilepsy and was in a gloomy mood, Catherine I was his cure.
- Thirdly, she bore 11 children for Peter the Great! Five boys, six girls. This fertility, looking at the queens of all countries in the world, is also rare, right? Emperor Wen of Sui's daughter-in-law Dugu Garo was very capable of giving birth, and only gave birth to 10, which did not break the record of Catherine I. I can't have so many children if I don't have good health.
Therefore, the body is the capital of everything, and this is not false at all. Peter the Great lacked such a healthy, lively and cheerful woman around him, and this was her capital.
When Peter the Great died in 1725, no heir was appointed. This gave Catherine I room to operate, and with the help of her good friend Menshkov, Catherine I forcibly sat on the throne of the emperor and became the first empress in the history of the Russian Empire.
After the succession, Catherine I was exclusively responsible for enjoyment, and the power fell into the hands of the old friend Menshkov. In just 2 years, the eldest sister played herself to death at the age of 43.
The second empress, Anna I.
When Catherine I became seriously ill, she realized that she had lost her game and planned to pass the throne to her daughter Elizabeth. As a result, it was opposed by a group of ministers, including the old friend Menshikov, who also disapproved of this.
Why? Because Peter the Great has a direct male descendant, that is, his grandson Peter II. Peter II's father, Alexei, was the son of Peter the Great and his ex-wife, so he had nothing to do with Catherine I.
Everything is a floating cloud, Catherine I passed away with infinite regret, which is equivalent to only receiving a 2-year Tsarist experience card.
Peter II was only 12 years old when he succeeded to the throne. His father Alexei was the target of conservative support, and Peter the Great suspected that his son and the conservatives wanted to overthrow him, so he imprisoned Alexei to death. At the age of 3, the child lost his father.
Ascending the throne at the age of 12, Peter II had no real power, and Menshkov became the worship of Tsarist Russia, holding three armies. However, we must know that the conservatives supported Peter II's father, so they also wanted Peter II to be in power. Therefore, with the help of conservatives, Menshkov was quickly arrested, and Peter II, under the influence of conservatives, chose to move from St. Petersburg to Moscow. This marks the upper hand of conservative conservative forces.
But the truth is still the same, several major conservative families, replacing Menshikov, became the representatives of the powerful ministers. Peter II remained powerless, and three years later, at the age of 15, Peter II died of smallpox, leaving no heirs.
In this way, the male descendants of Peter the Great are considered extinct.
So who will inherit the throne of the Russian Empire? It stands to reason that it should also be the turn of Peter the Great and Elizabeth, the daughter of Catherine I?
This is not the case, because Peter the Great's reform policy hurt the interests of the old nobility, so they last want to see the descendants of Peter the Great succeed to the throne, even if the descendants of Peter the Great succeed to the throne, they must be manipulated.
For this reason, the several major families that controlled the Supreme Secret Council actually brought back Anna I, the daughter of Peter the Great's brother Ivan V, to become emperor.
Although Anna I was also the daughter of the Romanov family, after all, she was only the niece of Peter the Great, how could this be convincing? But Anna I had one thing that the nobles liked the most, and that was that she had a clean foundation.
At the age of 17, Anna I was married by Peter the Great to the Duke of Courland. Courland was on the Baltic coast, in present-day Latvia. Although the territory is small, the location is extremely important, and it is clear that this is a purposeful marriage.
However, unfortunately, only 4 months after the two were married, the Duke of Courland died of illness, and 17-year-old Anna I was actually widowed like this. Peter the Great was ruthless enough not to allow the girl to come back and find another husband, but let her stay in Courland for 20 years.
For 20 years, Anna I knew nothing about what was happening in Tsarist Russia, so she had a clean foundation and hated her uncle Peter the Great, which was exactly what the nobles wanted.
In 1730, Anna I succeeded to the throne and became the second empress of the Russian Empire. Who would have thought that this empress would become a tyrant? Not only did she attack her opponents, but even the nobles who supported her to the throne were not spared and were all disposed of.
Not only did the reformists suffer heavy losses, but the conservatives were also almost cleared. Anna I did not believe anyone, but believed in the foreigners she brought, where do you reason? Ten years later, at the age of 47, Anna I died of illness.
The third empress, Elizabeth I.
Anna I had no legitimate son, and before dying, she also worried about her heir. Peter the Great's daughter Elizabeth was not on her radar at all, and she definitely wanted to keep the throne in the vein of Ivan V.
For this reason, Anna I searched and found his niece's son, later Ivan VI. Ivan VI's mother was the only granddaughter of Ivan V and the only niece of Anna I, so he can be regarded as a descendant of Ivan V.
But Ivan VI was only 1 year old at the time! And his mother is still alive, why didn't Anna I let his mother succeed him directly? It turns out that she has a far-reaching arrangement.
While establishing Ivan VI as his heir, Anna I also made his elder minister like a dragon as regent, holding all military and political powers. Her intention was that when she left, Billon would become the ruler of Tsarist Russia. It is rumored that Anna I and Billon had a son, most likely in the plan, the true heir of Anna I.
As a result, Ivan VI had just taken the throne, and before Billon, the regent, was hot, Ivan VI's mother led people to take real power, banished Billon, and did the work of regent herself.
Both mother and son held power in Tsarist Russia for only 13 months. Due to the chaos of the previous succession, many aristocratic remnants and reformists reached a compromise, believing that it was more stable to let the descendants of Peter the Great inherit the throne.
For this reason, in 1741, Peter the Great and Elizabeth I, daughter of Catherine I, with the support of the Praetorian Army, became the third empress of the Russian Empire.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, she did many good things. For example, running schools, reducing taxes, abolishing the death penalty, etc., is called the kindest and wisest empress by the Russians.
The fourth empress, Catherine II.
Elizabeth I's marriage was very unfortunate, her fiancé died before they were married, so Elizabeth I never married in her entire life and naturally had no legitimate son. In Europe at that time, illegitimate children had no right to inherit because it was a blasphemy against a legal marriage.
Therefore, when Elizabeth I was older, she also began to worry about finding an heir. Looking around, she still chose her sister's son Peter III as her successor, that is, Peter the Great's grandson.
Peter III's father, the Duke of Holstein, was a German, so Peter III was actually a German. He was not interested in Russia at all, and did not even speak Russian.
In the late reign of Elizabeth I, Tsarist Russia was at war with Germany, and Peter III, as the crown prince of Tsarist Russia, actually revealed Russian intelligence to Germany because he worshipped the German emperor, where do you reason? Later, after the death of Elizabeth I, she openly gave up all the gains of the war, but the Germans were very happy.
With such a personal inheritance of the great ruler, wouldn't Tsarist Russia want to be turned upside down by him? Fortunately, Elizabeth I chose a "good daughter-in-law" for Peter III, she was Catherine II.
Catherine II was a fallen Prussian nobleman who was also a German. Therefore, after she and Peter III were united, the Russian tsars of later generations basically became Germanic.
After the death of Elizabeth I in 1761, she was succeeded by her nephew Peter III, thus becoming empress of the Russian Empire. Is this script somewhat similar to Catherine I?
After only half a year, Catherine II received the support of the Janissaries and the nobility. Why? Because according to Peter III, sooner or later Tsarist Russia will have to submit to the feet of Germany.
Thus, in July 1762, Catherine II seized the throne, deposed Peter III, and became the fourth and last empress of the Russian Empire.
Catherine II was more fierce, seizing large territories for Tsarist Russia during her reign, and was the only monarch in the Russian Empire other than Peter the Great who could be called "the Great".
It is worth mentioning that her grandson, Alexander I, defeated Napoleon. Her great-grandson, Alexander II, plundered at least 1.51 million square kilometers from the east.