In this episode of The Romanov Dynasty, Lucas and Luna step back from the well-trodden path of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great to examine the often-overlooked reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1730–1740). We begin with a brief look at the succession crisis after Peter's death, when the Supreme Privy Council tried to impose conditions that would have made Anna a figurehead. Her dramatic rejection of those 'Conditions' set the stage for an autocratic reign marked by the influence of her Baltic German favorite, Ernst Johann von Biron, and the notorious secret police, the Preobrazhensky Prikaz. We explore the dark side of her court: the arrest and imprisonment of her predecessor's family, the harsh treatment of the clergy, and the persecution that forced thousands into exile. We also touch on the lavish but grim spectacle of her court, including the infamous Ice Palace where a jester's wedding was staged in the bitter winter of 1740. To balance the gloom, we discuss her founding of the Cadet Corps, which trained the Russian elite, and her support for the Academy of Sciences, which sent Vitus Bering on his Great Northern Expedition. The conversation ends with a reflection on how Anna's reign, though often dismissed as a 'foreign yoke,' was a continuation of Peter's centralizing project—and a stepping stone to the more famous reigns that followed.
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