ELIZABETH PETROV'NA ( 1709-021 . Em press of Russia from 1741 to 1762. She was the daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine I., and was born December 29, 1709. On the death of her nephew. Peter 11., in 1730. she suffered Anna, Duchess of Courland. daughter of Ivan V., to ascend the throne. (See ANNA IVANOVNA.) Anna died in 1740, and Ivan, the son of her niece Anna Karlo•na (q.v.), an infant of two months. was declared Emperor, and hi. mother made Regent during his minority. Shortly after this a plot was formed to place Elizabeth upon the throne; the two principal agent: in it were Lestoeq, a surgeon. and the Marquis de In Che tardie, the Fren•h Ambassador. The officers of the army were won over, and on the night of Decem ber 5. 1741. the Regent and her husband were taken into enstody, and the child fv:In was con veyed to By eight o'clock in the morning the revolution was accomplished. La Chetardie was handsomely rewarded; and Les toeq was created first physician to the Empress, president of the College of Medieine. and Privy Councilor. Elizabeth lacked energy. knowledge.
and a love of business and allowed herself to be guided by favorites, corruption reigning at her Court. In order to strengthen her position. she
took pains to Will over her nephew. the young Prince Peter, the son of her sister, the Duchess of llolstein-Oottorp. She summoned him to Saint Petersburg in the year 1742 and proclaimed him her successor. She took part in the War of the Austrian Succession, and dispatched a large army to the assistance of ..Nlaria Theresa. thereby hastening the conclusion of the Peace of Aix-la Chapelle in 174S. At the commencement of the Seven Years' War she allied herself with Aus tria and France, and invaded Prussia. Iler troops won the battles of (.rossjiigerndorf and Kunersdorf and raided Berlin. but without any decisive result. Elizabeth died January 5, 1762, before the expiration of the war. She founded the University of and the Academy of Arts at Saint Petersburg. Consult: Bain, 7'he Daughter of Peter the Great (London, 1899) ; Vandal, Louis .X1'. et Elisabeth de liussie (Paris, 18(32) ; Weidmayer, Wpm- d'Elisabeth Petrorna (Saint Petersburg, 1849).