The Coinage of Russia 1746-1750
IN LATE 1741 Elizabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great, seized the Russian throne from Ivan III in a bloodless coup d’etat and used the early months of her reign to solidify her position. A war with Sweden was quickly concluded on favorable terms and her thoughts turned to other matters.
The most pressing problem facing the Empress in the early 1740s was the question of the succession to the throne. She finally decided upon her nephew Peter, son of her sister Anna Petrovna (not the same person as the Empress Anna). Peter had been born in 1729 in Germany, where his parents had fled to escape the wrath of Prince Menshikov, then the power behind the throne.
Once the succession had been determined, Elizabeth next had to choose a suitable bride for the heir. England was approached but King George II refused to allow his daughter Louisa to marry Peter and, in a similar vein, Prussian King Frederick II would not permit his sister Ulrique that privilege either.
However, Frederick II did want to have a friendly state to the east and persuaded Elizabeth, in the spring of 1743, that Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst (a small German state) was the perfect choice. At 15 Sophia was a year older than Peter but this slight difference in age
