Elizabeth abolished the cabinet council system that had been used under Empress Anna, and reconstituted the
Senate as it had been under Peter the Great, with the chiefs of the departments of state (none of them German) attending. Her first task after this was to address the war with
Sweden. On 23 January 1743, direct negotiations between the two powers were opened at
Åbo. In the
Treaty of Åbo, on 7 August 1743 (O.S.), Sweden ceded to Russia all of southern
Finland east of the
Kymmene River, which became the boundary between the two states. The treaty also gave Russia the fortresses of
Villmanstrand and
Fredrikshamn.
Bestuzhev The concessions to Russia can be credited to the diplomatic ability of the new vice chancellor,
Aleksey Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who had Elizabeth's support. She placed Bestuzhev at the head of foreign affairs immediately after her accession. He represented the anti-Franco-Prussian side of her council, and his objective was an alliance with England and
Austria. At that time, it was probably advantageous to Russia. Both the
Natalia Lopukhina affair and other attempts of
Frederick the Great and Louis XV to get rid of Bestuzhev failed. Instead, they put the Russian court into the centre of a tangle of intrigue during the earlier years of Elizabeth's reign. Ultimately, the minister's strong support from the Empress prevailed. . Bestuzhev had many achievements. His effective diplomacy and 30,000 troops sent to the
Rhine accelerated the peace negotiations, leading to the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 18 October 1748. He extricated his country from the Swedish
imbroglio and reconciled his imperial mistress with the courts of
Vienna and London. He enabled Russia to assert herself effectually in
Poland, the
Ottoman Empire, Sweden and isolated the King of
Prussia by forcing him into hostile alliances. All this would have been impossible without the steady support of Elizabeth who trusted him completely in spite of the Chancellor's many enemies, most of whom were her personal friends. However, on 14 February 1758, Bestuzhev was removed from office. The future Catherine II recorded, "He was relieved of all his decorations and rank, without a soul being able to reveal for what crimes or transgressions the first gentleman of the Empire was so despoiled, and sent back to his house as a prisoner." No specific crime was ever pinned on Bestuzhev. Instead, it was inferred that he had attempted to sow discord between the Empress and her heir and his consort. Enemies of the pro-Austrian Bestuzhev were his rivals; the
Shuvalov family, Vice-Chancellor
Mikhail Vorontsov, and the French ambassador.
Seven Years' War . The great event of Elizabeth's later years was the
Seven Years' War. Elizabeth regarded the
Convention of Westminster 16 January 1756 in which
Great Britain and
Prussia agreed to unite their forces to oppose the entry of or the passage through Germany of troops of every foreign power, as utterly subversive of the previous conventions between Great Britain and Russia. Elizabeth sided against Prussia over a personal dislike of
Frederick the Great. She wanted him reduced within proper limits so that he might no longer be an alleged danger to the empire. Elizabeth acceded to the
Second Treaty of Versailles, thus entering into an alliance with
France and Austria against Prussia. On 17 May 1757, the
Imperial Russian Army, 85,000 strong, advanced against
Königsberg. The serious illness of the Empress, which began with a fainting-fit at
Tsarskoe Selo 19 September 1757, the fall of Bestuzhev 21 February 1758 and the cabals and intrigues of the various foreign powers at Saint Petersburg, did not interfere with the progress of the war. The crushing defeat of
Kunersdorf 12 August 1759 at last brought Frederick the Great to the verge of ruin. From that day, he despaired of success, but he was saved for the moment by the jealousies of the Russian and Austrian commanders, which ruined the military plans of the allies. From the end of 1759 to the end of 1761, the eagerness of the Russian Empress was the one constraining political force that held together the heterogeneous, incessantly jarring elements of the anti-Prussian combination. From the Russian point of view, her greatness as a stateswoman consisted of her steady appreciation of Russian interests and her determination to promote them against all obstacles. She insisted throughout that the King of Prussia must be reduced to the rank of a
Prince-Elector. . Frederick himself was quite aware of his danger. "I'm at the end of my resources," he wrote at the beginning of 1760. "The continuance of this war means for me utter ruin. Things may drag on perhaps till July, but then a catastrophe must come." On 21 May 1760, a fresh convention was signed between Russia and
Austria, a secret clause of which, never communicated to the court of
Versailles, guaranteed
East Prussia to Russia as an indemnity for war expenses. The failure of the campaign of 1760, wielded by the inept
Count Buturlin, induced the court of Versailles on the evening of 22 January 1761 to present to the court of Saint Petersburg a dispatch to the effect that the king of France, by reason of the condition of his dominions, absolutely desired peace. The Russian empress's reply was delivered to the two ambassadors on 12 February. It was inspired by the most uncompromising hostility towards the king of Prussia. Elizabeth would not consent to any pacific overtures until the original object of the league had been accomplished. Simultaneously, Elizabeth had conveyed to
Louis XV a confidential letter in which she proposed the signature of a new treaty of alliance of a more comprehensive and explicit nature than the preceding treaties between the two powers without the knowledge of Austria. Elizabeth's object in the mysterious negotiation seems to have been to reconcile France and Great Britain, in return for which signal service France was to throw all her forces into the attack on Prussia. This project, which lacked neither ability nor audacity, foundered upon Louis XV's invincible jealousy of the growth of Russian influence in
Eastern Europe and his fear of offending the
Porte. It was finally arranged by the allies that their envoys in
Paris should fix the date for the assembling of a peace congress and that in the meantime, the war against Prussia should be vigorously prosecuted. In 1760 a Russian
flying column briefly occupied
Berlin. Russian victories placed Prussia in serious danger. The campaign of 1761 was almost as abortive as the campaign of 1760. Frederick the Great acted on the defensive with consummate skill, and the
capture of the Prussian fortress of Kolberg on Christmas Day 1761, by Field Marshal
Pyotr Rumyantsev, was the sole Russian success. Frederick, however, was now at the last gasp. On 6 January 1762, he wrote to
Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein, "We ought now to think of preserving for my nephew, by way of negotiation, whatever fragments of my territory we can save from the avidity of my enemies." A fortnight later, he wrote to
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, "The sky begins to clear. Courage, my dear fellow. I have received the news of a great event." The
Miracle of the House of Brandenburg that snatched him from destruction was the death of the Russian empress, on 5 January 1762 (
N.S.).
Siberia In 1742, the imperial government at Saint Petersburg ordered a Russian military expedition to conquer the
Chukchi and
Koryaks, but the expedition failed and its commander, Major
Dmitry Pavlutsky, was killed in 1747. On 12 March 1747, a party of 500 Chukchi warriors raided the Russian stockade of
Anadyrsk. By 1750, it had become clear the Chukchi would be difficult to conquer. The Empress then changed her tactical approach and established a formal peace with them. ==Court==