Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1709-1761) was the daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine I. Empress Elizabeth was as devoted to Russia as her father but lacked his European tastes and education. Her reign of power was a decadent affair involving endless shopping trips, palaces, hunting expeditions and an enormous national budget deficit.
In 1741 Elizabeth made her ascent to the throne with the help of officers from one of the military troops. She arrested the young emperor Ivan VI and his family and officially proclaimed herself as the new Russian empress.
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