Editing Elizabeth of Russia (section)

==Imperial coup==
[[File:Elizabeth at Preobrazhensky quarter by Lansere.jpg|thumb|The [[Preobrazhensky Regiment]] soldiers proclaim Elizabeth as Empress of Russia.]]

While [[Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov]] remained in power (until September 1727), the government of Elizabeth's adolescent nephew Peter II (reigned 1727–1730) treated her with liberality and distinction. However, the [[House of Dolgorukov|Dolgorukov]]s, an ancient [[boyar]] family, deeply resented Menshikov. With Peter II's attachment to Prince Ivan Dolgorukov and two of their family members on the Supreme State Council, they had the leverage for a successful {{lang|fr|coup}}. Menshikov was arrested, stripped of all his honours and properties, and exiled to northern Siberia, where he died in November 1729.{{sfn|Coughlan|1974|p=52}} The Dolgorukovs hated the memory of Peter the Great and practically banished his daughter from Court.{{sfn|Bain|1911|pp=283–284}}

During the reign of her cousin Anna (1730–1740), Elizabeth was gathering support in the background. Being the daughter of Peter the Great, she enjoyed much support from the Russian Guards regiments. She often visited the elite Guards regiments, marking special events with the officers and acting as godmother to their children. After the death of Empress Anna, the regency of [[Anna Leopoldovna]] for the infant [[Ivan VI of Russia|Ivan VI]] was marked by high taxes and economic problems.{{Sfn|Antonov|2006|p=105}} The French ambassador in Saint Petersburg, the [[Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie|Marquis de La Chétardie]] was deeply involved in planning a coup to depose the regent, whose foreign policy was opposed to the interests of France, and bribed numerous officers in the Imperial Guard to support Elizabeth's coup.{{sfn|Cowles|1971|pp=67–68}} The French adventurer [[Jean Armand de Lestocq]] helped her actions according to the advice of the marquis de La Chétardie and the Swedish ambassador, who were particularly interested in toppling the regime of Anna Leopoldovna.{{sfn|Antonov|2006|p=105}}

On the night of 25 November 1741 (O.S.), Elizabeth seized power with the help of the [[Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment]]. Arriving at the regimental headquarters wearing a warrior's metal breastplate over her dress and grasping a silver cross, she challenged them: "Whom do you want to serve: me, your natural sovereign, or those who have stolen my inheritance?" Won over, the regiment marched to the [[Winter Palace]] and arrested [[Ivan VI of Russia|the infant Emperor]], his parents, and their own lieutenant-colonel, Count [[Burkhard Christoph von Munnich]]. It was a daring coup and, amazingly, succeeded without bloodshed. Elizabeth had vowed that if she became Empress, she would not sign a single death sentence, an extraordinary promise at the time but one that she kept throughout her life.{{sfn|Antonov|2006|p=105}}

Despite Elizabeth's promise, there was still cruelty in her regime. Although she initially thought of allowing the young tsar and his mother to leave Russia, she imprisoned them later in a [[Shlisselburg Fortress]], worried that they would stir up trouble for her in other parts of Europe.{{sfn|Sebag Montefiore|2016|p=268}} Fearing a coup on Ivan's favour, Elizabeth set about destroying all papers, coins or anything else depicting or mentioning Ivan. She had issued an order that if any attempt were made for the adult Ivan to escape, he was to be eliminated. [[Catherine the Great]] upheld the order, and when an attempt was made, he was killed and secretly buried within the fortress.{{sfn|Antonov|2006|p=103}}

Another case was Countess [[Natalia Lopukhina]]. The circumstances of Elizabeth's birth would later be used by her political opponents to challenge her right to the throne on grounds of illegitimacy. When Countess Lopukhina's son, Ivan Lopukhin, complained of Elizabeth in a tavern, he implicated his mother, himself and others in a plot to reinstate Ivan VI as tsar. Ivan Lopukhin was overheard and tortured for information.  All the conspirators were sentenced to death.{{sfn|Sebag Montefiore|2016|p=269}}<ref>{{Cite book|title=The New Cambridge Modern History: Volume 7, The Old Regime, 1713–1763|last=Lindsay|first=J. O.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1957|isbn=9781139055833|pages=332}}</ref> The female conspirators had their sentences commuted to having their tongues removed and being publicly flogged. The men were [[Breaking wheel|broken on the wheel]].{{sfn|Sebag Montefiore|2016|loc=Act II Scene 3}}