marry persons against their will,
and required a formal engagement six weeks previous to the wedding, so
as to give persons a chance to become acquainted before they were bound
to each other for life. He introduced public theatres, and compelled
persons of both sexes to attend them. Social intercourse of the sexes,
under modern and civilized restrictions, was forced not only upon the
Russian nobility, but upon the merchant class. Receptions were
compulsory functions; these were attended by both men and women. At
these receptions, and generally in public, Russians, particularly women,
were required to wear western European dress in public. This movement
toward the social emancipation of the Russian woman inaugurated by Peter
found a powerful support and development during the reigns of Peter's
female successors. During the eighteenth century, Russian women were
taking part in all the court revolutions. During that time, too, social
morality was at a low ebb, owing to a lack of moral restraint.

Peter died in 1725. After the weak reign of Anna Ivanovna (1730-1740)
and the unpopular one of her foreign successor, the supreme authority
passed into the hands of Peter's daughter, Elizabeth Petrovna
(1741-1762). She was skilfully kept in the background by the family of
her predecessor, spent all her time in amusements, and apparently took
no interest in state affairs and politics. As Peter's daughter, she was
adored by the people and by Peter's Old Guard, whom she attached to
herself by constant kindness and attentions. She was an embodiment of
unaffected simplicity, warmth, and sunshine, and her apparent
light-heartedness and gayeties put to sleep all suspicion of seeking to
gather the reins of power in her own hands. But on the night of November
25, 1741, after a prayer and a solemn oath never to sign a death
sentence, Elizabeth put on a cuirass, went to the barracks, led the
grenadiers to the palace, had the reigning family and their supporters
arrested, and was proclaimed empress in the morning, amid general
rejoicing.

Though not inheriting all her father's gifts, Elizabeth possessed a high
degree of intelligence and showed much wisdom and insight in the
selection of her assistants in the work of governing Russia. She was
deeply interested in state affairs, and established a special council
whose sessions she often attended. The people called her their "little
mother," and in her soul Elizabeth remained a thorough Russia