The Russian empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1709-1761) ruled from 1741 to 1761. Her reign was marked by Russia's continuing Westernization and growth as a great power.

Born in Moscow on Dec. 18, 1709, Elizabeth was the daughter of Peter I and Catherine Alekseyevna. Her education, emphasizing French, German, and the social graces, was designed to prepare her for marriage to a member of European royalty. However, all efforts to provide a suitable husband, including her father's attempt to arrange a marriage between her and Louis XV of France, failed. The beautiful and vivacious Elizabeth was forced to accept a life of spinsterhood but not one of chastity. Over the years she had many lovers, chief among them Alexis Razumovsky.

Elizabeth spent the first 3 decades of her life in political obscurity during which time the Russian throne passed, after the death of Peter I, to a succession of her relatives: her mother, as Catherine...