Lesson One: Be Nice to Your Wife

Despite her reputation as an insatiable nymphomaniac, Elizabeth had no children and ended up leaving the throne to her nephew, Charles Peter Ulrich of Holstein (Peter III). Peter assumed the throne in January 1762 and within six months he had managed to alienate everyone with his Prussophilia, offenses against the Orthodox Church, and his boyish obsession with guns and the military. His wife, the German born Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, took to Russia much better than Peter, learning the language and adopting Orthodoxy. Sophie (rechristened Catherine) had Peter III arrested in June 1762 and forced him to abdicate in her favor. One week later he died in somewhat mysterious circumstances.