s crowned as czarina. Her next act was to
send for her nephew, Peter, the son of her sister Anne of Holstein. He
came and entered the Greek Church, when he was proclaimed as heir to
the throne as Peter Feodorovitch.

Sweden demanded the cession of the territory conquered by Peter the
Great, and, since Elizabeth refused, the war continued. But Sweden was
no longer the kingdom of Charles XII; the Russians were everywhere
victorious, and by the Peace of Abo, in 1743, Sweden ceded South
Finland and agreed to elect Elizabeth's ally, Adolphus of Holstein, as
heir to the throne.

In 1740 the Emperor of Germany died, after obtaining from the powers
the consent to set aside the Salic Law of succession, in favor of his
daughter. This law restricted the right of succession to male (p. 180)
heirs exclusively. In violation of the pledged word, several claimants
appeared to contest the claim of his daughter Maria Theresa, and since
almost every nation took sides, it was important to know what Russia
would do. Elizabeth was undecided; at least, she played with both
sides until 1746, when she entered into an alliance with Maria
Theresa, while England promised subsidies in money. It was, however,
1748 before a Russian army of 30,000 men passed through Germany and
took up a position on the Rhine. In the same year the war was ended by
the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, without the Russians having been under
fire.

Elizabeth hated Frederick the Great of Prussia. She claimed that "The
King of Prussia is certainly a bad prince who has no fear of God
before his eyes; he turns holy things into ridicule, and he never goes
to church." The real reason was that Frederick had expressed his
opinion about Elizabeth's private life, and she was not the woman to
forgive his remarks. Then again, Frederick had an excellent army of
200,000 men; Elizabeth's chancellor, on that account, called Prussia
"the most dangerous of neighbors, whose power it was necessary to
break."

Russia, Austria, France, and Saxony, entered into a secret alliance
against Prussia. Frederick found it out, and in 1756, began the famous
Seven Years' War. The same year, 83,000 Russians under Apraxine
crossed the frontier and seized East Prussia. A battle was fought; the
Russians were the victors, but Apraxine fell back across the Niemen.
France and Austria suspected treachery; Apraxine was arrested and
the chancellor was dismissed and exiled. Fermor was appointed (p. 181)
c