The only event of his reign, so far as the outside world was concerned, was the attempt of Maurice, Duke of Saxony, to get possession of Courland, a Russian province, by marrying the Duchess Anna, who was then a widow. She consented to the union, and the States of the province elected him, but Menzikoff sent a body of troops who drove him out. Upon the death of Peter II, at the age of fifteen, various claimants were put forward for the throne.
The two daughters of Peter the Great, Anna, Duchess of Holstein, and Elizabeth were still living. Two daughters of his elder brother, the imbecile Ivan, were also living, Anna, the Duchess of Courland above mentioned, and Catherine who had become Duchess of Mecklenburg. Alexis Dolgoruki also had an idea of obtaining the crow for his daughter Natalia, because she had been the betrothed of the late Czar.
This claim, however, was treated with derision by the high secret council, which resolved to call to the throne Anna of Courland, the niece of Peter the Great, thinking that as she was so much more remote by birth than the daughters of Peter she would more willingly submit to their terms. They had prepared for her signature a constitution similar to that of Poland.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
