Which foreigners ruled Russia? (PICS)

1. Rurik

In the year 862, a number of united East Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes invited the Varangian Rurik to rule the Novgorod lands. This leader of a military detachment of Scandinavian warriors became the first prince of Novgorod, the first ruler of Old Russia and the founder of the Tsarist Rurik dynasty.

Neither his date of birth nor his origin are known. Some researchers associate him with the Danish king Rorik of Jutland, while others cite the land of the Prussians or the West Slavic tribe of the Vagrs as his birthplace.

2. Oleg

Oleg was a Varangian, a relative and confidant of Rurik, who, after his death in 879, assumed power in the Novgorod lands as regent for his young son, Igor.

In 882, Oleg captured Kiev and united the two political centers of the Eastern Slavs, founding Kievan Rus. As with Rurik, his date and place of birth are unknown, but he is believed to have also originated in Scandinavia.

3. Catherine I

The real name of Catherine I, the wife of Peter the Great and the first Russian empress, was Martha Skavronskaya. She was born in 1684 to a Lithuanian peasant family in Sweden's Baltic possessions. According to another version, she was born in the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia.

At the age of 17, Martha married Swedish dragoon Johann Kruse, who went missing in the Northern War. In 1702, Field Marshal Boris Sheremetev captured the fortress of Marienburg and noticed the young Kruse among the residents.

The girl became the military commander's mistress, but, a few months later, she was taken by Alexander Menshikov, a close associate of the tsar. Martha later became the mistress and wife of Peter the Great himself. She was baptized into Orthodoxy as Ekaterina Mikhailova.

4. Peter III

Karl Peter Ulrich (future Russian Emperor Peter III) was born in Kiel in 1728. He was the son of Peter I's eldest daughter, Anna, and Karl Friedrich, the Duke of Holstein.

When Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter I's other daughter, ascended the throne in 1741, she summoned her nephew. The childless empress wanted power to pass to her sister's son after her death, thus securing the throne through their father.

Peter lived in Russia for about 20 years. He converted from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy, but made no attempt to get to know the country, its people or its customs. Elizabeth, in turn, kept him away from political life.

After ascending the throne in 1761, Peter pursued a completely ill-considered foreign policy, focusing more on the interests of his duchy than on Russia's. This behavior, coupled with his insulting attitude toward Orthodoxy, led to a coup, in which Peter's wife, Catherine II, played a key role. Shortly after his removal from power, the monarch mysteriously died.

5. Catherine II

One of the most outstanding rulers in Russian history belonged to the German princely family of Askania. She was born in Stettin, Pomerania, in 1729, and initially bore the name Sophia Frederica Augusta.

In 1742, her father, Christian August, became ruler of the small Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, making the girl an eligible bride. She caught the eye of Elizabeth Petrovna, who was looking for a match for her nephew.

Sophia moved to Russia with her mother, where she was baptized into Orthodoxy under the name Ekaterina Alekseyevna. However, her marriage to Peter did not go well from the start.

Unlike her husband, Catherine zealously studied the language, culture and history of her new homeland and took a keen interest in politics. She took lovers and sought supporters among the aristocracy – those who, ultimately, helped her rise to power.