46 THE ORLOFF.
tion which he afterwards aided her in gratifying.
At
all events Gregory Orloff and his brothers were the prime movers in
that military insurrection which overthrew Peter in., a feeble,
drunken imbecile, and set up in his place his wife Catharine, a
handsome imperious strong-willed woman. The revolt took place on July
9, 1762, and the new Empress instantly ordered her vanquished husband
into confinement. Let us trust that she ordered not his death.
Catharine 11., often called the Great, and sometimes the Holy, has
enough for which to answer without the addition of the deliberate
murder of her husband to swell the account against her. Be this as it
may, the fact remains that a fortnight later Peter in. was strangled by
Alexey Orloff, brother of Gregory the favorite of Catharine.
Thus
left in undisturbed possession of the throne the Czarina loaded with
riches and titles the brothers who had aided her. But nothing was
sufficient for the ambition of Gregory Orloff.
