Part 131

CATHEDRAL AND MONASTERY OF ST. ALEXANDER NEVSKY is at the extreme east end of the Nevsky Prospect. The buildings cover much ground, and include twelve churches, the monastery, and gardens. The Cathedral, which is that of the Metropolitan, dating from 1790, is enriched with marble and agate and paintings--the altarpiece, the Annunciation, is by Raphael Mengs. On pillars opposite the altar are large portraits of Peter the Great and Catherine II. The shrine of St. Alexander Nevsky is of silver, about two thousand pounds of the metal being used in the whole; near the tomb are suspended the keys of Adrianople. The Monastery has a rich collection of jeweled mitres, gold brocaded vestments, and a mass of valuables, also many objects of interest, including the crown of St. Alexander and the bed on which Peter the Great died.

TSARSKOE SELO (_tsär’kō-ye sā´lō_), about fifteen miles south of St. Petersburg, contains a famous imperial palace, a favorite summer residence of the court. The Old Palace, begun in 1744, is richly decorated, the walls of one room are incrusted with amber, those of another with lapis lazuli. The magnificent marble gallery, two hundred and seventy feet long, connects the palace with a detached building. The park is full of caprices, such as a Chinese tower and village, an Egyptian pyramid, a Turkish kiosk, and the so-called doll-houses of the royal princesses.

PETERHOF (_pā´ter-hōf_), near Oranienbaum, was begun in 1720, and built by Leblond for Peter the Great. A marine palace, with a long front, made to retain its original appearance, even its ancient yellow color has been continually renewed. It contains porcelain, malachite, tapestry, paintings of victories in the reign of Catherine II., and a collection of three hundred and sixty-eight portraits of women, painted by Count Rosali for the empress during a journey. All are in the national costume. The gardens are full of Neptunes and Tritons and good fountains. The well-wooded park has many curiosities:--Marli, a favorite resort of Peter the Great; the cottage of the Empress Catherine, brilliant with gold and mirrors; the Palais de Paille; the English Garden, with a ball-room.

=Moscow= (_mŏs’kō_), the ancient capital of the Russian Empire, is one of the most magnificent and interesting cities of the world. The city is gathered in a semi-circle around the citadel, or Kremlin, which stands immediately upon the river bank. The streets are exceedingly irregular, though generally presenting the appearance of broad, well-paved avenues of a modern European city. The innumerable white, semi-oriental structures which greet the vision from every commanding point, with their unnumbered domes, spires, belfries, towers, and minarets, give to the city a magnificence of beauty scarcely to be found elsewhere in the great cities of Europe.

THE KREMLIN.--The historic, as well as the most interesting part of the city, is within the walls of the Kremlin. It is associated with much that is held in deepest reverence by Russians--here the imperial power receives religious consecration, and the great bell of Ivan Veliky proclaims the new monarch. The Kremlin is an assemblage of many buildings, covering quite a section of the city--churches, palaces, arsenals, barracks, monuments--enclosed within a brick wall about a mile and a half in circuit. Upon the wall, which is sixty feet high, are twenty-one towers. The principal gate, the Gate of the Saviour, is on the east side. Over the passage of the gate is the venerated “Saviour” brought from Smolensk in 1685, and it is the custom for the passer-by to uncover his head.

THE TOWER OF IVAN VELIKY, or John the Great, built in 1600, and three hundred and twenty feet high, contains thirty-four bells, the largest of which weighs sixty-four tons. When all these bells are rung together at Easter the effect is wonderful. At the foot of this tower is the vast Tsar Kolokol, or Monarch of Bells. It once hung in a tower (burned in 1737), weighs four hundred and forty-four thousand pounds, and is twenty feet high and sixty feet round. The value of the metal in the bell is nearly two million dollars.

Outside the Kremlin is the Chinese town, so-called, founded by Helena. Here are the Romanoff Palace, the Iberian Gate and Chapel, the University, the great Riding School, the Theaters, and the largest Bazaar in Russia, except that of Nijni-Novgorod.

THE CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR, is conspicuous near the river, a quarter mile southwest of the Kremlin. This beautiful church, by the architect Thon, was erected 1837-1883, at a cost of more than eight million dollars. It has five cupolas, the principal being about one hundred feet in diameter; many figures in relief of patriarchs and saints upon the facade. The interior is elaborately decorated with marble and gilding; upon the walls are tablets relating to military events, admirable paintings and sculpture.

THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. BASIL, erected 1554-1557, is a remarkable edifice, consisting of eleven chapels with as many cupolas, all different, but wonderfully proportioned.

=Vladivostok= (_vlä-dē-vōs-tok´_), capital (since 1903) of the vice-royalty of Eastern Asia, Siberia, is situated on the east shore of Amur Gulf. It has one of the finest harbors in the world, is a naval station, has an arsenal, and is a terminus of the Siberian railroad. It escaped attack during the Russo-Japanese war, but suffered from naval mutiny and unrest in the Russian disturbances of 1905-1906. Its climate is severe--the average annual temperature being only forty degrees Fahrenheit.

HISTORY OF RUSSIA

The races who peopled Russia were vaguely known to the ancients as Scythians, and their country as Sarmatia. It received its name from the _Ruotsi_ or _Russ_, a tribe of Norse “rovers” or freebooters, who entered the country from the west about the eighth century. The name was later applied to the realm of Moscow, and modified to Russia.

=Early Traditions.=--Three brothers, Rurik, Sineus, and Truvor, Scandinavians, were invited, according to tradition, to come and protect territory in northwest Russia against the Finns and the Lithuanians. They and their successors built new forts, and took part in wars. The times of the “Sunny Vladimir” (980-1015) are the “heroic” epoch of early Russian history, and the feats and feasts of Vladimir and his “war companions” have been handed down through ages in legend and song; while his conversion to Christianity made him the hero of the annals written by monks.

=Kieff the First Historic Center.=--The first half of the eleventh century, during which Yaroslaff the Wise was grand prince at Kieff, was the most brilliant time for Kieff, then the “mother of the Russian towns.” The great cathedral of St. Sophia was built at that time; schools were opened, and the first written Russian law was compiled. At his death (1054) Yaroslaff was ruling over most of the Russian towns.

The next two centuries of Russian history correspond to the feudal period of Western Europe. The Russians at that time were steadily extending their territory toward the east; they colonized the Oka, the Don, and the Finnish territories in the northeast.

=Settlements in and about Moscow.=--Owing to the gradual colonization of the basin of the Oka and the upper Volga, a new Russian territory had grown in importance in the meantime. Suzdal and Rostoff were its chief centers. It differed from southwest Russia in many respects. Its inhabitants were Great Russians--a hard-working race, less poetical and less gifted, but more active than their southern brethren. Besides, a good many of its inhabitants were peasants, settled on the lands of the boyars, and the cities themselves, being of recent creation--like Vladimir and, later on, Moscow--had not those traditions of independence which characterized Kieff or Novgorod. It was therefore easier for the authority of the prince to develop in the northeast, under the guidance of the church and the boyars.

The first Suzdal prince, Andrei Bogolubsky (1157-1174), was the first representative of that policy. He invited many Kieff boyars to settle in the land of Suzdal, and finally he took and burnt Kieff (1169).

The supremacy of Kieff was thus destroyed, and the land of Suzdal became the Ile-de-France of Russia--the nucleus of the future Russian state. The Suzdal land continued to grow and to enjoy prosperity during the next fifty years; economical, educational and literary progress were marked, and the Russian territory extended farther eastward.

=Tartar Invasion.=--But in the thirteenth century a great calamity visited Russia: a Mongol invasion suddenly put a stop to the development of the country and threw it into a totally new direction.

The Tartars first appeared in 1224, but their real conquest, under Batu Khan, was made in 1238 and the years immediately following. They subdued all the little Slav states except the republic of Novgorod. Latterly the rulers or princes of Moscow gained an ascendency over the other states, and formed the nucleus of a central sovereignty.

=Ivan III. Expels the Tartars.=--The Tartar supremacy lasted till about 1480, when Ivan III. (1462-1505) succeeded in throwing off their yoke. He did much to consolidate and extend his kingdom, and conquered Novgorod in 1478. The reign of Ivan IV. “The Terrible” (1533-1584) is of great importance. In 1547 he assumed the title of Czar or Tsar, a variant of Cæsar. He conquered Kazan and Astrakhan, and the conquest of Siberia was begun in his reign. The epithet “terrible” has reference to his cruel persecution of the boyars, a kind of powerful baronial class.

=House of Romanoff Established.=--The accession of the still-reigning Romanoff house took place in 1613 when the States-General elected Michael Romanoff as ruler. Under Alexei (1645-1676), son of Michael, territory was won from Poland, the Cossacks of the Ukraine had to submit, and the power of Russia greatly increased. The reign of Alexei’s son, Feodor III. (1676-1682), witnessed a war with Turkey, but was signalized by many important reforms. His imbecile brother Ivan was heir apparent, but Feodor willed the throne to his half-brother Peter, known in history as the Great; but Peter only obtained sole power in 1689 after overthrowing Sophia, Ivan’s sister.

=Under Peter the Great.=--Peter the Great opened what may be called the European period of Russian history. (See Peter the Great.) He made his country a European state. He gave it a standing army, a navy on the Baltic, the embryo of a modern administration, a diplomatic service, and a financial organization. He made canals, encouraged industry, literature and art. The heart of Russia might remain at Moscow, but henceforth it was to have also a head that looked out westward from the Neva.

On the other hand, Peter increased taxation; his cruelty was oriental, and serfdom under him became more and more extensive.

He completed the conquest of Siberia, waged successful war with Charles XII. of Sweden, and by the treaty of Nystad in 1721 obtained Esthonia, Livonia, Ingermannland, and part of Finland, thus gaining a large maritime territory on the Baltic Sea. He founded Petrograd in 1703, and made it the capital in place of Moscow.

=The Eighteenth Century= in Russian history is a century of empresses. Peter the Great was succeeded by his wife, Catherine I. (1725-1727). A grandson of Peter the Great, Peter II., followed Catherine, reigning from 1727 to 1730. The next sovereign was Anna (1730-1740), whose reign was a period of German influence. Ivan VI. (1740-1741) was soon displaced by the anti-German party, and Elizabeth (1741-1762), daughter of Peter the Great, ascended the throne. A part of Finland was obtained by the treaty of Abo, and Russia took part against Prussia in the Seven Years’ war. The first Russian university, that of Moscow, was founded in 1755.

The death of Elizabeth and the accession of Peter III., in 1762, greatly relieved the hard-pressed Frederick the Great, because Peter at once reversed the Russian policy.

=Catherine II.=--In July, 1762, he was deposed by his wife, Catherine II. (1762-1796), whose reign is of great importance in the progress of Russian power.

Under Catherine II. successful wars were carried on against Turkey, Persia, Sweden and Poland, which largely extended the limits of the empire. The acquisition of the Crimea, which gave Russia a firm footing on the Black Sea, and the first partition of Poland, were two most important steps toward the consolidation of the empire.

=Napoleonic Period.=--Catherine’s son and successor, Paul I. (1796-1801), at first, through apprehension of the revolution in France, joined the Austrians and British against France, but soon after capriciously withdrew, and was about to commence war with Great Britain when his assassination took place. A palace conspiracy put an end to his reign and life.

His eldest son, Alexander I. (1801-1825), was at the outset desirous of peace, but was soon drawn into the vortex of the great struggle with France, in which he played a prominent part. (See Alexander I. and Napoleon.) The Holy Alliance and the example of conservative policy set by Austria exercised a pernicious influence on the later part of his reign; and the higher classes, who had looked for the introduction of at least a portion of the liberal institutions they had seen and admired in Western Europe, became so dissatisfied that, when his youngest brother, Nicholas I. (1825-1855), from whom they had nothing to hope, succeeded, they broke out into open rebellion, which was speedily crushed.

=The Turkish Wars.=--A full stop was now put to the intellectual development of Russia. Wars were declared with Persia and Turkey; and a long and deadly struggle commenced with the Caucasian mountaineers. The cession of Erivan and Nahitchevan by Persia, of the plain of the Kubañ, of the protectorate of the Danubian principalities, and of the free right of navigation of the Black Sea, the Dardanelles, and the Danube by Turkey only induced him to further prosecute his aim of conquering for Russia a free issue from the Black Sea in the Dardanelles.

In 1830 he converted Poland into a Russian province; in 1849 he aided Austria in quelling the insurrection of the Magyars; and in 1853 he began a war with Turkey which became the Crimean war, and in which, though the allies, Great Britain, France and Sardinia, did not obtain any decided success, Russia suffered immense loss.

=Alexander II.=--The accession of Nicholas’ son Alexander II. (1855-1881)--one of whose first acts was the conclusion of the peace of Paris (1856), by which Russia lost the right of navigation on the Danube, a strip of territory to the north of that river, and the right of keeping a navy in the Black Sea--was the signal for a general revival of intellectual life in Russia. Obligatory military service for all Russians was introduced in 1874.

The insurrection in Poland was suppressed with extreme severity, and in 1868 the last relics of Polish independence disappeared in the thorough incorporation of the kingdom with the Russian Empire. The subjugation of the Caucasus was completed in 1859. Russian supremacy was established over all the states of Turkestan. In 1876 the administration of the Baltic provinces was merged in that of the central government; but the autonomy of Finland was respected and even extended.

=Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878.=--In 1877 the Russo-Turkish war broke out. At first the Russian progress was rapid; but the energy displayed by the Turks during the summer, and the resolute defense of Plevna by Osman Pasha from July till December, checked the progress of the Russian army. During the winter, however, she crossed the Balkans, and her vanguard, reaching the Sea of Marmora, stood in view of Constantinople. The armistice signed in January, 1878, was followed in March by the treaty of San Stefano; and after diplomatic difficulties that seemed for a time not unlikely to issue in war between Russia and Great Britain, a Congress of the Great Powers met at Berlin in June, 1878, and sanctioned the cession to Russia of the part of Bessarabia given to Moldavia in 1856, as also of the port of Batoum, of Kars, and of Ardahan.

=Rise of Nihilism.=--The growth of revolutionary discontent, leading to severe repressive measures, was marked by several murders of high officials, and on March 13, 1881, Alexander II. was killed by the revolutionists.

=Reactionary Reign of Alexander III.=--The reign of Alexander III. (1881-1894) was in the main characterized, in contrast to the liberal reforms of the last reign, by reactionary steps. Press freedom disappeared completely, and the universities were again suppressed. The Dumas, or representative assemblies, were deprived of all real independence in 1892. Alexander II.’s judicial reforms were partly undone, and the village communities, known as mirs, were brought under the more direct control of the land-owners. Russification was vigorously pursued in Poland and the Baltic provinces, and in 1890 the first steps toward the Russification of Finland were taken.

Alexander III. was not friendly to Germany, but avoided hostilities more serious than those of a tariff war, although the Bulgarian crisis of 1885 subjected their relations to a severe strain. Russia and France now began to draw close together, but a Franco-Russian alliance was not officially admitted till 1896-1897, and its terms were secret. Merv was annexed in 1884, and the occupation of Penjdeh in 1885 nearly led to war with Great Britain. Alexander III. escaped several attempts at assassination, and died of disease in November, 1894.

=Russia in the Far East.=--After the reign of Alexander III. comes the fateful reign of his son, Nicholas II. In 1896 China granted permission to carry the Siberian railway (begun in 1889) through Manchuria to the far eastern Russian seaport of Vladivostok. In December, 1897, in consequence of the Germans having acquired Kiauchau from China, Russia occupied Port Arthur, and in the following year obtained from China a lease of it and some neighboring territory, although in 1895 she had taken the chief part in preventing Japan from taking it as a prize of victory. She shared in the international expedition to China in 1900, and herself suppressed risings in Manchuria with the utmost cruelty. Professing to be ready, and even anxious to evacuate Manchuria as soon as possible, she was preparing for virtual annexation; but her aggressive action in Korea aroused Japanese opposition, and led to the war of 1904-1905.

By treaty of Portsmouth (1905), which ended this war, Russia lost--for the time being at least--all influence in Manchuria, Korea, and China, and had to cede to Japan Port Arthur and its territory, and also southern Sakhalien.

=The Imperial Duma.=--In August, 1905, the czar issued a manifesto ordering the election of an Imperial Duma or Parliament. Count Witte was made president of a reorganized Council of Ministers, with instructions to form a reform cabinet. The general strike in Finland compelled the czar to restore Finland’s constitution and liberties previously taken away in 1903. The bureaucrats attempted to discredit the reform movement by instigating attacks on Jews, and other outrages, especially in Odessa, where the authorities permitted appalling atrocities.

The Imperial Duma, promised in 1905, was duly elected early in 1906, and held its first meeting on May 10 at Petrograd. It was dissolved later in the year because too liberal, and a second one, elected in 1907, met the same fate. By various devices the government managed to get a less advanced Duma elected late in 1907, which did some useful work in 1908. An important Anglo-Russian convention was signed in 1907, the signatories agreeing to respect the territorial integrity of Thibet and the suzerainty of China. Other conventions were signed (1910) between Russia and Japan respecting the status of Manchuria, and between Russia and Germany in 1911.

After declaration of war by Austria against Servia in 1914, Russia announced that her support would be given to Servia. Consequently Russia joined France and Great Britain in the conflict that followed. (See further under European war.)

=Books of Reference.=--Wallace’s _Russia_; Leroy-Beaulieu’s _The Empire of the Tsars_; Norman’s _All the Russians_; Drage’s _Russian Affairs_; Suvorin’s _All Russia--a Directory of Industries_, etc.; Stepniak’s _King Log and King Stork_; Krapotkin’s _Memoirs of a Revolutionist_; Morfill’s _Russia_; Villari’s _Russia under the Great Shadow_; Wellesley’s _With the Russians in Peace and War_; Ganz’s _The Downfall of Russia_; Milyoukov’s _Russia and Its Crisis_; Meakin’s _Russia, Travels and Studies_.

SOVEREIGNS OF RUSSIA

A long list of dukes and grand dukes preceded the actual foundation of the Russian monarchy under the rule of a czar.

HOUSE OF RURIK

This royal house includes the descendants of Rurik, Grand Prince of Novgorod, the reputed founder of the Russian royalty. It became extinct in the person of Feodor in 1598.

=1462-1505.=--Ivan (Basilovitz), or John III., took the title of czar, 1482; Grand Duke of Moscow.

=1505-1533.=--Vasali IV., or Basil V., obtained the title of Emperor from Maximilian I.; son of Ivan the Great.

=1533-1584.=--Ivan IV. the Terrible; a tyrant; son of Vasily IV.

=1584-1598.=--Feodor, or Theodor, I.; and his son Demetrius, murdered by his successor; son of Ivan the Terrible: was elected to the throne.

=1598-1604.=--Boris-Godonof, who usurped the throne.

=1605.=--Feodor II., murdered.

=1606.=--Vasali-Chouiski, or Zouinski.

=1606-1610.=--Demetrius the Impostor, a young Polish monk; pretended to be the murdered prince Demetrius; put to death.

=1610-1613.=--Ladislaus of Poland; retired 1613.

HOUSE OF ROMANOFF--MALE LINE

=1613-1645.=--Michael-Feodorovitz, of the house of Romanoff, descended from the czar Ivan Basilovitz; unanimously elected czar.

=1645-1676.=--Alexis, styled the father of his country; son of Michael Feodorovitch.

=1676-1682.=--Feodor, or Theodor, II.; eldest son of Emperor Alexis.

=1682-1689.=--Ivan V.; Peter I., Ivan was the half-brother of Peter the Great, in whose favor he resigned.

=1689-1725.=--Peter I., the Great, alone; took the title of emperor October, 1721; founded St. Petersburg; son of Alexis.

=1725-1727.=--Catherine I., his widow, at first the wife of a Swedish dragoon, said to have been killed on the day of marriage; was married to Peter the Great in 1707.

=1727-1730.=--Peter II., son of Alexis Petrovitz, and grandson of Peter the Great; deposed.

HOUSE OF ROMANOFF--FEMALE LINE

The reign of the next three sovereigns of Russia, Anne, Ivan VI., and Elizabeth, of the female line of Romanoff, formed a transition period, which came to an end with the accession of Peter III., of the house of Holstein-Gottorp.

=1730-1740.=--Anne, duchess of Courland, daughter of the czar Ivan.

=1740-1741.=--Ivan VI., an infant, grand-nephew to Peter the Great; immured in a dungeon for eighteen years; murdered in 1764.

=1741-1762.=--Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great reigned during Ivan’s captivity.

HOUSE OF ROMANOFF-HOLSTEIN