II Questions and Answers COVERING THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA AND THE CAUSES OF THE WORLD WAR BY PROF. JAMES B. TAYLOR, A. M, Head of History Department in Huntington School Northeastern College SUPPLEMENTARY TO THE WORLD'S HISTORY AT A GLANCE THE BALL PUBLISHING COMPANY BOSTON, MASS. Class Book Gqpyrightlsi . rf3 CDFjRIGHT DEPOSm ^Y///AV^*\\y//MW!"i'/^H Questions and Answers COVERING THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA AND THE CAUSES OF THE WORLD WAR BY PROF. JAMES B. TAYLOR, A. M. Head of History Department in Huntington School Northeastern College SUPPLEMENTARY TO THE WORLD'S HISTORY AT A GLANCE THE BALL PUBLISHING COMPANY BOSTON, MASS. Copyright, 1917, by The Ball Publishing Company $°y\w 84 ji .,/> / Russia The Russian empire comprises one-seventh of the land surface of the globe, its area being, since the Treaty of Portsmouth (September 5, 1905), and making no allow- ance for territory captured and occupied by the forces of the central powers in the existing war, 8,417,118 English square miles, of which 2,122,999 square miles are located in Europe (including Russian Poland and Ciscaucasian provinces and Finland); and 6,294,119 square miles in Asia, nearly five million square miles of the Asiatic ter- ritory being comprised in Siberia. These totals do not include the area covered by the internal waters of the empire, the seas of Azov, Caspian, Lake Aral, etc., occupying an additional 347,468 square miles. The total population of this territory, estimated on the basis of the census of 1897 and the yearly increase thereby shown, was about 178,000,000 inhabitants. The government of Russia, which from the beginning of its history has been an absolute despotism, since 1905 has become a constitutional hereditary monarchy, although as a matter of fact the legislative, executive and judicial power still remain vested to a very large extent in the emperor or tsar, who still retains his ancient title " Auto- crat of all the Russias." The first step toward establish- ing a representative form of government was taken on August 6 (19) 1905*; an elective body called the State Duma was created but with only consultative power. On October 17 (30) of the same year, legislative power was conferred upon the Duma and it was provided that no 'Russia under the domination of the Greek church has never adopted the Gregorian reformation of the calendar. All official dates therefore are old style, now thirteen days earlier than our chronology. 4 HISTORY OF RUSSIA law should be effective without its approval and that of the Council of the Empire, a body originally established in 1810, and which was a few months later made a legis- lative council. The tsar also promulgated the principles of freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association and of the inviolability of the person. The reigning emperor, Nicholas II, whose official title is Tsar and Autocrat of all the Russias, was born May 6 (19), 1868, the eldest son of the Tsar Alexander III and the Empress Maria Feodorovna (Princess Dagmar of Denmark), and succeeded to the throne on the death of his father October 20 (November 2), 1894. He was married in 1894 to Princess Alexandra Alix (born 1872), daughter of Ludwig IV Grand Duke of Hesse and Princess Alice of England. The heir to the throne is their only son the tsarevitch (Crown Prince), the Grand Duke Alexis born July 30 (August 12), 1904. The Emperor has also four daughters; the tsarevitch being the youngest of the imperial children. The reigning family of Russia descends in the female line from Michael Romanoff who was elected tsar in 1613 after the extinction of the ancient house of Rurik which had ruled Russia since 862. In the male line the tsar's lineage is derived from the Duke Karl Friedrich of Hol- stein Gottorp who married Anne, daughter of Peter the Great. On the maternal side the Tsar Nicholas II is first cousin to Kings George V of England, Constantine of Greece, Haakon VII of Norway, and Christian X of Denmark. The tsarina, also through her mother, is related in the same degree to King George V, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and the queens of Greece, Norway, Spain and Roumania. The tsar, as owner of the crown domains consisting of more than a million square miles of land and forests, HISTORY OF RUSSIA 5 besides gold and other mines in Siberia, possesses an immense revenue supposed by some authorities to make him the richest man in the world, but the amount of his income is unknown, as these crown possessions are con- sidered the private property of the imperial family and are never referred to in any of the budgets. The Duma, which now consists of deputies elected for five years, represents the various governments or prov- inces of the empire and the cities of Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg), Moscow, Warsaw, Kiev, Lodz, Odessa and Riga. The deputies are indirectly elected, being chosen by electoral bodies of each of the provinces and largest cities, delegates to these bodies being named by the district or town elective assemblies. Lodgers of twelve months' residence and state, municipal, or railway sal- aried clerks may vote in town assemblies; and land- owners (the amount of land varying in different districts) and owners of non-industrial estates of more than 50,000 roubles ($26,000) are electors in country provinces. Peasant communities and manufactories of more than fifty operatives are represented by delegates two for each community and one for each thousand workmen. Stu- dents, soldiers, governors of provinces and police officers may not vote. , The members of the Duma have a salary of ten roubles ($5.20) per day during sessions, with travelling expenses to Petrograd and return once a year. The first two Dumas were dissolved by the government after sessions of only a few months. The third sat from November 1 (14), 1907, till the expiration of its terms in 1912, when the present, the fourth Duma began. Its composition in 1915 was: Right, 61; Nationalists, 86; Octobrists, 85; Progressives, 41; Constitutional Democrats, 55; Traivail- listes (Labor), 11; Social Democrats, 12; Poles, 13; Inde- pendents, 19. Total, 383. 6 HISTORY OF RUSSIA The Council of the Empire is composed of an equal number of elective and appointed members, the former comprising one member each, chosen by the various district assemblies (zemstvos) of each government, six members chosen by the Synod of the Orthodox (Greek) church, six by the Academy of Sciences and the Universities, twelve by the Bourses, eighteen by the Nobility and six by the landed proprietors of Poland; the appointed mem- bers are nominated by the tsar. All members must be at least forty years of age and have an academical degree. The elective members have a salary of twenty-five roubles ($13) per day during sessions. They are chosen for a term of nine years, one-third of the number being elected every three years. The President and Vice-President of the Council are appointed by the tsar. The legislative and initiative powers of the Duma and the Council of the Empire are equal and no measure not passed by both can be laid before the tsar for imperial sanction. Both bodies sit publicly and each can annul the election of any of its Own members. A bill rejected by the tsar cannot be brought forward again during the same session nor can a bill rejected by either body be revived without imperial consent. In view of the past rigorous repression of free speech, it is interesting to note that members of both chambers have personal immunity during sessions, being liable to arrest (except for flagrant offences or malfeasance), only with permission of their respective chamber itself. The general administration of government in Russia is still entrusted to great boards or councils, the three most important of which are: I. The Ruling Senate whose functions are partly deliberative, partly executive, and which also is the high court of justice for the empire. It is divided into HISTORY OPi RUSSIA 7 4 six departments, each a court of last resort upon its special nature of cases. This body was established by Peter the Great in 1711. Its promulgation is essential to render valid any law. II. The Holy Synod, a college also established by Peter the Great, in 1721, superintending the religious affairs of the empire. All the decisions of the Holy Synod are made in the name of the Tsar and require his approval. The college is composed of the metropolitans of Petrograd (who is also its president), Moscow and Kiev ; the Archbishop of Georgia (Caucasus) and a num - ber of bishops who take turns in sitting. III. The Council of Ministers. This board is the most important of all the council since 1905, when it was reorganized in accordance with the provisions for constitutional government. It consists of all the ministers and the general directors of the most important administrations, including in 1916 the following port- folios: 1. Imperial House and Domains; 2. Foreign Affairs; 3. War; 4. Navy; 5. Interior; 6. Public In- struction; 7. Finance; 8. Justice; 9. Agriculture; 10. Ways of Communications ; 11. Commerce and Industry; 12. The Controller- General; 13. The Procurator- General of the Holy Synod. Beyond the above boards the tsar has two private cabi- nets; one for charitable affairs and one for the public instruction of girls, administering institutions established by the Empress Maria (wife of Paul I). Another cabinet receives petitions to the tsar, and there is also a special imperial cabinet in three sections for public economy; mines and manufactures, and legislation. The Grand Duchy of Finland, which was ceded to Russia in 1809, has preserved by special grant of Alexander I, renewed by his successors, its Swedish Constitution of 1722 8 HISTORY OF RUSSIA with some subsequent modifications and reforms. Its national parliament, reformed in 1905, consists of one chamber of two hundred members chosen by direct pro- portional election. The suffrage is practically universal, men and -women being equally allowed to vote. The tsar is Grand Duke of Finland and the government is -responsible to him as well as to the Diet, but the Diet can decide on any motion not affecting fundamental laws or the organization of national defense. Poland, which had its own separate government until 1864, was at that date deprived of the last remnant of its administrative independence and from that period a consistent effort has been made to entirely amalgamate the country with Russia, even the use of the Polish lan- guage for public purposes being prohibited. The whole of Russian Poland is, however, now (1917) in Austro-German occupation and has been declared to be a separate king- dom. This proclamation during the pendency of the war has not yet received the recognition of other nations. In local government the Russian Empire is divided into 78 governments and 21 provinces; these being subdivided into from 5 to 15 districts or circuits, of which there are altogether 815 in the Russian Empire. Some of the governments or provinces are united into general govern- ments under a governor-general, who, as representative of the tsar, has supreme control over both civil and military affairs. Tn Siberia each governor-general is assisted by a deliberative council. A civil governor assisted by a council of regency to which all measures must be submitted rules over each government, and each of the 21 provinces is under a military governor. Special governors rule over the townships of Petrograd, Moscow, Sebastopol, Odessa, Kerch, Nikolayev, Baku and Rostov on Don, while Kronstadt has its own military governor. HISTORY OF RUSSIA 9 In European Russia the lands of the peasantry and indeed a good part of the local administration of the com- munities are administered very democratically, the peasants of villages choosing delegates (one man to every ten houses) who elect an elder as an executive officer for the cantonal assemblies. The whole country is divided into 17,075 cantons. Each village also, at a communal assembly of all its householders, elects its local elder and a tax collector and all communal matters are decided by this assembly of actual householders of the community. There are also in each government, special colleges for peasants' affairs to which communal or cantonal institu- tions may be submitted. In Poland the administration is somewhat . different, as the assemblies consist solely of landowners, though each landowner has an equal vote whatever the amount of his real estate. The adminis- trations of district and province economical affairs are largely in the hands of the zemstvo or district assembly. Towns and cities have their own municipal institutions organized similarly to the zemstvos. Householders are divided into three classes, each of which represents an equal amount of property; each class elects an equal number of representatives to the Dumas, and each Duma elects its own executive. Since 1892 the powers of muni- cipal government have been largely placed in the hands of the governors appointed by the tsar. The established religion of the Russian empire is the Graeco-Russian which is officially called the Orthodox faith. Although it is independent, the tsar being the head of the church appointing every official thereof, it maintains the relation of a sister church with the Ortho- dox Greek Catholic patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. As the tsar has never claimed the right of decision in theological questions, 10 HISTORY OP RUSSIA the Procurator of the Holy Synod really controls all church matters except appointments and dismissals of officials. Although with the exception of restraints law upon Jews, freedom of worship is promised to all religions, as a matter of fact dissenters still are subjected to severe repressions. While there are no very trustworthy statistics as to the religious faith of the population, the census of 1897 divided a total of 125,000,000 as follows: Orthodox Greek United Church, 87,000,000; Mohammedans, 14,000,000; Roman Catholics, 11,000,000; Jews, 5,000,000; Dissent- ing Christians, 7,000,000; Buddhists and other non- Christians less than one million. Most of the schools in the Russian Empire are under the control of the ministry of public instruction; the empire being divided into fifteen educational districts. The two largest universities are at Petrograd (7442 students), and at Moscow (9892 students). Seven other cities have universities with an aggregate of 21,693 students accord- ing to the reports issued January 1, 1914. These totals do not include the University of Finland at Helvingford with 3438 students, and there is also a popular university founded and endowed by General Alphonse Shaniavsky which has existed at Moscow since 1908. Nearly 4000 students in Russia are either supported by bursaries or excused from paying fees. There are also a number of institutions for special education, theological, medical, legal, technical and oriental languages. According to the last issue of the Year Book of Russia (1914), the number of schools including primary, special, middle and high schools and the total number of pupils attending them were as follows: European Russia 95,381 schools with 6,151,538 scholars Poland 7,022 schools with 339,003 scholars Ciscaucasia 2,635 schools with 177,877 scholars Transcaucasia 2,548 schools with 145,031 scholars Siberia 6,245 schools with 341,217 scholars Central Asia 8,693 schools with . 111,974 scholars Total 122,524~ 7,266,694 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 11 To the above total must be added pupils of private and religious schools not classed in these categories amounting to 771,415, so that the total number attending the schools of the Russian Empire exclusive of Finland was 8,038,109. In Finland, according to reports of the same year, there were of the various schools classed in the foregoing state- ment 3442 schools with 293,745 students and 317 other schools for various trade or technical study with 11,802 students. In spite of all these institutions it is quite apparent, from figures furnished by the statistical annual for 1913, that elementary education is only poorly developed, since out of every one hundred persons up to nine years of age seventy-three were unable to read and write. In regard to the population generally, the less illiterate provinces of European Russia show the following percentages of illiteracy: Esthonia, 20.1 per cent; Livonia, 22.3 per cent; Courland, 29.1 per cent; Petrograd, 44.9 per cent. In national defense the extensive frontier jf the Russian Empire both by sea and by land is protected by numerous fortifications of various classes. Of fortresses of the first class, there are three on the Polish , frontier and one in the Vilna district. The second-class fortifications are six in number, including Kronstadt and Sveaborg in the Petrograd and Finland district and Vladivostok in the Amur district. There are seven fortresses of the third class and about forty-six unclassed fortifications, many of these being mere fortified posts. Military service in Russia is universal and compulsory, beginning at the age of twenty and completed in the forty-third year. The troops are divided into three armies, those of European Russia, the Caucasus, and Asiatic Russia. These armies, practically distinct from each other, have slightly varying terms of service. A very 12 HISTORY OF RUSSIA important branch of the Russian army is the Cossack cavalry. The Cossacks, who occupy the south-western portion of European Russia, hold their lands by military tenure and are liable to service for life. They provide their own horses and equipment and their military train- ing begins at the age of nineteen. Invited to service from their early years, and being born horsemen, they form a unique body of troops which has been of enormous aid in all military operations. The troops of the Russian Empire are so far territorial- ized that each corps draws its recruits from a particular district and is as a rule permanently quartered in the same garrison. But a number of the recruits from " Great Russia " are sent to corps outside, and as in European Russia the bulk of the army is stationed west of Moscow, a majority of the recruits and reservists have to travel long distances to join their corps. This makes mobili- zation a slower and more difficult process than in France or Germany. The peace strength of the armies of Russia is upwards of 1,300,000. The field armies of European Russia and the Caucasus with the reserve divisions and the second category regiments of the Don and Caucasian Cossacks probably amount to 7,000,000 men. In the Asiatic army the men are Russians with the exception of a few Turkoman irregular horse. In Siberia the troops are mainly recruited from military colonists. But the largest part of the Asiatic army is in East Siberia, which possesses a strong army of its own, reorganized and increased since the Russo-Japanese War, the whole of which mobilizes as five army corps with from two to four Cossack cavalry divisions. The Russian navy has been subject to special conditions different from those of the navies of the other powers. Owing to the widely separated seas which wash the coasts HISTORY OF RUSSIA 13 of the empire it has been obliged to maintain four distinct fleets, one each for the Baltic, Black Sea, Caspian Sea and the Pacific. In western relations, the most important of these is the Baltic fleet, and, as the Gulf of Finland is usually blocked with ice from November to April, a new ice-free port has been made ready at Libau in Courland, although this port was taken by the Germans in 1915. Another port is contemplated on the coast of Russian Lapland which is free from ice all the year but its dis- tance from probable fields of operation would make this of slight advantage. Great progress has, however, been made with ice breaking vessels, which goes far toward making the Baltic fleet more effective. During the progress of the war thus far the Russian fleet, though inferior in numbers to the German fleet, has proved uni- versally successful in its operations in the Baltic. In the Black Sea, although the commanding power fell to the Turks after their purchase of the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau, the injuries received by the former caused the command of the sea to pass again to the Russians. The following is a statement of the strength of the Russian fleet in 1915, including ships building but excluding training ships and transports and also excluding the gunboats which form the Caspian flotilla. Baltic Fleet Black Sea Fleet Pacific Fleet Total Dreadnaughts 4 2 - 6 Pre-dread aughts 4 4 - 8 Armored cruisers 3 - ' - 3 Protected cruisers 7 2 1 10 Destroyers 85 26 6 117 Submarines 22 11 8 41 14 HISTORY OF RUSSIA Questions and Answers 1. How large is Russia? Ans. Russia extends from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean and from the Baltic, in the north of Europe, to the North Pacific east of Asia. It occupies about one- seventh of the land surface of the globe or considerably over 8,000,000 square miles. 2. How does Russia's area correspond to that of the United States and other great nations? Ans. The area of the United States possessions is a little over three and a half million square miles or con- siderably less than half the size of Russia. China is considerably larger than the United States, but only half the size of Russia, while the British Empire, " on which the sun never sets," is Russia's only superior in size, having about 12,000,000 square miles, but this is com- posed of territories scattered all over the world, so that Russia is easily the largest consolidated empire that exists. 3. What is the population of Russia? Ans. The Russian population is estimated at 160 odd millions by the last decennial census; considerably more today — perhaps nearly 200,000,000. 4. How does the Russian population compare with that of the United States and other large countries? Ans. The* population of Russia is only surpassed by that of India, which in 1911 was over 315,000,000, and that of China, estimated at 450,000,000. The population of the United States is over 100,000,000. 5. In size and population where does Russia stand? Ans. In size it is next to the British Empire or second in the world; in population third, or next_to China and India. It has the largest resources of any nation from which to draw for soldiers and more territory in Europe to draw from than any other country there. 6. When does Russia first appear in history? Ans. A little over five hundred years B.C., Darius, third king of Persia, crossed the Bosphorus with, it is said, more than seven hundred thousand men by means HISTORY OF RUSSIA 15 of pontoon bridges and, crossing the Danube in a similar way, invaded what is now Russia but then known only as the home of Scythian hordes. 7. When did the modern Russia begin? Ans. In 862 A.D., Rurik, a Scandinavian chieftain from Sweden, crossed the Baltic eastward and, either by conquest or after invitation of Slavonian tribes to defend them against Finns and Lithuanians, acquired territory and kingly dignity, and founded the first royal house of Russia at about the time that Egbert, first king of the English, began to rule, 828. 8. What is the origin of the name "Russia"? Ans. The origin of the name "Russia" is uncertain. Some say it was borrowed from some Scandinavian lo- calit}^ (as Russ, the home of Rurik) or, as Arabs say, from territory on the Dnieper; or again, from the name given by the Finns to the foreigners, the Scandinavian Corsairs. 9. Of what race were the natives of Russia whom the Scandinavians captured? Ans. Russians are of the Slavic race, a race that from the most ancient times pressed on the Teutons of Central Europe as the Teutons pressed on the Celts toward the west of Europe. 10. What other nations do the Slavs include? Ans. The Slavs (or Sclavs or Slaves), include the Bulgarians, Ruthenians, Poles, Serbs, Croats, Wends or Sorbs, Slovaks, Czechs or Bohemians, Slovenes, and a few others. 11. What is the meaning of the word "Slav"? Ans. Some think the form "Slave," which is sometimes used, points to those in bondage to the Tartars, but more properly the word in the Slavic languages means intelli- gible, as distinguishing their various tribes; intelligible to one another, in contrast to those they called bar- barians, as the Tartars. It recalls curiously by contrast the word " barbarians " given by the Greeks to those who were unintelligible to them. 16 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 12. Which are supposed to be the oldest tribes of Slavs and where did they live? Ans. The earliest historical notices of the Slavs repre- sent them as having their homes about the Carpathian Mountains, and to have been called Winds or Wends or Serbs, but they were probably far more widely spread through eastern Europe. 13. What were the boundaries of the Slavs in the ninth century when Rurik established the first line of Russian kings? Ans. In 814, when Charlemagne died after consolidat- ing the Western Roman Empire of Prance, Germany and Italy, the Slavs occupied territory directly south of Sweden, close up to Hamburg. Bohemia and Austria were much smaller then and Prussia belonged to the Slavs. 14. What were the fortunes, briefly told, of Rurik's dynasty? Ans. For several centuries the Scandinavian dynasty established by Rurik succeeded in its Russian domain. They built new forts, and took part in wars. The times of " Sunny Vladimir " (980 to 1015), is the heroic epoch of early Russian history; Vladimir feasts and feats are handed down in song and legend, and his conversion to Christianity made him the hero of monkish annals. In the eleventh century, Kiev was in its glory, " the mother of the Russian towns." Yaroslav the Wise was grand prince there; the great Cathedral of St. Sophia was built, schools were opened and the first written Russian laws compiled. Russia spread toward the east on the Oka and the Danube and to the northeast among the Finns. 15. What calamity overwhelmed the royal house of Russia founded by Rurik in 862? Ans. In the thirteenth century fierce Tartar tribes from Asia overran and conquered Russia, inflicted horrible atrocities and held the Russian princes for over two hundred years in servile bondage, forcing them to pay tribute and also to do homage by kissing the stirrup of the Tartar chief. This delayed the nationalization of Slavon- ian peoples for centuries. HISTORY OF RUSSIA 17 16. When was Russia freed from the Tartar or Mongol rule? Ans. Ivan III, called the Great, reorganized Russia with Moscow as a center (hence the term Muscovy for Russia), and after a terrible struggle expelled the Tartars in 1480, when Russia began to assume for the first time the character of a well-consolidated empire. 17. What was the situation in Russia at the time of Ivan or at the beginning of reorganized Russia? Ans. When Ivan the Great died in 1505, Russia was hemmed in. The Tartars were between her and both the Black and Caspian Seas; the Swedes and other people shut her off from the Baltic and the Poles and Lithuanians were between her and Germany. 18. When was Russia Christianized? Ans. The conversion of Russia dates from the close of the tenth century. Missionaries of the Greek Church from Constantinople effected its evangelization. Some of the eastern Slav tribes received Christianity at the hands of Cyril as early as the ninth century, while the more western tribes were converted by Roman and German missionaries and still belong to the Roman Catholic church. Russia, however, is well known to be the leading repre- sentative of the Greek Catholic church. 19. Who was Cyril? Ans. Cyril and Methodius, apostles to the Slavs, were brothers and natives of Thessalonica. Cyril was the name adopted as a monk by one Constantine, born 827, surnamed the Philosopher. A Tartar people, the Khasars, living northeast of the Black Sea toward the lower Volga, asked the emperor, Michael III, about 860, for missionaries, and Cyril was sent and made many converts. His brother Methodius evangelized the Bul- garians in Thrace and Mcesia and baptized their king, 861. At the request of Ratislav, Duke of Moravia, the brothers then turned their attention to the countries on the March and Danube. 20. What more did Cyril and Methodius do for the Slavs? Ans. The brothers prepared a Slav translation of the Scriptures and also liturgical books which became the 18 HISTORY OF RUSSIA foundation of Slav literature and won the hearts of the people from the Roman missionaries. The brothers were summoned to Rome to explain their conduct and Cyril died in Rome, 869, but Methodius was consecrated bishop of the Moravians in the same year and completed the evangelization of the Slavs. He was called to Rome in 879 to justify his celebration of the mass in the native tongue, and succeeded in gaining the approval of Pope John VIII. He died in 885. On July 5, 1863, Bohemia and Moravia celebrated the millenary festival of their two apostles. Both are recognized as saints by the Roman church. 21. Where did Cyril get his alphabet for his translation of the Scriptures into the Slav tongue? Ans. The Cyrillic alphabet was modified out of the Greek and superseded the older Slavonic alphabet over a wide area. 22. After the Tartar yoke was broken in 1480, how did Russia prosper under Ivan the Great and his successors? Ans. The reigns of Ivan III, called the Great, his son Basil and his grandson Ivan the Terrible covered a period of one hundred and twenty-two years. During this time there was much fighting with Lithuanians, then united with Poland. Lithuania was near Moscow, and its inhabitants employed Tartars against the Russians, but Ivan IV, surnamed the Terrible, made great headway against them. Siberia was conquered by Cossacks, originally inhabitants of Little Russia, but developed historically into a separate race from which a great fighting force of Russia's army has been developed. It was in this reign also that the English began to trade by sea with Archangel on the White Sea. 23. What extraordinary case of fraud was perpetrated on the Russians near the beginning of the seventeenth century? Ans. Feodor, the son of Ivan the Terrible, was driven into exile by one Boris Godunov, who led a rival faction of the people. He also sent assassins to murder the seven- year-old child, Dmitri, next heir to the throne, in 1591. Godunov was proclaimed tsar, 1598, after Feodor 's HISTORY OF RUSSIA 19 death in exile. A young man later appeared in Poland claiming to be Dmitri. All over Russia the people rose to support him, the mother of Dmitri recognized him as her son and on the sudden death of Godunov he was proclaimed tsar and crowned at Moscow, 1605. 24. For how long was the fraud successful? Ans. The Russians did not find the false Dmitri to be what they expected. He proved to be a mere tool in the hands of the Poles. A revolt was started and the im- poster was murdered in 1606. 25. What happened next in Russia after the murder of the pretender, Dmitri? Ans. Sigismund of Poland took advantage of the confusion in Russia, invaded it and took possession of Moscow, 1610. 26. What was the outcome of the attempt of the Polish king to seize the throne of Russia? Ans. Minin, a butcher of Nijni Novgorod, and Pojarski, a country squire, formed a national party and secured the aid of the Cossack army. The Poles were driven out of Moscow and the people then elected Mikhael Romanoff to be their tsar- in 1613. He came of a family that had migrated to Russia from Prussia several generations before and had become very popular; his grandmother had been the wife of Ivan IV, the Terrible. After a hard, uncertain struggle against Poland, in which the very exis- tence of Russia was threatened, the Cossacks turned the tide of battle and the new line became firmly established upon the throne. 27. Who was the immediate successor of the first Romanoff? Ans. Alexis, the son of Mikhael Romanoff, succeeding his father in 1645, continued the work of modeling Russia into a state and entirely reformed the local administration. A great secession in the church took place when Nikon, the patriarch, tried to correct the books used in the Russian church, but was forced to resign by the revolt of the people. The mastery of Poland was established but, in order to maintain her rights on the Dnieper, Russia 20 HISTORY OP RUSSIA had to undertake a war with Turkey which outlasted Alexis' reign, (1645-76.) Turkey yielded all claims to Little Russia in 1681. 28. What is meant by "Little Russia"? Ans. The population of the Russian Empire embraces a great variety of nationalities, but the Great Russians, the Little Russians and the White Russians comprise about ninety million or more than half of the inhabitants of Russia. The Great Russians inhabit middle Russia and comprise two-thirds of the people in eastern and northern Russia. Little Russia is farther south than Great Russia and Kiev and Volhynia on the spurs of the Carpathians mark its location. It is the richest and most populous part of Russia. The soil is rich and black, yielding fine crops of wheat and sugar beet. Cattle and sheep breeding are prosecuted on a large scale on the prairies, while Kiev is one -of the chief industrial centers of Russia. 29. What happened when Feodor, grandson of Mikhael Romanoff, under whom peace was made with Turkey, died? Ans. After Feodor's death in 1682, his brother, Ivan V, nominally succeeded but, he being feeble-minded, the States-General chose his half brother, Peter, as tsar, and Peter's half sister Sophia, an able and ambitious princess, succeeded in obtaining the reins of government as princess regent. 30. What was the nature of the rule of Princess Regent Sophia, during the boyhood of Peter the Great? Ans. Sophia concluded peace with Poland in 1686 and made two campaigns against the Tartars of the Crimea. After unsuccessfully attempting to deprive Peter of his right to the throne, she tried to assassinate him and his mother but, failing in this, she was forced- to retire to a convent. Nearly a thousand of her accomplices were executed. 31. When did Peter the Great come into power? Ans. In 1689, the year after the great revolution in England that expelled the Stuart kings and established the will of the people, Peter ascended the throne of all HISTORY OF RUSSIA 21 the^Russias, a boy of seventeen, who was destined to make history for forty years to a degree very few have succeeded in rivaling. 32. What kind of a boyhood did Peter enjoy? Ans. His elder half sister, to suit her selfish aims, had held him in the bondage of vice and ignorance. He was wholly without education. He was encouraged in drunkenness, gluttony, and every degrading form of self- indulgence, but the energy of his nature soon surmounted the disadvantages of his youth. 33. To what activities did Peter the Great address himself on ascending the throne in 1689 at the age of seventeen? Ans. Peter early realized the vast inferiority of* Russia to the western nations of Europe. He felt the need of an army and a fleet. Russia had no marine commerce; there was no word for fleet in the language. Archangel, the only seaport in the country, was frozen up seven months out of the twelve. The empire must have outlets upon the sea. Hence Peter's first aim was to wrest the southern Baltic shore from Sweden and the Black Sea from Turkey. 34. What degree of success did Peter obtain in trying to reach the sea? Ans. In 1695, he declared war against Turkey and sailed down the Don to attack Azov, the key to the Black Sea, but was unsuccessful. The next year, however, he tried again and gained his first harbor on the south, Azov. 35. Having won a desirable harbor on the Black Sea, what was Peter's next step? Ans. Having obtained a harbor, Peter next craved ships, a native marine, but he had no shipbuilders. He sent a large number of young Russian nobles to Italy, Holland and England to acquire a knowledge of naval affairs, forbidding them to return until they had become good sailors. Not satisfied with that, he left the govern- ment in the hands of three nobles and set out himself to learn the secrets of shipbuilding. 22 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 36. What were Peter the Great's experiences in going abroad to learn shipbuilding? Ans. He first went to Holland and at Zaandam hired out as a common laborer to a Dutch shipbuilder. Then he went to England and there learned more. 37. Was Peter the Great's identity known when he worked as a carpenter in Holland and England? Ans. Peter traveled incognito, but it was well known who he was. His terrible energy was enough to distinguish him from the phlegmatic Hollanders. To avoid publicity, he went to Amsterdam to the docks of the East India Company, which was building a frigate, that he might watch the whole process of constructing a vessel from the start. Here he worked for four months. 38. • How did Peter happen to go to England also? Ans. At this time, 1697, William of Orange, ruling Prince of the Netherlands, was also King of England, and he invited Peter over there and presented him with a splendid full-armed yacht and arranged a mock sea fight for his distinguished guest. 39. Did Peter acquire useful knowledge outside of shipbuilding? Ans. Peter interested himself not only in naval ar- chitecture but in almost everything else. He attended lectures on anatomy; studied surgery; acquired skill in pulling teeth and in bleeding; inspected paper mills, flour mills, printing presses and factories; visited hospitals, cabinets and museums; everything that he deemed of value for introduction at home. 40. What was the nature of Peter's return home? Ans. On leaving England, Peter proceeded to Vienna, intending to visit Italy, but he heard of rebellion at home, and hastened back to quell it, taking skilled artificers with him who in a few years helped to place a formidable Russian fleet on the Baltic. 41. What was the rebellion that hurried Peter home? Ans. The revolt was among the Strelitzes, a body of twenty thousand to thirty thousand soldiers organized by Ivan the Terrible as an imperial bodyguard, like the HISTORY OF RUSSIA 23 Praetorian guards of Rome. Peter determined to rid himself of this insolent, refractory body and substituted a force well drilled in western tactics. 42. What reforms in dress and appearance did Peter undertake? Ans. So pleased was Peter with western ideas that he stationed tailors and barbers at the gates of Moscow to trim the beards and cut off the skirts and long sleeves of his subjects' Oriental robes. 43. For what other reforms was Peter responsible? Ans. Besides requiring all but the clergy to shave or pay a tax on beards, Peter issued a new coinage, intro- duced schools, built factories, constructed roads and canals, established a postal system, opened mines, framed laws after western models and gave the citizens of towns some voice in the management of local affairs similar to the custom in the Netherlands and England under the reign of William III. 44. What was Peter the Great's success with his army? Ans. The army he created was at first so ineffective that Charles XII of Sweden with- ten thousand troops defeated Peter's army of eighty thousand. " The Swedes will have the advantage at first, but they will teach us how to beat them," said Peter, a principle which Russia seems to have adopted as her own, learning by defeat. 45. What was the origin of St. Petersburg or Petrograd? Ans. Peter decided that Moscow was too far inland to be a satisfactory capital for an enterprising nation; so with infinite pains he constructed a new city on a marshy •island at the mouth of the Neva, where, as he said, he could look out upon western Europe as from a window. Three hundred thousand men cleared the forests, drained the marshes, constructed roads and otherwise prepared for the new capital. Inundations destroyed the work, epidemics swept away his workmen by thousands, but the undaunted tsar kept on and in five months the new capital was founded and so fortified that Sweden could not destroy it. 24 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 46. What was Peter's later experience with Charles Ans. Charles XII of Sweden, called the Madman of the North, was but fifteen when, in 1697, he became king on the death of his father. His possessions included Finland and large areas along the southern Baltic ter- ritory won by the valor of his ancestors. Taking advantage of his youth, Frederick IV of Denmark, Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and Peter the Great started in 1700 to annex such parts of Charles' southern possessions as they severally desired. 47. What success did the three rulers have "who pro- posed to rob the youthful Charles of Sweden of his pos- sessions south of the Baltic? _ Ans. Charles made the King of Denmark sue for peace in two weeks; struck the Russian army of twenty thousand that was besieging Narva on the Gulf of Finland with his little army of eight thousand and inflicted an igno- minious defeat. Charles then turned south to chastise Augustus, while the imperturbable Peter proceeded to make himself master of the Swedish land on the Baltic and to lay the foundations of St. Petersburg. 48. Did Charles and Peter have further trouble? Ans. After defeating Augustus, King of Poland, and obliging him to surrender his crown, 1706, Charles turned on Peter and boldly crossed his frontier in 1708 with forty thousand men, but his army was practically annihilated at Pultowa in 1709, and Charles escaped with only a few soldiers. Peter at once seized all the Swedish provinces on the Baltic and a part of Finland in the year following. In 1713, the whole of Finland was subdued. 49. What was the nature of Peter's later wars? Ans. In 1721, Peter ended his war with Sweden by a treaty that confirmed as his all the land he had wrested from Sweden. This greatly enhanced Russia's position among European nations. Peter then, in 1722, commenced war on Persia and secured three provinces on the Caspian Sea. 50. What was the nature of Peter's death? Ans. In 1725, two years after his victories over Persia, HISTORY OF RUSSIA 25 Peter died of a fever brought on by exposure while aiding in the rescue of some sailors in distress in the Gulf of Finland. 51. What was Peter the Great's personal appearance? Ans. The portrait of Peter, painted by Kneller, the English court painter, in 1698, when Peter was twenty-six, represents a strikingly handsome young man with thick, black, curly hair and fine, large, intelligent eyes. 52. What was his character? Ans. He had much of the savage left in him. He could not only look on while a crowd of defeated insurgents were put to death, but even wield the executioner's axe himself. He constantly applied his cane to the shoulders and heads of those who displeased him. His theory of government was a rough, brutal one, but by his strength he lifted Russia out of Asiatic barbarism into the social ways of Europe. He aimed at autocratic despotism and destroyed all checks on the absolute power of the crown, but the western ideas he took such pains to introduce were bound to foster popular liberty and western civilization. 53. What is the origin of the word "czar" or "tsar"? Ans. "Czar," like "kaiser," is a corruption of "Caesar". Those so named regard themselves as successors and heirs of the Caesars of Rome and Constantinople, the Holy Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. 54. What final word can be said about Peter? Ans. When Peter ascended the throne at seventeen, Russia exercised domain over five million square miles of the earth's surface, or a great deal more than the rapidly developed United States of the present time. Today, less than two hundred years since his death and owing quite strictly to influences and reforms which he set in full operation, Russia controls nearly nine million square miles or an added territory larger than the whole of the United States or of Europe outside of Russia. No other country has expanded equally in that time, unless England with India, Canada and Australia. Peter introduced silk and woolen manufactures and the art of printing. He estab- lished police and a postal system. He framed a code of laws based on those of more advanced nations. He founded 26 HISTORY OF RUSSIA hospitals and medical schools. He caused arithmetic to be used in government offices where accounts had been kept by small balls strung on wire. 55. What family did Peter the Great leave? Ans. On Peter's return from western Europe in 1698, he divorced the empress, who was suspected of complicity in the anti-reform rebellion, and in 1712 he married his mistress, Catherine, and transferred the offices of govern- ment from Moscow to the new capital on the Neva. In 1718 the Crown Prince Alexis, Peter's only son, was found guilty of high treason and condemned to death. The unhappy tsarevitch died almost immediately after this judgment, probably in consequence of the torture he had undergone. By Peter's will Catherine succeeded him, but the old reactionary party of the nobility supported the claims of the only son of Alexis, Peter II, who obtained the throne in 1727, two years after Peter's death; but Peter II died in 1730, only three years later. The privy council set aside descendants of Peter I, and gave the throne to Anna, Duchess of Courland, daughter of Ivan V, the elder half brother of Peter the Great. 56. What about Anna's reign? Ans. Her reign, 1730-40, was strongly marked by the predominance of the German party at court, which treated Russia as a great source of plunder. Under German influence Russia restored to Persia her lost Caspian prov- inces and was led into a disastrous war with Turkey. Anna was followed by Ivan VI, the son of her niece; but he was speedily deposed by Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, who ruled for twenty- one years; she deprived the German party of the influence it had so shamefully abused and restored the senate to the power it had enjoyed under her father. Under Elizabeth, Russia gained a portion of Finland and took part in the Seven Year's War between England and France, 1756-63. 57. What happened in European history after Eliza- beth's death in 1762? Ans. Elizabeth's nephew and successor, Peter III, was an admirer of Frederick the Great of Prussia, and his first act on ascending the throne in 1762 was to order the Russian army, which was supporting Austria against HISTORY OF RUSSIA 27 Prussia, to change sides. Prussia and Frederick the Great were very fortunate in the change, as Frederick had been reduced to his last extremity. But Peter III was disliked and his wife Catherine II easily dethroned him and he was murdered by her associates, 58. What sort of a queen and woman was Catherine II of Russia? Ans. As a woman she was noted for extreme profligacy. As a ruler she was one of the strongest that ever occupied a throne. She carried on successful wars against Turkey, Persia, Sweden and Poland, and thereby greatly extended her territory. The first partition of 1 Poland, 1772, helped consolidate her empire and the acquisition of the Crimea, 1783, gave Russia her first firm grip on the Black Sea though still barred from the Bosphorus. 59. What is the story of the dismemberment of Poland? Ans. All three partitions of the old kingdom of Poland took place during the reign of Catherine II and in all three Russia secured her share of the loot. The first partition, in 1772, was between Prussia, Austria and Russia, or between Frederick the Great, Maria Theresa and Catherine. The second partition was in 1793, between Prussia and Russia and, finally, in 1795, after the suppres- sion of a fierce rebellion led by Kosciusko, who had helped the colonists in the American Revolution, a third division was made between the three and Poland, as such, was erased from the map. Catherine said Poland served as a doormat on which she stepped when visiting the west. 60. Was there any justification in Russia's policy toward Poland? Ans. According to statecraft and common impulses there was provocation and even justification. Poland had been the stronger nation once and for over six centuries had been in the habit of exploiting Russia. " As ye sow, so also shall ye reap," is a law that nations as well as men are slow to learn. 61. Did Catherine II do anything more than wage suc- cessful war to aid Russia? Ans. Catherine II labored to reform the Russian in- stitutions and to civilize her people and she showed en- 28 HISTORY OF RUSSIA thusiasm for learning by liberally patronizing literary men. At the close of her reign, 1796, Russia was beyond question one of the foremost powers of Europe, ready to play her part in the titanic struggle of the early nineteenth century. 62. Did Russia take part in the Napoleonic struggle? Ans. Russia played a mighty part in the Napoleonic struggle and was the chief agent in causing the downfall of the dictator of the continent. 63. What was the attitude of Russia at the beginning of the conflict with France? Ans. Catherine II's son, Paul I, who succeeded her in 1796, through fear of the French Revolution joined the Austrians and British against France, but soon after, in a weak-minded admiration of Napoleon, withdrew and was about to begin war against Britain when he was assassinated. He gave freedom of worship to the Old Ritualists, but turned free crown peasants into serfs for the sake of his favorites. 64. Who succeeded Paul I, and what policy did he pursue? Ans. Alexander I, the oldest son of Paul, came to the throne at the beginning of the nineteenth century and continued through the first quarter of the century, 1801- 25. At the outset of his reign he favored peace, but was soon drawn into the mighty struggle beginning in 1805, and played a prominent part. He was present at Austerlitz where Napoleon won one of his greatest victories over Austria and Russia. Next year he entered Prussia with aid for King Frederick William III but was completely overwhelmed at Friedland and sued for peace. By the Treaty of Tilsit he agreed to Napoleon's continental system of no trade with England and even attacked her ally, Sweden, in 1808. 65. What was the later action of Alexander? Ans. In 1812, the tsar cast aside his ties of alliance and friendship for France and entered the coalition against her. Napoleon invaded Russia with over five hundred thousand troops. The Russian force, numbering three hundred thousand, was defeated at Borodino, and Napoleon pushed on to Moscow, only to find it deserted and on fire. HISTORY OF g [ RUSSIA 29 66. What effect did the destruction of Moscow by the Russians have on Napoleon's victorious career? Ans. Instead of the shelter and supplies that Napoleon had calculated on, he found himself obliged to retreat before approaching winter and suffered enormous losses from snow, cold, famine and pursuing, harassing Cossacks. Of Napoleon's five hundred thousand that invaded Russia, three hundred thousand fell, one hundred thousand were made prisoners and only one hundred thousand escaped to return toward France. 67. What was the effect of the failure of the campaign against Russia? Ans. Encouraged by Napoleon's failure in Russia, a sixth coalition was formed against him, which defeated him in the Battle of the Nations at Leipsic, 1813, and led to Napoleon's abdication. 68. What part did Alexander, Tsar of Russia, take in the settlement of European affairs after Napoleon's defeat? Ans. At the occupation of Paris after the downfall of Napoleon, Alexander was the central figure in politics and diplomacy. He visited England at this time and was well received. At the Congress of Vienna after the Battle of Waterloo, Alexander claimed Poland as essential to Russian interests but promised to give it a constitution. 69. What was the Holy Alliance? Ans. After the downfall of Napoleon, Alexander formed the celebrated union known as the Holy Alliance, which was accepted by all the leading Christian nations except Great Britain. 70. What were the aims of the Holy Alliance? Ans. The ostensible object of this league, in which Russia took the lead and Austria and Prussia were promi- nent, was the maintenance of religion, peace and order in Europe, and the reduction to practice in politics of the maxims of Christ. The sovereigns involved promised to be fathers to their people, to rule in love, and solely with reference to the welfare of their people and to help one another to prevent wrong. 30 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 71. How well did the Holy Alliance succeed in carrying out its professed_aim of peace, religion[and order through- out Europe? Ans. Doubtless Alexander of Russia in founding the alliance meant what he said, but conspiracies at home and uprisings abroad created a revulsion of feeling and, from an ardent apostle of reform and liberal ideas, Alexan- der became a violent absolutist and spent his later years in aiding the despotic rulers of Spain, Italy, and Germany to crush every uprising for political freedom. 72. What bearing did the Holy Alliance have on the Monroe Doctrine of the United States? Ans. When Mexico and other Central and South American States had thrown off the yoke of Spain and become independent republics in imitation of the United States, it was believed that the Holy Alliance was pur- posing to restore her lost colonies to Spain. To check and meet this, James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, in 1823, with the aid of his able Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, and with the quiet approval of Great Britain, issued the famous Monroe Doctrine, that this country would regard any interference with an established republican form of government on this continent by a European power as an unfriendly act. 73. What was the end of Alexander? Ans. Alexander's want of sympathy with the revolt in Greece alienated the feeling of his subjects. Troubles increased until, weary with governing a vast empire not yet ripe for the advanced views which Alexander is be- lieved to have cherished, he set out for a journey to the Crimea in September, 1825, for his health, and died on the first of December. 74. What is reported as his last thought about himself and his administration of affairs? Ans. It is reported that Alexander was heard to say: " And yet men may say of me what they please. I have lived and will die a republican." 75. What was the effect on Russia of Alexander's later policies? Ans. Alexander's later reactionary policy caused bitter disappointment among the liberals in Russia, and. the HISTORY OF RUSSIA 31 number was large because the armies that had helped to crush Napoleon came back with many new and liberal ideas gathered from what they had seen and experienced. 76i Who succeeded Alexander of Russia in 1825? Ans. Alexander I of Russia was succeeded by his brother, Nicholas I, who reigned for thirty years (1825-55), and proved to be "a terrible incarnation of autocracy." He continued the later policy of his brother and strove to shut out from Russia all the liberalizing influences of western Europe. Education was discouraged. Criticism of the government in a newspaper was instantly and severely punished. Everything had to conform to the absolute pleasure of an honest, but narrow and obstinate man. Culture and progress were distasteful to him and he stopped the extension of railroads. 77. What was the general feeling which prevailed in Russia during the second quarter of the nineteenth cen- tury under Nicholas I? Ans. For forty years after the fall of Napoleon, Russia looked on herself as the foremost power in Europe and was, moreover, generally so regarded. The Russians, exalted by their great success, held in contempt the in- stitutions and customs of the neighboring nations and shared their aging emperor's narrow conceit. They entered into wars with other powers with a conviction that the army and the emperor were invincible. 78. What was the first war in which Nicholas engaged? Ans. In 1828, Nicholas, taking advantage of the stub- born insurrection in Greece, known as the War of Grecian Independence, declared war on Turkey and Persia, passed the Balkans and was on the high road to Constantinople, Russia's long-coveted goal, when his advance was stopped by the jealous interference of England and Austria, by whose mediation the war was closed by the Peace of Adrianople, 1829. 79. What was the loss or gain to Russia by[the|Peace of Adrianople? Ans. Nicholas restored all his conquests in Europe, but held some provinces in Asia which gave him control 32 HISTORY OF RUSSIA of the eastern shore of the Black Sea. Greece was liberated and Serbia became virtually independent. So Turkey- lost and Russia gained. 80. Did Poland secure the constitution promised her by Alexander at the Congress of Vienna? Ans. The Congress of Vienna, after the fall of Napoleon in 1815, had re-established Poland as a constitutional kingdom dependent on Russia. But the tsar's rule was tyrannical and, in the general uprisings throughout Europe in 1830, the Poles rose in revolt and drove out the Russian garrisons. They were soon overcome, however, by the armies of the tsar, their constitution taken away and Poland made a province of Russia in 1832. Multitudes were banished to Siberia and thousands fled to England, America and elsewhere. No country has suffered more than Poland in the struggle for freedom. 81. Is there any other side to the picture of Poland's woe and sufferings at the hands of Russia? Ans. There is no sufficient justification for the severity and repression that Russia has exercised on Poland, but the historian who tries to balance the fate of nations in the long flight of centuries is forced to remember that for six centuries Poland had once been the stronger of the two countries, and had waged continual warfare on the weaker Russians. Also that, at the time of the dismem- berment of Poland, the people were in a state of degrada- tion. They were indolent, ignorant, poor and improvident and, according to later English consular reports, there soon followed great progress in commerce, agriculture and manufactures. 82. What further extension of territory was made by Nicholas I (1825-55)? Ans. In 1847, Nicholas I began his great eastern drive into central Asia. England had just secured the Punjab, and Russia feared English control of the commerce of Khiva, Bokhara and the valley of the Jaxartes. Russia placed a fleet of warships on the Sea of Aral . She advanced steadily, though the exhaustion of the Crimean War induced a pause for a few years, and in 1864, Prince Gortschakorf explained to the world that these Asiatic HISTORY OF RUSSIA 33 conquests had been forced on Russia by "an imperious necessity," but had reached their limit; nevertheless, the career of appropriation continued and Khiva was reduced to vassalage and Bokhara threatened. 83. How much change was wrought in Russia's bound- aries by the progress of the half century after Napoleon's fall? Ans. Since her career of acquisition began, Russia has carried her frontier eight hundred miles westward into Europe. She has advanced four hundred, and fifty miles nearer to the Mediterranean and three hundred miles nearer the capital of Sweden. In Asia her southeast movement has brought her outposts a thousand miles nearer India and within three hundred miles of territory protected by the British flag. Her direct eastern advance has carried her to the Pacific and was bending toward Corea when stopped by Japan. 84. What was the cause of the Crimean War of 1853? Ans. Nicholas I, the author of the phrase, " the sick man of Europe," referring to the Turkish power, proposed to divide, as monarchs do, the sick man's estate. England should have Egypt and Crete, while Russia would take under her protection the Turkish provinces of Europe, which meant ultimate absorption. A quarrel between Greek and Latin Christians at Jerusalem about the holy places was the pretext for trouble. Nicholas demanded the admission and recognition of a Russian protectorate over all Greek Christians in the sultan's dominions. The S-iltan refused and called for help. 85. What were the principal features of the Crimean War? Ans. The name Crimean is given to the war because most of the fighting took place in the Russian Crimea, a peninsula jutting from southern Russia into the Black Sea. England and France responded to Turkey's call for help and Sardinia joined them later. England rejected Russia's offer of Egypt and Crete and fought to keep Russia from gaining Constantinople and an entrance to the Alediterranean, which would threaten England's route to the east. The French fought to avenge Moscow and to make the " Little Napoleon " seem like his great 34 HISTORY OF RUSSIA uncle. Sebastopol, Russia's great naval and military depot in the Crimea, the key to the Black Sea, was stormed by one hundred and seventy-five thousand allies and taken in a year. The Treaty of Paris followed (1856). 86. What were the terms of peace in 1856, after the Crimean War? Ans. The aim of the peace on the part of the allies was to bolster up the "sick man of Europe," Turkey, and restrain the ambition of the tsar. Sebastopol was restored to Russia, but the latter was obliged to give up some territory at the mouth of the Danube whereby the Russian boundary was pushed back from that river. Russia was required to give up all idea of a protectorate over any Turkish subjects and to agree not to raise any more fort- resses on the shores of the Black Sea or to keep any armed ships on its waters except what might be needed for police service. The Christian population of the sultan was placed under the care of the great powers. 87. What woman gained a world-wide fame during the Crimean War? Ans. Florence Nightingale, daughter of a wealthy English banker, born in Florence, Italy, and trained in German and French institutions, offered in 1854, on the outbreak of the Crimean War, to go and organize a nurs- ing department at Scutari, Italy. She took thirty-four nurses with her and managed her department with au- tocratic power but, absolute devotion to the sufferers. At the close of the war, $240,000 were subscribed as a fund to enable her to found an institution for training nurses. She died in 1910 at the age of ninety. 88. What American gained great esteem with the Sultan of Turkey in the Crimean War? Ans. Cyrus Hamlin, brother of Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin and founder of Roberts College, Constantinople, set up bakeries that baked five thousand loaves of bread a day for the Turkish army. His Yankee wit gained him the favor of the sultan and many consequent concessions in his missionary enterprises. HISTORY OF RUSSIA 35 89. What change of rulers took place in Russia during the Crimean War? Ans. Nicholas I, a stern, despotic, reactionary ruler, who had, nevertheless, greatly extended the bounds of his domain, died in the early months of the Crimean War, 1855, and was succeeded by his son, Alexander II, 1855-81. 90. What was the character and what were the policies of Alexander II? Ans. Alexander II was a very different man from his father and his policies differed greatly from those of the previous thirty years. Forty-eight million peasants were in bondage in 1855 when Alexander II came to the throne, bought and sold with the properties in which they labored. In six years, or on February 19, 1861, less than two years before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, they were freed. 91. Had serfdom always existed in Russia? Ans. Serfdom in Russia was of comparatively recent origin, having begun to die out in the west of Europe before it was legalized in Russia near the close of the six- teenth century. 92. How did serfdom happen to be imposed in Russia when it was ceasing elsewhere? Ans. The Tartar blood in the Russian peasant impelled him to roam, to the neglect of agriculture. The fixing of the peasant to one locality was the main purpose. Even after emancipation the peasant was not allowed to go from home without permission of the elder, the chief whom the villagers elect. 93. Was there much opposition to the emancipation of the serfs in Russia? Ans. The abolition had been long contemplated. Both Catherine II and her grandson Alexander I had considered it, but the wars in which they spent their days forbade it. Nicholas appointed a secret commission early in his reign to discuss it, but the Polish Insurrection of 1830 interfered. Another fruitless attempt was made in 1836. A third committee was appointed in 1838, but a bad har- vest discouraged action. It was said that Nicholas, dying, bequeathed the task to his son, so action was 36 HISTORY OF RUSSIA generally expected when Alexander ascended the throne in 1855. Still many of the nobles were reluctant, but, after three years' discussion, adjustment and revision by a com- mittee chosen from the proprietors, the decree was pro- mulgated. 94. What was the condition of the Russian serf at the time of emancipation? Ans. More than half of the 48,000,000 serfs were called crown peasants and belonged to the crown. Their servi- tude consisted in little more than the payment of a light rent, but the serfs belonging to individuals were more like slaves. They could be sold with the estate, though not individually; and they could be flogged by their owners when disobedient. 95. What were the effects of emancipation on the Russians? Ans. The villagers remained in possession of the lands which they had heretofore occupied, but became bound to pay a purchase price or a sufficient equivalent in rent or labor. The lands thus acquired are not owned by indi- viduals, but by the community. The land system of the greater part of Russia is a system of communism. The industrious villager is the co-obligant of the idle and vicious and this weakens the motive which impels a man to work. Drunkenness has increased and it is believed that over much of the country agricultural products are diminish- ing. Instead of excluding all western ideas Alexander II favored them. The newspaper press was enlarged; seventy new journals were founded in St. Petersburg and Moscow alone within a year or two. The demand for political discussions was urgent and the censors were mild. The Russian people were ignorant of the recent political revo- lutions, the great progress in science and art in western Europe, and educated Russians were eager to become informed and journalists supplied the information. An enfranchised press called loudly for common education, for participation in political power and other reforms. 96. When did Russia celebrate her millennium? Ans. In 1862, Russia had completed a thousand years of national existence and the anniversary, occurring at a time when liberal tendencies and hopes were dominant, was HISTORY OF RUSSIA 37 a joyous one. Some demanded complete religious liberty, others expected a free press, others looked for constitu- tional government of a democratic character. In lands where men are free their hopes are fulfilled. In Russia the wide-spread desires of the people were calmly dis- regarded by the little knot of men who had the preroga- tive to give or to withhold. 97. What were the principal reforms that Alexander granted in Russia's millennium in 1862? Ans. Before that date all judicial proceedings were secret and the administration of justice was extremely corrupt. A favorable verdict could generally be secured by purchase. Appeals were so numerous that a wealthy litigant could avert any disagreeable verdict. The emperor changed this. Competent judges were to be appointed by the state; all. judicial proceedings were to be public; trial by jury in criminal cases was established and the right of appeal limited. The new tribunals soon gained the confidence of the people. 98. What other reforms should be mentioned? Ans. Before the millennium of 1862, there had been no shadow of self-government in Russia, but at that date a system of district and provincial assemblies was organized. The district assembly elected certain of their own members to form the provincial assembly. Flogging in the army was abolished. Some toleration in the church was granted. 99. What checked this spirit of progress in Russia which started so auspiciously in the millennium year, 1862? Ans. It was interrupted by the Polish Revolution of 1863. Ardor in the cause of reform then subsided. 100. What were the further effects on Russia of the Polish Revolution of 1863? Ans. The Liberal party of Russia, with which Alexander had been in accord, favored the discontented Poles, but the reactionary party at once rallied in great strength to maintain an unimpaired national dignity and unity. The Poles were ruthlessly suppressed, liberalism discredited and the emperor, as had occurred before in Russian history, was changed into a persistent reactionary. In 1868 the last 38 HISTORY OF RUSSIA relics of Polish independence disappeared in the thorough incorporation of Poland with the Russian empire. 101. What other events are notable during the reign of Alexander II? Ans. The subjugation of the Caucasus was completed in 1859 and supremacy established over all the states of Turkestan. In 1874 compulsory military service for all Russians was introduced. 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. The main event in the latter part of Alexander's reign was the Russo-Turkish War in 1877. 102. What caused the war between Russia and Turkey in 1877? Ans. Notwithstanding the efforts in the Peace of Paris after the Crimean War for the permanent settlement of the eastern question, barely two years passed before difficulties arose. Turkey would not or could not protect its Christian subjects as it had solemnly promised to do in the treaty. The Moslem hatred of the Christian con- stantly expressed itself in outrage and disturbance. In 1860 a great many Syrian Christians were massacred by Druses and Turks and in 1876 the extremely revolting " Bulgarian atrocities " occurred, which spared neither man, woman nor child. 103. What was the character and extent of the Russo- Turkish War of 1877? Ans. The Russian armies were set in motion to avenge the Bulgarian atrocities and protect Christian subjects of the sultan. Kars in Asia Minor and Plevna in European Turkey were captured and the army of the tsar was press- ing toward Constantinople when, as in 1829, England with her ironclads on the Bosphorus interfered in " the sick man's" behalf. 104. What was the result of British interference in the progress of Russian arms against Turkey in 1877? Ans. An armistice was signed in January, 1878; a treaty was concluded in March, and diplomatic difficulties which threatened war between Russia and England were adjusted in the celebrated Congress of Berlin, which met in June, 1878. HISTORY OF RUSSIA 39 105. Who composed the famous Congress of Berlin in 1878? Ans. The Congress of Berlin, 1878, is noted in the first place for the brilliant diplomatic powers of the men that composed it. As may be seen in the well-known picture of the Congress, Gortschakoff represented Russia, Bismarck Germany, and Disraeli England, the latter being generally credited with playing the deepest and most clever game. 106. What were the decisions of the Congress of Berlin? Ans. The Congress sanctioned the readjustment of the Ottoman Empire, the cession to Russia of Bessarabia, which had been given to Moldavia in 1856, and also the ports of Batum, of Kars and of Ardahan. The absolute independence of Roumania, Serbia and Montenegro was formally acknowledged; Bulgaria, north of the Balkans, was to enjoy self-government but to pay tribute to the Porte. Eastern Roumelia was to have a Christian governor but remain subject to the sultan. Bosnia and Herzegovina were made subject to the Austro- Hungarian government. Some portions of Armenia were given to Russia. 107. How might the decisions of the Congress of Berlin be summarized? Ans. In a word, Russia now recovered everything she lost in the Crimean struggle, while Turkey lost half her European subjects, barely five million being left her, and half of these Christians liable to be lost in the next clash. It is generally credited to Disraeli and England that the dismemberment of Turkey and the emancipation of all Christian communities under Turkish rule was not more complete. 108. After Russia's partial success in the war of 1877 with Turkey what marked the closing years of Alexan- der II? Ans. The change in Alexander IPs policies after the Polish Revolution of 1862 led to a growth of discontent which developed into " Nihilism," and the stern repres- sive measures taken by the government to suppress this led to many assassinations, ending in that of the emperor himself, March 13, 1881. 40 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 109. What is Nihilism? Ans. Nihilism is a smothered French Revolution, or the manifestation of liberalism under a despotic autocracy. Russia was an absolute monarchy, the tsar having the power of all three great departments of government, legis- lative, judicial and executive. This condition is perhaps quickest shown by the fact that in 1879 and 1880 sixty thousand persons were sent into exile in Siberia without trial. Extreme nihilists have defended assassination as a necessary and righteous means of reform under such con- ditions. 110. What is the popular source of information on the exile system of Russia? Ans. A book by Geo-ge Kennan entitled " Siberia and the Exile System," first published in the Century Maga- zine 1888-89. 111. Who succeeded Alexander II, and what policy did he pursue? Ans. The son of the murdered tsar ascended the throne in 1881, as Alexander III, and immediately instituted a still more sternly repressive system than that pursued by his father, apparently believing that Russia was demoral- ized by the over-liberal policy of his father's earlier years. 112. What are some of the ways in which Alexander III endeavored to hold Russia down? Ans. A rigid censorship of the press was established; the works of Huxley, Spencer, Agassiz, Lyell and Adam Smith were forbidden and all liberal and progressive ideas, political, religious and scientific, were barred. 113. What is known about Alexander Ill's reign (1881 to 1894?) Ans. Fear of assassination delayed the coronation till 1883. The subjugation of the Turkomans in Central Asia was completed but led to some danger of hostilities with Britain as to the frontier between Russian territories and Afghanistan. Alexander broke away from the old triple alliance with Germany and Austria and developed friendly relations with France. HISTORY OF RUSSIA 41 114. What was Alexander Ill's home policy? Ans. His home policy was reactionary. The liberties of the Baltic provinces and of Finland were curtailed, the Jews were oppressed and the power of the old Russian orthodoxy was strengthened. • 115. When did the late Emperor Nicholas II come to the throne of Russia and what were his policies? Ans. Nicholas II's reign began on the death of his father, Alexander III, in 1894. He continued the alli- ance with France and also made one with England which Edward VII, desired and prepared. After the war be- tween Japan and China, Russia secured Manchuria as a province and Port Arthur became a Russian port. This soon led to a war with Japan. 116. What provoked the Russo-Japanese War? Ans. Collision of interests in Manchuria and Korea provoked the war. Russia seemed to Japan to be approach- ing too nearly opposite her shores and after fruitless ne- gotiations for over a year Japan struck a sudden blow, destroying a couple of Russian warships without first declaring war. This was in 1904. 117. What was the general character of the Russo- Japanese War and what were the most marked conflicts? Ans. Numerous bloody engagements ensued in which the Russians were disastrously defeated. The battle be- fore Mukden, the capture of Port Arthur, and the defeat of the Russian fleet in the Sea of Japan by Admiral Togo were the most notable events. The siege of Port Arthur, a place deemed impregnable, occupied eight months. 118. When and where was peace concluded in the Russo-Japanese War? . Ans. Peace was concluded at Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire, September 5, 1905. President Roosevelt took an active part in bringing this conference about and was awarded the Nobel prize of $50,000 as the one person of all the world who had done the most for the interests of peace that year. 119. What may be considered the most important event in the reign of Nicholas II? Ans. The granting of a constitution on August 19^ 42 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 1905, when the first step toward a representative govern- ment was made in the creation of an elective body of representatives called the Duma. While only given con- sultative power on its creation a new law was promul- gated in October of the same year, conferring some legis- lative powers upon the Duma, and at the same time freedom of conscience, speech, assembly, and association, together with inviolability of the person, were promulgated by the emperor and an unalterable law was established that no law should be effective without the approval of the Duma and the Council of the Empire, the latter being an advisory body established in 1810 and transformed into a legislative council on March 5, 1906. 120. How and when was the friction between Russia and Britain allayed? Ans. In 1907 by the Anglo-Russian convention the two countries came to an understanding as to Afghanistan and Tibet, and denned their spheres of influence, constituting also a neutral zone in Persia. 121. What later arrangement was made with Japan by Russia? Ans. In 1910 a Russo-Japanese convention was signed, which guaranteed the maintenance of the status quo in Manchuria. Russia, England and Japan seem now to have a clear understanding as to their relative interests in Asia. 122. What agreement Was made with Germany by Russia? Ans. In 1911 a Russo-German agreement was published respecting concessions in Persia. 123. What act offensive to Finland occurred? Ans. In 1911 Russia annexed a province of Finland lying near St. Petersburg, comprising about six hundred square miles and thirty-one thousand people. This the Finns strongly resented, 124. What is generally understood in America to be the Russian reason for participation in the present war? Ans. War was started by S erbia's refusal to accept in full the ultimatum of Austria, and Russia is supposed to have HISTORY OF RUSSIA 43 acted in behalf of Serbia as defending a small Slav state crowded by a big Teutonic bully. Of course, Germany and Russia charge each other with first taking the offensive. 125. What are Russia's chief assets for the war? Ans. Her well-nigh inexhaustible number of soldiers, their patience under defeat and the topographical diffi- culties encountered by foes in invading her territory. 126. What is Panslavism? Ans. Panslavism is a movement with the aim of draw- ing closer, together all the various races of Slavonic stock and combining their influence in political and other direc- tions. Its first literary propagandist was the Slovak poet Kollar and the movement showed first in Bohemia. The Poles of Prussia resisted Germanization; Serbs, Slovaks and Croats asserted their rights against their Magyar masters; and the still more unfortunate Slavs of Turkey joined the movement. 127. What drawbacks checked the movement toward Panslavism? Ans. At the first great Panslavic congress, held at Prague in 1848, the most convenient medium of inter- course proved to be the alien German tongue. Russia, after being called to suppress the Hungarian revolution, came to be regarded as the protector of all the Slavs, and the growing dominance of Russia led the Poles to •with- draw support, and even the Czechs began to fear that Panslavism under Russian guidance was more like Pan- russism. 128. Have there been any later Panslavic movements since those of the forties? Ans. The Austrian Slavs felt themselves put into the background by the new constitution of the Austrian- Hungarian monarchy in 1867, and the war in the Balkan peninsula in 1875-76 was doubtless due to Panslavist intrigue as well as to Christian grievances. 129. What religious difficulty somewhat handicaps Panslavism? Ans. While Russia and some other Slavic territories adhere to the Greek Catholic church, having been con- 44 HISTORY OP RUSSIA verted by missionaries from Constantinople, the more western Slavs belong more frequently to the Roman Catholic church, having been converted by missionaries sent from Rome. This fact tends toward separation rather than strong union. 130. What is the meaning and origin of the word "Nihilism"? Ans. Nihilism, from the Latin word meaning " nothing " or negation, is a term used to signify certain negative systems of philosophy. It is often regarded and used as synonymous with anarchism, but is better confined to the manifestations of social and political revolutionaries in Russia. It was first introduced by Turgenef in his " Fathers and Sons," 1862. Two gifted expounders of its teachings were the art critic Dobroluboff (1836-61), and the political writer Pisareff,who died in 1872. 131. What has been the development of the doctrines of Nihilism? Ans. Nihilism has created a bulky literature, especially in the form of novels, has exercised a deep influence on the life of the educated classes in Russia and produced a current in Russian literature and art which makes a wide divergence from the literature and art of western Europe. The ideas of Nihilism have contributed to a deep-seated movement in favor of the higher education of Russian women. 132. What were the outward manifestations of Nihilism as distinguished from the literary? Ans. In 1861 proclamations appealing to the peasantry to revolt were issued and two secret societies, " The Great Russian " and " Land and Liberty," were organized. In the same year several leaders of the movement, includ- ing the poet Mikhailoff, were exiled to hard labor in Si- beria. In 1863, when after the Polish Insurrection, the old party took the upper hand in the Winter Palace new revolutionary circles appeared and led to a peasant out- break in 1864 and an attempt on the life of the tsar was made. 133. What were some later movements of Nihilism since the sixties? Ans. Under the influence of a powerful agitator, Michael Bakunin, the ideas of the International Working- HISTORY OF RUSSIA - 45 men's Asociation spread rapidly. Young men and women of rich families left their homes and became workers in factories, schoolmasters in villages, medical helpers, midwives, etc., either to share privation or to incite revolution. More than 2000 were arrested between 1873 and 1876 and imprisoned for • years. Many were acquitted by the supreme court in the 193 cases which reached it, but even then they were exiled. 134. What and when may be considered to be the cul- mination of Nihilism or Russia's Reign of Terror? Ans. In the early part of 1878 a prisoner in Petrograd was flogged, knouted, by the prefect of police, General Trepoff, and a woman, Vera Zasulitch, attempted the general's death. A long duel ensued between the relent- less cruelty of the police and the skill and cunning of the Nihilists. It ended in the murder of Alexander II, March 13, 1881, who was killed by bombs on the morning of the very day he had signed the convocation of the Assembly • of Notables. 135. Did the overt acts of Nihilism continue after the murder of Alexander in 1881? Ans. Russia's Reign of Terror was at its height from 1878 to 1882, during which period many high officials were assassinated, the chief of police at Petrograd, the governor of Kharkoff, the rector of Kiev University and many other officials of subordinate rank. Desperate attempts on the tsar's life preceded the fatal effort and, although the reign of crime subsided somewhat with his death, the efforts of Nihilism still continued many years. The Grand Duke Sergius was killed in broad daylight on the streets of Moscow in 1905. 136. What are the later aims of Nihilism and how is it to be regarded? Ans. Nihilism works for freedom of the press and of speech, local self-government for the towns, religious equality, a democratic and permanent parliament and the land for the people. It differs from anarchism in that its aim is constitutional government, however extreme the means of securing it. 137. What is the Russian Duma? Ans. As a result of the continued agitation and out- rages, the Tsar Nicholas II issued a ukase in the fall of 46 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 1905, the year of the assassination of Grand Duke Sergius, promising a constitution based on the principles of modern Liberalism. In April, 1906, the first Duma, or council, was solemnly opened by the tsar, but dissolved by him in July because it demanded an appeal to the people. The second Duma assembled in Petrograd in March, 1907; it was less democratic than the first but was dismissed in June. 138. What headway has the Duma made since the early dismissal of the first two meetings? Ans. The third Duma of 1907 was as conservative as the first two were democratic. Before adjourning on October 28, 1908, after nearly a year's session, it had passed many salutary measures. In 1909 it clashed with the government and in 1911 the action of the premier, M. Stolypin, in overriding the council, by advising an exercise of the imperial prerogative, roused great protests among the Constitutionists who had supported him up to that point. 139. What is the last great word in Russian History? Ans. That, apparently, the Duma of 1917 has taken the initiative in overthrowing the monarchy and establishing a republic. 140. What are the main ideas of Russia brought home to one in reviewing Russian history? Ans. Russia seems like a great, slumbering giant, only half conscious of its strength and perhaps less than half able to use its strength promptly and efficiently. Its rulers as a whole seem to have meant to do well but to have been swayed backward and forward in repressive and in liberal methods and failed, mainly, in both. It would appear, however, that there is boundless genius and ability in the nation when thoroughly awakened and freed, and it seems that such developments are already resulting from the present war. 141. What was Russia's reason for entering the great war? Ans. Russia notified Austria- Hungary that the day that war was declared on Serbia by Austria-Hungary, Russia would mobilize her troops. This mobilization led Germany to declare war on Russia. \\ NtSH\ 48 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 142. Why did Russia champion Serbia's cause? Ans. Since the fifteenth century, when Turkey cap tured Constantinople (1453) and the territory known as the Balkan States, attempts have been made by Austria- Hungary and Russia to reconquer the territory. In the war of 1877, Russia by defeating Turkey secured a large tract of territory for herself and, in addition, the inde- pendence of Serbia, Roumania and Montenegro, as well as the autonomy of Bulgaria, though still left tributary to Turkey. 143. What was Russia's object in entering the war with Turkey in 1877? Ans. Nominally the protection of the members of the Greek Church, who were being ill-treated and massacred. Russia demanded a protectorate over all the Christians belonging to the Greek Church in Turkey. The claim was not acknowledged by Turkey. 144. What was a stronger reason than the one given for Russia's action? Ans. Russia's desire to control the Dardanelles, for which she has already waged nine wars. In 1833, by the treaty at the palace of Unkiar Skelissi, Turkey virtually conceded control to Russia and agreed to close the straits to warships of all other countries in case Russia should be at war. As soon as England and France learned of the arrangement they objected and Russia renounced her pretensions. At the present time, Russia is reported to be endeavoring to arrange peace terms with Turkey on this same basis. 145. What, then, seems to be the underlying cause of the great war? Ans. The contention between Austria-Hungary and Russia to control the balance of power in the Balkan States. The mighty struggle between two past masters in the art of conquering by force and absorbing their weaker neighbors. A greed for territorial expansion by two nations that have not shown themselves capable of governing, for the happiness and prosperity of their people, the territory already in their possessions. jp* ■