Chapter XV: From the Founding of the German Empire to the Close of the European (10)

=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

All the subsequent emperors, without exception, connected themselves by marriage with German families. The wife and successor of Peter III., Catherine II., daughter of the Prince of Anhalt Zerbst, general in the Prussian army, left the crown to her only son Paul, who became the father of two emperors, Alexander I. and Nicholas, and the grandfather of a third, Alexander II. All these sovereigns married German princesses, creating intimate family alliances, among others, with the reigning houses of Württemberg, Baden, and Prussia.

=1762.=--Peter III., son of Anne and of Charles Frederick, duke of Holstein-Gottorp; deposed, and died soon after; supposed to have been murdered. Son of Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein.

=1762-1796.=--Catherine II.; a great sovereign; extended the Russian territories on all sides; died 1796; wife of Peter III.

=1796-1801.=--Paul, her son; murdered, 1801; son of Peter III.

=1801-1825.=--Alexander I., died 1825; son of Paul.

=1825-1855.=--Nicholas I.; died 1855; third son of Paul.

=1855-1881.=--Alexander II., assassinated at St. Petersburg, March, 1881; son of Nicholas I.

=1881-1894.=--Alexander III.; died 1894; married Mary (formerly Dagmar), princess of Denmark; son of Alexander II.

=1894.=--Nicholas II., married princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt; son of Alexander III.

SECONDARY POWERS OF EUROPE

=BELGIUM= (Fr. _Belgique_), one of the smaller European states, consists of the southern portion of the former kingdom of the Netherlands (as created by the Congress of Vienna), lying between France and Holland, the North Sea and Rhenish Prussia. Its greatest length from northwest to southeast is one hundred and seventy-three miles; and its greatest breadth from north to south one hundred and five miles.

=Surface.=--Belgium is, on the whole, a level, and even low lying, country; diversified, however, by hilly districts. The north and west of the country is low and level plain, like Holland, but the undulating forest plateaus of the Ardennes cover all the south and east, rising near the frontier in that direction to a height of two thousand feet above the sea. The Campine, composed of marshes, coal-bearing heaths, and irrigated lands, extends along the Dutch frontier. In Flanders dykes have been raised to check the encroachments of the sea.

=Rivers.=--The land slopes generally northward, and this is the direction of the numerous rivers and streams which water it. The great river of the country is the Meuse, which enters from France and passes out into Holland, being navigable all through Belgium. Its tributary, the Sambre, from France, which joins it on the left near the center of the country, is also a navigable stream; and the Ourthe, from the frontier of Luxemburg, which joins it lower down on the right, is navigable for half its course. The Escaut or Scheldt is the main river of the lowland in the west, and with its chief tributaries, the Lys on the left and the Rupel on the right, forms the waterway of the plain. These rivers and important tributaries, with canals make up one thousand four hundred miles of waterways.

=Climate and Landscape.=--Belgium has a climate which resembles that of England, opposite to it in the same latitude, but which is more excessive. The lowland of the north is foggy and damp, like Holland; the higher country south and east has clearer skies.

=People.=--Belgium is one of the most densely peopled countries of the world, only equaled in this respect by some parts of the plain of China, or of the valley of the Ganges in India, a result which is no doubt due to the combination of natural facilities for agriculture, manufactures, and trade, within its limits. The Flemings (of Teutonic stock) and Walloons (Celtic in origin) speak each their own dialects of Dutch and French; there are also numbers of Germans, Dutch, and French. East and West Flanders, Antwerp, and Limburg are almost wholly Flemish, and Brabant mainly so. The line between the Flemish and Walloon districts is sharply defined, the Flemish part being the richest and most cultivated. The French language has gained the ascendancy in educated society and in the offices of government, but the Flemish dialect prevails numerically in the proportion of nine to eight.

=Religion and Education.=--Almost all the inhabitants of Belgium are Roman Catholics, though complete liberty and social equality is allowed to all religious confessions. Education is not yet generally diffused through the population, and was, until recently, almost entirely in the hands of the Roman Catholic clergy. There are state universities at Ghent and Liège, an independent liberal university at Brussels, and a Catholic university at Louvain.

=Products and Industries.=--About a fourth of all the inhabitants of Belgium are occupied in agriculture. Besides wheat, rye, and oats, hops are cultivated on a large scale, for export chiefly to France and England. Beetroot for the sugar factories, of which there are over a hundred in the country, is also a large crop, and flax is largely grown in the Flemish lowlands.

Two great coalfields extend across the central part of the country from west to east, along the valleys of the Meuse, but Belgium is essentially a manufacturing country, and it is largely dependent upon foreign supplies for its food. The mineral kingdom yields, beside coal, iron, zinc, lead and copper. The leading industries are collieries, quarries, and metal, glass, textiles, lace, flour and starch mills, sugar, distilleries, breweries, etc.

=Government.=--On the re-arrangement of European affairs, after the fall of Napoleon, Holland and Belgium were formed into the ill-assorted kingdom of the Netherlands under the family of Orange. The differences between the northern and southern divisions in race and language, in history, religion, and customs, proved too great.

In 1830 Belgium separated from Holland, and her neutrality was guaranteed by a conference of the European Powers, and by a further treaty, in 1839, signed by Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, the Netherlands, and Russia.

The Belgium constitution of 1831 jointly vests the legislative power in the king, the Senate, and the Chamber of Representatives. The one hundred and ten senators (with the exception of twenty-seven elected by the provincial councils) and one hundred and sixty-six representatives are elected by the people, the former for eight, the latter for four years. Universal male suffrage, with plural voting up to three votes by property and educational qualifications, was introduced by the electoral law of 1894, proportional representation being secured by an act of 1900. There are in addition representative Provincial and Communal Councils.

=Cities.=--Brussels, population, 1910, with suburbs, 720,347 inhabitants, is the capital. Other towns with over 100,000 inhabitants are Antwerp, the chief port (320,650 exclusive of suburbs); Ghent (165,149), the center of the iron industry, which has also large cotton and flax spinning mills, and is the second port of importance after Antwerp, while its flower shows are famous; and Liège (174,768).

Its great harbor and commercial city is Antwerp, a strongly fortified city on the Scheldt. The other harbors are Ghent, Bruges, Ostend, Nieuport, Blankenberg, and Zeebrugge.

Antwerp, the principal fortress, and Liège and Namur, also fortified, were designed to afford military protection on the line of the Meuse against a violation of neutrality by either France or Germany.

=Brussels= (Fr. _Bruxelles_), the capital of Belgium, is situated in a fertile plain on the ditch-like Senne, twenty-seven miles south of Antwerp, and one hundred and ninety-three miles northeast of Paris. It has a circumference of about five miles, and is built partly on the side of a hill. Though some of the streets are so steep that they can be ascended only by means of stairs, Brussels may on the whole be pronounced one of the finest cities in Europe.

The fashionable Upper Town, in which are the royal palace, public offices, and chief hotels, is much more healthy than the older Lower Town, which is greatly subject to fogs, owing to its intersection by canals and the Senne, although the stream now passes under an arched covering, which supports a boulevard. But the closely built old streets, with their numerous handsome buildings, formerly belonging to the Brabant nobility, and now occupied by successful merchants and traders, have a fine picturesque appearance, while some of the public edifices are unrivaled as specimens of Gothic architecture.

Hôtel de Ville, in Grande Place, near the center of the city, 1402, is regarded as architecturally one of the finest structures in Europe. Its tower rises to the height of three hundred and seventy feet, and is placed somewhat to one side of the center of the building.]

French is spoken in the upper division; but in the lower Flemish is the current language prevalent, and by many the Walloon dialect is spoken.

The walls which formerly surrounded Brussels have been removed, and their place is now occupied by pleasant boulevards extending all around the old town, and shaded by alleys of limes. The _Allée Verte_--a double avenue along the Scheldt Canal--forms a splendid promenade, and leads toward the country palace of Laeken, three miles north of the city.

Besides the fine park of thirty-two acres, in the Upper Town, ornamented with fountains and statues, and surrounded by the palace and other state buildings, Brussels has several other squares or places, among which are: the _Place Royale_, with its colossal monument of Godfrey of Bouillon; the _Grande Place_, in which is the hôtel-de-ville, a splendid Gothic structure of the fifteenth century, with a spire of open stonework three hundred and sixty-four feet high; and the _Place des Martyrs_, where a memorial has been erected to those who fell here in the revolution of 1830. The statue group of the Counts Egmont and Horn is notable. The cathedral of St. Gudule, dating from the thirteenth century, has many richly painted windows, and a pulpit considered to be the masterpiece of Verbruggen. The _Palais des Beaux Arts_ contains the finest specimens of the Flemish school of painting and a sculpture gallery. The Royal Library adjoining has half a million volumes.

The _Palais de Justice_, built in 1866-1883 at a cost of more than ten million dollars, is one of the most magnificent buildings in Europe, dominating the lower town from the terraced slope of the upper town. The Royal Palace and the National Palace (for the chambers) are important buildings. Besides the University, there are schools of painting and sculpture, and a conservatory of music.

Brussels lace is particularly famous. Of the so-called Brussels carpets only a few are manufactured here, most of those of Belgian make being produced at Tournai. There are also manufactures of damask, linen, ribbons, embroidery, paper, jewelry, hats, soap, porcelain, carriages, etc.

=History.=--The history of Belgium as a kingdom can be said to date only from the time of the Congress of Vienna, in 1830, but its history as part of the Netherlands goes back to the time of the Romans.

The province of Belgica under the Romans passed under the sway of the Franks, and fell later to the Burgundian princes. On the death of Charles the Bold in 1477 it passed by marriage to the House of Hapsburg. The Spanish Netherlands remained (unlike the northern provinces which rebelled against Spain and became a Protestant republic) under the Spanish branch of the Hapsburgs, till in 1713 they were transferred to Austria. From 1794 Belgium was under French sway, but on the fall of Napoleon was united with the kingdom of the Netherlands. It rebelled in 1830, and since then, as above stated, has had a separate career as a limited constitutional monarchy. Again, in 1838, Holland and Belgium seemed on the brink of war, the cause being that Belgium had treated Lembourg and Luxembourg, which by the convention had been given to Holland, as if they were in reality a part of its territory. The crisis was terminated by the action of the Great Powers, who reduced Belgium’s share of the national debt of the Netherlands, and partitioned the territories again in dispute. The tranquillity of the country was again disturbed by the revolutionary spirit of 1848, but after 1850 the constitutional party began that series of reforms which gained for Belgium the position of one of the freest countries in Europe.

The question of Luxembourg threatened in 1861 the peace of Europe, and Belgium took part in the congress which prevented war breaking out. In 1870, on the outbreak of hostilities between France and Germany, Belgium, fearing invasion, mobilized her troops, but her neutrality was recognized and left inviolate by both parties. In 1885 the Congo Free State was acknowledged to be under the presidency of the king of Belgium, Leopold II., who had succeeded his father in 1865. The management of the colony gave cause for much bitterness, and led to a number of scandals. Leopold II. died in 1910, and was succeeded by his nephew, King Albert.

On August 2, 1914, the neutrality of Belgium was violated by the invasion of the German army at Visé, on the ground of _military necessity_. The German forces met with the most stubborn resistance from the valiant though numerically inferior Belgians at Liège and Namur. The country was subsequently completely overrun by German armies and subjected to military control. The Germans are at present (1917) in occupation of practically the whole country, where they are exercising civil government. The Belgian government has withdrawn temporarily to Havre, in France.

It is in Place du Congrès, two squares north from the Cathedral, was erected, 1850, in honor of the adoption, in 1831, of the present Constitution of Belgium. This is surmounted by a statue of the king. At the corners are allegorical figures of Liberty.]

=BULGARIA=, a monarchy in the northeast part of the Balkan Peninsula between the Danube and the Balkans, was created a principality by the treaty of Berlin in 1878, greatly extended by the incorporation of East Rumelia in 1885, and declared an independent kingdom in 1908.

The net result of the wars of 1912-1913 was the increase of Bulgarian territory from 33,600 square miles to about 45,000. The population increased by about 500,000, was in 1910 4,337,513--over three-fourths Bulgarians, 465,000 Turks, 121,000 Gypsies, 80,000 Roumanians, 43,000 Greeks, and 40,000 Jews. The Bulgarians now extend into Macedonia, Bessarabia, etc., their total number being about 8,000,000.

=Surface.=--The north of Bulgaria is fertile plain and hilly country; the south is wooded and mountainous. The country has a fine waterway on the northern boundary, a Black Sea and Ægean seaboard, a mild climate, an agricultural country capable of much, an abundance of iron and some coal, free institutions, a peasantry possessing the solid qualities and persevering industry of northern races, and an assured economic development.

=Productions.=--The chief occupation of the people is agriculture, which engages about seventy per cent of the population. Cereals (wheat, maize, rye, barley, oats) are the principal crops, and rank first among the exports. Wine is produced everywhere, especially near the Black Sea. Roses are cultivated to a large extent, especially round Kazanlik and Karlavo and on the north side of the Rhodope Mountains for attar of roses, which is largely exported. Silkworms are bred in Philippopolis and Haskaro. Tobacco is carefully cultivated. There is little industry apart from domestic branches such as native cloth, carpets, trimmings and ribbons; but there is some brewing and distilling, leather work at Sumen, copper work, and pottery-making. The chief exports are grain, live stock, butter, eggs, hides, and attar of roses, sent chiefly to Turkey, France, Great Britain, and Austria-Hungary.

=People.=--Education has been very zealously and steadily promoted. Elementary education is compulsory. There are few technical schools. Sofia has a university.

The old Bulgarian Slavonic tongue is closely allied to the great Russian, but some Servian, Greek, Romanic, Albanian, and Turkish elements have found their way into the language.

The Orthodox Greek Church counts seventy-seven per cent as its adherents, Islam twenty-one and one-half per cent, and the others are Jews.

=Government.=--Bulgaria possesses one of the freest and most democratic constitutions in Europe, largely modeled on the lines of the Belgian constitution, except that there is no second chamber; and election of the _Sobranje_ or National Assembly is by universal manhood suffrage, in the proportion of one member to every twenty thousand of the population. The executive power is vested in eight ministers nominated by the king. The monarchy, independent since 1908, is hereditary.

This modern city is quite American in its appearance. It typifies to Bulgarians the progress of their nation, and is substantial and practical rather than pleasing. The streets are broad, straight, electrically lighted, and well paved, while the houses in the newer sections are modern structures of dignified architecture. While Sofia may not impress the visitor with its beauty, it does impress him with the fact that there is a good deal of common sense and business efficiency in this part of the Balkans.]

=Cities.=--The chief towns of Bulgaria are Sofia, Philippopolis, Rustchuk and Varna. Varna and Burgas are ports on the Black Sea, Dedeagatch on the Ægean.

=Sofia= (_sofee´a_), the capital since 1878 of Bulgaria, stands in a broad valley of the Balkans, on the railway from Constantinople to Belgrade and Vienna. It lies two hundred and six miles northwest of Belgrade, while Constantinople lies three hundred miles southeast. The valley at Sofia is an upland plateau, seventeen hundred feet above sea level, and near the heart of the peninsula, between the Vitosha Mountains and the main Balkan chain. At the end of almost every vista in the city are the distant hill masses, and fringing mountains.

The city early became important as a trade center, and probably would have developed into one of the great cities of Europe had not periodical destruction, almost continual dangers of war, and centuries of misrule held it back.

The rebuilding of Sofia began around 1880. It now has many creditable public buildings, electric lighting, an electric street railway and good sewerage and water systems.

It possesses the largest theater in southeastern Europe. The Bulgarian National Theater, with a competent corps of actors and singers, and offering the best in opera and drama, is a revelation of the strides that have been made in the Balkans since the Turks were driven back a brief generation ago. The theater is a handsome modern structure, planned with greater luxury of detail than most buildings in Sofia, and it cost four hundred thousand dollars.

Sofia has a public bathhouse which is one of the finest buildings of its kind in the world. It was built over a hot mineral spring, famed since the days of the Romans. This building, in Byzantine style, including in its interior appointments all of the most modern luxuries, cost the Bulgarians six hundred thousand dollars.

Their capital city is one of the peculiar prides of the hard-working, long-enduring, persistent Bulgarians. It typifies to them the promise of a great Bulgarian future, and they also look upon it as an earnest of their right to a respected place among the civilized nations of the West.

=History.=--The country now known as Bulgaria was originally inhabited by Thracians, and under the Romans formed the province of Mœsia. The Bulgars originally came from the banks of the Volga and crossed the Danube in the sixth century, and occupied the East. They overcame the Slavs, adopted their language and customs, and thus became a great Slav power; but by 1186 they had split up into three principalities, and from 1393 fell under the domination of the Turks. For close upon five hundred years the Bulgars were subject to the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

The first national awakening dates from the year 1762, when the monk Paysios, then at Mt. Athos, wrote the national chronicles, and revived memories of ancient glory. A new national literature began; the first Bulgarian school was opened in 1835, and was followed by others. A newspaper appeared in 1844. The Crimean war stirred up Slavonic sympathies which Russia sedulously and naturally cherished. In 1872 the Bulgarian Church and archbishop became again independent of the supremacy of the Greek patriarch.

In 1877 Russia, as guardian of the Slav races of Turkey, declared war. As a result of the war, Bulgaria was created by the treaty of Berlin. July 13, 1878, and in 1885 Eastern Rumelia was added to the newly created principality. In 1908 the country was declared to be an independent kingdom. In 1912-1913 a successful war of the Balkan League against Turkey increased the size of the kingdom, but in August, 1913, a short campaign against the remaining members of the League reduced the acquired area, and led to the surrender of about two thousand square miles to Roumania. In October, 1915, Bulgaria decided to participate in the European conflict, and sided with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey, and attacked Servia.

=DENMARK,= the smallest of the three Scandinavian kingdoms, consists of the peninsula of Jutland and a group of islands in the Baltic, and is bounded by the Skager-Rak, the Cattegat, the Sound, the Baltic, the Little Belt, Sleswick, and the North Sea.

=Surface.=--Except in Bornholm, the surface of Denmark is very similar in every part of the kingdom, and is uniformly low, its highest point (in southeast Jutland) being only five hundred and sixty-four feet above sea-level. The coast is generally flat, skirted by sand-dunes and shallow lagoons, especially along the west side. Both the continental portion and the islands are penetrated deeply; by numerous fiords, the largest being Limfiord, which intersects Jutland, and has isolated the northern extremity of the peninsula since 1825, when it broke through the narrow isthmus which had separated it from the North Sea.

=Rivers.=--Denmark has numerous streams but no large rivers; the principal is the Guden, which flows northeast through Jutland into the Cattegat. It is navigable for part of its course. Less important streams are the Holm, the Lonborg, and the Stor Aa. All the others are insignificant brooks and streamlets.

The lakes are very numerous but not large, none exceeding five and one-half miles in length by about one and one-half miles broad. There are numerous winding inlets of the sea that penetrate far into the land. The largest of these, the Limfiord in Jutland, entering from the Cattegat by a narrow channel, winds its way through to the North Sea, thus making northern Jutland really an island. In this fiord, which widens out greatly in the interior and gives off various minor fiords, there are one large and various small islands.

=Climate.=--The climate is milder, and the air more humid than in the more southern but continental Germany; it is not unhealthy, except in the low lying islands, such as Laaland, where the short and sudden heat of the summer occasions fevers.

=Production and Industry.=--The common products are wheat, rye, oats, barley, potatoes, cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, and butter. Its manufactures are, for the most part, for home consumption. Its chief exports are agricultural produce, including wheat and barley, bacon, hams, flour, butter, eggs, hides, skins, corn meal and oil cake, horses and cattle.

=People.=--The population of Denmark is composed almost exclusively of Danes, with a few thousand Jews and others. The Danes have regular features, fair or brownish hair, and blue eyes. They still maintain their reputation for seafaring skill and hospitable customs. They belong to the Scandinavian branch of the Teutonic peoples, and speak the Danish form of the old Norse, which was fixed in writing about the time of the Reformation.

Since the Reformation the Danes have been adherents of the Lutheran Church. Education is well advanced, and there are very few people in the country who can neither read nor write.

=Government.=--The present constitution of Denmark dates from 1866. The executive power is vested in the king and his ministers, the legislative in the _Rigsdag_ or Diet, comprising the _Landsthing_ or Upper House, and the _Folkething_ or House of Commons, partly nominated by the Crown, partly elected, indirectly, by the people.

=Cities.=--Copenhagen is the capital, population, 560,000; other chief towns are Odense, Aarhuus, Aalborg, Randers and Horsens.

=Copenhagen= (_kō-pen-hāgen;_ Dan. _Kjöbenhavn_, “Merchants Haven”), the capital of Denmark, is situated on the low-lying eastern shore of the island of Zealand, in the Sound, which is here about twelve miles broad. The channel forms a fine and capacious harbor, which is bridged over so as to connect the isolated suburb of Christianshavn and the main part of the city at two points. Copenhagen is still defended by the old citadel of Frederikshavn and by forts on the seaward side.

Among its buildings of historical interest or intrinsic beauty, the Cathedral, rebuilt after the bombardment of 1807, possesses statues of Christ and the Apostles, and a baptismal font, designed and in part executed by Thorwaldsen. Frederick’s Church, or Trinitatiskirke, is remarkable for its round tower, which is ascended by a spiral incline instead of steps.

The Royal Palace, called Christiansborg, was rebuilt between 1794 and 1828, but suffered greatly from fire in 1884. In the castle of Rosenborg are kept the regalia; the palace of Charlottenborg, is now used as an Academy of Arts. The University, founded by Christian I. in 1479, has a library of three hundred and fifty thousand volumes; the royal library contains six hundred thousand volumes.

Copenhagen is the center, not only of Danish, but of northern literature and art, and is the seat of the unrivaled Museum of Northern Antiquities, and the Thorwaldsen Museum.

The exports include grain, rape-seed, butter, cheese, beef, cattle, wool, etc.; and porcelain, pianos, clocks, watches, mathematical instruments, chemicals, sugar, beer, and tobacco are manufactured.

=History.=--The early history of Denmark is lost in the twilight of the Vikings and their valiant deeds. The Danes coming from the islands occupied the lands deserted by the Jutes and Angles who had in the fifth century migrated to England. The Danish monarchy was founded in 936 by Gorm the Old, whose son became a Christian. Waldemar I. (1157-1182) ruled Norway also, and conquered Mecklenburg and Pomerania; under his son Waldemar II. further conquests were made in German and Wendish lands, so that the Baltic became a Danish sea.

By the treaty of Calmar in 1397, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, already under one monarch, Margaret, were formally united into one state. In 1448 the Danes elected as king Christian of Oldenburg, a descendant of their royal family, who was also Duke of Sleswick and Holstein; and his line continued on the throne till 1863.

Sweden became independent in 1523. Lutheranism was introduced into Denmark in 1527. In 1815 Denmark had to cede Norway to Sweden; and in 1848 the Germanic peoples of the duchies Sleswick and Holstein rebelled against Denmark. For the time the Danes succeeded in retaining the duchies, but the controversy, renewed in 1863, led to the defeat of the Danes by Austria and Prussia (1864), followed by the incorporation of the duchies in the Germanic Confederation, and, after the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, in Prussia.

Denmark although reduced to the narrow limits of the islands and Jutland, has greatly prospered, in spite of the spread of socialistic opinions, and political dissensions. Christian IX. died January 29, 1906, and was succeeded by his son, Frederick VIII.

=GREECE= is a maritime kingdom in the southeast of Europe. The country is composed of a continental portion, almost separated into two parts by the gulfs of Patras and Lepanto on the west, and the gulf of Ægina on the east, the archipelago of the Ægean Sea and the Ionian Islands, and is divided into twenty-six provinces, called nomarchies.

=Surface.=--The mountain range which cuts off the peninsula from the continent of Europe is an extension of the Balkans. From it run chains from north-northwest to south-southeast, which form the skeleton of Greece. The western boundary of Thessaly is formed by Pindus, the main offshoot of the Balkans. The eastern boundary is also marked not only by the sea but by important mountains derived from the Balkan system. These are Olympus, Ossa, Mavrovuni, and Pelion. Othrys, a branch of Pindus, forms the south boundary of Thessaly. This branch is continued in the celebrated mountains Parnassus and Helicon, forms the land of Attica, and reappears as the islands of Ceos, Cythnos, Seriphos, and Siphnos. The Peloponnese, “the island of Pelops,” or by its modern name the Morea, is connected with northern Greece merely by the narrow isthmus of Corinth, now pierced by a canal; its highest point is Taygetus.

=Rivers.=--The rivers of Greece are unimportant. The chief in the Peloponnesus are the Eurotas (Basilipotamo), the Alpheus (Ruphia), draining Arcadia and Elis; and the Peneus draining Elis.

=Climate.=--The climate is generally mild, in the parts exposed to the sea equable and genial, but in the mountainous regions of the interior sometimes very cold. None of the mountains attain the limit of perpetual snow; but several retain it far into the summer. During summer rain scarcely ever falls, and the channels of the minor streams become dry. Toward the end of harvest rain becomes frequent and copious, and fevers become common.

=Production and Industry.=--The most important of the fruit trees are the olive, the vine, orange, lemon, fig, almond, citron, pomegranate, and currant grape. Its exports consist of currants, figs, olive oil, wine, cognac, tobacco, hides, lead, iron ore, magnesium, emery, marble, and sponges.

=People.=--The Greeks called themselves _Hellenes_, and the inhabitants of Italy called them _Graeci_. The modern Greeks are by no means pure-bred descendants of the ancient Greeks. Indeed, it has been maintained that from the seventh century A. D. there have been no pure Greeks in the country, but only Slavs. It is, however, pretty certain that the two and one-quarter million of modern inhabitants are descendants of the three races that occupied the soil at the time of the Roman conquest. They speak the modern Greek tongue, which is a greatly modified form of the old.

Education is free and compulsory, maintained by local taxation supplemented by State grants. Secondary education is somewhat backward, particularly in the country districts. There is a university of some repute at Athens, which is largely attended by Turks.

=Government.=--According to the constitution, which was framed by an assembly in 1864, the executive power is vested in the king and his responsible ministry; the legislature is a single chamber of deputies called the _Boulé_, elected by the people, and meets at Athens.

=Cities.=--Athens is the capital, population 167,500; the towns next in size are Patras, Piræus, and Trikhala, all above 20,000; and there are eight others between 20,000 and 10,000.

=Athens=, in the southeast of Attica, occupies an extensive area round the site and remains of the classical city, four and one-half miles from its harbor of Piræus, on the Gulf of Ægina. The city, which takes its name from Athena, “goddess of science, arts, and arms,” and its own patron divinity, was originally built on the Acropolis, a conspicuous limestone rock rising three hundred and twenty feet above the Attic plain, and afterwards spread out on the plain below. The Acropolis became the citadel and subsequently the site of a group of beautiful temples of the time of Pericles (fifth century, B. C.).

The ruins of the Parthenon, the Erechtheum, the temple of Nike Apteros (“Wingless Victory”), and the Propylæa, still remain to testify to the former glory of the Acropolis. Of the other ancient buildings the most notable are the Theseum (also of the Periclean period, and still almost perfect), and the fragments of the vast temple of Zeus (begun in 530 B. C. and finished by the Roman Emperor Hadrian), with the theater of Dionysus and other structures.

Not far from the Acropolis rose the hill Lycabettus (nine hundred and eleven feet), and the hillocks or ridges of the Pnyx and the Areopagus or Mars Hill. At a greater distance the plain is bounded by Hymettus (three thousand three hundred and sixty-eight feet), Pentelicus (three thousand six hundred and forty-one feet), and other ranges.

Athens was fabled to have been founded by the hero Cecrops. The most brilliant period of its history was when, after the Persian wars (fifth century, B. C.), Athens took the lead among the Greek states, became powerful by land and sea, was adorned by Pericles with most glorious buildings, and brought Greek literature and Greek philosophy to their highest development. Its decline dates from the disastrous conclusion of the Peloponnesian war (403 B. C.). It was plundered and ruined by Sulla in 87 B. C.; and neither under Byzantine nor Turkish rule ever attained any prosperity. In the days of its glory Athens had some one hundred thousand free inhabitants and twice as many slaves; when after the liberation of Greece Athens was made the capital of the new kingdom (1834), it was a wretched village of a few hundred houses. Since then it has had a prosperous growth, looks like a well built German town, with a fine royal palace, a marble stadium (restored), a university with over one hundred and fifty professors and lecturers and two thousand five hundred students, and a good deal of miscellaneous trade by the way of the Piræus. It is connected by rail also with Corinth, and the Athens-Larissa line brings Greece into railway communication with the rest of Europe. (See also under ancient Greece.)

=History.=--Modern Greece threw off the Turkish yoke in 1830 and was declared an independent kingdom and the boundaries were defined. The liberated state was at first governed by a national assembly, but the president, Count Capo D’Istrias, assumed autocratic powers, and sedition culminated in his assassination. Subsequently the Powers offered the throne to Prince Leopold (afterwards king of Belgium), but the offer was refused. The crown was then given to Otho, son of Louis I. of Bavaria. Throughout his reign discontent was rife, and an insurrection in 1862 resulted in the deposal of the king. George, second son of the king of Denmark, was then chosen king, and the Ionian Islands, at that time under British protection, were ceded unconditionally to the kingdom.

By the Berlin Congress of 1878, Greece was promised a modification of her frontier, and in 1881 a readjustment was accepted. The adjustment proved distasteful to the Hellenes, who demanded Crete, and hostilities commenced with Turkey in 1897. The war was short-lived, and was disastrous to the Greeks, and on the intervention of the Powers an armistice was concluded. By the Treaty of Constantinople Greece was compelled to pay an indemnity to submit to the readjustment of her frontier, and to accept the control of the Powers in financial affairs.

In October, 1912, war broke out in the Balkan states, known as the Balkan war. The permanent effects on the Greek frontier, owing to the Hellenic participation in the victory over the Turks, are not yet determinable, but all deeply affect Greek interests, and depend on the decision of the Great Powers. George, King of the Hellenes, was assassinated in Salonica by a maniac named Schinas in March, 1913. The perpetrator of the crime subsequently committed suicide. The present ruler is the late king’s eldest son, who was proclaimed King Constantine XII.

=HOLLAND=, the popular name of a country officially described as “Netherland,” or “The Netherlands,” is bounded by the North Sea, Prussia, and Belgium. Its greatest length, north to south, is one hundred and ninety-five miles, and its greatest breadth one hundred and ten miles. Luxemburg was, till 1890, connected with Holland.

=Surface.=--Almost the whole country is flat and low; the parts of it nearest the coasts are even below the sea level, the waters being kept out by dykes, which are maintained at a great annual cost. One stretch of fifty miles of the coast is guarded by a triple wall of piles driven into the soil, filled up between, and buttressed by huge granite blocks brought from Norway. If it were not for these dykes controlling the rivers and keeping out the sea, nearly half the country would be under water.

All the southern part of Holland belongs to the alluvial delta lands formed at the mouths of the Rhine (the chief branch of which is named the Waal), the Meuse or Maas, and Scheldt. Opening out into broad, shallow estuaries these river mouths form a number of islands, of which Walcheren and Beveland, Schouwen and Tholen, Over Flakkee, Voorne and Beyerland, are the largest.

Toward the north appears the great shallow gulf called the Zuider Zee (or South Sea, in distinction from the North Sea outside), which was formed in the thirteenth century by the bursting of the sea into a former inland lake called “Flevo” by the Roman geographers. Outside of it a chain of islands marks the line of the former coast of the mainland.

=Rivers and Canals.=--Besides the natural channels formed by the estuaries of the Scheldt, the Maas, and the delta branches of the Rhine (the Waal, Lek, Old Rhine, Vecht, Amstel, and Yssel) the country is intersected in all directions by _Grachts_ or larger canals, lined with rows of trees, joining river to river. No country in the world has such a network of waterways; ships’ masts, and windmills with large sails, pumping the water from the smaller drainage canals, are seen everywhere.

=Climate.=--The general climate of Holland resembles that of England, opposite to it, in its rapid variations; but it is more humid. Dense sea fogs from the North Sea drive over it. In most winters the rivers and canals are frozen over for two or three months, when even women skate to market; in summer the thermometer rises to eighty or ninety degrees in the shade.

=Production and Industry.=--Cattle rearing, butter and cheese making, are the most general industries of the country, for the grazing meadows are far more extensive than the corn lands. In the latter, rye, barley, wheat, and potatoes, are the chief crops. Flax, and beet-root for sugar, chicory, and tobacco, are grown also to a considerable extent.

The principal manufactures are shipping, bricks, margarine, cocoa, chocolate, linen, rich damasks, cottons, woolens, cigars and other manufactured tobacco, candles, confectionery, earthenware and pottery, glass bottles and ware, chemical and pharmaceutical products, matches, perfumery, sugar, bicycles and automobiles, boots and shoes, starch, potato flour, engines, metal substances, works of art in gold and silver, incandescent lamps, machinery, motors, paper, printing, oils, beer, “geneva” and other liqueurs. Diamond cutting employs numerous hands in Amsterdam.

=People.=--Of the population, the greater part (seventy per cent) is formed by the Dutch or Batavians, the descendants of the Germanic tribe of the Batavi who occupied the delta of the Rhine in the time of the Roman conquest of the land. Frieslanders (fourteen per cent), descendants of the ancient Frisii, occupy the northern borders of the country, where the peasantry still speak a language closely allied to Anglo-Saxon; the Flemings (thirteen per cent) occupy the southeastern borders of the country. Their language differs little from the Dutch; but the dialects throughout the country are very numerous.

The majority, about three-fifths, belong to the several Reformed Churches; and the remainder are Roman Catholics, with about one hundred and seven thousand Jews.

Private state-aided primary instruction is encouraged rather than public, though the latter is provided, if required, by local taxation. Secondary schools for working classes are numerous, well equipped and attended. The principal universities are at Amsterdam, Groningen, Leiden, Utrecht.

=Government.=--The government of Holland is a limited constitutional monarchy. The crown is the executive power; legislation is vested in the States-general of two chambers, called the First Chamber and the Second Chamber. A State Council of fourteen members appointed by the Sovereign is consulted on all legislative and on most executive matters.

There is no state religion, but the state gives financial support to the different churches.

=Cities.=--The capital is The Hague with a population of 300,000; other cities exceeding 50,000 in 1913 were as follows: Amsterdam, 591,053; Rotterdam, 454,135; Utrecht, 123,457; Groningen, 78,670; Haarlem, 70,907; Arnhem, 64,760; Leiden, 59,297; Nymegen, 58,679; Tilburg, 54,216.

=The Hague= (Dutch _Gravenhagen_, “the count’s hedge”), the capital of the Netherlands is two miles from the North Sea and fifteen miles northwest of Rotterdam. It is intersected by canals and shady avenues of lime-trees, and has many fine public buildings and private houses.

In the center of it is the Vijver, or Fish-pond, to the south of which stands the old castle of the Counts of Holland, where the Dutch parliament sits. In its gatetower the brothers De Witt were confined till dragged thence and torn to pieces by the populace (1672). The picture-gallery has a splendid collection of works by native painters (Paul Potter’s “Bull” and Rembrandt’s “Lesson in Anatomy”); and there are the royal library with five hundred thousand volumes; the municipal and other museums; the Town-House, and the royal palaces.

Among the numerous statues are those of William I. (two in number), William II., Spinoza, Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, and the monument which commemorates the deliverance from the French. Close to the town is the beautiful pleasure-park called “The Wood” (_Bosch_), in which stands a royal residence with the magnificent so-called “Orange Hall.”

or Dutch “White House,” is situated in a fine old plantation of beeches and oaks, round ornamental lakes and islands, is a plain building with a grand interior; and has Jordaen’s masterpiece, the Apotheosis of Prince Fred. Henry.]

The great Peace Conference was held here in 1899; The Hague is the seat of the resulting arbitration courts, for which Mr. Carnegie provided permanent buildings of great architectural beauty. Industries are iron-founding, copper and lead smelting, cannon-founding, printing, furniture and carriage making, and the manufacture of gold and silver lace.

=History.=--The ancient inhabitants of the country, the Batavians and the Frisians, became subjects or allies of the Romans in the first century A. D., and so remained till in the fourth century their territories were overrun by the Saxons and Salian Franks.