Chapter LXXV: Appendix: Documents Relating to Russian History (2)

1111 Defeat of the Polovtsi on the Sula.

1113 Death of Sviatopolk and accession of =Vladimir Monomakh=.

1125 Death of Monomakh.

1147 Legendary date for the foundation of Moscow.

1157 Andrew Bogoliubski becomes prince of Suzdal.

1169 Kiev is captured and plundered by Andrew Bogoliubski.

1175 Andrew Bogoliubski is assassinated.

1221 Nijni-Novgorod is founded by Iuri, grand prince of Suzdal.

1223 First invasion of Russia by the Mongols under Jenghiz
Khan. The Russians are defeated on the banks of the Kalka, near
where it flows into the Sea of Azov and adjoining the present
site of the town of Mariupol.

1237-38 The Mongols, under Jenghiz Khan’s grandson, Batu,
invade northern Russia, burn Moscow, defeat twice the army of
Suzdal (at Kolomna on the Oku and on the Sit), and plunder
Riazan, Suzdal, Iaroslavl, and Tver. But Novgorod is spared.

1239-40 The Mongols ravage southern Russia, burn Tchernigov
and Kiev, and extend their conquests as far west as Volhinia
and Galicia. All Russia is now under the yoke of the Mongols,
except the territory of Novgorod.

1240 Alexander, prince of Novgorod, defeats the Swedes on the
Neva; whence his surname Nevski.

1242 Batu establishes the Golden Horde of Kiptchak, with
Sarai, on one of the mouths of the Volga, as its capital. It
constituted one of the five divisions of the great empire of
Jenghiz Khan.

1245 Alexander Nevski defeats the German Sword-bearing Knights
on Lake Peipus, in the “battle of the ice.”

1260 Novgorod submits to the Mongols and consents to pay
tribute.

1263 Death of Alexander Nevski.

1303 Death of =Daniel Alexandrovitch=, founder of the Moscow
dynasty.

1320 Prince Michael of Tver is executed by order of the khan.

1321 Vladimir in Volhinia is conquered by the Lithuanians. Kiev
and all west Russia soon become Lithuanian.

1404 Smolensk is annexed to Lithuania. A son of Alexander
Nevski, named Daniel, was the founder of the principality
of Moscow, to which he added the cities of Kolomna and
Pereiaslavl. He was succeeded by his son =Iuri Danilovitch=
(1303-1325), who annexed Mozhaisk. In 1313 he marries a sister
of Usbek Khan. In 1320 he is appointed grand prince in place
of his murdered rival, Michael of Tver. Iuri is the initiator
of the Muscovite policy to dominate Russia with the aid of
the Tatars, for whom the Muscovite princes henceforth act as
tax collectors. In 1325 he was assassinated by Dmitri, son
of Michael of Tver, and =Alexander=, Michael’s second son is
appointed grand prince. But the grand princedom soon reverts to
Moscow, and Alexander is executed in 1329. Iuri is succeeded
by his brother =Ivan Kalita= (1328-1340), who receives from
Usbek Khan Vladimir and Novgorod together with the grand
princedom, and who also adds Tver to his dominions. He assures
the pre-eminence of Moscow in the Russian church by inducing
the metropolitan to reside there, thereby also securing the
alliance of the all-powerful church in the realisation of
his political schemes. =Simeon the Proud=, son of Kalita
(1340-1353), =Ivan II=, (1353-1359), brother of Simeon, and
=Dmitri Donskoi= (1359-1389), son of Ivan II, continue the
policy of dominating Russia with the aid of the Tatars, whom
they conciliate with Russian gold, while they gain the support
of the nobles by enhancing their power at the expense of the
princes of appanages. Towards the end of his reign Dmitri feels
himself strong enough to resist the Tatars, whom he defeats in
the battle of Kulikovo (1380); but two years later the Mongol
general, Toktamish, invades Russia, burns Moscow and puts to
death a great number of the inhabitants. Dmitri was succeeded
by his son =Vasili= (1389-1425). On the death of the latter,
first his brother, and then his brother’s son, laid claim to
the succession; but the direct lineal succession triumphed
twice in the person of Vasili’s son, known as =Vasili the
Blind= (1425-1462).

THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY

1407 The river Ugra is made the boundary between Moscow and
Lithuania.

1408 Invasion of Moscow by the Tatars, who burn many towns and
villages, but fail to capture the Kremlin.

1412 Vasili Dmitrievitch goes to the Horde, pays tribute, and
the khan confirms to him the grand princedom.

1435 Vasili Vasilievitch blinds his cousin Vasili Kossoi.

1446 Vasili Vasilievitch is blinded by Dmitri Shemiaka of
Galicia.

1448 The archbishop Jonas is elected metropolitan by an
assembly of the Russian bishops, without regard to the
patriarch of Constantinople.

1453 Dmitri Shemiaka is poisoned.

1462 =Ivan III=, son of Vasili ascends the throne. He assumes
the title _gossudar_ (lord, autocrat), and is regarded as the
founder of autocracy.

1463 The princes of Iaroslav cede their domain to Moscow.

1464 Ivan gives the hand of his sister to Vasili, prince of
Riazan, thus making sure of the approximate annexation of that
appanage.

1469 The khanate of Kazan becomes a dependency of Moscow.

1472 Ivan conquers Perm. Marries the Byzantine princess Sophia,
niece of the last emperor of Constantinople, Constantine
Palæologus. Assumes the title of czar and adopts the two-headed
eagle as the symbol of his authority. In consequence of this
marriage many Greeks come to Moscow, bringing with them
Byzantine culture.

1474 The princes of Rostov sell their domain to Moscow.

1478 The republic of Novgorod is annexed. The principal
citizens are brought prisoners to Moscow, their property is
confiscated, the possessions of the clergy serve to endow the
boyar followers of Ivan. Ahmed, khan of the Golden Horde, sends
ambassadors demanding homage. Ivan puts the envoys to death,
except one, who was to take back the news to his master. The
reply of Ahmed to this outrage is a declaration of war.

1479 Ivan issues Sudebnik, or Books of Laws, second Russian
code after the Russkaia Pravda of Iaroslav. A comparison of
two codes shows how much the Russian character was lowered by
Mongol domination; it is in the reign of Ivan that we first
hear of the use of the knout.

1480 The Mongols invade Russia. The two armies meet on the
banks of the Oka and flee from each other in mutual fear. On
his retreat Ahmed is killed and his army is annihilated by the
Nogai Tatars.

1482 Cannon is used for first time at the siege of Fellin in
Livonia. It was founded by the architect and engineer Aristotle
Fioraventi of Bologna, the builder of the Kremlin.

1485 The principality of Tver is annexed to Moscow.

1485 The last prince of Vereya leaves his domains by will to
Ivan.

1489 Viatka, a daughter of the city of Novgorod and Pskov, and
like them a republic, is annexed.

1489 Poppel comes to Moscow as the first German ambassador.

1491 Mines of Petchora discovered. For first time silver and
copper money is coined at Moscow from produce of Russian mines.

1492-1503 A large part of Little Russia is reconquered from
Lithuanians.

1494 Alexander of Lithuania marries Ivan’s daughter Helen.

1495 Ivan, considering himself to have been insulted by a
Hanseatic city, orders all merchants of all the cities of
that union at Novgorod to be put in chains and their property
confiscated. This marks the end of Novgorod’s commercial
greatness.

1499 The princes of Tchernigov and Novgorod-Seversk come over
to Moscow.

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

1501 Russians routed in the battle of the Siritza, near
Izborsk, by the grand-master of the Teutonic order, Hermann von
Plettenberg.

1503 A treaty is concluded with Lithuania. Moscow retains all
her conquests, and Ivan is granted the title of sovereign of
all Russia.

1505 Death of Ivan. =Vasili=, second son of Ivan, succeeds him.

1508 The Russian army is defeated by the revolted people of
Kazan. The victors unite with the Tatars of the Crimea, invade
Russia and carry their ravages up to the gates of Moscow.
Vasili pays a large ransom for the safety of his capital, and
signs a treaty by which he engages to become tributary to
the khan. Thirty thousand prisoners are carried off by the
invaders, and sold at Kaffa to the Turks.

1510 Pskov, last Slavonic republic, annexed.

1514 Smolensk is taken from the Lithuanians after being held by
them for 110 years. But in the same year the Lithuanians defeat
the Russian force at Orsha, on left bank of the Dnieper. Thirty
thousand Russians are said to have fallen in battle.

1521 Riazan and Novgorod-Seversk, the last independent
principalities, are annexed. Crimean Tatars devastate the
country.

1523 A second expedition against Kazan, consisting of 150,000
men, fails of its object; one of its two divisions is almost
annihilated.

1530 Third expedition against Kazan. The city is surprised by
night and 60,000 inhabitants are massacred. But the Russian
commander, bribed, it is said, by the remaining Kazanians,
enters into a treaty of peace with them.

1533 Vasili dies. Regency of his wife, Helena Glinska, 1533-37.
Supremacy of the Shuiski, 1537-43. Ivan is under the influence
of the Glinski till 1547, when they were torn in pieces by the
infuriated Moscow populace. Such was the youth of Ivan the
Terrible.

1547 =Ivan= is crowned and takes the title of Czar.

1550 The Sudebnik of his grandfather Ivan III is revised.

1551 The Stoglav, or Book of the Hundred Chapters, by which the
affairs of the church were regulated, is issued.

1552 Kazan, which had freed itself during his father’s reign,
is annexed.

1553 Chancellor arrives at Archangel and proceeds to Moscow.
The English secure great trading privileges and establish
factories in the country.

1556 Astrakhan is annexed. The power of the Mongols is now
almost completely broken.

1558 Treaty with Elizabeth of England. A Russian army invades
Livonia and takes several towns. The Teutonic Order thereupon
makes an alliance with Poland.

1564 Ivan, with a few personal friends, retires to
Alexandrovskoe, near Moscow, and does not return until after
repeated supplications by his nobles. A printing press
established at Moscow.

1571 The Mongols of Crimea invade Russia, burn Moscow, drag
100,000 Russians into slavery. Next year they make another
raid, but are defeated.

1580 Conquest of Siberia by the Cossack Iermak as far as the
Irtish river.

1581 Ivan kills his eldest son in a fit of fury.

1582 Peace of Sapolye. Ivan is forced to surrender to Stephen
Bathori (Battori) king of Poland all his conquests in Livonia.
The attempt to open for Russia a passage in the Baltic fails
for the present.

1584 Death of Ivan. =Feodor=, his weak-minded son, succeeds
Ivan. Boris Godunov, Feodor’s brother-in-law, is the real ruler.

1587 A company of Parisian merchants obtains trading privileges.

1590 War with Sweden.

1591 Dmitri, the younger brother of Feodor (Ivan’s son by his
seventh wife), and the only obstacle to Godunov’s ambition,
dies at Uglitch. The khan of Crimea makes one of his periodical
raids against Moscow, but is repulsed with great slaughter.

1592 Godunov issues a ukase (edict) binding the peasant to the
soil, thus reducing him to unmitigated serfdom. As a result,
peasants emigrate in large numbers to the Cossacks in order to
preserve their freedom.

1597 An edict is issued prescribing the most vigorous measures
for the recovery of fugitive serfs.

1598 Death of Feodor, last of the Ruriks. =Boris Godunov= is
elected to succeed him, first by the Council of Boyars (douma)
and then by a General Assembly (Sobór).

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

1601 A terrible famine, accompanied by pestilence, devastates
Russia. Boris causes immense quantities of provisions to be
distributed in Moscow, whither multitudes flock from all the
provinces. Five hundred thousand are said to have perished in
Moscow alone, which had become a city of cannibals.

1604 Dmitri the Impostor invades Russia and is victorious on
the Desna.

1605 Dmitri is defeated on the plain of Dobrinitchi, not far
from Ord. Godunov dies. His son =Feodor= is proclaimed his
successor. Basmanov, commander of the army, proclaims Dmitri.
Feodor and his mother are strangled and Dmitri enters Moscow.

1606 A rebellion breaks out under Vasili Shuiski. Dmitri is
killed. =Shuiski= is proclaimed emperor.

1608 A second false Dmitri defeats Shuiski’s army near Volkhov,
but fails in an attack on the Troitsa monastery, near Moscow.
He is murdered by one of his followers in 1610.

1609 The Poles invade Russia and lay siege to Smolensk.

1610 Shuiski is defeated at Klushino and =Wladislaw=, son of
the Polish king, is crowned czar.

1611 Revolt of the patriots led by Minin and Prince Pojarski.

1612 The Poles are driven out of Moscow.

1613 =Michael Romanov= is chosen czar.

1617 Wladislaw appears with an army under the walls of Moscow,
but is repulsed. The Treaty of Stolbovna is brought about by
the mediation of England and Holland: the Russians give up
Kexholm, Karelia and Ingria to Sweden, and receive in return
Novgorod, which was lost during the Troublous Period.

1618 Wladislaw consents to abandon his claim to the Russian
throne, the czar gives up his claims to Livonia, Tchernigov and
Smolensk, and an armistice is concluded for fourteen years.

1619 Philarete, the father of Czar Michael, comes back from the
Polish captivity, is elected patriarch, and becomes his son’s
associate in the government of the country.

1627 The Cossacks of the Don conquer Azov, which they offer
to the czar. After convoking a sobor, which shows little
enthusiasm for the enterprise, the czar orders the Cossacks to
evacuate it.

1633 War with Lithuania.

1634 Peace of Polianovka: the czar surrenders all claims to
Livonia and all the country that once belonged to the Order, as
well as to Smolensk, Tchernigov and Seversk. The Polish king
abandons his claim to the Russian throne.

1645 Death of Michael. He is succeeded by =Alexis=.

1648 Revolt at Moscow against misgovernment of the czar’s
favorites, particularly Morosov, and depreciation of the
coinage. This revolt led to a new codification of the laws (the
Ulozhenie), which was based on the preceding codes of Ivan III
and IV, and was sanctioned by a sobor convoked at Moscow. A new
police institution, the “chamber of secret affairs,” is created
for the prevention and suppression of popular uprisings. The
Cossacks of the Ukraine revolt from Poland under the leadership
of Bogdan Chmielnicki.

1649-50 Khabarov occupies the course of the Amur.

1654 The Ukraine becomes a Russian protectorate. War with
Poland.

1655 Outbreak of war between Sweden and Poland. The Russians
occupy Vilna and join the Swedes in their march upon Warsaw.

1656 Truce with Poland. The Russian arms are turned against
Sweden. At first they were successful, and Narva, Dorpat and
other places in Esthonia were taken, Livonia was conquered,
but Riga was besieged in vain, and after many losses all the
conquests are restored.

1655-56 The patriarch Nicon calls two councils of the church
for the purpose of revising the Bible and service-books. In
consequence of this change a great schism takes place in the
Russian church. The adherents of the old books are known as
Raskolniki, and are to this day subjects of persecution.

1667 Peace of Andrussov with Poland: Little Russia east of
the Dnieper, including Smolensk, Kiev, Seversk, Vitebsk, and
Polotsk are acquired by Russia. Thus the territory which had
been taken by the Lithuanians and annexed to Poland by Treaty
of Lublin (1569) became Russian again.

1670 Rebellion of Stenka Kazin. He takes Tzaritzin, Astrakhan,
Saratov, Samara, Nijni-Novgorod, Tambov, and Penza.

1671 Stenka Radzin is defeated near Simbirsk and executed at
Moscow.

1676 Death of Alexis. He is succeeded by his eldest son,
=Feodor=. During his reign the books of pedigrees (_razviadnie
Knigi_), which determines the rank of each family and the
office to which it was entitled (_mestnichestvo_), were
destroyed.

1682 Death of Feodor. After a sanguinary outbreak of the
Strelitz, which lasted three days, =Ivan= and =Peter= were
declared joint sovereigns, and their sister Sophia was to act
as regent during their minority.

1689 Treaty of Nertchinsk: the fertile region of the Amur,
conquered by a handful of Cossacks, is restored to the Chinese,
and the fortress Albazin is rased.

1696 Peter takes from the Turks the fort of Azov, situated at
the mouth of the Don, and converts it into a naval port. In its
vicinity he commences the building of the new town of Taganrog.

1697-98 Peter makes his first journey through Europe.

1698 The Strelitz break out into open revolt, which is
suppressed with great bloodshed. Their corps is dissolved.

1699 Peter forms a coalition with Poland and Denmark against
Sweden.

1700 Beginning of the Northern War. The Russian forces sustain
a severe defeat at Narva. The beginning of the new Russian year
is changed from the first of September to the first of January.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

1703 Peter begins the building of St. Petersburg.

1706 The Cossacks of the Don revolt.

1707 The secret marriage of Peter with Catherine takes place.

1709 Mazeppa, hetman of the Little-Russian Cossacks, revolts.
Battle of Pultowa.

1710 Turkey declares war against Russia.

1711 The old supreme council of boyars (_douma_) is replaced by
the senate, into which merit and service might obtain admission
independently of noble origin. By the terms of the Treaty of
the Pruth Peter surrenders to the Turks his artillery, gives
back Azov, and undertakes to rase Taganrog.

1714 The Russians gain over the Swedes the important naval
victory of Åland or Hankül. Peter becomes master of Finland.

1717 Peter makes a second tour through Europe. A general
police, modelled on that of France, is instituted.

1718 Peter’s eldest son, Alexis, is executed. The old prikaz is
replaced by colleges for foreign affairs, finance, justice, and
commerce.

1719 The Russians ravage Sweden almost up to the gates of
Stockholm.

1720 The Russians renew their devastation of Sweden,
notwithstanding the presence of an English fleet.

1721 Treaty of Nystad with Sweden: Peter is left master of
Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, and the districts of Viborg and
Kexholm in Finland. Peter promulgates an ukase (afterwards
abrogated by Paul) that the sovereign has the right of naming
his successor. The Patriarchate is abolished and its income
united to the public revenue. In its place the holy synod is
established for the supreme direction of church affairs.

1722 The _tchin_ is established: whoever enters the service of
that state becomes a gentleman. The exporting of merchandise
through Archangel is prohibited in favor of St. Petersburg.

1722-24 War with Persia. The provinces of Ghilan, Mazandaran,
and Astrabad (Astarabath) are annexed to Russia.

1725 Death of Peter. He is succeeded by his second wife,
=Catherine=.

1726-27 The St. Petersburg Academy of Science founded.

1727 Death of Catherine. She is succeeded by =Peter II=, son
of Alexis. Menshikov, who was the real ruler of Russia under
Catherine, is banished to Siberia.

1730 Death of Peter II. =Anna=, daughter of Ivan, the brother
of Peter the Great, is chosen his successor after submitting
to the terms dictated by the great nobles--terms intended to
convert the government into an oligarchy.

1733-35 War of the Polish Succession: Russia intervenes on
behalf of the elector of Saxony, Augustine III, and defeats the
French attempt to replace Stanislaus Leszczynski on the throne
of Poland.

1735 Russia surrenders her Persian possessions in return for
extensive trading privileges to Russian merchants.

1735-39 War with Turkey, in conjunction with Austria. The
Russians conquer Otchakov at the mouth of the Dnieper and the
important fortress of Khotin on the same river. But at the
peace of Belgrade, hastily concluded by the Austrians, they
retain only Azov.

1740 Death of Anna. =Ivan VI=, her grand-nephew, succeeds her,
with Biron, duke of Courland, as regent during his minority.

1741 A coup d’état, led by Field-marshal Münich deposed Biron
and raises Princess Anna, mother of Ivan, to the regency. But
Münich is the real ruler. A palace revolution deposes Ivan,
sends Münich to Siberia, and raises to the throne =Elizabeth=,
a daughter of Peter the Great by Catherine. Sweden, urged on by
France, declares war. The Swedes are defeated at Vilmanstrand.

1742 Seventeen thousand Swedes surrender at Helsingfors. The
Armenian churches in both capitals are suppressed by order of
the holy synod.

1743 Treaty of Åbo with Sweden; Russia acquires the southern
part of Finland as far as the river Kymmene.

1753 The custom-houses of the interior, as well as many toll
duties, are suppressed.

1755 The first Russian university is founded at Moscow.

1756 The first Russian public theatre is established at St.
Petersburg. Three years later another theatre is established at
Moscow.

1757 The Russians under Apraxin defeat at Jägerndorf the
Prussians under Lewald.

1758 The Russians under Fermor are defeated by Frederick the
Great at Zorndorf. The Academy of Fine Arts is established at
St. Petersburg.

1759 Saltikov defeats Frederick at Kunersdorf.

1760 The Russians plunder Berlin.

1762 Death of Elizabeth. She is succeeded by her nephew, =Peter
III=, son of her sister Anna. He makes peace with Frederick,
restores to him east Prussia, which was entirely in the hands
of the Russians, and orders his army to aid Frederick against
the Austrians. Peter issues an ukase freeing the nobility
from the obligation of entering upon some state employment;
is assassinated and is succeeded by his wife, =Catherine=.
Catherine recalls the Russian armies from Prussia.

1764 Assassination of Prince Ivan. Resumption of the
ecclesiastical lands with their one million serfs by the state.

1766-68 A great _sobor_ is convened, first at Moscow and then
at St. Petersburg, for the compilation of a new code. It fails
of its object.

1767 An ukaze forbids serfs to bring complaints against their
masters, who were authorised to send them at will to Siberia or
to force them into the army.

1767-74 War with Turkey.

1768 Massacre of Jews at Uman, in the Government of Kiev, under
the leadership of the Cossack Gonta.

1769 The Russians under Galitzin take Khotin.

1770 Rumiantzev is victorious over the Tatars on the banks of
the Larga and over the grand vizir at Kagul. Three hundred
thousand Kalmucks, with their wives and children, their cattle
and their tents, flee from Russia to China.

1771 Conquest of the Crimea by Dolgoruki. Annihilation of the
Turkish fleet at Tchesme.

1772 The Congress of Fokshani fails to bring about peace and
the war is renewed. First division of Poland. Russia acquires
White Russia, including Polotsk, Vitebsk, Orsha, Mohilev,
Mstislavl, Gomel.

1773-74 Pugatchev’s revolt.

1774 Peace of Kutchuk-Kainardji: the sultan acknowledges the
independence of the Tatars of the Crimea, the Bug and the
Kuban, and cedes to Russia Azov on the Don, Kinburn at the
mouth of the Dnieper, and all the fortified places of the
Crimea.

1775 The Zaparog military republic of the Cossacks is
dissolved. The empire is reorganized. Instead of fifteen
provinces there are created fifty governments subdivided into
districts.

1783 Formal annexation of the Crimea and the country of the
Kuban.

1787-92 Second war with Turkey in conjunction with Austria.

1788-89 War with Sweden. The Peace of Varela restores the
_status quo ante bellum_.

1788 The storming of Otchakov by Potemkin, accompanied by an
indiscriminate massacre.

1789 Suvarov wins the battles of Fokshani and Rimnik. Potemkin
takes Bender.

1790 Suvarov takes Ismail. The Austrians sign the Peace of
Sistova, but the Russians continue the war. Repnin defeats the
grand vizir at Matchin.

1792 Treaty of Jassy. The Russians retain only Otchakov and the
seaboard between the Bug and the Dniester.

1793 Second division of Poland. Russia obtains an enormous
extension of territory in Lithuania and absorbs the rest of
Volhinia, Podolia, and Ukraine.

1794 Kosciuszko is defeated by Fersen at Maciejowice and
Suvarov storms Praga, a suburb of Warsaw.

1795 Third division of Poland. Russia obtains the rest of
Lithuania, besides other territories which at one time had been
Russian, while Poland proper is divided between Austria and
Prussia. The former power also obtains Galicia or Red Russia.
Courland is annexed by Russia. Its last duke, Peter Biron,
voluntarily renounces it in return for a yearly revenue.

1796 Death of Catherine. Accession of her son =Paul=.

1798 Paul promulgates the line of succession according to
primogeniture, with precedence in the male line. Russia joins
the second coalition against France, with England, Austria,
Naples and Turkey.

1799 Suvarov defeats Moreau on the Adda, Macdonald on the
Trebbia, and Joubert at Novi. Korsakov is defeated by Massena
at Zurich, and Suvarov is forced to make his memorable retreat
across the Alps.

1800 Reconciliation with France, chiefly owing to the English
occupation of Malta.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

1801 Assassination of Paul. His son =Alexander= succeeds him.
The new emperor concludes treaties of peace with England,
France, and Spain. Georgia, or Grusia, is formally annexed, and
a war with Persia follows in consequence.

1802 Eight ministries are established in place of the colleges
founded by Peter the Great.

1804 The Persians are defeated at Etchmiadzin.

1805 Alexander joins the third coalition with Austria and
England. Battle of Austerlitz.

1806 Conquest of the Persian province of Shirvan, and the
taking of Derbent.

1806 War with Turkey. Alexander joins fourth coalition, of
which Prussia is also a member. Battles of Pultusk and Golymin.

1807 Battles of Eylau and Friedland. Peace of Tilsit. Russia
acquires Bielostok, a part of Prussian Poland.

1808 War with Sweden. Finland is overrun by a Russian army.

1809 By the Treaty of Fredrikshamn Sweden surrenders Finland.
The Finns are allowed complete autonomy, the czar being its
grand duke. War with Turkey. The Russians are defeated at
Silistria.

1810 The Russians are victorious over the Turks at Batyen on
the Danube.

1811 The Russians are victorious at Rustchuk. Twenty thousand
Turks surrender at Giurgevo.

1812 By the Treaty of Bukharest Russia acquires Bessarabia and
a large part of Moldavia, with the fortresses of Khotin and
Bender. The Pruth becomes its boundary. The district of Viborg,
which was acquired from Sweden in 1744, is added to Finland.
Count Speranski, leader of the liberal party, is dismissed.
Later he was exiled to Peru. Invasion of Russia by Napoleon.
Battles of Smolensk and Borodino. Firing of Moscow. Napoleon
orders a retreat (October 18). Battle of Malojaroslavetz
compels Napoleon to retreat by his old route. The Beresina
crossed (November 26th-29th).

1813 By the Treaty of Kalish Alexander engages not to lay down
his arms until Prussia had recovered all its lost territories.
The Russians and Prussians are defeated at Lützen and Bautzen.
The allies are repulsed before Dresden. Battle of Leipsic.
Peace of Gulistan with Persia. Russia obtains Baku and the
western shore of the Caspian.

1814 The Russians invade France together with the allies. At
the congress of Vienna Alexander insists on the creation of a
kingdom of Poland under his rule.

1815 By the Treaty of Vienna Alexander obtains all of Poland,
except Galicia, Cracow, and Posen. Conclusion of the Holy
Alliance.

1816 Abolition of serfdom in Esthonia.

1817 Abolition of serfdom in Courland.

1818 Abolition of serfdom in Livonia. In all Baltic provinces
the emancipated peasants receive no portion of the land,
which remains in possession of the nobles. A constitution and
separate administration are granted to the Polish kingdom.

1819 Establishment of military colonies in the border provinces
of the north, west and south.

1825 Death of Alexander. His brother =Nicholas I= succeeds him.
Revolt of the Dekabrists.

1826 War with Persia.

1827 War with Turkey. The Turkish fleet is destroyed at
Navarino by the combined fleets of England, France, and Russia.

1828 Peace of Turkmanchai. Persia cedes the provinces of
Erivan and Nakhitchevan, pays a war indemnity, and grants
important trading privileges. The Russians invade the Danubian
principalities and take Varna. Paskievitch takes Kars.

1829 Diebitsch defeats the Turks at Kluvetchi, takes Silistria,
crosses the Balkans, and takes Adrianople. Peace of Adrianople.
Russia gets control of the mouths of the Danube, of a portion
of Armenia including Erzerum, and receives a war indemnity.

1830 The new code, a complete collection of the laws of the
Russian Empire, is promulgated. Polish insurrection. The
Russians are compelled to evacuate the country.

1831 Paskievitch takes Warsaw. The building of new Roman
Catholic churches in Poland is prohibited.

1832 Poland is incorporated with Russia. The constitution
granted by Alexander is annulled, and Poland is divided into
five governments.

1833 By the Treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi Russia obtains additional
rights to meddle in the internal affairs of Turkey.

1839 A Russian expedition to the khanate of Khiva is compelled
to return.

1849 A Russian army is sent into Hungary. Capitulation of
Görgei at Villagos.

1853 The Crimean War. The Russians occupy the Danubian
principalities. Destruction of the Turkish fleet at Sinope.

1854 France and England join Turkey. Battle of the Alma. Siege
of Sebastopol. Fall of Bomarsund.

1855 Sardinia joins the allies. Battles of Balaklava, Inkerman,
and Tchernaia. Fall of Sebastopol. Bombardment of Sveaborg. The
Russians take Kars. Nicholas I dies. His son =Alexander II=
succeeds him.

1856 Treaty of Paris. Russia relinquishes the mouths of the
Danube and a portion of Bessarabia, restores Kars, gives up
the protectorate over the Oriental Christians and the Danubian
principalities, and agrees to have no war vessels in the Black
Sea.

1858 General Muraviev signs the treaty of Aigun with the
Chinese, by which Russia acquires the entire left bank of the
Amur.

1859 Capture of Schamyl.

1861 Emancipation of the serfs.

1863 Polish insurrection.

1864 Final pacification of the Caucasus. Reforms in judicial
administration. Institution of representative assemblies
(zemstvos) for governments and districts. By ukase, Polish
peasants are given in fee-simple the lands which they had
cultivated as tenants-at-will.

1865 Tashkend taken from the emir of Bokhara; organisation of
the province of Turkestan.

1866 Karakozov fires at the emperor at St. Petersburg.

1867 Governor-generalship of Turkestan created. Sale of Alaska
to the United States. A Slavophil congress is held at Moscow.
The prince of Mingrelia relinquishes his sovereign rights for
one million rubles. Russian is substituted for German as the
official language of Livonia, Esthonia, and Courland. Peasants
are given the ownership of the lands which they occupied as
tenants.

1868 Samarkand taken from Bokhara.

1870 Khiva is stormed by General Kauffman.

1871 The Pontus Conference, held at London, abolishes paragraph
11 of the Paris treaty delimiting Russian fortifications and
naval forces on the Black Sea.

1873 The right bank of the Amu Daria (Jaxartes) is annexed and
the rest of Khiva becomes a vassal state.

1874 Universal compulsory military service is introduced. The
vice-royalty of Poland is abolished, and its administrative
fusion with Russia becomes complete.

1875 Russia cedes to Japan the Kurile islands. Japan gives up
its claims to the southern part of Sakhalin.

1876 The khanate of Khokand is absorbed and transformed into
the province of Ferghana.

1877 War with Turkey. The Russian advance is beaten back in
Europe and in Asia. The Shipka pass alone remains in Russian
hands. Three defeats before Plevna, which is besieged and
forced to capitulate with 40,000 men. Kars is taken.

1878 The Russians cross the Balkans. The Shipka army is
captured, Adrianople taken, the last Turkish army is almost
annihilated, and the Russians reach the Sea of Marmora. Treaty
of San Stefano: Treaty of Berlin. Assassination of General
Trepov at St. Petersburg, and acquittal of Vera Zassulitch.
Assassination of General Mezentsev, chief of gendarmerie.

1879 Soloviov fires six shots at the emperor. An attempt is
made to wreck the train by which the czar was travelling from
Moscow to St. Petersburg.

1880 An attempt is made to blow up the Winter Palace.
Loris-Melikov is placed at the head of a commission with
dictatorial powers.

1881 Assassination of the emperor. The Tekke-Turkomans are
subjected by Skobelev. Anti-Jewish riots in southern Russia.

1882 The “May laws” of Ignatiev issued against the Jews.
Agrarian disturbances in the Baltic provinces give the
government a welcome pretext for additional measures of
russification.

1883 =Alexander III= is crowned at Moscow.

1884 The Turkomans of the Merv oasis make submission to
Russia. The emperors of Russia, Germany and Austria meet at
Skierniewice, where they form the Three Emperors’ League for
the term of three years.

1885 The Afghans are defeated by General Komarov at Penjdeh.
The Trans-Caspian railway is begun.

1886 Contrary to Article 59 of the Treaty of Berlin, Batum is
transformed into a fortified naval port.

1887 A convention between England and Russia is signed for the
delimitation of the Russo-Afghan frontier. The Russian advance
in the direction of Herat is stopped.

1888 An army officer named Timoviev makes an attempt on the
czar’s life. The Trans-Caspian railway is completed. Samarkand
is linked with the Caspian. The imperial train is derailed at
Borki. The czar and his family escape injury.

1890 Three commissions are appointed to prepare plans for
assimilating the Finnish postal, monetary, and fiscal systems
with those of the empire.

1891 A French squadron under Admiral Gervais visits Kronstadt.
A succession of famines begins. An ukase is issued directing
the construction of a railway line which should connect the
European system with the Pacific coast. Work is commenced on
seven sections simultaneously.

1893 A Russian squadron under Admiral Avelan visits Toulon.

1894 A military convention, arranged by the military
authorities of Russia and France, is ratified. Death of
Alexander III and accession of =Nicholas II=.

1895 An Anglo-Russian convention is signed settling the
disputes as to the Pamirs. Russia, in conjunction with Germany
and France, forces Japan to revise the terms of the Treaty
of Shimonoseki by giving up the Liao-tung peninsula. Russia
obtains the right to carry the Siberian railway across Chinese
territory from Stretensk to Vladivostok, thus avoiding a long
detour, besides getting control of North Manchuria.

1896 Coronation of the czar at Moscow. Catastrophe on the
Khodinski plain. The emperor visits Germany, Austria, England,
and France.

1897 President Faure makes an official visit to St. Petersburg,
and the term “alliance” is for the first time used in the
complimentary speeches. Specie payment is established.

1898 Russia leases Port Arthur and Talienwan, and obtains leave
to carry a branch of the Trans-Siberian line through Manchuria
to the sea. An imperial decree declares that the powers of
the Finnish diet are to be limited to matters of strictly
local, not imperial, concern. General Bobrikov is appointed
Governor-general of Finland.

1899 During the Boxer uprising the Chinese authorities in
Manchuria declare war against Russia. The Russian authorities
retaliate with the massacre of Blagovestchensk. Russia assumes
the civil and military administration of Manchuria. Peace
Conference held at the Hague.

1900 The Bank of Persian Loans is founded by the Russian
government.

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

1901 The state monopoly in the manufacture and sale of spirits
is extended to the whole empire.

1903 Vice-Admiral Alexiev appointed as first Russian viceroy of
the Far East.

1904 Outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war.