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 RUSSIA 491 crowned as czar. But in the next year he lost crown and life in a conspiracy, and the Rus- sian grandees made the boyar Shuiski czar, who was crowned on June 1, 1606, as Basil V. Ivanovitch. Another pseudo Demetrius rose against him, and, supported by the Poles, ad- vanced victoriously toward Moscow. Basil sought and obtained an alliance with the Swedes, which induced Sigismund III. of Po- land to espouse openly the cause of the pseu- do Demetrius. The Swedish troops soon went over to the Poles, Moscow was forced to sur- render (1610), and the czar was taken pris- oner and died the next year in a Polish prison. Moscow was burned in 1611 by the Poles; who had been attacked there, and tens of thousands of the inhabitants were slaughtered ; but in 1612 the Poles were forced by Pozharski and other popular leaders to evacuate Russia. In the next year the Russians elevated to the throne Michael Feodorovitch Romanoff, the first czar of the present imperial family. He was a son of Feodor, archbishop of Rostov and afterward patriarch of Moscow under the name of Philaret, whose grandfather had been connected by marriage with the house of Ru- rik. Michael (1613-'45) concluded in 1617 a peace with Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and with the Poles, and devoted his whole energy to promoting the internal prosperity of his empire. Commerce, which had been entirely prostrate, was revived by treaties with Eng- land, France, Persia, and China; and the bor- ders of his Asiatic possessions were extended in 1639 to the Pacilic. Under his son Alexis (1645-'76) the Cossacks, who had risen under Chmielnicki against Poland, in 1654 acknowl- edged the sovereignty of the czar. A war with Poland ended with the restoration or annexa- tion to Russia of Tchernigov, Smolensk, Kiev, and the Ukraine. The reign of his son Feodor III. (1676-'82) was signalized by many impor- tant reforms. According to his last will, not his imbecile brother Ivan, the heir apparent, but his half brother Peter, whose eminent talents he seems to have anticipated, was to succeed him. But the sister of Ivan, Sophia, plotted a conspiracy, in consequence of which both Ivan and Peter were proclaimed czars, and she her- self obtained the regency of the empire. In 1689, however, Peter overthrew her rule, and shut her up for the remainder of her life in a convent. Ivan gladly abandoned his claim to the throne, which was now mounted by Peter, known in history as the Great. In a brief time he transformed the entire nation, though personally betraying barbarous impulses till his death. Russia became the most powerful empire of northern Europe, and henceforth regarded herself and was generally regarded as a leading member of the European family of states. In 1703 he founded a new capital, St. Petersburg, which soon became one of the richest cities of Europe. The victory over Charles XII. at Poltava (1709) destroyed the euperiority of Sweden, and in the peace of Nystad (1721) Peter incorporated Ingria, a part of Karelia, Esthonia, and Livonia with Russia. He was equally successful against Persia, which in 1723 ceded the provinces of Daghestan and other territories on the Caspian, with the towns of Baku and Derbent. His wife and successor, Catharine I. (l725-'7), guided and supported by two favorites of Peter, Menshi- koff and Buturlin, made likewise many impor- tant improvements. She increased the army and navy, diminished the taxes, and recalled the exiles from Siberia. She concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with Austria, and sent an ambassador to China to propose a commercial treaty. She was succeeded by Pe- ter II. (1727-'30), a grandson of Peter I., only 11 years old, during whose brief reign the princes Menshikoff and Dolgoruki successively controlled affairs. At his sudden death the crown devolved on Anna, the daughter of Ivan Alexeyevitch (half brother of Peter the Great), and widow of the duke of Courland. An attempt was made to force on her a " ca- pitulation," restricting the rights of the crown in favor of the boyars ; but Anna soon discard- ed the compact, exiled the princes Dolgoruki and Gallitzin, abolished the privy council, and reorganized the senate on an entirely new basis. The Kirghiz tribes in 1731 submitted to the protectorate of Russia, but the Persian prov- inces were lost. Under her reign the N. E. coast of Siberia and the Aleutian islands were discovered, and the incorporation of Siberia was completed. In the war of the Polish suc- cession Anna took sides with Augustus III., who promised to her favorite, Duke Biron, the duchy of Courland, then a Polish fief. The success of Augustus secured the Russian in- fluence in Polish affairs. In the war against Turkey, Moldavia was conquered by Munnich ; but when Austria concluded the unfavorable peace of Belgrade (1739), Russia also laid down her arms and gave up Moldavia. After Anna's death (1740), her grandnephew Ivan, only a few months old, was proclaimed czar under the regency of Duke Biron of Courland ; but he was soon dethroned by Elizabeth (l741-'62), the daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine I. In the first years of her reign Sweden was instigated by France to a war against Russia, which was terminated in 1743 by the peace of Abo, and secured to Russia the possession of some districts of Finland. In the seven years' war Elizabeth supported Austria, and the vic- tories of Gross-Jagerndorf and Kunersdorf, and even the defeat of Zorndorf, apprised Europe of the great improvements introduced into the Russian army. Under her reign the death pen- alty and the rack were abolished, but sentences of exile, and cruel punishments dictated by hef own resentment, were numerous. She estab- lished the academy of fine arts at St. Peters- burg, the first Russian university at Moscow (1755), two colleges, and several other impor- tant literary institutions. She was succeeded by Peter III., the son of her sister, formerly