Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/420

* RUSSIA. 380 BtrssiA. France and Great Britain, later joined by Sar- dinia, interfered, and the Crimea became the thiMl're of a bloody conllict. Sebastopol fell in f^epteniber, 1853, six months after the dealli of Nicholas. The Treaty of Paris closed Ihe struggle in 185(5. Kiissia was compelled to part with a strip of Bessarabia, the Black Sea was nmitral- ized, and the Kussian protectorate over the Danu- bian principalities was abolished. See Crimean War; Eastekn Question. The accession of the son of Nicholas, Alexander 11. (1855-81), introduced a new era of internal reforms. The abolition of serfdom in lS(il eiented more than twenty millions of freemen, whom a system of State loans enabled to secure small farms on an installment plan of payment. Corporal pun- ishment and t lie farming of the taxesi were abolished. There were nominal reforms in the judiciary, separating judicial from administrative functions, but in fact this has not worked successfully. In the face of revolutionary agitation (see Niiiillsm) the earlier reform tendencies of this reign gave way to a reactionary policy. The last Polish in- surrection broke out in 1863 and was suppressed with extreme severity. By a succession of ukases the Kingdom of Poland was in the course of a few years incorporated in the Russian Empire. (See Poland.) The administration of the Bal- tic Provinces was assimilated to that of the rest of the empire. Vast accessions were made to the dominions of Russia. In 1858 the Amur Land was formally made over to the Czar by China. The subjugation of the Caucasus was completed between 1850 and 1864. The establishment of Russian supremacj- in Central Asia, which was begun under Peter the Great, was completed in this reign. In 1868 Samarkand was occupied and the Khan of Bokhara became a vassal of Russia. In 1873 Khiva became a subject State. In 1876 Khokand (Ferghana) was annexed. Skobeleff'a capture of the Tekke fortress of Geok-Tepe in 1881 practically completed the conquest of the trans-Caspian country. Since that time Russia has been steadily organizing these provinces and providing for their settlement and strategic de- velopment by her great railway system. Russia had always been restive under the provision of the Treaty of Paris relating to the navigation of the Black Sea, and in 1870, upon the fall of the Emperor Napoleon III., who had been the chief sponsor for the treaty, the Russian Government intimated that it felt no longer bound by the provisions of the treaty. At the London con- ference of 1871 this claim was admitted by the powers. This was the beginning of a resump- tion of the aggressive attitude toward Turkey. The Porte's malti-eatment of its Christian sub- jects and the Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria (q.v. ) in 1876 led to a conference of the powers at Constantinople. This confei'ence made certain proposals looking toward a reform in the Turk- ish administrati<in. Upon the rejection of these proposals by Turkey Russia undertook to enforce them, and in April, 1877, declared Mar. The war was conducted with great energy by Russia, and ill January, 1878, the Russian forces were in the vicinity of Constantinople. The war was closed ■ by the Treaty of San Stefano (March 3, 1878), which was materially modified by the interven- tion of the powers through the Congress of Ber- lin. (See Rus.so-TtiRKisH Wae; Berlin, Con- gress OF.) In 1867 Russia gave up her vast pos- sessions in Arctic America, transferring Alaska by sale to the United States. There had for some time been increasing discontent among the people tending toward revolution. Niliilism only increased in con- sequence of the Government's repressive meas- ures. There were numerous outbreaks, but in 1880 Alexander seemed to have returned in a measure to his earlier liberalism. The secret police was abolished, and Loris-Melikofl' (q.v.), in whom there was general confidence, was ap- ])ninted as Chief Minister with extraordinary powers. This seemed for a time to quiet tlie disorders, and as it was known that marked re- forms were to be projX)sed. it was confidently hojied that agitation would cease altogether, but on March 13, 1881, the Emperor, while on his way to the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, was killed by the explosion of a bomb thrown by one of a group of revolutionary conspirators. Alexander III. (1881-94), influenced no doubt by the reaction due to his father's assassination, took for his advisers the leaders of the extreme Russian and autocratic party. His policy was one of peace in Europe, though the advance of Russia in Central Asia continued to arouse concern in England. The acquisition of Merv in 1884 brought Russia close to Herat, the key to Af- ghanistan, the Buffer State of British India. For a moment, in 1885, war between Russia and England seemed imminent, but the difficulties were settled by the appointment of a joint com- mission, which adjusted the Afghan Ijoundary. In 1891 the construction of the trans-Siberian rail- way was begun. Since 1887 close relations with France have been established and maintained, as an offset to the Triple Alliance of Austria. Ger- many, and Italy. The anti-Semitic agitation which began to afl'ect Europe about 1880 started in Russia a legal and extra-legal persecution of the Jews, which has been continued, and modi- fied only when its severity has brought forth protests from the other civilized peoples that could not be ignored. The Jews are confined by law to the Pale of Settlement, a belt ex- tending from the Baltic to the Black Sea, chiefly through the Polish and adjoining prov- inces. Successive acts have expelled them from other parts of the empire, and they can only live outside the Pale by special privilege. Prohibited from acquiring real property, and thus prevented from Iiecoming farmers, the Jews were forced to crowd into the towns, where they became artisans or engaged in mercantile pursuits. Great masses of them, unable to do anything in any of the fields left open to them, sank into poverty. With legal restrictions have come physical persecutions, at different times taking the form of riot and massacre. The most notable instance of this kind occurred in May, 1003, at Kishinev, the capital of the Government of Bessarabia, when more than fiftv Jews were killed and the hospitals were filled with the wounded. Alexander III. died November 1. 1804. and was succeeded by his son. Nicholas II. (q.v,). As Czarevitch. Nicholas had traveled in the Far East and through Siberia and acquired a better knowledge than any of his predecessors of the needs and possibilities of those regions. In his ^ reign the development of Asiatic Russia by rail- ways has been pushed steadily forward. After the intervention of Russia, with the other powers,