/Egtory.—Copious histories of Russia are numerous, those of Karamsin. Solovief (1851-77); Schnitzler (German trans]. 1875), being standard Russian works. More acces sible are Turgenief, La Russia (Par. 1847); Rambaud, IL:stoire de Russie (Par. 1878).— The population of the Russian empire is composed of various nationalities, lint the pre dominant one is the Slavonic (q.v.). The eastern Slaves, the ancestors of the Russians, were settled near the sources of the rivers Volkhof, Bug, Dniester, Dnieper, and Don, and consisted of several tribes whose chief towns were Novgorod and Kiel. Being much harassed by their warlike neighbors, and distracted by intestine dissensions, the Slaves of Novgorod and the neighboring Finnish tribes, in 862, sent ambassadors to "the Variags (Varangians, Normans) beyond the sea," inviting their chiefs to come and reign over them. Three brothers of the tribe, called by the old chroniclers Rurik (q.v.), Sine ous (Sind f), and Truvor, accepted the invitation, and at the head of a band of armed fol lowers (droujina) took possession of the territory of Novgorod. Oleg (879-912), who exercised authority as regent to Igor, Rurik's son, took Kief, and made it the capital of the embryo empire, subduing the neighboring tribes, and even successfully attacking the Bvzantines. Igor (912-945) did nothing of note, but his widow and successor, Olga (945-957). was a wise and able ruler. She was baptized in 955 by the patriarch of Con stantinople, and abdicated soon after in favor of her son Sriatoslaf (957-972), a warlike monarch and a pagan, who was treacherously murdered by a neighboring tribe with whom he was at war. On his death, the principality was divided among his three sons, and the quarrels usual in such cases followed, and continued till Vladimir 080-1015). the youngest son, became sole ruler. The Normans now definitively became amalgamated with the Slavonic race. Vladimir's reign is the "heroic" epoch of Russian history; and the glories of the court. and the valiant feats of the warriors of the "sunny prince Vla dimir," have been handed down through ages in legend and song. His successful wars extended the boundaries of Russia to lake Ilmen on the north, to the mouths of the Oka and of the Khoper (an affluent of the Don) on the east, to the falls of the Dnieper on the south, and to the sources of the Vistula on the west. He became a convert to the Greek faith, and in 988 was baptized with his followers; his example being shortly followed by the whole nation, for whose spiritual guidance and supervision a metropolitan was estab lished at Kief. He followed the evil example of his father in dividing his dominions, and after his death a civil war broke out among his four sons, in which Jaroslaf, prince of Novgorod, was ultimately (1036) successful. This prince did much to civilize his sub jects by building towns, founding schools, and especially by ordering the compilation of the first Russian code of laws (the "Rousskaia Pravda"). the most prominent item of which was the limitation of the right of family fend, a limitation which was changed into total abolition after his death in 1054, by his sons, who shared the principality among them. Each of these petty princes in turn divided his portion of territory among his sons, till the once great and united realm became an agglomeration of petty states quarreling with each other, undergoing absorption by a more powerful neighbor, or being redivided. This state of anarchy, confusion, and petty warfare dates from the death of Jaroslaf in 1054, and continued, more or less, till 1478. The principal among the subdivisions of Russia during this period were, according to Rus sian authorities, Sousdal, which occupied the upper and central parts of the basin of the Volga, and from which, in the beginning of the 13th c., sprang the principalities of Trer, llostof, and Vladimir; TeherniM and Seversk, which occupied the drainage area of the Dessna (an affluent of the Dnieper), stretching to near the sources of the Oka; Riazan and Jfurom, along the Oka basin and the sources of the Don; Potot8k, including the basins of the western Dwina and Beresina: Smolensk, occupying the upper parts of the basins of the western Dwina and Dnieper; Volhynia and Galieza, the first drained by the Pripet, the second lying on the n.c. slope of the Carpathian moun tains, which were united in 1198; iVorgorod, by far the largest of all, which occupied the immense tract bounded by the gulf of Finland, the lake Peipus, the upper parts of the Volga, the White sea, and the northern Dwina; and the grand-duchy opt Fief, which, from its being formerly the seat of the central power, exercised a sort of supremacy over the others. Novgorod, however, from its size and remoteness, as well as from certain privileges which had been granted to it by Jaroslaf, was almost independent of the grand-duchy. The citizens of Novgorod chose their own dukes, archbishops, and in general all their dignitaries, and proved the superiority of their sys tem of self-administration by increasing in power and wealth year by year. One of the chief factories of the great Hanseatic league was established in Novgorod in the 13th century. In fact, so great was its fame throughout Russia, as to give rise to the prov erb, "Who can resist God and the mighty Novgorod." The princes of these states had each his standing army, and were continually quarreling; but the people were less oppressed than would naturally be expected under such circumstances, on account of the establishment in each state of a "common council" or reehe, which exercised an important influence in state affairs, and without which the prince was almost powerless. This period was also marked by the gradual amalgamation of the different Slavic races into one, the present Russian race, a process doubtless aided by the universal dissemination of Christianity, which assimilated their various languages, manners, and customs. The chief of the grand dukes of Kief was Vladimir, surnamed " Monomachus" (1113-25), whom chroniclers are never tired of lauding as a model prince, and one whose authority was acknowledged almost as paternal by the princes of the other provinces. In 1103 the ruler of Vladimir took possession of Kief, and proclaimed himself grand duke. In 1222 the Mongol tide of invasion had swept westward to the Polotzes, a nomadic tribe who ranged over the steppes between the Black sea and the Don, and whose urgent prayers for aid were promptly complied with by the Russian princes; but in a great battle, fought (1223) on the banks of the Kalka (a tributary of the sea of Azof), the Russians were totally routed. The Mongols, as usual, did not follow up their victory; but twelve years afterward, Bata Khan, at the head of half a million of Kiptchak Mongols, conquered the e. of Russia, destroying Riazan. Moscow, Vladimir, and other towns. The heroic resistance of prince George of Vladimir cost the lives of himself and his whole army on the banks of the Siti. The Mongol conqueror's victorious career was, however, arrested by the impenetrable forests and treacherous marshes to the s. of Novgorod, and he was forced to return to the Volga. In 1240 he ravaged the s.w.,. destroying Tchernigof, Galich, and Kief; ravaged Poland and Hungary, defeating the Poles at Wahlstatt, and the Hungarians at Salo; but being checked in Moravia, and receiving at the same time the news of the kliagan's death, lie retired to Saral on the Alibtuba (a tributary of the Volga), which became the capital of the great klianate of Kiptchak. Thither the Rus sian princes repaired to swear allegiance to the khan, and take part in the humiliating, ceremonies which the barbarous conqueror exacted from his tributaries. The taxes of Russia were farmed out by the khan to contractors, who were generally oriental mer chants, and they were collected by the aid, when necessa7. of the khan's soldiers. But in later times (during the most of the 14th and 15th centuries), when the fiery energy of the Mongols was on the decline, the taxes were collected by the Russian princes and sent to Saral. The Mongol invasion had an evil influence on the political, social, and moral life of Russia; it totally destroyed the elements of self-government, which had already attained a considerable degree of development, arrested the progress of inciustry, litera ture, and the other elements of civilization, and threw the country more than 200 years behind the other states of Europe. The principalities of Kief and Tchernigof never recovered this crushing blow, and the seat of the metropolitan was removed to Vladimir. Their decline, however, made room for the rise of Galich to pre-eminence in Western Russia, and under the rule of a series of wise princes it preserved greater independence than any of the Russian principalities, till, in the latter half of the 13th c., it was taken possession of by Kasimir III. of Poland; and about the same time Volhynia was joined to the grand-duchy of Lithuania. The rise of this latter state was much favored by the prostration to which the Russian princes were reduced by the Mongol invasion, and after a flourishing existence of several centuries, during which it exteucied in power, so as to include Livonia proper, and the Russian provinces of White Russia, Volhynia, Podolia, and the Ukraine, it was joined in 1569 to Poland. On the n. of Lithuania arose in the beginning of the 13th c. another power, the Livonian Knights Sword bearers, who took possession of Livonia, Cott/land, and Esthonia, as well as some portions of the territory of Novgorod and Pskov. The grand-ducal title passed after the Mongol invasion from lirief to Novgorod, and afterward to Vladimir, where the celebrated Alexander Ncwski (q. v,) (1252-63) swayed the scepter. In the beginning of the 14th c., Eastern Russia con sisted of the principalities of Sousdal, Nijni-Novgorod, Tver, Riazan, and Moscow, and long and bloody contests took place between the two most powerful of these. Tver and Moscow, for the supremacy. At last, under the guidance of lean Kalita (1328-10), the founder of the system of administrative centralization which prevailed down to the time of Peter the great, Moscow became the chief grand-duchy. This result was due to vari ous causes, of which the central position of Moscow, the prevalence there of the law of primogeniture, the favor of the Mongol khan, the sympathy of the church, whose head the metropolitan had removed thither from Vladimir in 1325, and the weakness of most of the other princes, were the chief. Ivan's son and successor, Simeon the Proud (1340 /u0), followed in his father's footsteps, as did also the regency which administered the government during the reign of the weak-minded Icon II. (1353-59), and the minority of his son, Dmitri (1359-89). Dmitri conquered Nijni-Novgorod, carried on war with success against Tver and Riazan, and profited by the weakness of the Mon gol khanate, which was now divided into the four hordes of Nagaisk, Crimea, Kazan, and Astrakhan, to make the first attempt to shake off the shameful yoke under which the Russians had groaned so long. His brilliant victory over the Khan Martial on the banks of the Don (1380), which conferred on him the epithet of Donskoi, was the first step to liberation; but the succeeding khan, in revenge, burned Moscow, exacted a heavy tribute from the people, and riveted their bonds more firmly than ever. Vassili I. 11389-1425) obtained possession of the principality of Nijni-Novgorod with the full con Sent of the khan, and conquered Rostof and Murom. During his reign Russia was twice Invaded by the Tartars, first under Timur, and again under Ertel, and was at the same time attacked by the Livonians. Vassili II. Me Rind (1425-62) reigned during a period marked with continual civil wars among the various princes for the grand ducal throne; but from this period the division of power in eastern Russia rapidly dis appeared, internal troubles ceased, and the reunited realm acquired from union the power of casting off the Tartar yoke. These results were achieved by Iran III. (1462-1505), surnamed "the great," who availed himself of every opportunity for abolishing the petty principalities which owed him allegiance as grand-duke, and maneuvered so skillfully, that some of the princes voluntarily surrendered their rights, others bequeathed their lands to him; while others, as the prince of Tver, were reduced by force of arms. The heaviest task of all, however, was the reduction of Novgorod, but so vigorously did Ivan carry out his schemes, that in 1478 this last of the great prin cipalities was added to his empir3 He then took advantage of the dissensions between Achmet, khan of the Golden Horde, and Mengli-Glierar, khan of the Crimean Horde, to deliver Russia from its state of servitude by uniting with the latter; their combined arms destroying the power of the former in 1480; and the kingdom of Astrakhan, which rose on its ruins, was wholly unable to cope with the now powerful monarchy Ile next turned his attention to the western provinces, which had formerly belonged to the descendants of St. Vladimir, but were now in the hands of the Lithuanians, under whom the adherents of the Greek church were bitterly oppressed by the Catholics, and accord ingly hailed the advance of Ivan's army as a deliverance from persecution. The battle which followed was in favor of the Russians, but was productive of no results of any importance. Ivan married (1472) Sophia, a niece of Constantine Palreologus, the last Byzantine emperor, and introduced the arts of civilization through the medium of archi tects, founders, coiners, miners. etc., whom he brought from Italy, and the result of whose labors is seen in the Kremlin, and the cathedral of the Assumption (Ouspenski Sobor). He also fortified many towns, introduced to his court the splendor of Byzantium, assumed the title of czar of all the Russias, adopted the arms of the Greek empire, and united the existing edicts into a body of laws, the Soudebnik. Vasdi III. (1505-33) followed closely his father's policy, made war upon the Lithuanians, from whom lie took Smolensk, and incorporated with his dominions the remainder of the small tributary principalities. His son, Iran IV. (1533-84). known afterward as "the terrible," became monarch at the age of three years, and the country during his long minority was distracted by the contentions of factious bojars who strove for power. Fortunately, however, on his attaining his majority in 1547, he found two wise and prudent counselors, Sylvestre and Adaseheff, who, along with his queen, Anastasia Rornanoff (see RomAtcoFF), exercised over him a most beneficent influence. The interior administration was remodeled, the " soudebnik" of his grandfather was reformed and amended, the streltzi, the first standing army in Russia, were established, and printing introduced. His arms were everywhere victorious; the strong'y fortified city of Kazan was captured in 1552, and the kingdom of which it was the eaoital was annexed to his empire, and the kingdom of Astrakhan shared the same fate soon after. The marauding Tartars of the Crimea were held in check, and the knights sword-bearers attacked and driven from Livonia and Esthonia. About this time a remarkable change came over Ivan's character, which seems to have been in some way connected with the death of his wife, Anastasia. He became suspicious of every one, believed himself surrounded with traitors, banished his two counselors, Sylvestre and Adascheff, and persecuted the bojars, many of whom perished on the scaffold, while others fled to foreign countries. His insane rage fell upon whole towns; thousands of people were destroyed in Tver, Novgorod, and Mos• cow; and, finally, he murdered his eldest son. Stephen Bathory, king of Poland, mean time wrested Livonia from him, and the Crim-Tartars made an irruption northward, and burned Moscow. It was during the reign of this monarch that western Siberia was conquered for Russia by the Cossack Ermak. See SIBERIA. His son, Feodor (1584 98), was a feeble prince, who intrusted his brother-in-law, Boris Godounof, with the management of affairs. Godounof was a man of rare ability and intellect, and proved himself an able administrator. The Russian dominion in Siberia was consolidated, numer ous towns and fortresses were erected in the s. as barriers against the Crim-Tartars,
the Greek church in Russia was declared independent of the patriarch of ConsLintinople. Feodor was the last reigning monarch of the house of Rurik, for he died childless, and his only brother, Dmitri, was murdered in 1591 by order of Godommf, according to popular rumor. After the death of Feodor, representatives of all classes were convoked at Moscow to elect a new sovereign, and their choice fell on Godounof (1598-1604). The mysterious death of prince Dmitri favored the appearance of pretenders to his name and rank, the first of whom, a supposed monk of the name of Gregory Otrepieff (see D Elm ETMUS), was defeated by Godonnoff, but on the sudden death of the latter he was crowned in 160:5. A revolt, headed by prince Vassili Shouisky (1606-10) soon broke out, the czar was murdered, and Shouisky elevated to the vacant throne. But a second false Dmitri now appeared, and Sigismund of Poland, taking advantage of the confusion thus produced, invaded Russia, proclaimed his son tiladislaf czar, and took possession of Moscow (1610), carrying away the czar to die in a Polish At the same time hordes of Tartars, predatory bands of Poles, and gangs of robbers devastated the prov inces, and the wretched country was reduced almost to the verge of complete disorgan ization. But the clergy nobly stood forth to save the state from ruin, and Minin, a common citizen of Nijni-Novgorod, so worked up the feelings of his fellow citizens that they volunteered for military service, and chose as their leader the prince Pojarsky, a man of distinguished valor. Pojarsky retook the capital, drove the Poles out of Russia, and convoked an assembly of representatives, who unanimously chose.for their czar Michael Feodorovitelt Rontanoff (1613-45). See RONIANOFF. The first care of the new mon arch was to put an end to the revolt of the Don Cossacks, who had set up the sou of the first false Dtnitri as czar, and to the depredations of the robber-gangs in the s.w. of Rus sia. In 1617 he concluded a treaty with Sweden, by virtue of which that power received the coasts of the gulf of Finland and a considerable pecuniary indemnity in considera tion of Philip, the brother of the Swedish monarch, renouncing his claims to the Mus covite throne. In 1618 and 1634 he purchased peace from the Poles at the cost of Smolensk and a portion of Seversk. Having thus freed himself from all danger of for eign interference, he directed his attention to the internal administration, which, espe cially the courts of justice, was reduced to a deplorable condition; and to aid him in this necessary task, lie summoned a general council of representatives at Moscow. Alm?: (1645-76), his son and successor, being a minor, the nobles seized the opportunity of increasing their power and exercising oppression and extortion over their inferiors, till rebellions broke out in various districts. Other causes of discontent were the heavi ness of the taxes, the oppression of the serfs, the depreciation of the currency, which was changed from silver to copper, and the secession from the Russian Greek church of those who disapproved of the changes and corrections in the books and liturgy of the church introduced by the patriarch Nikon. These malcontents were accordingly persecuted, and fled, some to the n. of Russia, and others to the Ukraine, where they founded many colonies, and still exist apart under the name of " Old Ritualists" (Stare obriadzy). A general council, which was now convoked to deliberate on the best means of restoring peace to the country, revised the existing laws, and composed (1649) a new code—the " Sobornoe Ulajenie," which granted to every subject the right of direct appeal to the czar. Tolls on the highways were abolished, the English and other foreign merchants were deprived of their privilege of free-trade with Russia, and the silver cur. reney reintroduced. The chief events in foreign policy were the acquisition of Little Russia, by the voluntary submission of the Cossacks (see POLAND); a consequent war with Poland, in which Russia acquired Smolensk and the greater part of White Russia; and a war with Turkey, which continued till after the accession of Feodor (1676-82), when it was terminated (1681) by the treaty of Baklitchisarai, by which Turkey gave up all claims to Little Russia. After Feodor's death, the general council of the land. in accordance with his last wishes and their own predilections, chose his half-brother Peter as czar, but his half-sister Sophia, an able and ambitious princess (see PETER THE GREAT) succeeded in obtaining the reins of power as princess-regent. She concluded peace with Poland in 1686, made two unsuccessful campaigns against the Tartars of the Crimea; and after an attempt to deprive Peter of his right to the throne. and failing this, to assassinate himself and his mother, she was forced to resign all power and retire to a convent. All her accomplices were executed; and PETER (1689-172,1) ascended the throne as sole ruler, his half-brother Ivan being allowed to retain the title of czar conjointly, and to appear as such at public ceremonies, but without any real authority. In order more fully to discover the importance of the changes wrought by Peter in Russia, a brief retrospect of its social and political condition at the date of his accession is necessary. At the head of government stood the czar with absolute power in admin istrative, judicial, and military affairs. In the exercise of authority he was aided by his council, the " Bojarskaia bouma," and in cases of extreme need by a general coun cil of representatives of the people, which latter, however, possessed only a right of deliberation. The criminal code was cruel in the extreme. Of the standing army the streltzi only deserved the name. The population were divided into two great classes, the bar or nobles, who were bound to render service for their estates, and the burghus or industrial and trading classes, and sole, who were bound to the soil. The clergy exercised great influence over all classes, possessed offices in the " douma," and exercised political functions. Agriculture was at a low ebb, and the few manufactories and indus trial establishments were in the hands of foreigners. Civilization and learning, which had been introduced during the confederative period, had never recovered the shock they had received from the Mongol invasion, but in later times they entered Russia through the connection of Novgorod with the Haase league, and from intercourse with Poland, though they never reached the rural population or the lower classes. The edu cation even of the higher classes was limited to reading and writing, and the first school for classics and theology only made its appearance during Feodor's reign. Fine arts were limited to architecture and painting (of sacred subjects) after the Byzantine school. The first newspaper appeared (in Moscow) and the first theater was established during the reign of Alexis. The degraded condition of civilization and the oriental influence of the Mongols left powerful traces on thd domestic manners and habits of the Russians, among which was the despotic authority of the father over his household, and the low position of women in domestic life; those of the lower ranks being made mere slaves, while those of higher rank were completely excluded from social intercourse with the other sex, and were condemned to pass a dull and dreary existence in their " terems." Marriages were concluded by the parents without the consent of the bride and bride groom.
The history of Russia during Peter L's reign is merely a biography of that monarch, and under his name is given a brief sketch of the numerous and important improve ments effected by him in the government and civilization of his subjects. It must, how ever, be noted, that in the carrying out of his well-meant schemes, he seldom con sulted the national character of his people, or the natural conditions of the country; and consequently, when the irresistible pressure of his high intellect and indomitable will was withdrawn, it was found that, in great part, the civilization which he had forced upon his subjects was but skin-deep. In accordance with the terms of his will, his second wife, Catharine I. (q.v.) (1725-27), succeeded him, though the old or anti-im provement part of the nobility supported the claims of the only son of the unfortunate Alexei (q.v.), Peter IL (q.v.) (1727-30), who soon after obtained the imperial throne. The reigns of both of these sovereigns were occupied with court quarrels and intrigues, Menchikow (q.v.) during the former, aui. Dolgorouki during the latter, being the real rulers. On the death of Peter II., the privy council, setting aside the other descendants of Peter I., conferred the crown on Anna (q.v.), duchess of Courland, the daughter of Ivan. Her reign (1730-40) was marked by the predominance of the German party at court, who, unchecked by the weak sovereign, treated Russia as a great emporium of plunder, and the Russians as barbarians (see Bistox). Under their influence, Russia restored to Persia her lost Caspian provinces, and was led into a war with Turkey, which was productive of nothing but an immense loss of men and money. Her suc cessor was lean (1740-41), the son of her niece, the duchess of Brunswick, Anna Carlovna (q.v.); but he was speedily dethroned by Elizabeth (q.v.) (1741-62), the daughter of Peter who deprived the German party of the influence it had so shame fully abused, restored the senate to the power with which it had been intrusted by Peter the great, established a regular system of recruiting, abolished tolls, and increased the duties on imports. During her reign, French influence was paramount, and the language of that nation supplanted German at court. Russia gained by the treaty of Abo (1743) a portion of Finland, and took part in the seven years' war (q.v.). Elizabeth's nephew and successor, Peter III. (q.v.) (1762-62), put a stop to all inter ference with the quarrels of western Europe, and introduced some commendable ameliorations of the oppressive enactments of his predecessors; but he was speedily dethroned by his able and unscrupulous consort, who, as Catharine II. (q.v.) (1762-96), ascended the throne, and proved herself the greatest sovereign of Russia after Peter I. Her successful wars with Turkey, Persia, Sweden, and Poland largely extended the limits of the empire; and while by her foreign policy protecting her subjects from external inva sion, she as little forgot the necessity for internal reforms. The laws and administrative arrangements were revised, and the empire was divided into governments (an arrange ment which, with very slight modification, still subsists), each government being under &separate administration, both as to matters of polity and justice. Her son and suc cessor, Paul 1. (q.v.) (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 Britain, when his assassination took place. He gave freedom of worship to the " Old Ritualists," which till this time had been withheld; but he also established a severe censorship of the press, prohibited the introduction of foreign publications, and organized a secret police. His eldest son, I. (q.v.) (1801-25), was at the outset desirous of peace, but was soon drawn into the vortex of the great straggle with France, in which be played a prominent, although at one period an inconsistent part, and raised Russia to the first rank among European states. The character of his rule and the internal improvements he effected are sketched under his name; and an outline of the warlike operations is given in the article The holy alliance (q.v.) and the example of conservative policy set by Austria, exercised a pernicious influence on the latter 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, it'icholos I. (q.v.) (1825-55), from whom they had nothing to hope, succeeded, they broke out into open rebellion, which was speedily crushed. A full stop was now put to the rapid advance of Russia's prosperity; wars were declared with Persia and Turkey; and a long and deadly struggle commenced with the Caucasian mountaineers—all for the ill-concealed object of extending Russian domination; and the cession of Erivan and Nahituvan by Persia, of the plain of the Kuban, of the protec torate of the Danubian principalities, and of the free right of navigation of the Black sea, the Dardanelles, and the Danube by Turkey, only whetted his appetite for more spoil. In 1830 lie converted Poland (q.v.) into a Russian province; in 1849 he officiously aided Austria iu quelling the insurrection of the Magyars; and in 1853 his almost irre sistible craving for more territory led him (being, in all probability, under the impression that Turkey would stand alone, as she had always done hitherto) into the Crimean war, in which, though the allies, Britain, France, and Sardine, did not obtain any decided success, Russia suffered immense loss of military prestige on the Danube, at Silistria, the Alma, and before Sebastopol, and was almost drained of her vast resources of men and money. The accession of Nicholas's son, Alexander IL (1855)—one of whose first acts was the conclusion of the peace of Paris (1856), by which Russia lost the right of navh,mtion on the Danube, a strip of territory to the n. of that river, and the unrestricted navigation of the Black sea—has been the signal for the revival of those schemes of reform which had been crushed so despotically by the late czar. Alexander's first great reform was the abolition of serfdom, which created 14 millions of new free citizens. Corporal punishment, and the farming-system of the indirect taxes, were also abolished; and the judicial power was separated from the administrative, and founded on trial by jury. The insurrection in Poland (q.v.), in 1863-64, 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 Cau casus was completed in 1859. Successive expeditions, the last of which were those against Kifiva and Khokan, have resulted in the establishment of Russian supremacy over all the states of Turkestan. In 1876, on the death of the governor-general of the Baltic provinces, their administration was merged in that of the central government. Russia in 1870 intimated that she no longer felt bound by certain conditions of the treaty of 1856, and in a conference at London in 1871 her claims were admitted. The misgovern ment of her Christian subjects by Turkey, and her cruel suppression of incipient rebel lion in Bulgaria in 1876, led to a conference of the European powers at Constantinople. Turkey rejected the proposals made by the conference with a view to the better admin istration of the subject provinces; and Russia, to enforce these concessions on Turkey, declared war in April, 1877. At first the Russian progress wa rapid; but the energy displayed by the Turks during the summer compelled the invaders largely to augment their forces both in Bulgaria and in Armenia. The chief events in the war were the desperate but unsuccessful attempts to expel the Russians from the Shipka pass in the Balkans, the fall of Kars in November, the resolute defense of Plevna by Osman pasha from July till December, and the capture of the Turkish army of the Shipka in January. The armistice signed in Jan., 1878, was followed in March by the of San Stefano; and after diplomatic difficulties that seemed for a time not unlikely to issue in war between Russia and England, a congress of the great powers met at Berlin in June, 1878, sanctioned the rearrangement of the Ottoman empire explained under the article TURKEY, and the cession to Russia of the part of Bessarabia given to Moldavia in 1856, as also of the port of Batum, of Kars, and of Ardahan.