The Story of Russia. R. Van Bergen
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R. Van Bergen
The Story of Russia
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066211745
Table of Contents
III—THE NORSEMEN (OR VARINGIANS) IN RUSSIA.
IV—SAINT VLADIMIR AND IAROSLAF THE GREAT.
VIII—RUSSIA UNDER THE MONGOL YOKE.
X—DECLINE OF THE TARTAR POWER.
XII—RUSSIA BECOMES AN AUTOCRACY.
XIV—RUSSIA UNDER IVAN THE TERRIBLE.
XV—FEODOR, THE LAST OF RURIK'S DESCENDANTS.
XVI—MICHAEL FEODOROVITCH OR MICHAEL, THE SON OF THEODORE, THE FIRST ROMANOF.
XVII—EARLY YEARS OF PETER THE GREAT (PETER ALEXIEVITCH) .
XVIII—PETER THE GREAT AND HIS REIGN.
XIX—PETER THE GREAT AND HIS TIME.
XX—THE SUCCESSORS OF PETER THE GREAT.
XXI—RUSSIA UNDER CATHERINE II (THE GREAT) .
XXII—RUSSIA DURING THE WARS OF NAPOLEON.
XXIV—ALEXANDER II, THE LIBERATOR.
XXV—GREAT EVENTS DURING ALEXANDER'S REIGN.
XXVI—ALEXANDER III, THE PEASANTS' FRIEND.
XXVII—RUSSIA UNDER THE PRESENT CZAR.
XXVIII—THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE ASIATIC EMPIRE.
XXIX—RUSSIAN METHODS. THE WAR WITH JAPAN.
XXX—RUSSIA LOSES HER PRESTIGE.
PREFACE.
Recent events have drawn the attention upon Russia, a country of which but little is known here, because the intercourse between it and the United States has been limited. In my frequent journeys to the Far East, I found it often difficult to comprehend events because, while I could not help perceiving that the impulse leading to them came from Russia, it was impossible to discover what prompted the government of the czar. I felt the necessity to study the history of Russia, and found it so fascinating, that I resolved to place it in a condensed form before the students in our schools. They must be the judges of how I have succeeded.
R. Van Bergen.
THE STORY OF RUSSIA.
I—THE REALM OF THE CZAR.
When we think of our country, we feel proud of it for other and better reasons than its great size. We know how its extent compares with that of other nations; we know that the United States covers an area almost equal to that of Europe, and, more favored than that Grand Division, is situated on the two great highways of commerce, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Europe is as far from the latter, as Asia is from the former; and these highways, powerful means toward creating prosperity, remain at the same time barriers whereby nations that find greater delight in the arts of war than in those of peace, are restrained from disturbing our national progress.
At the beginning of this twentieth century the nations upon which depends the world's peace or war, happiness or misfortune, are the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Russia, Japan, and in the near future China. Here we see that Europe, although little larger in area than the United States, is represented by seven nations, Asia by two, and the Western Hemisphere by one which by its institutions stands for peace and progress, for law and order. Hence we, its citizens, are known all over the world as Americans.
If we compare the area occupied by the several European