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 Liitzen 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.
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.
By the Treaty of Vienna Alexander obtains all of Poland, except Galicia, Cracow, and Posen. Conclusion of the Holy Alliance.
Abolition of serfdom in Esthonia.
Abolition of serfdom in Courland.
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.
Establishment of military colonies in the border provinces of the north, west and south.
Death of Alexander. His brother Nicholas I succeeds him. Revolt of the Deka- brists.
War with Persia.
War with Turkey. The Turkish fleet is destroyed at Navarino by the combined fleets of England, France, and Russia.
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.
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.
The new code, a complete collection of the laws of the Russian Empire, is promulgated. Polish insurection. The Russians are compelled to evacuate the country.
Paskievitch takes Warsaw. The building of new Roman Catholic churches in Poland is prohibited.
Poland is incorporated with Russia. The constitution granted by Alexander is annulled, and Poland is divided into five governments.
By the Treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi Russia obtains additional rights to meddle in the internal affairs of Turkey.
A Russian expedition to the khanate of Khiva is compelled to return.
A Russian army is sent into Hungary. Capitulation of Gorgei at Villagos.
The Crimean War. The Russians occupy the Danubian principalities. Destruction of the Turkish fleet at Sinope.
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France and England join Turkey. Battle of the Alma. Siege of Sebastopol. Fall of Bomarsund.
Sardinia joins the allies. Battles of Balaklava, Inkerman, and Tchernaia. Fall of Sehastopol. Bombardment of Sveaborg. The Russians take Kars. Nicholas I dies. His son Alexander II succeeds him.
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.
General Muraviev signs the treaty of Aigun with the Chinese, by which Russia acquires the entire left bank of the Amur.
Capture of Schamyl.
Emancipation of the serfs.
Polish insurrection.
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.
Tashkend taken from the emir of Bokhara; organisation of the province of Turkestan.
Karakozov fires at the emperor at St. Petersburg.
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.
Samarkand taken from Bokhara.
Khiva is stormed by General Kauffman.
The Pontus Conference* held at London, abolishes paragraph 11 of the Paris treaty delimiting Russian fortifications and naval forces on the Black Sea.
The right bank of the Amu Daria (Jaxartes) is annexed and the rest of Khiva becomes a vassal state.
Universal compulsory military service is introduced. The vice-royalty of Poland is abolished, and its administrative fusion with Russia becomes complete.
Russia cedes to Japan the Kurile islands. Japan gives up its claims to the southern part of Sakhalin.
The khanate of Khokand is absorbed and transformed into the province of Ferghana.
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.
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.
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.
An attempt is made to blow up the Winter Palace. Loris-Melikov is placed at the head of a commission with dictatorial powers.
Assassination of the emperor. The Tekke-Turkomans are subjected by Skdbelev. Anti-Jewish riots in southern Russia.
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.
Alexander III is crowned at Moscow.
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.
The Afghans are defeated by General Komarov at Penjdeh. The Trans-Caspian railway is begun.
Contrary to Article 59 of the Treaty of Berlin, Batum is transformed into a fortified naval port.
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.
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.
Three commissions are appointed to prepare plans for assimilating the Finnish pos
tal, monetary, and fiscal systems with those of the empire.
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.
A Russian squadron under Admiral Avelan visits Toulon.
A military convention, arranged by the military authorities of Russia and France,
is ratified. Death of Alexander III and accession of Nicholas II.
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 Stre- tensk to Vladivostok, thus avoiding a long detour, besides getting control of North Manchuria.