fleet under Rojestvensky sailed to Madagascar, welcome to whatever aid
the French ally could bestow. Japan said nothing, but made a note of
it. She cleaned and scraped her sea-worn, battle-scarred vessels,
under the supervision of grim, silent Togo. Oyama, the Japanese
commander-in-chief, reënforced by the veterans of Kuroki and Nogi, was
playing with Kuropatkin until he had the game in his hand. After (p. 282)
ten days of hard fighting, the discomfited Russians made a masterly
retreat to the Sha river, after evacuating Mukden, the cradle of the
present Chinese dynasty, (August 26-September 4, 1904.)
Kuropatkin deserved credit for the manner in which he extricated the
remains of the czar's army. Oyama did not feel safe in following up
the pursuit. His game was that of a skillful chess player. First make
sure of the result with mathematical precision, then strike. The
Japanese were deaf to the demand for brilliant dashes.
After the battle of Liao-yang, the armies seemed idle so far as news
from the front went. Oyama attacked his former antagonist on the
Shakhe River and drove the discomfited Russians beyond Tie pass.
General Kuropatkin was superseded by his former subordinate Liniévitch
who, however, accomplished nothing to warrant his promotion.
Meanwhile the Baltic fleet left the hospitable shores of Madagascar,
proclaiming its search for Togo, together with the determination to
punish the impertinent Japanese. In the latter part of May, 1905,
Admiral Rojestvensky made a dash for Vladivostok through the Tsu
channel, the southern entrance to the Sea of Japan. Togo intercepted
him, and a battle followed which, in its results, stands unique in the
history of naval warfare. At a cost of three torpedo boats, 113 killed,
and 444 wounded, the Japanese sank 6 Russian battleships, 1 coast
defense vessel, 3 special service boats, and 3 destroyers, besides
capturing 2 battleships, 2 coast defense vessels, and 1 destroyer, The
losses in killed were 8,550 and over 3,000 prisoners, among them (p. 283)
Admirals Rojestvensky and Nebogatoff, were taken to Japan. As a result
of this one-sided battle, Russia's naval power is broken. (May 27-28,
1905.)
While President Theodore Roosevelt seized this opportunity to approach
the belligerents in favor of peace, pointing out the hopelessness of
continuing the struggle to Russia and appealing to Japan's
magnanimity, the world was startled by the revolt of the Kniaz
Potemkin, a first-class battleship of the Black Sea squadron. The
mutineers found no support, and what might have proved a serious
danger to the house of Romanoff, ended by the ship being sunk in
Roumanian waters. She was recovered by the Russians.
President Roosevelt's efforts toward bringing the two powers together,
proved successful. Washington was agreed upon as the place for the
negotiations, but the plenipotentiaries, Sergius Witte and Baron de
Rosen acting for Russia, met Baron Komura and Minister Takahira, who
represented Japan, at Portsmouth, N. H., where the United States acted
as host.
The incompatibility of Japan's demands and Russia's concessions on
several occasions brought the plenipotentiaries on the verge of
rupture. With the single-mindedness born of an unselfish purpose,
President Roosevelt exerted all the personal influence he could bring
to bear upon czar and emperor with the result that the victor gave the
world an astounding lesson in magnanimity. Japan made peace possible
by withdrawing her demands for indemnity and the cession of territory
beyond that of which Russia had robbed her,--the southern half of the
island of Sakhalin, which will be once more Karafuto for the (p. 284)
Japanese.
The terms of the Treaty of Peace were agreed upon at Portsmouth on the
29th of August 1905. The war had lasted from the 5th of February,
1904, or 572 days. Russia paid in men 375,000, in money
$1,075,000,000,--all for peaceful absorption and support of prestige.
Cassini's shrewd move, ten years before, in robbing Japan of the
Liaotung Peninsula and Port Arthur, has ended in Japan's obtaining
possession of that key to Peking, with the promise of holding it
beyond the possibility of recapture, until China recovers its manhood.
The Treaty of Peace was signed September 5, at Portsmouth, N. H.
What will be the effect of the war upon the Russian people? While the
plenipotentiaries were discussing the terms of peace, autocracy
launched a ukase calling for a consultative assembly. Russian
thinkers, however, reflect that, so long as autocracy exists and the
tchinovnik admit no other authority but that of the czar, another
ukase may revoke the doubtful boon.
No one knows what the morrow will bring, either to us or to the Slav.
Yet it seems absurd to suppose that, after the lessons of corruption
and incompetence of the present government, the educated Russians will
remain quiescent while the great empire continues on its downward
course. Mediævalism has come into contact with the spirit of the
twentieth century, and has been found wanting. It seems as if the dawn
of a new era for Russia is at hand.
INDEX. (p. 285)
A
Abdul Aziz, 231.
Abdul Hamid, 232.
Alexander I, the Well-beloved, 197.
Alexander II, the Liberator, 218.
Alexander III, the Peasants' Friend, 241.
Alexander of Battenberg, 246.
Alexander Nevski, 60, 69.
Alexis Michaelovitch, 141.
Alexis, son of Peter the Great, 170.
Andrew Bogolioubski, 54.
Anne Ivanovna, Czarina, 175.
Area of Russia, 14.
Armenians, 255.
Askold, 30.
B
Baskak, Tartar tax collector, 71.
Bati, Khan of the Golden Horde, 65.
Battle of the Oka, 102.
Boundaries of Russia, 15.
Boyard, noble, 56.
Byzantium, former name of Constantinople.
C
Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great, 169, 171, 173.
Catherine II, the Great, 183.
Caucasus, The 264.
Chouïski, Andrew, 112.
Chouïski, Czar, 134.
Christianity, 36, 42.
Climate of Russia, 18.
Constantine, 58.
Council of Florence, attempt to unite the Roman and Greek Churches, 60.
Crimea The, annexed, 190.
Crimean War, 215.
Cyril, 36.
Czar, king, 112.
Czargrad, city of the king.
Czarina, wife of the czar.
D
Dagh Bog the sun god, 20.
Diak, secretary, 107.
Dir, 30.
Dmitri Donskoï, 87.
Dnieper, 20.
Donskoï, of the Don, surname of Dmitri, 91.
Douma, council of nobles, 131.
Drujina, body-guard, 32.
Düna, 20.
Dvor, inclosure, 27.
Dwina, 20.
E
Eikon, image of a saint, 44, 55.
Elizabeth, Queen of England, 118.
Elizabeth, Czarina, 178.
F
Feodor (Theodore), Son of Ivan the Terrible, 129.
Feodor Alexievitch, 144.
Finland, 26.
Finns, 26.
Frederick the Great, 188.
G
Galitch, Southwest Russia, 61.
Gedimin, 80.
Genghis Khan, 64.
George Dolgorouki, 51.
George, Grand Duke of Moscow, 83.
Godounof, Boris, Czar, 129.
Gosti, guest, Russian for merchant, 124.
Goubernii, Government or province, 226.
Greece, independence of, 209.
Greek Church, 42.
Gustavus Wasa, 119.
H
Hetman, chief of Cossacks.
I
Iarlikh, patent or written authorisation from the khan, 73.
Iaropolk, 41.
Iaroslaf II, 44.
Igor, son of Rurik, 30, 32.
Iouri, George, 111.
Isiaslaf, 50.
Ivan Kalita, 85.
Ivan II, 88.
Ivan III, the Great, 97.
Ivan IV, the Terrible, 111.
Ivan Alexievitch, 145.
Ivan Ivanovitch, 177.
J
Jagellon, 80.
Jews, persecution of the, 242.
K
Kalita, alms-bag, 87.
Kazan, 119.
Khanates, the, 265.
Kholop, slave, 123.
Kief, 41.
Kirghiz Steppe, 264.
Kniaz, duke, defender, prince, 30, 45.
Kosciusko, Thaddeus, 191.
Kostroma, 19.
Kublaï Khan, 68.
Krestianine, true Christian, surname given to the peasants during
the Tartar yoke.
L
Leo the Deacon, historian, 37, 39.
M
Mangou, grandson of Genghis Khan, 67.
Mazeppa, 147, 158.
Methodius, 36.
Metropolitan, Head of the Greek Church, 56.
Michael, Grand Duke of Tver, 75.
Michael, first czar of the present dynasty, 135.
Mindvog, 79.
Minine, Kouzma, a Russian patriot, 134.
Mir, communal village, 27.
Moscow, Burning of, 202.
Moujik, lit. Manikin, contemptuous word for peasant, 34.
Mstislaf the Bold, 58.
Mstislaf the Brave, 55.
Murad V, 231.
Muravieff Amoorsky, 267.
N
Namiestnik, ducal delegate, 106.
Napoleon I, 197.
Napoleon III, 213, 229.
Nicholas I, 207.
Nicholas II, 251.
Nicon, Reformer, 144.
Nihilism, 234.
Nestor, Russian historian, 29, 32.
Novgorod, Republic of, 29, 97.
O
Oktaï, khan, 69.
Olga, 42.
Olgerd, 80.
Oleg, 30, 41.
Olmutz, Battle of, 198.
Oulogenia, Code of Laws under Ivan III., 105.
P
Pan-Germanism, 246.
Pan-Slavism, 245.
Paul I, 194.
Peace Congress, 256.
Peipus, Lake, Battle on the Ice, 70.
Perun, god of thunder, 27.
Peter the Great, 145.
Peter II, 174.
Peter III, 179.
Philarete, Metropolitan, father of the first Romanof, 135.
Plemia, confederacy of tribes, 28.
Poland, Partition of, 188.
Poliessa, forest region, 20.
Poniatowski, Stanislas, 187.
Portsmouth, Peace treaty at, 284.
Possadnik, burgomaster or commandant, 52.
Prestige, Russia loses her, 277.
Pskof, Republic of, 51.
Pultowa, Battle of, 81.
R
Raskol, plur. Raskolnik, Religious Madmen, opponents to Nicon's
reforms, 146.
Roman, Duke of Volhynia, 61.
Romanof, Anastasia, wife of Ivan the Terrible, 114.
Romanof, Michael, elected czar, 135.
Rurik, 29.
Russkaïa Pravda, Russian Right, 45.
Ryndis, young nobles, 110.
S
St. Petersburg founded, 168.
Saraï, Capital of the Golden Horde, 68.
Schamyl, 209.
Scythians, 23.
Simeon, first Grand Duke of All the Russias, 88.
Sineous, 29.
Slavophil, Friend of Slavs, 230.
Slavs, 25.
Smerd, boor, lout.
Sophia, Autocrat of All the Russias, 145.
Starost, elder or mayor, 52.
Streltsi, national guard, 121.
Stri Bog, god of the winds, 27.
Sviatopolk, 44, 49.
Sviatoslaf, 35, 41.
T
Tamerlane, 92.
Tartars or Tatars, 63.
Tartartchina, Tartar Yoke, 73.
Tcherné. Black people, name applied to the people by the nobles, 77.
Tchélobitié, Beating of the forehead, i. e., petition, 123.
Tchin, plur. Tchinovnik, lit. Gentlemen, now Officials, 164.
Tilsit, meeting at, 199.
Transcaspia, 264.
Treaty of Berlin, 234.
Treaty of Paris, 220.
Truvor, 29.
Turkestan, 264.
Turks, 94, 231.
Turkey, war with, 232.
Tysatski, commandant of the militia, 52.
U
Ukase, imperial edict equal to law Ural Mountains, 18.
Uzbeck, Khan, 68.
V
Valdai Plateau, 19.
Varingians, Norsemen, 29.
Vassili the Blind, 93.
Vetché, Municipal Council, 27.
Vitovt, 81.
Vladimir Monomachus, 49.
Vladimir, Saint, 41.
Voievod, governor of a fortress, 33.
Volga, 119.
Voloss, god of the flocks, 27.
Volost, county or canton, 28.
Vsevolod, 57.
Z
Zemstvo, Assembly, 226.
Zimisces, John, 38.