[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected.Author's spelling has been maintained.]

THE STORY OF RUSSIA

BY

R. VAN BERGEN, M.A.

AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF JAPAN," "THE STORY OF CHINA," ETC.

NEW YORK-:-CINCINNATI-:-CHICAGO
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

Copyright, 1905,
By AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London

Story of Russia
W. P. 2.

To
HENRY MATHER LOWMAN
amicus certus re incerta cernitur.

PREFACE.

Recent events have drawn the attention upon Russia, a country of whichbut little is known here, because the intercourse between it and theUnited States has been limited. In my frequent journeys to the FarEast, I found it often difficult to comprehend events because, while Icould not help perceiving that the impulse leading to them came fromRussia, it was impossible to discover what prompted the government ofthe czar. I felt the necessity to study the history of Russia, andfound it so fascinating, that I resolved to place it in a condensedform before the students in our schools. They must be the judges ofhow I have succeeded.

R. Van Bergen.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

• The Realm of the Czar
• Early Records of Russia
• The Norsemen (or Varingians) in Russia
• Saint Vladimir and Iaroslaf the Great
• A Russian Republic
• Troublous Times
• The Yellow Peril
• Russia Under the Mongol Yoke
• Lithuania and Moscow
• Decline of the Tartar Power. Dmitri Donskoï
• Ivan III, the Great
• Russia becomes an Autocracy
• Ivan IV, the Terrible
• Russia Under Ivan the Terrible
• Feodor, the Last of Rurik's Descendants
• Michael Feodorovitch (Son of Theodore) the First Romanof
• Early Years of Peter the Great (Peter Alexievitch)
• Peter the Great and His Reign
• ...