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Short History of Russia - Lucy Cazalet · The Empire of Business

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of A Short History of Russia. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville. A Short History of
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  Speaker 1: Russia by Luzy Kazalai, Chapter one.
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  Speaker 2: The Slavs.
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  Speaker 1: What is now European Russia, the great plain of Eastern Europe,
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  Speaker 1: bounded on the north by the White Sea and on
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  Speaker 1: the east by the Ural Mountains, on the south by
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  Speaker 1: the Black Sea, and on the west by the Baltic
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  Speaker 1: was about the ninth century a d inhabited in its
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  Speaker 1: central portion by the various tribes of the Eastern Slavs,
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  Speaker 1: who had originally migrated there from the banks of the Danube.
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  Speaker 1: These Slavs dwelt together in independent tribes in towns and
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  Speaker 1: villages surrounded by wooden stockades and ditches as a protection
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  Speaker 1: from wild beasts and other enemies. Houses were rude wooden huts,
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  Speaker 1: and in every family, the father, as head of the house,
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  Speaker 1: held absolute sway in exacted implicit obedience matters of public importance,
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  Speaker 1: such as the carrying on of war or the defense
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  Speaker 1: of the towns were decided upon in council by the
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  Speaker 1: members of each community, and this council was called the
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  Speaker 1: vece and was more or less the equivalent of the
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  Speaker 1: Saxon Vitena gemote. The Slavs hunted in the vast forests
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  Speaker 1: and bogs that covered the country, fished in the rivers,
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  Speaker 1: tilled the ground in a rude and primitive manner, and
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  Speaker 1: even carried on a certain amount of trade in natural
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  Speaker 1: products with their neighbors. The women performed all household duties,
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  Speaker 1: brought up the children, and on the death of their husband,
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  Speaker 1: were burned on his funeral pyre, together with his weapons,
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  Speaker 1: his horse, and any other cherished possessions he might require
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  Speaker 1: in the after life. The Slavs believed in the immortality
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  Speaker 1: of the soul and thought the life beyond the grave
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  Speaker 1: would be a continuation of the earthly life. The religion
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  Speaker 1: of the Slavs consisted of a deification of the great
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  Speaker 1: elemental forces of nature, and they consequently had many gods,
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  Speaker 1: of whom the greatest were Perun, god of thunder and lightning,
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  Speaker 1: Dasbog or whores, the god of sun, and Stribog, god
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  Speaker 1: of the winds. Besides these gods, the founder of every household,
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  Speaker 1: was supposed after his death to return to earth in
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  Speaker 1: spiritual form, and as the Domovoi or house god, protect
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  Speaker 1: his descendants from many evils. The Slavs erected no temples
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  Speaker 1: to their gods and had no regular priesthood, but the
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  Speaker 1: head of each family offered up prayer and sacrifice.
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  Speaker 2: In his own house.
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  Speaker 1: In early times, they made no idols to their gods,
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  Speaker 1: but later large figures of wood or stone were set
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  Speaker 1: up for worship in public places, and before them human
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  Speaker 1: sacrifices were originally offered, the victim being chosen by lot. Wizards, witches, pixies,
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  Speaker 1: and mermaids, of course, played a great part in their
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  Speaker 1: superstitions and were supposed to have marvelous powers. The Slavs
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  Speaker 1: had three great festivals z in the year, two in
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  Speaker 1: honor of the Sun, celebrated approximately about Christmas time and Midsummer,
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  Speaker 1: and the third to welcome the coming of spring. Hospitality
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  Speaker 1: was considered the greatest virtue, and a poor man was
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  Speaker 1: even justified in stealing what was necessary for the entertainment
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  Speaker 1: of a stranger. End of chapter one, chapter two of
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  Speaker 1: A Short History of Russia. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Violet Blue of Albertville. A Short History of Russia
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  Speaker 1: by Lucy Kaselai, Chapter two, the origin of Russia. Although
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  Speaker 1: the Slavs lived in independent tribes, there were frequent quarrels
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  Speaker 1: and wars among them, which not only gave their warlike
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  Speaker 1: neighbours ample opportunity of rating them an exacting tribute, but
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  Speaker 1: generally interfered with the peaceful development of the country. This
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  Speaker 1: state of affairs at last decided the Slavs, worn out
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  Speaker 1: by internal strife and outside oppression, to seek help from
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  Speaker 1: the Norsemen, who lived on the shores of the Baltic
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  Speaker 1: They sent an embassy to the Norse tribe of Russia
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  Speaker 1: and said, our land is wide and fertile, but there
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  Speaker 1: is neither law nor order in it. Come and reign
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  Speaker 1: over us and be our princes. The Norsemen accepted the invitation,
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  Speaker 1: and in eight sixty two three Viking brothers Rurik, Sinius
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  Speaker 1: and Truvar settled in the slav towns of Novgorod below
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  Speaker 1: Zero and Iborsk from this time, the land of the
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  Speaker 1: Slavs took the name of Russ or Russia. Two years later,
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  Speaker 1: Sineus and Trouvor died, and then Rurik annexed their lands
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  Speaker 1: to his Princedom of Novgorod and became sole ruler. Two
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  Speaker 1: of his captains, Askold and Deer, went south as far
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  Speaker 1: as Kiev and asked the townsfolk to whom they paid
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  Speaker 1: tribute to. The Hosars, replied, the men of Kiev, then
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  Speaker 1: pay it to us instead, said the Norsemen. With the
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  Speaker 1: consent of the town folk, they made themselves rulers of
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  Speaker 1: Kiev and refused to pay tribute to the Hosars, who
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  Speaker 1: were a nomadic tribe living in South Russia. When Rurik died,
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  Speaker 1: his son Igor was an infant, so his kinsman Olig,
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  Speaker 1: reigned during his minority. Olig raised a great army, conquered Smolensk,
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  Speaker 1: and then sailed down the Neper to Kiev, where he
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  Speaker 1: asked Askold and Deer to meet him on the banks
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  Speaker 1: of the river and charged them with having usurped the
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  Speaker 1: Princedom of Kiev. He then put them to death and
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  Speaker 1: was proclaimed Prince of Kiev. With little Igor as his successor.
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  Speaker 1: He raised Kiev to be the capital and called it
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  Speaker 1: the mother of Russian cities. A few years later, Oleg
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  Speaker 1: carried on a successful war against the Greeks. He besieged
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  Speaker 1: and captured Byzantium and returned home with enormous booty for
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  Speaker 1: the promise of free trade with Byzantium for the Slavmars.
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  Speaker 1: Oleg one day met a wizard and asked him to
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  Speaker 1: tell him how he would die. You will die through
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  Speaker 1: your favorite horse, o Prince, said the wizard that I
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  Speaker 1: will not, cried Oleg, jumping off his horse, and he
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  Speaker 1: ordered his men to take it away, to care for
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  Speaker 1: it well, but never more to saddle it for him.
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  Speaker 1: Several years later, in the midst of a feast, Oleg
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  Speaker 1: remembered his favorite horse and asked what had become of it.
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  Speaker 1: He was told it was dead and had been thrown
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  Speaker 1: to the birds years ago. Olig wished to see its bones, and,
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  Speaker 1: accompanied by his courtiers, went down to the field where
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  Speaker 1: the skeleton lay. How vain were the words of the wizard,
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  Speaker 1: said the prince. Behold, my noble steed is long since dead,
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  Speaker 1: while I am still alive. So saying Oleg touched the
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  Speaker 1: white skull with his foot, when a viper darted out
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  Speaker 1: of it and stung him. The wound festered and Oleg died.
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  Speaker 2: So the words of the wizard came true.
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  Speaker 1: The people mourned him sincerely and surnamed him.
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  Speaker 2: Oleg the Wise. Igor.
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  Speaker 1: Rurig's son now succeeded to the throne and began an
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  Speaker 1: unsuccessful war with the Greeks. He was, however, shortly killed
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  Speaker 1: in a raid he made on the neighboring Drevlians, a
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  Speaker 1: powerful tribe living on the banks of the river Prepet.
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  Speaker 1: After his death, his wife Olga reigned and spent many
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  Speaker 1: years in punitive expeditions against Drevlians to avenge her husband.
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  Speaker 1: When her thirst for vengeance was at last satisfied, she
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  Speaker 1: turned her thoughts to religion and was the first Russian
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  Speaker 1: princess to embrace Christianity. She journeyed to Byzantium and was
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  Speaker 1: publicly baptized by the patriarch of that city in the
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  Speaker 1: church of Saint Sophia A d. Nine fifty seven. Whence
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  Speaker 1: Fiatoslav Igor's son was grown up, his mother Oga gave
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  Speaker 1: him the throne, and the young prince at once plunged
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  Speaker 1: into a war with the Hosars, He defeated them and
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  Speaker 1: annexed their tributaries, the Vatchi. The Greek emperor Nysiferus, wishing
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  Speaker 1: to break the power of his enemies, the Bulgars, offered
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  Speaker 1: Spiatuslav a large sum of money if he would attack
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  Speaker 1: them in the rear. Sviatoslav agreed, reached the mouth of
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  Speaker 1: the Danube in boats, and there defeated the army of
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  Speaker 1: the Bulgars, possessed himself of the whole country, and made
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  Speaker 1: his capital at Pertisioslovet's on the Danube. Meanwhile, the Petchenegs,
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  Speaker 1: a board of nomads inhabiting the southern steps, attacked and
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  Speaker 1: besieged Kiev, which was only saved by the timely arrival
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  Speaker 1: of Prietek, one of Sviatoslov's captains. So Olga recalled her
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  Speaker 1: son from Bulgaria and made him promise not to leave
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  Speaker 1: Kiev again during her lifetime. She died soon after, and
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  Speaker 1: then Sviatoslav again went to Petisioslovts, only to find that
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  Speaker 1: the Bolgars had meanwhile made peace with the Greeks and
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  Speaker 1: had now risen against the Russians and shut them out
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  Speaker 1: of the town. He soon reconquered not only peeyaslovets but
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  Speaker 1: the whole of Bulgaria, and then began a long war
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  Speaker 1: against the Greeks, which he waged with varying success. At
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  Speaker 1: one time time he even crossed the Balkans and laid
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  Speaker 1: siege to Adrianopoli, until he was finally defeated by the
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  Speaker 1: Emperor John Zimiskis and forced to give up all claims
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  Speaker 1: to Bulgaria and return to his own country. On his
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  Speaker 1: homeward journey to Kiev, he was unexpectedly attacked by the
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  Speaker 1: Petchenegs near the rapids of the Neper and killed in battle.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter two recording by Violet Blue of Albertville,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter three of a Short History of Russia by Lucy Kaselai.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Violet Blue of Albertville. Vladimir and his successors, before leaving
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  Speaker 1: for Bulgaria, Sviatoslav had, as was the custom in those days,
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  Speaker 1: divided his country between his sons, giving Kiev to his
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  Speaker 1: eldest son Yodropulk, Volna to Oleg and No to Vladimir.
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  Speaker 1: Soon after Syatroslov's death, a quarrel arose between Yarupolc and
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  Speaker 1: Oleg and ended in a war in which Oleg was
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  Speaker 1: killed and Yodupolk took possession of his lands. This angered Vladimir,
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  Speaker 1: who at once declared war on Yaupulk and started for
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  Speaker 1: Kiev with a large army. On his way south, he
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  Speaker 1: saw the beautiful rogneda daughter of Rogwold, Prince of Polutsk,
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  Speaker 1: and wished to marry her. Rognega was already beatrolled to
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  Speaker 1: Yarupolk and refused to give him up, whereupon Vladimir killed
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  Speaker 1: her father Rogwold, seized his lands, and married Rodnega by force.
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  Speaker 1: He then went on to Kiev, where he defeated Yarupulk
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  Speaker 1: and had him put to death, and thus became sole
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  Speaker 1: ruler of Russia. Like most of his predecessors, Vladimir was
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  Speaker 1: bent on enlarging his dominions and was continually engaged in
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  Speaker 1: warfare with his neighbors, especially the Warlike Petchenenks, he is, however,
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  Speaker 1: chiefly remarkable for having adopted Christianity. A Greek missionary came
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  Speaker 1: to him at Kiev, and, having told him the story
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  Speaker 1: of the Gospels, showed him a picture of the Last Judgment.
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  Speaker 1: Vladimir was much impressed by this picture. And after listening
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  Speaker 1: to the Greeks exhortations, called a council of his boyars
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  Speaker 1: or lords, and the elders of the people to advise
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  Speaker 1: him about adopting Christianity. The boyars suggested that before giving
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  Speaker 1: up the old gods, it would be well to send
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  Speaker 1: an embassy of ten boyars into foreign lands to study
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  Speaker 1: the various forms of worship and decide which religion it
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  Speaker 1: would be wisest to adopt. On their return, Vladimir again
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  Speaker 1: summoned a council to hear the report of the ambassadors.
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  Speaker 1: When the ten boyars had come to Byzantium, the patriarch
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  Speaker 1: had had the church most gorgeously decorated and ordered a
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  Speaker 1: special service, which so impressed the ambassadors that, in their
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  Speaker 1: own words, they knew not whether they were on earth
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  Speaker 1: or in heaven. On their return to Kiev, they described
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  Speaker 1: the glories they had seen and strongly advised the adoption
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  Speaker 1: of the Greek faith. The year after, Vladimir was besieging
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  Speaker 1: the town of Corsun in the Crimea. As he met
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  Speaker 1: with unexpectedly stubborn resistance, he vowed that if he took
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  Speaker 1: the town, he would embrace Christianity. Shortly after a traitor,
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  Speaker 1: Athanasius the Corsunite, shot an arrow into the Russian camp
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  Speaker 1: bearing a message telling Vladimir how to cut off the
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  Speaker 1: water supply of the town. The town was forced to surrender,
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  Speaker 1: and Vladimir became a Christian, and, having made peace with
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  Speaker 1: the Greeks and married their princess Anne, returned to Kiev.
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  Speaker 1: Here he caused all the idols to be broken down.
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  Speaker 1: Perun was tied to a horse's tail, beaten with rods,
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  Speaker 1: and thrown into the Neper, and then commanded the people
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  Speaker 1: to be baptized in the river Oshena on pain of
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  Speaker 1: incurring his displeasure a d. Nine eighty eight. The people
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  Speaker 1: of Kiev embraced Christianity very willingly, but many of the
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  Speaker 1: other towns rose against the priest Vladimir sent to convert them,
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  Speaker 1: and Christianity had to be introduced by force of arms.
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  Speaker 1: After becoming a Christian, Vladimir became a most peaceful monarch
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  Speaker 1: and devoted himself to the internal welfare of his dominions.
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  Speaker 1: He founded schools in Kiev where the sons of the
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  Speaker 1: boyars were instructed by Greek priests, built many churches, and
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  Speaker 1: spent huge sums in charity. He was much beloved by
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  Speaker 1: his people, who called him the Bright Sun. He died
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  Speaker 1: in ten fifteen. Before his death, Vladimir divided his possessions
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  Speaker 1: among his sons, giving Kiev to the eldest and thus
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  Speaker 1: founding the system of the eu delis, or separate princedoms,
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  Speaker 1: which during the next five centuries made the history of
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  Speaker 1: Russia a long and intricate story of family feuds, murder.
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  Speaker 2: And fratricide.
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  Speaker 1: The Prince of Kiev, being the eldest son, was nominal
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  Speaker 1: overlord of the other princes, but as succession went not
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  Speaker 1: from father to son but from brother to brother, the
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  Speaker 1: princes frequently changed their dominions and theirs. There were perpetual
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  Speaker 1: quarrels and even war between them. No sooner was Vladimir dead, Sviyatopolk,
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  Speaker 1: his eldest son, caused his brothers Boris and Gleb to
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  Speaker 1: be murdered and seize their princedoms. Yadoslav of Novgorod, his
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  Speaker 1: second brother, at once declared war on Syatopolk to avenge
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  Speaker 1: his murdered brothers, and there ensued a long struggle in
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  Speaker 1: which the Polish king Bolislav helped Sfaatopolk. Yadoslav, however, at
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  Speaker 1: last drove s Fyatopold to seek refuge abroad and seized Kiev,
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  Speaker 1: but was in his turn attacked by his youngest brother,
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  Speaker 1: Mistislav of Tmrtarakhan in the far south of Russia, who
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  Speaker 1: had hired Hozar mercenaries.
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  Speaker 2: To besiege Kiev.
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  Speaker 1: As Mistislov could not take Kiev, which was well defended,
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  Speaker 1: he abandoned the siege and conquered Chenigov. Yadroslav then hired
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  Speaker 1: Norse mercenaries, and the brothers met in a bloody battle
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  Speaker 1: near Tchernigov, after which they made peace and decided to
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  Speaker 1: divide Russia between them. Yadoslav kept Kiev and the right
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  Speaker 1: bank of the Neper, Mistislov took the left bank. After
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  Speaker 1: Mistislov's death, Yadroslav became sole ruler. He surrounded Kiev with
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  Speaker 1: a stone wall with gilt gateways and built several churches
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  Speaker 1: both there and in Novgorod. He also had religious books
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  Speaker 1: translated from the Greek and founded a small library. He
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  Speaker 1: died in a d. Ten fifty four. Yadroslav divided his
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  Speaker 1: possessions among his sons, and they, in their turn did
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  Speaker 1: the same, with the result that for the next fifty
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  Speaker 1: years Russia was in a state of perpetual civil war,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: and the Princedom of Kiev passed and repassed from one
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  Speaker 1: prince to another. Poloftsi, a warlike tribe which about this
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  Speaker 1: time came from Asia and settled in the steps of
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  Speaker 1: southern Russia, took full advantage of this state of disorder
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  Speaker 1: and raided the Russian territories most mercilessly, until one of
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  Speaker 1: Yadoslav's grandsons, Vladimir Monomakh, at last called upon the other
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  Speaker 1: princes to forget their differencences and combine against the common enemy.
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  Speaker 1: He led a Russian army against the Polovtzi, defeated them,
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  Speaker 1: and returned laden with booty. Vladimir Monmauk was a great
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  Speaker 1: favorite not only with his own subjects, but also with
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  Speaker 1: the people of Kiev, who, on the death of their
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  Speaker 1: Prince Siatopolk the second, put aside his lawful heir Oleg
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  Speaker 1: and made Vladimir Prince of Kiev, where he reigned peacefully
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  Speaker 1: until his death in eleven twenty five. Vladimir was a
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  Speaker 1: scholar and left a book of instructions for his sons
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  Speaker 1: in which he exhorts his children to have the fear
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  Speaker 1: of God in their hearts, to be true to their word,
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  Speaker 1: not to be slothful, but to judge the people in person,
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  Speaker 1: and to be free in the entertainment of envoys and visitors,
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  Speaker 1: whether they be rich or poor, humble or important, for
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  Speaker 1: it was by them that good or evil report was circulated.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter three recording by Violet Blue of Albertville,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Chapter four of a Short History of Russia by Lucy Kazlai.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Violet Blue of Albertville. The Rise of the Princedom of
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Suzdal and of Novgorod the Great. Among the sons of
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Vladimir Monomak, the most remarkable was Yuri Dolgurugi, which means
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: George of the long Arms, Prince of the Suzdal, a
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: large track of land between the upper reaches of the
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Volga and the Oka. He was a very warlike prince,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: and after many struggles, succeeded in possessing himself of Kiev.
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  Speaker 1: But his chief claim to remembrance is that he was
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  Speaker 1: the founder of Moscow, which was destined to become the
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  Speaker 1: most important town of Russia. He chose for its site
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  Speaker 1: a hill on the left bank of the Moskva, just
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  Speaker 1: where it is joined by the little river Negli Naya,
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  Speaker 1: and there built a small wooden town round a hermit's cell.
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  Speaker 1: This later on became the famous Kremlin or Citadel of Moscow.
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  Speaker 1: Eighty eleven forty seven, Yuri's son Andrey Bogolyubski succeeded his
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  Speaker 1: father in Suzdal and at once sent an army to
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  Speaker 1: reconquer Kiev, which had regained its independence at his father's death.
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  Speaker 2: The town was.
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  Speaker 1: Stormed in eleven sixty nine, and for two days it
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  Speaker 1: was given over to pillage by the suzdal men. Having
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: thus made himself master of Kiev, Andre did not go
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  Speaker 1: and live there, but removed his capital to the town
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  Speaker 1: of Vladimir on the Kliasma in the land of Suzdal,
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  Speaker 1: and gave Kiev to his youngest brother, Khleb. After that,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Kiev lost all its importance, while Vladimir became the chief
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  Speaker 1: city of Russia. Andre strove to increase his dominions by
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: attacking the prosperous town of Novgorod, but his army was
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: most disastrously defeated. He then hit upon the plan of
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: forbidding his subjects to selgrain to the people of Novgorod,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: and this prohibition put the people of Novgorod to such
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Inconvenevenians that they sent an envoy to him, suing for
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  Speaker 1: peace and accepting one of his sons to be their prince.
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  Speaker 1: Andre ruled Suzdal as absolute monarch, gave no lands either
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  Speaker 1: to his brothers or his sons, brooked no interference, and
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  Speaker 1: would not, as was customary, ask the advice of the boyars.
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  Speaker 1: He treated them very harshly and even put some of
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: them to death. This so incensed the boyars that about
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: twenty of them formed a conspiracy to kill him, and
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: he was murdered in his palace in eleven seventy four.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: His brother Sevolod the second, who succeeded him, avenged his
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: death by having his murderers sewn up in socks and
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: thrown into a lake. At the beginning of the thirteenth century,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Russia was composed of seven independent princedoms Kiev, Suzdal, Smolensk, Cjenigov, Vogna, Galitch,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: and Novgorod. Of these, Novgorod extending from the Gulf of Finland.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: The upper Volga and Lake Pipas to the White Sea,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: and Allmas most to the Ural mountains, was the largest.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: The country was covered with dense forests and had a
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: barren sandy soil, so the people naturally turned more to
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: trade than to agriculture. Novgorode, the chief town, was a
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: flourishing trading center and was in every way the most
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: remarkable of Russian towns. It was in constant communication with
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: the free towns of the Hanseatic League and carried on
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: a brisk trade in fur, tallow, hides and hemp, and
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: important arms, cloth, wines, and other foreign products. The power
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: of the princes of Novgorode was very limited, and their
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: reign depended entirely on the will of the people. The
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: supreme power was vested in the Vice, which was a
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: public meeting or council, summoned by a bell and held
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: in the Big Square. It was attended by all the
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: inhabitants of Novgorode, both boyars and commoners, and decided all
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: matters of importance. The Vetch had the power to elect
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: or depose the prince, declare war, judge criminals, elect all
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: municipal officers, the chief of whom was called the Posadnik,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: and even to designate three candidates for the archbishopric. The
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: names of these three candidates were written down and the
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: scrolls placed on the high altar of the Church of
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Saint Sophia, and a blind man or a small boy
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: was sent to take two away. The candidate whose name
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: remained on the altar then became archbishop. Novgorode became a
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: most rich and powerful town and was usually spoken of
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: as the Lord Great Novgorode. Next in size was Suzdal,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: which lay rather to the southeast of Novgorode, along the
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: valleys of the Volga, kliasma Oka and their tributaries. It
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: was a land of forest and bog, interspersed with tracts
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: of open country and cut by many winding rivers, which,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: in the absence of roads, formed natural channels of communication
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: between the chief towns. The soil was poor and badly tilled,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: but in the fields rye, buckwheat, flax and hemp could
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: be cultivated, and the forest supplied quantities of timber, bark
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: and bast The people were intelligent and pushing, and carried
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: on many industries which supplied not only their own, but
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: also their neighbour's needs, and made the towns of Suzdal
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: into flourishing trading centers, while their Kurbainiki, pedlars or pac
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: men carried their goods all over Russia. Smolensk, situated to
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: the southwest of Suzdal, was smaller and far less important
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: than its more powerful neighbors, although its climate and natural
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: features were almost identical. It was the half way house
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: on the way from Suzdal to Lithuania and the other
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: lands of what is now West Russia, and as it
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: formed the watershed between the Neper and the Western Dvina,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: it had a large carrying trade along these rivers. Tchernigov,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: lying along the Desna, with its valuable forests than Kiev
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: in the valley of the Neper, were the most fertile
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: princedoms of Russia. The soil was rich, and agriculture and
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: cattle breeding formed the principal occupation of the people. Besides this,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: the town of Kiev carried on a brisk trade with
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Constantinople and was not only the mother of Russian cities,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: but the intellectual center of the whole country. This continued
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: until it was sacked by Andrei Bogolyubsky, Prince of Sustal
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: when the prestige of Kiev gradually waned and two powerful rivals,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Volnia and Galich, arose on its western border. Volnia was
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: a fertile corn growing land, lying between the upper reaches
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: of the Pripet and the western of the Southern Bug.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: It had strong cities such as Vladimir, Volnsk Dorogobus and
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: a warlike population, and for years it was the bulwark
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: of Russia against the Poles and Lithuanians. Galich, lying to
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: the southwest of Volnia between it and the Carpathians, was
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: gradually absorbed by its warlike neighbor and became a province
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: of Volnia. It was mostly a level plain, fertile and
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: well word, except in the part occupied by the foothills
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: of the Carpathians, where it was densely covered with forests
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: and the country was wild and broken. Its ancient capital, Galitch,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: was situated on the Nister, and another town, Perremichel, was
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: important even in the eleventh century end of chapter four
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: recording by Violet Blue of Albertville, chapter five of a
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Short History of Russia by Lucy Kasli. This LibriVox recording
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: The Tartar Invasion. During the first half of the thirteenth century,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: the Tartars invaded Russia. They came from the banks of
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the Ahmer in Eastern Asia and were a nation of
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: fierce nomads living together in hordes. Timuchin, or chinghis Khan,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: as he is generally called, united all these hordes under
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: his rule, swept victoriously across Asia and appeared on the
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: banks of the Dawn, where he defeated the Polovsi. The
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Polovzi sent messengers to Matislav, the dashing Prince of Galich,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: warning him that if the Russian princes did not help him,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: they would in their turn be overrun by the Tartars.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Mastislav persuaded the other Russian princes to combine with himself
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: and the Polovzi and attack the Tartars on the banks
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: of the Kalka, But just before the battle, quarrels arose
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: between the princes and they would not attack the enemy together.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: The Tartars, taking advantage of this, defeated each prince separately,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: and after a stubborn fight, forced the last of them,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Mastislav of Kiev, to surrender. Mastislav did so on condition
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: that he was allowed to return unharmed to his own country,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: but the Tartars seized him and his officers and killed
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: them by crushing them under boards. The Tartars then returned
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: to Asia, but thirteen years later they came again under Bati,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: chinghiz Khan's grandson, and overrun.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: Nearly the whole of Russia.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: They crossed the Volga in the winter of twelve thirty seven,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: attacked Ryazan, and then swept over the whole of Suzdal,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: burnt Moscow and Coolomna, and besieged the town of Ladimir
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: on the Kliasma. The Prince Yuri and his followers had
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: determined to make a stand, but the Tartars put a
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: fence round the town, attacked it with battering rams, and
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: after four days of hard fighting, took it by storm
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: and reduced it to ashes. Yuri rallied the remains of
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: his army and attacked the Tatars on the river set,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: but he was defeated and killed in battle. The Tatars
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: then turned towards Novgorod, but the vast bogs and forests
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: of the country hampered their movements, and they thought it
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: wiser to attack the more southerly parts of Russia. In
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: twelve forty, they sacked Kiev and then overran Poland and Hungary.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: About this time, Batim built a town on the Lower Volga,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: which he called Sarai and which became the capital of
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: the Tartars of the Golden Horde. He made all the
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Russian princes appear before him and swear fealty to him,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: and appointed the Prince of Suzdal overlord over the others.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Thus the Tartar rule was firmly established, and for two
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and a half centuries the people paid a heavy poll tax,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: and the princes did homage to the ruling khan and
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: received his permission to rule in their princedoms. The Tartar
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: rule did not have very much effect on the habits
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: and customs of the Russians, as their daily life and
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: their religious beliefs were not interfered with. But the continual
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: raids the Tartars made on them kept up a feeling
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: of unrest and insecurity in the country and very seriously
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: delayed the peaceful development of the nation. The dominion of
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the Tartars over Russia was a direct consequence of the
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Udli system of the government. For the princes of the
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: various principals were individually too weak to resist, and would
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: not forget their private quarrels to combine against the national enemy.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: End of chapter five recording by Violet Blue of Albertville,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Chapter six of A Short History of Russia by Lucy Kaseley.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Violet Blue of Albertville. Alexander Nevsky, Daniel of Galich and
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: the Rise of Moscow. While Batti was conquering the more
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: southerly portions of Russia, Novgorode was reigned over by Alexander,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: a son of Yaroslav of Sustal, and was engaged in
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: war with the Swedes, who, at the request of the Pope,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: wished to convert Novgorode to the Roman Catholic faith. They
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: sailed up the Neva, but were met by Alexander at
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: the point where the Ishira falls into it. There is
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: a legend that on the eve of the battle, the
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: captain of Alexander's guard had a vision in which he
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: saw the saints Boris and Kreb hastening in a galley
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: to help Alexander. He told the prince of his dream
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: and so inspired Alexander that next day he led his
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: men with such daring that he gained a complete victory
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: and saved Novgorod from the Swedes. After this battle, Alexander
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: adopted the surname of Nevsky. Soon after this, Alexander was
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: involved in a war with the German Knights of the Sword,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: who had settled on the shores of the Baltic These
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: were originally in order of militant monks who had penetrated
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: into the country to introduce Christianity. They were followed by
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: merchants from Bremen and other German colonists, who in time
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: founded flourishing towns such as Riga near the coast, and
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: gradually spread inland. They had conquered Skof and were desirous
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: of attacking Novgorode, but Alexander marched against them, drove them
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: out of Pskof, and met them in a pitched battle
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: on the ice of Lake Pipu. The Germans were defeated,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: and such numbers of them slain that the ice is
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: supposed to have turned red. The battle was called the
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Ice Massacre. A d. Twelve forty two. On the death
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: of his father, Alexander succeeded to the Princedom of Suzdal
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: and the overlordship, and as he fully realized that Russia
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: was too disorganized to be able to offer any resistance
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: to the Tartars, he went down to the Golden Horde
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: to be officially recognized and to do homage. He even
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: induced the people of Novgorode to pay their share of
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: the poll tax, and by paying the tribute regularly kept
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: the Tartars from making inroads on his country. He died
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: in twelve sixty three. A contemporary of Alexander's, Daniel of Galich,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: was determined to break the power of the Tartars and
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: refortified the towns they had destroyed. He asked the Pope
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: to help him, and a crusade against the Tartars was
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: actually preached in Europe, but found no followers, and the
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Tartars soon sent a raid into Galeach and forced Daniel
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: to return to his allegiance. After Daniel's death in twelve
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: sixty four, Casimir the third of Poland conquered Galich. The
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: other princedoms of southwestern Russia Kiev, Volnia, et cetera, were
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: conquered by the Lithuanians. Who freed them from the Tartar yoke,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: but converted them to the Roman Church and eventually attached
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: them to Poland. Under King Yagalo and his successors. The
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: town of Moscow was meanwhile growing in size and importance,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: and Daniel Alexander Nevski's youngest son even took the title
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: of Prince of Moscow. Under his son, Yuri began a
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: long battle with the princes of Tverir for the titles
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: of Overlord and Prince of Vladimir. The Khan had appointed
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Michael of tver to this dignity as he was head
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: of the family, but Yuri of Moscow went to live
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: in the Golden Horde, married the Khan's sister, and by
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: his lavish generosity, soon induced his brother in law to
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: depose Michael and give the overload lordship to him. When
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: he returned to Suzdal, he had to fight for his
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: new dignity and was defeated. He then accused Michael of
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: various treasonable acts against the Khan, and the Prince of
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: tver was called to the Golden Horde and there killed.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: After Yuri's death, his brother Ivan Khalita succeeded to his princedom,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: and his quarrels and squabbles with Taver continued. At last, Ivan,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: who was very rich, bribed the Khan to give him
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: an army of fifty thousand tartars, with which he completely
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: broke the power of Tavere and annexed it to his possessions.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: He was confirmed in his supremacy by the Khan and
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: appointed to collect to tribute paid to the Golden Hoard
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: by all the Russian princes. This gave him the opportunity
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: of enriching himself and increasing the power of Moscow at
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: the expense of the other princedoms, and gained him the
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: surname of Kalita, or the money bag. Although Ivan bore
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: the title of Prince of Vladimir, he made Moscow here
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: residence and caused it to become the religious capital of
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: Russia by persuading the Metropolitan Peter to remove there from Vladimir.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: He did much to beautify.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: The town, surrounded the Kremlin with an oaken stockade, and
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: dug a deep moat on its north side, thus surrounding
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: it by water on all sides and making it a
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: very strong fortress. End of Chapter six recording by Violet
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Blue of Albertville, chapter seven of a Short History of
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Russia by Lucy Kasli. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: public domain. Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Dmitri Donskoy, the.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: Most remarkable of Ivan Khalita's descendants, was his grandson Dmitri,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: who determined to throw off the Tartarioke and refused to
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: pay the heavy tribute imposed by them. MAMAI, who then
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: ruled in the Golden Horde, demanded that it should be paid,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: threatened to visit Russia with fire and sword, and formed
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: an alliance with Yagalo of Lithuania. Dmitri collected an army
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: of two hundred thousand men at Colomna, and before starting
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: went to the newly founded monastery of Troitza to receive
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: the blessing of Saint Sergius. Saint Sergius gave him two
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: of his monks, Perisvet and Osuluyaba, who had been famous warriors,
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: to be his companions, and Dmitri left Moscow to join
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: the army. At the end of his first day's march,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: he lay down to sleep under a pine tree and
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: had a vision in which Saint Nicholas promised him victory.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: When he awoke, he saw an ikona hanging on the
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: tree and took it with him to the war. He
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: afterwards built a monastery dedicated to Saint Nicholas on the
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: side of his camp. Dmitri led his men far into
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: the steps to meet the Tartars and at last came
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: up with them on the banks of the dawn at
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: the field of kun Lkhovo. He placed part of his
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: men in ambush in a dense wood and attacked MAMAI
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: with the remainder of his force for hours.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: The victory wavered, but.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: Then Dmitri's reserves broke from their hiding place. The Tartars
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: were routed and their camp and stores fell into the
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: hands of the Russians. The Lithuanians, hearing of the defeat
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: of the Tartars, turned back and returned to their own country.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: Dmitri assumed the title of Donskoy and returned to Moscow
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: in triumph, but this did not last long. For two
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: years later, the Tartars under Toktamish again entered Russia and
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: marched on Moscow. Dmitri retired to Kostroma to collect his
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: army hoping that Moscow would be able to hold out.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: Against the enemy.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: It was besieged, but the Kremlin was so strong Dmitri
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: had built a stone wall with battlements and iron gates
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: round it that Totamish offered to make terms if the
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: Moscovites would pay a ransom and allow him to visit
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: the Kremlin. Upon this, the Moscovites unsuspectingly opened their gates
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: and received the Khan unarmed and with costly gifts, whereupon
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: the Tartars set upon him and sacked and burnt the Kremlin.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: This act of treachery so weakened Dmitri's power that he
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: could not recover from it, and was obliged to submit
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: to the Tartars and again pay tribute, and thus lost
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: all the fruits of his victory at Kulikovo. Dmitri died
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: in thirteen eighty nine, leaving all his possessions to his
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: eldest son, and from that time the throne has always
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: descended in the direct line of succession. End of chapter
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: seven recording by Violet Blue of Albertville, Chapter eight of
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: A Short History of Russia by Lucy Kazali. This LibriVox
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain recording by Violet Blue
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: of Elpusl the downfall of Novgorode and the end of
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: the Tartar supremacy. The princes of Moscow were always jealous
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: of the wealth and importance of Novgorode and used every
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: means in their power to weaken that flourishing city. At last,
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Ivan the third Dmitri Danskoy's great grandson, determined to conquer it.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: The rulers of Novgorode, realizing that they would not be
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: able to withstand his power unless they sought help from
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: their neighbors, wished to place themselves under the protection of
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Kasimir the fourth of Lithuania, But as Kasimir was a
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: Roman Catholic, many of the citizens felt it would be
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: an act of treachery to the Russian Church. Then there
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: arose two political parties in Novgorode, the Lithuanian and the Moscovite,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: and the quarrels between them finally weakened the power of
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: the city. The Lithuanian faction carried the day and entered
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: into an alliance with Kasimir, on condition did he not
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: interfere with their religion. When Ivan heard of this, he
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: at once declared war and marched on Novgorode with an
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: army reinforced by Tartar levies. The armies met on the
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: banks of the river Schelone, and before the battle, Ivan
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: ordered his men to shoot at the horses of the
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: men of Novgorod. These animals, which were quite unused to war,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: took fright and stampeded, causing a panic among the Novgorode men,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: who were mostly carpenters and other artisans quite untrained in
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: the use of arms. The Tartars then fell upon them
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: from the rear, and the Moscovites gained a complete victory.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: Ivan then besieged Novgorode and forced the citizens to pay
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: him fifteen and a half thousand roubles and break off
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: their alliance with Casimir. He then returned to Moscow, but
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: Novgorode continued to be in the state of unrest caused
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: by the quarrels of the rival parties. The boyars too
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: oppressed the commoners, and the meetings of the vech often
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: terminated in a free fight. Many of the men of Novgorode,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: a as able to obtain justice in their own city,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: brought their cases before Ivan, who thus made himself the
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: champion of the commoners against the Boyars. In fourteen seventy eight,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: Ivan again besieged Novgorode and sent a herald into the
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: town to say, be it known to you that I
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: intend to rule in Novgorode as I rule in Moscow.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: As no choice was left them, the citizens surrendered, and
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: Ivan deposed the rosadnik or mayor, dissolved the vice, and
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: took the bell which used to summon it back with
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: him to Moscow. Thus Novgorod the Great became merely a
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: dependency of Moscow.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: During the fifth.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: Century, the Golden Horde had gradually divided into three independent
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: khanates viz. The Crimean, the Kazan, and the Golden Horde.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: The Crimean Khanate and the Golden Horde were continually at
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: war with each other, and Ivan the Third took advantage
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: of this and refused to pay tribute. Khan Akhmat of
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: the Golden Hordes sent envoys to collect it, and as
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: these were murdered in Moscow, he marched his army into Russia,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: and at the same time entered into an alliance with
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: Casimir the fourth of Lithuania. Ivan met the Tartars on
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: the banks of the Urga, but was afraid to give battle,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: and the two armies remained facing each other all through
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: the summer and autumn. When the winter began, the Tartars,
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: from want of winter clothing, were forced to turn south,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: and the Akhmat was soon after murdered by one of
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: his captains. A few months later, the Golden Horde was
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: completely destroyed by Mangli Gerai, the Crimean Khan, and thus
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: Russia was freed from the yoke of the Tartars. In
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: fourteen eighty, Ivan the Third built many churches in Moscow,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: the most famous being the Cathedral of the Assumption, where
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: the coronations took place. He encouraged foreign architects, physicians, and
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: artisans to come to Moscow and teach the natives. In
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: fourteen seventy two he married Sophia Paleogus, niece of the
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: last Emperor of Byzantium, and he introduced a great deal
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: of luxury and ceremonial into the Russian court life, which
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: had until then been very simple. He died in fifteen
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: oh five, leaving the throne to his son Vasili. The
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: third end of chapter eight recording by Violet Blue of Albertville.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Chapter nine of A Short History of Russia by Lucy Kaseley.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: Violet Blue of Albertville. Vasili the third fifteen oh five
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: to fifteen thirty three, Ivan the fourth fifteen thirty three
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: to fifteen eighty four. Vasili the third followed his father's
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: policy of gradually absorbing the smaller princedoms of Russia into
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: the Kingdom of Moscow. Thus he annexed pskof and Riyazan
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: and carried on a war with Lithuania for the possession
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: of Smolensk, which he besieged and captured. The Crimean Tartars,
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: who had in the previous reign been the allies of Moscow,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: now became.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: Her worst enemies. They were, of.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: Course separated from Moscow by the arid steps of South Russia,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: but they were very dangerous because they were always making
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: unexpected raids on the country. Vassili's first wife had no children,
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: so he forced her to take the veil and was
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: married again to Elena Glinskaya, the daughter of a powerful boyar,
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: by whom he had one son. He died in fifteen
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: thirty three. At Vassili's death, his son, Ivan the fourth
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: was only three years old, and during his minority the
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: princes Shuyski, Glinski and Belski, his mother's relations, carried on
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: the business of state among them and their quarrels. The
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: little prince was shamefully neglected. He was a child of
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: wonderful natural ability, but he was allowed to grow up
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: without restraint, and his worst qualities were developed. He was
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: naturally cruel and was allowed to torture animals and throw
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: cats from the towers of the Kremlin for amusement. He
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: was fond of reading and was remarkably well read in
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: the books of the time, which were principally religious works
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: and chronicles. When he was seventeen, Ivan was crowned in
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: the Cathedral of the Assumption and took the title of
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: Czar of Muscovie. Two weeks later he married his first wife, Anastasia.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: At this time, a terrible calamity befell Moscow. The town
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: was almost entirely built of wood, and even the streets,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: instead of being paved, were covered with planks laid on
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: the ground. A fire began and was spread by a
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: violent gale, until the whole city was a sea of flame,
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: and the inhabitants had to fly for their lives. Ivon
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: and his court fled to the Sparrow Hills and watched
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: the conflagration from there. After this misfortune, Ivan decided that
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: he would him self take the management of affairs and
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: chose as his counselors the priest Silvester and the boyar
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: named andashev. By their advice, he called a meeting of
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: representatives from every town, which was called the Zemski Sobor,
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: and before this assembly he swore to administer justice to
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: all and to protect the people from the oppression of
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: the boyars. Ivan's first war was with the Tartars of Kazan,
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: who continually harried the outskirts of his dominions. So he
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: determined to attack Kazan and set out with an army
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: of one hundred and fifty thousand men. Ivan personally superintended
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: the siege of Kazan. With the help of German engineers,
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: succeeded in blowing up the subterranean passage through which the
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: citizens fetched water from the river Kazanka. Kazan, however, held
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: out bravely, and it was only when the German engineers
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: laid mines under the walls and blew them up that
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: the town was taken by storm in fifteen fifty two.
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: Four years later, Ivan conquered Astrakhan, a Tartar stronghold at
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: the mouth of the Volga, and Silvester and Nandashev advised
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: him to attack the Crimean Tartars and so completely clear
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: the country of them, but Ivan feared the intervention of
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: the Sultan of Turkey and returned to Moscow. A few
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: years later, devle Girai, the Crimean Khan, took advantage of
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: the Russian army being engaged in a war with Livonia
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: to march an army on Moscow. He reached the suburbs
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: unopposed and set fire to them, whereupon the conflagration spread
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: to the whole town. The Kremlin, which had been rebuilt
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: in stone and brick, alone escaped the fire, and it
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: was so strongly fortified that the Tartars were afraid of
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: attacking it, and returned to the Crimea next year, they
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: again invaded Russia, but were met by an army under
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: Prince Rotinsky at Lopasnia, near Moscow and completely defeated. Like
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: his father and his grandfather, Ivan was anxious to bring
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Russia into closer relations with Western Europe and encouraged foreign
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: artisans and skilled workmen to come to Moscow, where he
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: established the first printing press in Russia. He sent embassies
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: to foreign courts and even wished to marry Queen Elizabeth
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: of England, an offer which was courteously declined.
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: A band of English.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: Merchants under Richard Chancellor went to Moscow by way of Archangel,
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: bearing messages of good will from Queen Elizabeth, and opened
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: up trading relations with moscovie as it was then called.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: Iyvon received them most hospitably, granted them many privileges, and
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: allowed them to establish a factory. The harbors of the
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: Baltic were at this time closed to the Russians, being
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: entirely in the hands of the Swedes and the German
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: Knights of the Sword, so in fifteen fifty eight Yvan
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: made war on the latter with a view to gaining
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: access to the sea. His army entered Livonia and laid
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: waste more than twenty towns, whereupon the Master of the
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: Order ceded Livonia to Poland, while Estonia gave itself up
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: to the Swedes. Ivan now saw himself involved in a
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: war against two nations, and again summoned the Zensky Sobor
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: to decide whether he should continue it. The Sobor decided
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: in favor of carrying it on. But although the Russians
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: successfully held Skoff against the Poles, they gained no real advantages,
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: and in fifteen eighty two Ivan made peace with the
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: Poles and relinquished Livonia to them. In fifteen sixty, Ivan's
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: wife Anastasia died, and after her death a great change
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: came over him. He became suspicious of everybody, removed his
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: wise counselors Silvester and Adashev, banished the former to a
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: monastery on the White Sea, beheaded many of his friends,
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: and generally looked upon the Boyars as enemies and traitors.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: He left Moscow and took up his abode in the
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: village of Alexandrovsk, a small place situated in a dense forest.
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: Here he lived surrounded by his Oprichniki, a rough bodyguard
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: of a thousand men, commanded by malyu Utta Skuratov and
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: chosen from among the small nobility, but perfectly devoted to him.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: They formed his court and allowed themselves unbridled license, killing
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: and robbing whomsoever they chose Under pretext of punishing the
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: Tsar's enemies. Ivan led a curious life. He dressed three
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: hundred of his oprichniki as monks and lived among them
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: in almost monastic austerity, broken by wild hunting expeditions and
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: wilder feasts and revels. Occasionally, a frenzy for bloodshed would
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: come upon him, and he would order a whole series
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: of executions and tortures. Thus, in fifteen seventy he went
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: to Novgorode, where he had been told there was a
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: plot against him, and ordered his oprichniki to destroy the
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: monasteries and the houses of the boyars and put to
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: death several thousand of the citizens. Ivan was surnamed the Terrible,
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: a name he richly deserved. He was subject to attacks
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: of blind fury, and in one of these he hurled
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: his eyes iron Shad's staff at his eldest son, Ivan
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: and killed him. By Anastasia, Ivan had two sons, Ivan
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: and Feodor, but after her death he was several times married,
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: and by his last wife Mary, he had a little son, Dmitri.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: Ivan the Terrible died in fifteen eighty four, leaving.
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: His throne to his second son, Feodor.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a community of freebooters
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: called the Cossacks had gradually come into existence in the
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: steps bordering on the Dawn. It was recruited from among outlaws,
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: criminals and vagabonds, in fact, from all the elements which
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: could not be reconciled with law and order, and formed
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: a powerful band of armed men who carried on perpetual
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: skirmishes with the Tartars, but quite as frequently attacked Russian
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: merchants sailing down the Dawn and Volga. The Cossacks chose
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: a ruler or hetman from among themselves, and he led
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: them in battle, but his power was controlled by a
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: meeting or vetch, called also the krug or Rada. In
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: Ivan's time, the depredations of the Cossacks were so frequent
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: that he sent an army to clear the Volga of them,
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: and it was then Yurmak, one of their leaders, took
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: his followers up the Kama and took service with the Stroganovs.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: These Stroganovs were a family of merchants who owned large
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: estates and salt pans on the banks of the Kama,
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: and as they were much molested by the ural Tartars
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: and other wild tribes. They had been allowed to build
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: forts on their land and maintain a small army to
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: protect themselves. When yurmac and his Cossacks came to them,
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: they equipped an expedition against the Ural Tartars. About a
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: thousand cossacks successfully crossed the Ural mountains and after many battles,
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: took Sibir Khan Kuchem's capital and broke the power of
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: the Tartars. Yurmak At once dispatched messengers to Ivan, telling
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: him that he had conquered an annex Siberia in the
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: Tsar's name, and in return for these services, Ivan granted
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: him a large sum of money and a free pardon
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: for all his former offenses. End of chapter nine, recording
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: by Violet Blue of Albertville, Chapter ten of A Short
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: History of Russia by Lucy Kaseley. This LibriVox recording is
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville.
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: Feyodor Ivanovitch fifteen eighty four to fifteen ninety eight, Czar
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: Feodor Ivan's successor was a kind, mild man, very different
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: from his father. He was very simple in his ways
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: and very religious, and spent his time going about to
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: the various monasteries, and left the management of the state
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: to his brother in law, Boris Gudinoff. Boris was descended
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: from a noble Tartar family and was a most able
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: statesman who ruled the country far better than Feodor could
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: have done. In fifteen ninety one, the Crimean Tartars again
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: invaded Russia and moved on Moscow by forced marches, hoping
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: to surprise the town. The Russian army was at the
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: time engaged in a campaign against the Swedes, but Baris
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: hastily had the monasteries on the south and east sides
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: of Moscow put in a state of defense. In the
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: gap between the Sparrow Hills and the last in this
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: line of monasteries, he made an entrenched camp and drew
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: up what troops he could collect. When Kazigirai's army advanced,
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: the Khan was quite surprised to find Moscow prepared to
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: oppose him, and Baris sent out a few hundred soldiers
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: to engage his advance guard. All day they fought on
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: the sandy plain before Moscow, while the Russians kept up
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: a cannonade from the towers of the Kremlin. At night,
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: the Tartars received news that reinforcements were coming to the
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: Russians from Novgorode, so under cover of the dark, they
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: withdrew and returned turned to the southern steps. In fifteen
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: ninety one, an event occurred which later on caused many
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: troubles in Russia. Fyodor's little step brother, Dmitri, was murdered
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: while playing in the square of Ulich, where he lived
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: with his mother. The people of Uglich were so enraged
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: by this act that they fell upon the assassins and
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: killed them. Fyodor was much grieved at the news and
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: sent a boyar Vasili Shuski, to inquire into the circumstances.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: Shuski returned saying the boy had accidentally stabbed himself in
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: an epileptic fit, and that the people had killed innocent
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: men as his assassins. This version of the tale did not, however,
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: gain very much credence, and it began to be freely
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: whispered that it was Bariskudanoff who had caused the little
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: prince to be killed, because he hoped to succeed to
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: the throne himself. The most important measure of Feyodor's reign
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: was the law passed in fifteen ninety two, which permanently
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: bound the peasantry to the land. Until then, the peasants
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: had been free to move from place to place, working
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: for any master they pleased. The richer landowners were able
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: to offer laborers more advantageous terms, so the peasants flocked
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: to their estates, while the poorer nobles found it hard
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: to get workers. The poorer boyars were, however, bound in
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: case of war to appear in the field with their men,
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: horses and arms, a condition they found it impossible to
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: fulfill if their estates lay fallow and unprofitable for want
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: of laborers. They laid their case before the Czar, and
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: Barris advised Feodor to pass a law by which the
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: peasants were forbidden to leave the land they lived on,
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: and became the serfs and practically the chattels of their masters.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: Fayodor had no children, and when he died in fifteen
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: ninety eight, the line of Rurik came to an end.
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: End of chapter ten recording by Violet Blue of Albertville,
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: Chapter eleven of A Short History of Russia by Lucy Kasselai.
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: This is LibriVox recording. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: public domain. Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville. Boris Gudinov
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: fifteen ninety eight to sixteen o five the false Dmitri
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: sixteen o five to sixteen o six. After Feyodor's death,
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: his wife Irina took the veil in the convent of Novodevitchy,
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: and her brother Boris Gudinov went to stay there with her.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: The patriarch job and the people were anxious to make
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: Borist tsar, but he refused. The Zemski Zobor was then
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: summoned and also elected him, but still Boris refused the honor,
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: and it was only when the patriarch and people went
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: to the convent and on bended knees and with tears
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: in their eyes, begged him to accept the throne that
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: he consented. The first years of his reign were very happy.
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: He was a wise and energetic ruler and had the
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: good of his people at heart. Soon after, a terrible
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: famine followed by pestilence wept over the country, and the
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: people believed these misfortunes to be a judgment of heaven
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: on a country. Kus Tsar was a regicide and began
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: to murmur against Boris, who had become very suspicious and
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: had executed several boyars for treason. A rumor was started
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: that the little Prince Dmitri had not really been killed,
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: but had been smuggled to Poland and another boy had
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: impersonated him at Uglich. This story unlikely, as it was
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: gained many believers, especially as at this time an impostor
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: arose in Poland and gave himself out to be Ivan
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: the Terrible's son. He was a young monk, Gregory Otrepiev,
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: who escaped from the Chudov Monastery in Moscow and became
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: a servant to the palace of a Polish nobleman. One day,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: he pretended to be dying, and when confessing to the priest,
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: told him that after his death he wished to be
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: buried like a king's son, and that there was a
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: paper under his pillow which would prove his identity. The
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: priest told his master, who took the paper, which was
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: a cleverly forged document proving Otrepev to be Prince Dmitri.
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: The Polish nobles were taken in by the fraud and
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: the Jesuits, hoping through Otrepev to be able to introduce
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: Catholicism into Russia, persuaded Sigismund the Third to recognize him
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: and help him to win back his father's throne.
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: A powerful Polish.
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: Nobleman, Yuri Minishik, betrothed his daughter Marina to the false Dmitri,
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: and it was arranged that the marriage should take place
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: in Moscow, and the bride received Novgorod and Pskoff as
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: her marriage gift. The Polish nobility then rallied around Otrepev,
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: and in sixteen o four he entered Russia at the
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: head of an army, and many towns opened their gates
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: to him. Boris Gudonov had meanwhile sent an envoy to
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: the King of Poland, denouncing Otrepev as an impostor and
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: demanding that he should be given up in Moscow, All
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: who sympathized with him were thrown into prison, and he
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: was publicly excommunicated by the patriarch job as being a
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: renegade monk. When Otrepev crossed the frontier, Boris sent an
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: army against him and completely defeated him at Sevsk, where
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: he narrowly escaped capture. Unfortunately, a few days after this battle,
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: Boris died quite suddenly a d. Sixteen o five. After
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: his death, Moscow quietly took the oath to his son,
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: Feodor Gudanov, and the young Tsar appointed Peter Basmanov to
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: command the troops sent against the Pretender. This proved an
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: unfortunate choice for Basmanov turned traitor, and with all his
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: army went over to the false Dmitri. The Pretender at
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: once sent an embassy to Moscow and stirred up the
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: people to kill young Feodor Gudanov and his sister. This done,
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: he had himself proclaimed Tsar, and soon after entered Moscow
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: in triumph. He even sent for the murder Dmitri's mother,
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: who had become a nun, and through fear, induced her
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: to acknowledge him as her son.
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: The Pretender did.
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: Not reign long, but in the few months he did
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: he showed considerable ability and energy. He was accessible to
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: all and astonished the boyars by his cleverness and counsel,
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: and his resourcefulness in dealing with complicated affairs of state.
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: He offended the people, however, by his total disregard for
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: their customs and prejudices, and his marked preference for foreigners.
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: And the clergy were shocked by his marrying Minishik without
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: making her take the Russian faith. Besides this, the Poles
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: who had come in the train of the impostor behaved
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: most insolently to the Moscovites, and there were continually quarrels
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: between them and the town folk.
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: The Boyars, who hated the.
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: Pretender, made the most of these circumstances, and under the
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: leadership of Vasili Shuski, formed a plot to overthrow him.
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: At sunrise on May seventeenth, sixteen o six, the Boyars
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: ordered them Tocsin to be sounded, and when the people
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: gathered in the Great Square told them the Poles wanted
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: to kill thet Tsar. This was the signal for a
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: general massacre of the Poles, and in the tumult that ensued,
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: Shuski and the Boyars went to the Kremlin to kill Dmitri.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: His guard of Strelzi, a permanent militia enrolled by Ivan
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: the Terrible, protected him, but when the Csarza Maria, Dmitri's
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: mother publicly announced that he was not really her son,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: they too turned against him, and he was killed. His
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: body was exposed to public derision by being shown on
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: the red square with a pipe in his mouth and
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: a mask on his chest, and was then burnt and
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: the ashes shot from a cannon. End of chapter ten.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville, Chapter twelve of A
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: Short History of Russia by Lucy Kaseley. This LibriVox recording
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Recording by Violet Blue of
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: albert Phil Vassili Shuski sixteen o six to sixteen ten,
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: The Interregnum or the Troublous Times sixteen ten to sixteen twelve.
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: After killing the false Dmitri, the Boyars quieted Moscow and
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: elected Vasili Shuski to Betsar, making him swear to do
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: nothing without the consent of the Boyarskaya Duma or consul
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: of the Boyars. No sooner had Vasili ascended the throne
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: than an impostor sprang up and pretended to be the
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: false Dmitri. He explained that Dmitri had got wind of
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: the plot against him and had secretly left the palace,
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: instructing a servant to personate him, and that it was
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: this servant whom the Boyars had killed. It is not
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: known who this impostor was, but he found people to
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: believe in him and gathered an army round him, composed
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: of Poles, Cossacks, and traitors of all sorts. He marched
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: on Moscow, but was defeated by Shushki soldiers before the
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: very gates of the town. He then retired to an
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: entrenched camp in the village of Tushino, twelve versts from Moscow,
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: and from there threatened the city for over a year.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: There Marina Minishek, who still hoped to remain Sarza, joined
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: him and acknowledged him as her husband. He has always
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: been known in history as the Tushino Thief. Vasili Shuski
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: had meanwhile applied for help to the Swedes, and an
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: army of five thousand men under De la Gardi had
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: been sent him. This army joined forces with some troops
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: Michael Scopein Shuski, Vasili's nephew, had collected at Novgorode and
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: defeated the Tushino thief in two battles. Sigismund of Poland,
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: who wished to take advantage of these internal disorders to
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: make himself master of Moscow, now declared war on Russia
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: on pretext of resenting the alliance with Sweden. He besieged
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: Smolensk and ordered the Poles who were with the Tushino
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: thief to join his army. This they did, and the
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: impostor left with only a small following, went to Kaluga.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: The Moscow army was got ready to move to the
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: relief of Smolensk under the command of Dmitri Shuski, Vassili's brother,
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: but the Polish general Jolkvski defeated it at Klushino and
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: marched on Moscow. The pretender, hearing of this, came back
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: from Kaluga and took up an entrenched position in the
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow. In the town itself, riots
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: broke out and the citizens deposed Vasilishuski and forced him
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: into a monastery. Sixteen ten, after the deposition of Vassilishuski,
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: and with the Polish army advancing on Moscow and the
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: Tushino thief at their gates, the Boyars found themselves in
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: a very awkward position, and as a way out of
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: the difficulty, elected Vladislav son of the King of Poland
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: to the Tsardom. They sent an embassy to to Sigismund,
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: announcing the election of his son and begged him to
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: allow the prince to come to Moscow. Sigismund retained the
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: ambassadors as hostages and ordered the Polish army to occupy Moscow,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: but would not allow his son to go there, as
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: he intended annexing the whole of Russia to Poland under
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: his own rule. The Tushino thief meanwhile fled back to Kaluga,
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: where he was shortly afterwards murdered by a peasant. When
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: the people of Moscow at length became aware of Sigismund's intentions,
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: they determined to oppose the Poles, and the patriarch Hermigen
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: issued a proclamation calling the whole Russian people to arms.
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: In a very short time, an army of one hundred
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: thousand men assembled under the leadership of Prokopi Yapunov and
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: entered the suburbs of Moscow. The Polish garrison shut itself
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: in the Kremlin and prepared for a siege. Unfortunately, the
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: Cossacks who had joined Yapunov's army would not submit to
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: discipline and were so angry with Yapunov because he forbade
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: them to plunder the citizens that they killed him.
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 2: After his death, his.
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: Army dispersed, and the Poles again held the whole of Moscow.
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: Sigismund had meanwhile captured Smolensk, and the Swedes, hearing of
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: Ladislav's election, broke their alliance and took Novgorod. In all
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: these troubles and difficulties, the Russian clergy again made an
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: effort to inspire the people with courage, and the Archimandrite
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: of Trotza sent a circular letter to all the towns
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: calling upon the people to deliver Holy Moscow from the foreigners.
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: When this letter was.
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: Received in Nizhni Novgorod, the mayor of the town, a
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: butcher Kuzma meaning by name, set about raising an army.
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: He placed it under the command of Prince Pozharski, one
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: of Yapunov's generals, and himself collected money and supplies to
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: carry on the war. This army marched on Moscow, gaining
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: recruits as it went, and reached the city at the
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: same time as Podkevitch and his troops, who were bringing supplies.
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 2: To the Poles.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: Pozharsky's first task was to prevent Podkeevitch from getting his
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: supplies into the city, and this he and Minin succeeded
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: in doing by defeating him in several skirmishes, and he
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: was forced to retire, leaving the Polish garrison to its fate.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: The Poles stood a siege of several months in the Kremlin,
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: but were at last starved into submission, and Minin and
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: Pozharski entered the Kremlin amid public rejoicing. End of chapter
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: twelve recording by Violet Blue of Albertville, Chapter thirteen of
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: A Short History of Russia by Lucy Kaseley. This LibriVox
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Recording by Violet Blue
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: of Albertville. The first Romanov Michael Fyodorovitch sixteen twelve to
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: sixteen forty five. As soon as the Poles were driven
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: out of Moscow, the Zemsky sobor met and elected Michael
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: Fyodorovitch Romanov to the throne. His father, Fyodor Nikititch Romanov,
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: was the direct heir, being nephew to Ivan the Fourth's
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: wife Anastasia, But Boriskunov, who was suspicious of any one
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: who had a claim to the throne, had forced him
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: to become a monk under the name of Philaret, and
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: had thus disqualified him for the tsardom. Michael Fyodorovitch was
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: a youth of sixteen when he was called to the
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: throne and was living with his mother in the I
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: Patev convent at Kostroma. The Polish troops still infested Russia
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: in small bands, and the captain of one of these,
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: when he heard of Michael's election, set out to kill him,
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: and his life was only saved by the devotion of
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: an old man, Suzanin, who led the Poles astray and
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: in revenge, was killed by them. When Michael ascended the throne,
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: Russia was in a pitiful state. Smolensk was held by
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: the Poles, Novgorode by the Swedes, and the whole country
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: was terrorized by wandering bands of Poles and Cossacks, who
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: robbed and burned the towns and villages. The Cossack Hetmanzarutski
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: proclaimed Marina Menishek's infant son Tsar, but Zarutski was captured
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: and brought to Moscow to be impaled, and the child
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: and his mother were thrown into prison. The child was
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: then hanged and Marina died in prison. Michael was obliged
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: to carry on war simultaneously, with the Poles and the Swedes,
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: but the disorganized condition of the Russian army prevented his
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: doing so successfully. He made peace with the Swedes and
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: received back Novgorode, but had to give up all claim
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: to the shores of the Gulf of Finland. The war
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: against Poland was more prolonged, for Vladislav had claimed the
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: Tsardom and was with difficulty beaten back from an attack
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: on Moscow. At last, Michael concluded a truce at days Yulino,
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: by the terms of which the Poles retained the districts
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: of Smolensk and Seversk, but sent back the ambassadors they
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: had treacherously imprisoned, among whom was Filaret, Michael's father. When
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: Filarette arrived in Moscow, he was raised to the dignity
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: of patriarch and became co regent with his son. Their
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: first endeavors were to restore internal order to the country
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: and then to reorganize the army. The Russian army was
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: at that time a very mixed multitude. The great Boyars
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: appeared in the field in full armor at the head
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: of their men, who were all well horsed, armed with
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: sabers and muskets, and followed by carts laden with supplies
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: and baggage.
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 2: The equipment of the poorer.
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: Nobles left much to be desired, while the very poorest
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: sometimes went to war on a farm pony, armed only
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: with a bow and arrows, and followed by a single
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: servant carrying a bag of rusks.
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 2: In time of.
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: War, the infantry was recruited from among the peasantry and
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: was ad sorderly rabble, armed with axes, pitchforks and bows.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: The only regular body of soldiers were the strelzi or musketeers,
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: established under Ivan the Terrible, but even they were allowed
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: to follow their various trades in time of peace and
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: lived with their families in the suburbs of Moscow. Michael
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: sent for firearms and artillery from abroad, had the Russians
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: instructed in European methods of warfare, and even hired several
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: thousand foreign mercenaries. After the expiration of the truce, he
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: sent an army under the boyar Cheyin to recapture Smolensk.
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: The siege began, but Vladislav came to the relief of
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: the town and besieged Cheyen in his entrenched camp. The
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: Russians held out for a time, but famine and sickness
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: forced them to capitulate, and Sheeyin had to give up
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: all his artillery. When he returned to Moscow, he was
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: found guilty of treason and beheaded. Michael found it impossible
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: to carry on the war and concluded peace, by which
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: Poland retained Smolensk, but Vladislav gave up all claim to
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: the throne of Moscow. Michael was most concerned with the
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: internal welfare of the country, and by the end of
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: his reign succeeded in establishing some degree of order. He
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: died in sixteen forty five and was succeeded by his
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: son Alexey. End of chapter thirteen. Recording by Violet Blue
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: of Albertville, Chapter fourteen of A Short History of Russia
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: by Lucy Kaseley. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville. Alexey Mikhailovitch sixteen forty
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: five to sixteen seventy six. Alexey Mikhailovitch was only sixteen
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: when he came to the throne. Soon after his accession,
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: two hundred of the most beautiful of the Boyar's daughters
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: were called together in Moscow for the young Tsar to
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: choose a wife from among them. His choice fell on
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: Maria Miloslavskaya, and for the first few months of his reign,
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: Alexei was content to lead a life of pleasure, leaving
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: the management of the affairs to his father in law
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: Miloslavsky and the Boyar Morozov. These two exasperated the Moscow
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: people by excessive taxation, and a riot occurred in which
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: several officials were killed. This had the effect of drawing
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: the young Tsar's attention to the state of affairs, and
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: he resolved to attend to business himself. The first act
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: was to revise the laws, many of which had become inadequate.
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: One of the most important events of Alexey's reign was
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: the revolt of Little Russia against the Poles and its
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: annexation to the t Sardom of Moscow.
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 2: Little Russia i e.
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: The southwestern provinces had passed from Lithuanian to Polish rule
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: and had even been forced to accept the union. This
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: was a religious compromise between the Greek and Roman Catholic
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: churches by which the people were allowed to retain their
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: Greek ritual, but acknowledged the Pope as supreme head of
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: the church. The Poles had introduced their customs and institutions
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: into Little Russia and oppressed the people, who were mostly
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: Cossack farmers. In sixteen forty eight, a Polish nobleman burned
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: and pillaged the homestead of Bodan Melnitsky, the Cossack hetman,
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: who thereupon called the whole country to revolt. He made
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: an alliance with the Crimean Tartars and also got help
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: from the Zapporogian Cossacks. These were a community of freebooters
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: very like the Dan Cossacks, who inhabited the banks and
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: islands of the Neper just below the rapids. They led
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: a life of absolute freedom under their leaders, received only
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: bachelors or widowers into their community, and had a code
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: of honor of their own. The peasants of the Ukraina,
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: as Little Russia was also called, and the Cossacks at
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: first gained some successes against the Poles, but at the
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: Battle of Bedtstetchko, the Tartar Khan treacherously deserted them, carrying
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: Melnitsky away as his prisoner. The Cossacks then fled under
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: cover of the darkness, leaving the wretched peasants to be
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: massacred by the Poles. Soon after this, Melnitsky succeeded in
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: buying himself free and called a council at Perryaslov which
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: he proposed that the Little Russians should send messengers to Moscow,
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: begging Alexey Mikhailovitch to take them under his protection. In
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: sixteen fifty three, Alexe called a meeting of the Zemski
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: Sobor to discuss this important matter, and as the Sobor
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: voted in favor of the annexation, sent a deputy to
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: receive the allegiance of the Little Russians. A war then
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: began against the Poles and was carried on with varying
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: success for several years, terminating at last in the Peace
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: of Andrussovo sixteen sixty seven, by which Little Russia was
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: divided and Alexei kept the left bank of the Neper
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: and the Poles retained the right bank, but permanently ceded
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: Smolensk to Russia. Kiev was to belong to Russia for
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: only two years, but it was never again restored to Poland.
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: It was in the reign of Alexey Mikhailovitch that the
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: great Sism took place in the Russian Church.
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 2: At that time.
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: Nikon, a man of remarkable enlightenment and power, was patriarch.
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: He found that many errors had, in the course of
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: time crept into the service books, so he had them
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: retranslated from the Greek originals and ordered this new version
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: to be used in the churches. This caused much dissatisfaction,
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: and a large proportion of the clergy and people ceded
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: from the church and retained the old form of ritual.
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: These received the name of old believers or Sismatics, the Raskolniki,
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: and they are still numerous in Russia. Alexe Mikhailovitch was
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: very fond of Nikon and was himself deeply religious. He
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: was considered the best hetman of his time, and he
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: did all he could for them the advancement of his people.
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: Alexey had two sons, Feodor and Ivan, and several daughters
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: by his first wife. A few years before his death,
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: which occurred in sixteen seventy six, he married Natalia Narishkina,
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: a ward of the Boyar Matveyev, and by her he
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: had a little son, Peter. Alexey introduced some innovations into
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: the court life of Moscow. Had his daughters educated and
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: allowed them to watch theatrical performances and appear in public unveiled,
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: instead of keeping them in seclusion. End of chapter fourteen,
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: recording by Violet Blue of Albertville, Chapter fifteen of A
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: Short History of Russia by Lucy Kazlay. This LibriVox recording
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville.
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: Feyodor Alexeyevitch ix. Eighteen seventy six to sixteen eighty two,
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: Ivan the Fifth sixteen eighty two to sixteen ninety six,
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: Peter the First the Great sixteen eighty two to seventeen
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: twenty five. After Alexey's death, his eldest son, Feodor succeeded him.
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: He was a good clever man, but quite an invalid,
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: and only reigned six years. He died in sixteen eighty two,
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: leaving no children. On his death, the Boyars were uncertain
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: whom to appoint as his successor, for his brother Ivan
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: was feeble both in mind and body, and Peter was
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: a child. While the Boyars were deliberating, the patriarch Joachim
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: addressed the people assembled before the palace and asked them
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: which of the princes they would.
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 2: Have as czar.
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: The people called for Peter, and as Yvan had no
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: desire to reign, Peter was proclaimed, and his mother and
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: her relations, the Narishkins, became all powerful at court. This
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: exasperated the Princess Sophia, Alexey's daughter by his first wife,
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: who was a very clever, ambitious woman. Had her feeble
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: minded brother Ivan been elected, she would practically have ruled Russia,
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: and she determined to make a bid for power. She
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: and her kinsmen, the Miloslavkis, bribed the Strausi with presents
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: and stirred them up to revolt by falsely accusing the
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: Naryshkins of having smothered Ivan. The Strausi rose in a
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: body and rushed to the Kremlin, but Natalia Naryshkina appeared
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: at a window with both princes, and when they found
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: Ivan unharmed, they quieted down and wished to return to
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: their homes. Unfortunately, at that moment, their commander, the Boyar Dolguruki,
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: rode up and berated them for their mutinous conduct, and
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: this so incensed them that they broke into open riot,
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: and after terrorizing the town for three days, insisted on
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: both princes being crowned together and on Princess Sophia being
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: regent during Peter's minority. Sophia thus gained her point and
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: governed the country with great ability for seven years. Peter
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: meanwhile lived with his mother in the palace of Preobrazhenskoya,
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: a village three miles from Moscow. He gathered round him
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: all the village boys of Prayo Brazenskoya and the next village, Semenovskoya,
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: and formed with them into an army for playing at soldiers.
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: With these boys he made miniature fortresses which he besieged
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: and defended, and led make believe campaigns against the surrounding villages.
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: When he grew up, these playmates of his formed the
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: first and second or Prayobrazhenski Semenovski Regiments of the Guards.
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: The so called German Quarter, where all the foreigners who
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: had settled in Moscow lived, was quite near Preobrazhenskoya, and
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: Peter was very fond of going there and spending long
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: hours with the foreigners. Many of these men gave him
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: lessons or helped him in his games, and later on one
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: of them, the four a Geneviza became his chief adviser.
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: One day, Peter discovered an old English built boat in
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: a lumber shed, had it mended, and launched it on
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: the river Yauza. After this he devoted much time to
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: sailing and built a small fleet of boats, which he kept.
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 2: On a lake near Moscow.
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: Peter was a very clever, intelligent boy, with a great
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: thirst for knowledge and an enormous capacity for hard work.
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: When he was seventeen, he was married to Eudoxia Lopuchina
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: and began to take a more active part in the
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: management of state affairs. Sophia realized that her influence was
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: on the waine and determined to retain her power. One night,
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: Peter was awakened by two Streltzi, who had Galitu PreO
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: Brazenskoya to tell him that Sophia was inciting the Strelzi
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: to rebellion and had made a plot to kill him.
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: Peter at once fled to Troutza, ordering his wife and
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: his mother to follow him under escort of the Preyo
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: Razhenski and Semenovsky guards. From Troutzs, he sent an order
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: to the Strelzi commanding them to leave Moscow and join him.
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: Contrary to Sophia's expectations, the Streelzi, with very few exceptions,
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: obeyed this order and Peter shortly returned to Moscow at
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: the head of his troops. He then deposed Sophia from
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: the regency, forced her to take the veil, and had
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: her chief supporters executed a d sixteen eighty nine. Ivan
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: the fifth continued to bear the title of Czar until
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: his death, but Peter now reigned independently. Peter was very
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: anxious to see the sea and undertook a journey to
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: Archangel which was visited every summer by English and Dutch vessels,
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: in order to become better acquainted with ships and ship building.
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: He then equipped an expedition against the Turkish forces of Azov,
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: which commanded the sea of that name. This first campaign
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: was unfortunate, for Azov was protected by Turkish ships and
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: could draw supplies from the fleet, but Peter returned to
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: Russia and built a flotilla of boa with which he
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: sailed down the Dawn. In the following year, he again
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: laid siege to Azov, both by land and sea, and
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: captured it in sixteen ninety five. On his return from
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: the siege of Azov, Peter determined to send an embassy
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: to all the European courts, and himself traveled incognito in
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: its train. He went first to Germany, where he left
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: his ambassador left to proceed ceremoniously onward, and himself visited towns, fortresses,
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: and factories, studying everything most minutely. He then went to Holland,
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: where he visited the great shipyards and gained a practical
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: knowledge of shipbuilding by working as a ship's carpenter on
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: the wharves of Sardom. Peter then went on to London
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: and Vienna, where he received news of a revolt of
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: the Streltzi and hastened back to Moscow. The revolt had
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: been quelled and the ringleaders executed before his return, but
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: Peter took the opportunity of suppressing the Streltzi altogether and
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: replacing them by regular soldiery, receiving fixed pay and trained
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: in the German way. After his return from abroad, Peter
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: determined to bring Russia into line with the rest of
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: Europe and introduced many innovations, some of which proved extremely unpopular.
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: Thus he forbade his subjects to wear the flowing beards
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: and voluminous garments they affected and made them wear French
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: coats and full bottomed wigs. The Boyars were ordered to
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: take their wives and daughters to balls and theaters instead
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: of keeping them in almost conventual seclusion, but this was
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: considered most unseemly and gained Peter many enemies. Peter did
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: much to reform the internal organization of the state and
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: replace the Boyarskaya Duma or Counsul of the Boyars, by
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: the Senate, a body composed only of the highest dignitaries
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: and which constituted the highest court of the kingdom. The
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: Patriarchate of Moscow was abolished on the deaths of the
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: Patriarch Adrian, and the supreme con control of church matters
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: was given over to the Holy Synod, a council of bishops.
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: A great many new schools were established, and no gentleman
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: was allowed to marry unless he knew reading, writing, and arithmetic.
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: Young Men were encouraged to go abroad to complete their studies,
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: and Peter was particularly anxious to encourage trade and manufacturers
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: in the country. The dream of Peter's life was to
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: obtain harbors on the Baltic so in seventeen hundred he
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: entered into an alliance with Denmark and Poland and declared
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: war on Charles the twelfth of Sweden. The Swedes opened
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: the campaign by a sudden attack on Copenhagen and soon
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: forced Denmark to retire from her alliance with Russia, and
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: then Charles turned his attention to the banks of the Niva.
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: Here Peter was besieging Narva with a huge army of
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: raw recruits, and Charles, with his experienced soldiers, easily defeated them,
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: raised the siege of Narva and forced Peter to retire,
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: leaving his artillery behind. Thinking he had thus broken Peter's power,
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: Charles then attacked Augustus the Second and spent several years
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: fighting in Poland. Peter meanwhile set about training his soldiers
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: and making guns out of church bells, and in seventeen
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: o three again commenced operations on the Gulf of Finland.
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: He took Schlusselburg and Ninzante, two Swedish fortresses, and built
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: the fortress of Saints Peter and Paul on a small
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: island of the Niva on the marshy banks of the river.
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: Opposite this fortress, he founded Saint Petersburg, which he then
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: called the new capital of Russia. He also established a
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: shipyard on the River Sphere and began building ships for
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: use against the Swedes. Charles the twelfth had by this
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: time dethroned Augustus the second and sent Stanislas Lazinski on
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: the throne of Poland, and was now able to attack
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: Peter from the southwest. Mazeppa, the hetman of Little Russia,
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: who was entirely trusted by Peter, turned trader and joined
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: Charles with most of his cossacks. This was a great
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: blow to Peter, but nothing daunted. He marched his army
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: into the southern steps, and, in a pitched battle at
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: pultava A d. Seventeen o nine, completely defeated the Swedes.
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: Their whole army surrendered, and Charles and Mazeppa sought safety
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: in Turkey. There they persuaded the Sultan to make war
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: on Russia. Hearing of this, Peter at once entered Moldavia,
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: but was obliged to turn back for want of supplies,
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: and was surrounded by the Turkish and Tartar armies on
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: the banks of the Prute. He concluded a treaty, however,
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: with the Grand Vizier, and was allowed to retire with
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: military honors on condition that he gave up Azov on
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: the shores of the Baltic Peter carried on the war
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: very successfully and gradually made himself master of the whole country.
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: The war was brought to a close seventeen twenty one
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: by the Peace of Nystat, by which the whole of Livonia, Estonia, Ingria,
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: and part of Finland were ceded to Russia. After this,
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: Peter adopted the title of Emperor and was surnamed the Great.
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: Peter did not care for his first wife, Eudoxia, by
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: whom he had one son, Alexey, so he placed her
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: in a convent and made her take the veil. A
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: few years later, at the siege of Marienburg in Livonia,
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: he took prisoner a beautiful servant girl called Martha Skravnskaya.
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: He afterwards married her and made her empress under the
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: name Catherine, which she adopted when she joined the Greek Church.
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: By her he had two daughters, Anna and Elizabeth. Peter
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: and his son were not on good terms, for Alexey
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: opposed his father's reforms, and the quarrels between them reached
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: such a pitch that the Prince went abroad for a time.
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: On his return to Russia, Peter threw him into prison,
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 1: where he died, leaving a little son, Peter. Peter the
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: Great died in seventeen twenty five from the effects of
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: a severe cold he took while saving some soldiers from
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: a vessel that had foundered near St. Petersburg. He knew
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: how to surround himself with able men who were perfectly
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: devoted to him, and furthered all his plans. His greatest
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: favorite was Prince Menschikov, who had begun life as a
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: pie man, but through his brilliant capacities, came to fill
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: the highest offices of state. End of chapter fifteen, recording
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: by Violet Blue of Albertville, Chapter sixteen of A Short
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: History of Russia by Lucy Kaseley. This LibriVox recording is
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville.
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: Catherine the First seventeen twenty five to seventeen twenty seven,
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: Peter the Second seventeen twenty seven to seventeen thirty, and
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: seventeen thirty to seventeen forty Peter the Great had not
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: appointed his successor, but the direct heir to the throne
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 1: was his great son Peter. He was, however, only ten
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: years old, so the Empress Catharine, by the help of
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: the guards, ascended the throne and ruled for two years,
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: with Menschikov as her minister and plenipotentary. At her death,
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: she bequeathed the throne to Peter the Second, but during
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: his minority, vested the management of the state in the
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: Supreme Privy Council, which she formed from among the highest individuals.
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: Under the presidency of Menschakov, Menschakov at once assumed the
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: greatest authority, betrothed his daughter to the young emperor, treated
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: the nobility most arrogantly, and generally misused his power.
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 2: For his own ends.
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: This conduct raised many enemies against him, and notably Ostermann,
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: Peter the Second's tutor, and the Princess Dolguruskaya, and brought
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: about his fall. He was deprived of all his honors
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: and possessions and was with his family exiled to Bezov
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: in Siberia, where he died at thirteen. Peter the Second
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: and declared himself of age and went to live in
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: Moscow where to the despair of Ostermann, he spent all
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: his time in hunting. In seventeen thirty he died of smallpox.
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: With Peter the second, the male line of the Romanovs
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: came to an end, and the dynasty could only be
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: carried on in the female line. Peter the Great's eldest daughter, Anne,
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: Duchess of Holstein, had died, leaving a little son, so
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: the nearest heir to the throne was Peter's second daughter, Elizabeth.
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: The Supreme Privy Council, however, overlooked her claim and elected Anne,
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: second daughter of Ivan the fifth, to be empress, on
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: condition that the power of the throne should be limited
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: and that she should rule under the guidance of the
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: Privy Council. When Anne came to Moscow for her coronation,
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: the nobles presented a petition to her, begging her to
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: restore absolute monarchy in Russia, and she crowned herself, as
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: the custom had been and is to this day. After this,
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: the Supreme Privy Council.
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 2: Was aboard polished.
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: In the reign of Anne, the most important offices were
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: filled by Germans. Foreign affairs were entrusted to Ostermann, the
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: army to Manique, the Russian form of the German name Munich,
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: but the supreme control was held by Anne's favorite Biron,
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: who enjoyed absolute power and cleverly succeeded in retaining her
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: lifelong favor. Anne carried on two wars, one to promote
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: the accession of Augustus the third to the throne of Poland,
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: and the other against the Crimean Tartars, but both campaigns
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 1: were unimportant in their results. Saint Petersburg again became the
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: residence of the Empress, and she gathered a very brilliant,
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: pleasure loving court around her. She married her niece Anne,
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: daughter of her dead sister and granddaughter of Ivan the fifth,
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: to the Duke of Brunswick, and when their infant son,
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: Ivan was born, appointed him to succeed her. Anne died
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: in seventeen forty end of chapter sixteen recording by Violence
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: of Albertville, Chapter seventeen of A Short History of Russia
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: by Lucy Casseley. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 1: Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville, Yvon six seventeen forty
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: to seventeen forty one, Elizabeth seventeen forty one to seventeen
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: sixty one. Peter II seventeen sixty one to seventeen sixty two.
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: Yvon the sixth was only a few weeks old when
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 1: the Empress Anne died, but she had appointed Biron to
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: be regent during his minority. Biron's many enemies, however, rose
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: against him, and under the leadership of Minique, arrested him
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: and sent him to the fortress of Schlusselburg and then
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 1: to Siberia. The Duchess of Brunswick was appointed regent, with
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: Monique and Ostermann as her chief advisers, but she was
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: a foolish, incapable woman and soon made enemies of all
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: her followers. The Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great,
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: took advantage of the Duchess's unpopularity to seize the throne
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: by the help of the guards, whom she roused to
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: enthusiasm by a stirring speech, which she ended.
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 2: By the words you know whose daughter I am.
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: The Duchess of Brunswick and her husband were exiled to Pulmulgeri,
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: and little Ivan the sixth was shut up in Schlusselburg
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: for life. Seventeen forty one. Elizabeth's first act was to
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: remove Monik and Ostermann from power and exile them to Siberia,
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 1: and their fall marked the decline of the German influence
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: at court. Elizabeth's favorites were all Russians. The first of
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: these was Count Razumovski, who had been a singer, but
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: he was an easy going man who did not interfere
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: at all in public matters. Elizabeth's second adviser Shuvalov, a
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: man of great talent and education who did a great
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 1: deal for the enlfeightenment of the people. He founded the
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: University of Moscow, the first university in Russia. The foreign
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: policy of Elizabeth's reign was marked by her alliance with
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: Maria Theresa in the Seven Years War, and the Russians
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: under Soltikoff, Apraxine and others gained several victories over the Prussians.
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth died in seventeen sixty one. She had appointed her nephew, Peter,
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: Duke of Holstein, to be her successor, and had the
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: young prince educated at her own court. In seventeen forty five,
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 1: he was married to a princess of anhalt Zerbst, a
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: small German principality who upon joining the Greek Church, took
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: the name of Catherine. Although this princess was only fourteen,
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: she was remarkably clever and energetic, and at once set
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: herself to study not only the Russian language, but the history, literature,
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: and customs of the country. She even wrote several plays, poems,
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: and historical and philosophical essays. On the death of Elizabeth,
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: Peter the Third ascended the throne, but he was weak
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: and incapable, and was very soon made to give up
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: his power to his clever wife, who thus became Empress
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: in her own right. Peter the Third died a few
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: months later in seventeen sixty two. End of chapter seventeen
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: recording by Violet Blue of Albertville, Chapter eighteen of a
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: Short History of Russia by Lucy Kaseley. This LibriVox recording
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville.
• 1:35:41
  Speaker 1: Catherine the Second seventeen sixty two to seventeen ninety six.
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: The reign of Catherine the Second was one of the
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: most glorious in Russian history, and during this period the
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: boundaries of the Empire were very much enlarged. Catherine carried
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 1: on two very successful wars against the tes Turks, which
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: ended in firmly establishing Russian rule on the shores of
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: the Black Sea. In the First War, Count Runyansov entered Moldavia,
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 1: defeated the Turks in the battles of Larga and Kagul, and,
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: pursuing his advantage, crossed to the right bank of the Danube.
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: The Russian fleet under Admiral Orlof at the same time
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: sailed around Europe, attacked the Turkish fleet the Straits of
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: Chios and burnt it in the little Bay of Cheesma.
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: The Turks at last sued for peace, which was concluded
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: at kutchuk Keinaji in seventeen seventy four, and by the
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 1: terms of which Turkey ceded to Russia the mouths of
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 1: the Don and neper Azov and several smaller towns and
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: four and a half million rubles. About the year seventeen
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: seventy a dangerous rebellion broke out in the eastern provinces
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: of Russia, and it took five years of incessant fighting
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: to put it down. A Don Cossack emilion, Pugatchev by name,
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: gave himself out to be the Emperor Peter the third
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: and gained a large following among the ural Cossacks by
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: declaring that he would stand for the people against the nobles.
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 1: He was joined by the Kurgiz, Kalmuks and other wandering tribes,
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: and possessed himself of several forts and outposts. Catherine sent
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: a small army against him under General Karr, who was, however,
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 1: defeated by Pugatchev. His successor, Bibikoff, acted with great energy
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: and sent a flying column under Colonel Michaelson to harry
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 1: the rebels incessantly. Pugatchev received his first check near Orenburg,
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: but soon recovered, reappeared on the Volga and pillaged and
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 1: burnt Khazan. There, Michaelson came up with him and defeated him.
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 1: Pugatchev then turned southward along the Volga, took Saratov and
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: followed the river to Taritzen and astr Khan, Ever, pursued
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: by Michaelson and his hussars. At this christ Suvorov, Katherine's
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: greatest general, took command and succeeded in driving Pugatchev across
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: the Volga into the steps and forced the Cossacks to
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: give him up Pugatchev was brought to Moscow in a
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 1: cage and was hanged and quartered in seventeen seventy five.
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: Catherine's chief adviser was Potiomkin. He was the son of
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: a poor nobleman, but by his wonderful ability brought himself
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: to Catherine's notice and gained rapid promotion during the First
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 1: Turkish War. After the Prince of Kenaji, he was made
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 1: governor of the newly acquired provinces, which were very fertile
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: but quite uncultivated.
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 2: In a very few years he did.
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: Wonders in developing the country by encouraging settlers to come there,
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: building towns, and clearing the district of the Zaporogian freebooters.
• 1:38:50
  Speaker 1: In seventeen eighty three, he obtained the annexation of the Crimea,
• 1:38:54
  Speaker 1: and thus put an end to the Kingdom of the
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: Crimean Tartars, who had made such frequent inroads into Russia.
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: The Turks very much resented the annexation of the Crimea,
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 1: and in seventeen eighty eight began the Second War with Russia. Catherine, however,
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: entered into an alliance with the Emperor Joseph the Second
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 1: and appointed Petumkin to be commander in chief. He laid
• 1:39:17
  Speaker 1: siege to the Turkish fortress of Ochakov, which was stormed
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: and taken after a stubborn resistance. In seventeen eighty eight,
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 1: the celebrated general Suvorof met the Turks in a battle
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: near Rhymnik in Moldavia and defeated them. The most important
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: event of the war was the siege of his Mile,
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: a first class fortress on the banks of the Danube.
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: Potumkin laid siege to it, but the Turks defended it
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: most gallantly. Potumkin then gave over the supreme command to
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: Suvorof with instructions to take the fortress at any price.
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: After a desperate resistance, it was stormed in seventeen ninety.
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: About this time, Catherine's faithful ally, the Emperor Joseph the Second, died,
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: and England and France used their diplomatic influence in favor
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: of Turkey, so negotiations were opened and peace was concluded
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 1: at Jasse in seventeen ninety one. Potiomkin did not live
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: to see the end of the war, but died of
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: fever early in seventeen ninety one. The reign of Catherine
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: saw the dismemberment of the Kingdom of Poland a result
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 1: of its internal dissensions. Poland was an electoral monarchy, and
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: the death of every king occasioned a fierce struggle for
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: the throne. Religious differences between the Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: and Protestants, or dissenters as they were called, and quarrels
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: between the nobles and their serfs further weakened the power
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 1: of the state and made it an easy prey to
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: its greedy neighbours. On the plea of defending the Greek Catholics,
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 1: who demanded equal civil rights with the Roman Catholics, Catherine
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: sent an army under Suvoroff into Poland, and Frederic the
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: Second did the same time to protect the interests of
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 1: the Protestants. A struggle ensued, which lasted four years and
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 1: was brought to a close in seventeen seventy two by
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: the First Partition of Poland, by which Russia annexed White Russia, Austria,
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: Galicia and Prussia Pomerania. Twenty years later, a further partition
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: of Poland between Prussia and Russia took place, but this
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: so exasperated the Poles that under Koshiyudsko. They rose in
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: rebellion and massacred the Russian garrison of Warsaw. Catherine again
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 1: sent Suvorov to Poland, and Kaziosko was completely defeated and
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: taken prisoner at Himachiovitza near Warsaw. Upon this Warsaw surrendered,
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 1: and the Kingdom of Poland was practically abolished in seventeen
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 1: ninety five by a third partition, in which Russia received
• 1:41:49
  Speaker 1: as her share Volna, Lithuania and Kurland, and the Polish
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: king Stanislas Poniatowsky was removed to Saint Petersburg. In the
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: management of internal affairs, Catherine showed great wisdom. She divided
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 1: the country into fifty governments, which were again subdivided into districts,
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: each of which had its own law, courts and administration.
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: The towns were given municipal governments under their mayors. The
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 1: nobility had their privileges confirmed by the Patents of Nobility
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: and were exempted from corporal punishment. The monasteries had, in
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: the course of time and through the generosity of their patrons,
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 1: come to possess the vast tracts of land and thousands
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: of serfs which they held quite free of taxation, but
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: Catherine ordered these lands to be appropriated to the treasury.
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: Catherine was a great lover of royal progresses through the Empire,
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: and in this way became well acquainted with the country,
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 1: which she endeavored to open up by having good roads
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 1: made between the principal towns. Catherine was surnamed the Great.
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: She died of apoplexy in seventeen ninety six and was succeeded.
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 2: By her son Paul. The first.
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: End of chapter eighteen recording by Violet Blue of Albertville,
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 1: Chapter nineteen of A Short History of Russia by Lucy Casseley.
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 1: Violet Blue of Albertville, Paul the First seventeen ninety six
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: to eighteen oh one. Catherine the Second had never shown
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 1: any affection for her son, nor allowed him to take
• 1:43:38
  Speaker 1: a prominent place at court, so until his accession to
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: the throne, he and his wife had lived very quietly
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 1: in the palace at Gauchino. He had spent most of
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: his time in superintending military exercises and maneuvers, for his
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 1: great desire was to organize the Russian army on Prussian lines.
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: When Paul became emperor, he joined the all Alliance. England
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: and Austria had formed against the French, and in seventeen
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: ninety nine sent an army into Italy. Suvoroff was appointed
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: to the supreme command.
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 2: Of the Alliance armies.
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: He defeated the French in a series of desperate battles
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 1: at Ada, Trabeau and Novi, and then undertook the hazardous
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: passage of the Alps. A body of Russian troops under Rimsky.
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 1: Korsakov was already fighting in Switzerland, and Suvorov's aim was
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: to join forces and drive the French out of Switzerland.
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: He crossed the Saint Goddard Pass amid great dangers, and
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: after severe fighting in the Gorge of Urserne and at
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: the Devil's Bridge, reached Muten. Here he lent Korsakov had
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: been defeated by the French at Zurich and had fallen
• 1:44:47
  Speaker 1: back on Schaffhausen in the face of tremendous odds. He
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: then fought his way through to the Valley of the
• 1:44:53
  Speaker 1: Rhine and joined Korusakov at Feldkirkin. The Russian army took
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 1: up winter coups orders in Bohemia, but early in eighteen
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 1: hundred Paul withdrew from his alliance with England and Austria
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: and made peace with France. The army was recalled to Russia,
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 1: but Suvorov was already ill when he commenced his homeward
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: journey and died soon after his arrival in Saint Petersburg.
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: The chief act of Paul's reign was the introduction of
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 1: a measure by which the serfs were only required to
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: work for their masters on three days of the week.
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 2: Paul had a peculiar.
• 1:45:29
  Speaker 1: Unbalanced mind and a despotic way of enforcing his reforms,
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: which made him many enemies. His intentions were good, but
• 1:45:37
  Speaker 1: his methods were arbitrary and so erratic that he was
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 1: often thought to be insane. He was murdered in a
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 1: palace revolt in eighteen o one, and was succeeded by
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 1: his eldest son, Alexander. End of chapter nineteen recording by
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: Violet Blue of Albertville, Chapter twenty of A Short History
• 1:46:04
  Speaker 1: of Russia by Lucy Casselay. This LibriVox recording is in
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville. Alexander
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: the first eighteen o one to eighteen twenty five. Alexander
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 1: the First had been Catherine the Great's favorite grandson, and
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 1: was a man of great talent and wonderful personal charm.
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 1: His first care was to reform the old system of
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: administration by departments or offices where business was hopelessly delayed,
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: and to establish ministries for war, foreign affairs, public instruction,
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: et cetera, each with a chancellery of its own. In
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 1: the early part of Alexander's reign there was a war
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 1: against Sweden, the most important event of which was the
• 1:46:51
  Speaker 1: crossing of the Gulf of Bothnia on the ice by
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 1: a Russian army under Barclais de Trollis. Peace was concluded
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 1: in eighteen o nine. The result of this campaign was
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: that Finland voluntarily gave herself up to Russia, on condition
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: that she should retain her own administration and all her
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 1: old rights and privileges.
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 2: A d.
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 1: Eighteen o nine, Alexander the First allied himself with Austria
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 1: and then with Prussia against the French, but Napoleon defeated
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: them at Ousterlitz and Friedland, and peace was concluded at
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 1: Tilsit in eighteen o seven. This peace was signed on
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 1: a barge anchored in mid stream of the Nieman in
• 1:47:32
  Speaker 1: view of both armies, but it did not prove lasting.
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: Napoleon continued his conquests in Germany and conceived the idea
• 1:47:40
  Speaker 1: of subduing Russia. In June of eighteen twelve, he crossed
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 1: the Russian frontier and began his march on Moscow. Alexander
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 1: went to Moscow and there issued a manifesto to his people,
• 1:47:52
  Speaker 1: calling them to arms against the invader. The people responded
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 1: with enthusiasm, and all classes of society prepared to defend
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: the country. The Russian commander in chief, Barklays de toli
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: was meanwhile retreating before Napoleon with the object of drawing
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: the French army deeper and deeper into the country. He
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 1: reached Smolensk without giving battle, but determined to defend the town.
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 1: It was besieged by Napoleon, but the town caught fire
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 1: and was evacuated by the Russians, and nothing but charred
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: embers fell into the hands of the French. Barklay de
• 1:48:27
  Speaker 1: Tolies's policy caused much dissatisfaction in the Russian army, and
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 1: Alexander appointed Prince Goolnishev Kutuzov to supersede him. It was
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: expected that Kutuzov would at once attack the French, but
• 1:48:41
  Speaker 1: he also adopted de Toli's plan and retired to within
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 1: one hundred and eight versts of Moscow. Here, on the
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 1: field of Borodino was fought one of the most bloody
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: battles of modern times. It waged all day, and although
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: at nightfall Kutuzov kept the advantage of position, his losses
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: were so enormous that under cover of the darkness he
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: recommenced his.
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 2: Retreat on Moscow.
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: Three days later, a council of war was held in
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 1: the village of Fily, and it was decided that the
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: Russian army should retire through Moscow without defending the city.
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: Next day, Napoleon entered Moscow unopposed, but all the shutters
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 1: were up and the city was almost deserted. A general
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: exodus had begun as soon as Napoleon passed Smolensk, and
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: most of the treasures of the city had been sent away.
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: In all, perhaps ten thousand of the very poorest inhabitants
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 1: alone remained in the city. The governor, Count Rostopchin had
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: sent the fire engines to Vladimir, and after unlocking the
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 1: jails and letting out the prisoners, had ordered them to
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: set fire to the town as soon as the French
• 1:49:47
  Speaker 1: entered it. On September third, Napoleon took up his quarters
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: in the Kremlin Palace, but by next day Moscow was
• 1:49:54
  Speaker 1: a sea of flame, and he was obliged to leave
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: the Kremlin and go to the Petrovski Palace. When the
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 1: conflagration subsided. The French soon found themselves almost destitute of supplies,
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: and all attempts to bring provisions into the town were
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 1: frustrated by the bands of armed peasants who hung on
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: the outskirts of the town, ever ready to capture foraging
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 1: parties and cut off stragglers. These armed peasants were called
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 1: ratniki or partisans. Napoleon stayed five weeks in Moscow, and
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 1: then a spell of intensely cold weather decided him to
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 1: commence his retreat. Before leaving Moscow, he ordered mines to
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 1: be laid under the Kremlin walls and the palace and
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 1: all public buildings to be burnt. During the night, parts
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: of the walls were blown up, and the barracks and
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 1: palace burnt to the ground. But the churches of the
• 1:50:44
  Speaker 1: Kremlin were happily saved. Napoleon began his retreat along the
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 1: Sapukov and Kaluga roads towards Smolensk, but Kutuzov's army and
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 1: the Partisans continually harassed him in the rear. The cold
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: and hardships of a Russian wind soon relaxed all discipline
• 1:51:02
  Speaker 1: in the French army. Orderly retreats soon developed into a
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 1: complete route, and Napoleon himself narrowly escaped, being made prisoner
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 1: at the awful crossing of the river Berezina. The line
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 1: of the retreat of the Grand Army was marked by
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 1: thousands of corpses, and before reaching Vilna, Napoleon left the
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: sorry remains of his legions and hastened to Paris alone.
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 1: After Napoleon's defeat, Alexander again entered into an alliance with
• 1:51:29
  Speaker 1: Austria and Prussia, and the results of their combined actions
• 1:51:33
  Speaker 1: were the occupation of Paris in eighteen fourteen and the
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: fall of Napoleon in the following year. European peace was
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 1: restored by the Congress of Vienna, which also finally ratified
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 1: the annexation by Russia of the Polish provinces under the
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: title of the Kingdom of Poland. During the last years
• 1:51:54
  Speaker 1: of his life, Alexander made several journeys to different parts
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 1: of the Empire. In eighteen twenty five, his wife, the
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: Empress Elizabeth, was ordered by her doctors to spend the
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: winter in a warmer climate. Alexander accompanied her to Taganerog
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 1: on the Sea of Azof, and then went on a
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: tour in the Crimea. He caught a chill while traveling
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: and died soon after his return to Taganerog November nineteenth,
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: eighteen twenty five, end of chapter twenty recording by Violet
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: Blue of Albertville, Chapter twenty one of a Short History
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: of Russia by Lucy Caselay. This LibriVox recording is in
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Recording by Violet Blue of Albertville. Nicholas
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: the First, eighteen twenty five to eighteen fifty five, Alexander
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: the I died childless, and Russia took the oath to
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: his brother Constantine, who was Viceroy of Poland and lived
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: in war. A proclamation was, however, at once issued declaring
• 1:53:04
  Speaker 1: that Constantine had refused the throne in favor of his
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: younger brother Nicholas. This brought about the Decembrist or December
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: conspiracy among a few officers of the Guards who wished
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 1: to force Constantine onto the throne by means of a
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 1: military revolt. But this conspiracy was very soon suppressed by
• 1:53:24
  Speaker 1: Nicholas the First, who was a man of strong character
• 1:53:27
  Speaker 1: and great energy. During the reign of Nicholas, Russia was
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 1: involved in many wars, the first of which was against Persia.
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 1: In the time of Paul the First. Georgia, a Christian
• 1:53:39
  Speaker 1: kingdom in the Caucasus, had voluntarily given itself up to
• 1:53:43
  Speaker 1: the Russian crown, but it was separated from Russia by
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 1: a rugged mountain region, where warlike hillmen, encouraged by Persia,
• 1:53:51
  Speaker 1: kept up a continual warfare. In eighteen thirteen, the Shah
• 1:53:55
  Speaker 1: of Persia had at last been forced to give up
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 1: his claims on Georgia, but at the time of Nicholas's accession,
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 1: he attempted to reconquer the country. Nicholas at once sent
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: an army under General Paskevitch to protect the Georgians. Paskevitch
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 1: defeated the Persians, took the fortress of Erivan, and was
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 1: already on his way to the Persian capital. When the
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 1: Shah sued for peace a d. Eighteen twenty eight, Persia
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 1: gave up two khanates to Russia and paid a large indemnity.
• 1:54:27
  Speaker 1: In eighteen twenty eight, Russia joined England and France in
• 1:54:31
  Speaker 1: an alliance to promote the liberation of Greece, and the
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 1: Russian Black Sea Fleet took part in the Battle of Navarino,
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 1: where the whole Turkish fleet was destroyed. Nicholas meanwhile divided
• 1:54:43
  Speaker 1: the Russian army into two parts. One of them operated
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 1: an Asiatic Turkey under paskevitch Rivansky and took the fortress
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 1: of karz and A Kaltsik, while the other, under the
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 1: Emperor himself, attacked Varna. This fortress and several others were captured,
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: and the r Rusian army under Diebych crossed the Balkans
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 1: and occupied Adrianopoli with the enemy within two days March
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 1: of his capital. The Sultan thought it advisable to make
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 1: overtures of peace, and it was concluded at Adrianopoli in
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 1: eighteen twenty nine. By this peace, Russia obtained the mouth
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 1: of the Danube, the eastern shores of the Black Sea,
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 1: and several Asiatic fortresses. In eighteen thirty the Poles, who
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: bitterly resented Russian rule, broke out in rebellion and attempted
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: to restore the Kingdom of Poland. The whole country rose
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: in arms, and Nicholas had to send a powerful force
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 1: into Poland. Diebych defeated the insurgents in the Battle of Grohovo,
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 1: in which their commander in chief, Schlopiki, was mortally wounded,
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: but even this did not end the rebellion. As usual, however,
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 1: quarrels and dissensions arose among the Poles and prevented their
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 1: opposing the advance of the Russians on Warsaw When, which
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 1: was stormed by Paskyevitch in eighteen thirty one. This proved
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 1: the death blow to the rebellion, and Poland was incorporated
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 1: with Russia.
• 1:56:09
  Speaker 2: During the period of peace.
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: Which followed this suppression of the Polish rebellion, Nicholas turned
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: his attention to the internal affairs of the country and
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty three had the Code of Laws drawn
• 1:56:21
  Speaker 1: up under the guidance of Speransky. Nicholas also very much
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 1: developed the naval and military resources of the country and
• 1:56:29
  Speaker 1: was almost a Martinet for discipline. In eighteen fifty three,
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 1: war again broke out with the Turks, who had encroached
• 1:56:37
  Speaker 1: on the privileges of the Greek Church in the Holy
• 1:56:39
  Speaker 1: Land and refused to restore the rites granted to Russian
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 1: pilgrims in Palestine. A Russian army under gortschakov At once
• 1:56:49
  Speaker 1: occupied Moldavia and Wallachia, while the Black Sea Fleet destroyed
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 1: the Turkish fleet in the harbor of Sinope. England, France
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: and Sardinia embraced the cause of Ur and sent their
• 1:57:01
  Speaker 1: fleets to the Black Sea. Thus began the Crimean War.
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty four, the Allied armies landed at Yupatoria
• 1:57:09
  Speaker 1: in the Crimea and turned southwards towards Sevastopol. Prince Menchikov,
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 1: who commanded the Russian troops, tried to check their advance
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 1: on the high banks of the River Alma, but after
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 1: a fight which lasted several hours, he was forced to fall.
• 1:57:24
  Speaker 2: Back on Sevastopol.
• 1:57:26
  Speaker 1: This fortress, which was very strongly fortified toward the sea,
• 1:57:30
  Speaker 1: had only very slight defenses on the land side, and
• 1:57:33
  Speaker 1: these were hastily reinforced. The inhabitants, working side by side
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 1: with the soldiers in throwing up earthworks and fortifying the town.
• 1:57:42
  Speaker 1: The Russian ships were sunk across the mouth of the
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 1: harbor to block its entrance against the Allied fleets, and
• 1:57:48
  Speaker 1: the ship's guns were removed to all the fortifications. The
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: Allied armies laid siege to Sevastopol and maintained it for
• 1:57:56
  Speaker 1: eleven months, although Menschikov's army made several attempts to raise it,
• 1:58:01
  Speaker 1: notably by their attack on the English on the heights
• 1:58:04
  Speaker 1: of Inkerman. This war was a great strain on the
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 1: resources of Russia, especially when the Allied fleets appeared in
• 1:58:11
  Speaker 1: the Baltic and bombarded the fortress of Speyerborg off Helsingfors.
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 2: The absence of.
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 1: Railways made the supplying of the Russian army overland a
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 1: work of great difficulty, while the Allies could get all
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: they wanted by sea. In the midst of the Crimea War,
• 1:58:27
  Speaker 1: the Emperor Nicholas the First died suddenly at Saint Petersburg
• 1:58:31
  Speaker 1: in February eighteen fifty five and was succeeded by his
• 1:58:35
  Speaker 1: son Alexander. The second end of chapter twenty one recording
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 1: by Violet Blue of Albertville chapter twenty two of a
• 1:58:52
  Speaker 1: short History of Russia by Lucy Kaseley. This LibriVox recording
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain recording by Violet Blue of Albertville.
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: Alexander the Second eighteen fifty five to eighteen eighty one.
• 1:59:07
  Speaker 1: The Siege of Sevastopol went on until the end of
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 1: August eighteen fifty five, when the garrison began to run
• 1:59:14
  Speaker 1: short of ammunition and the Malakov Bastion, which was the
• 1:59:18
  Speaker 1: key to Sevastopol, was stormed by the Allies. The fall
• 1:59:22
  Speaker 1: of Sevastopol practically put an end to operations in the Crimea,
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: but three months later the Russians reduced the Turkish fortress
• 1:59:29
  Speaker 1: of Kars by hunger. Both Alexander the Second and the
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 1: Allies were by this time quite willing to make peace,
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 1: and it was concluded at Paris in eighteen fifty six.
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 1: By the provisions of the Treaty of Paris, all of
• 1:59:44
  Speaker 1: the conquests of the war were returned to their former owners,
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 1: but Turkey, in addition, received from Russia the mouth of
• 1:59:51
  Speaker 1: the Danube and prohibited the passage of the Dardanelles to
• 1:59:55
  Speaker 1: the Russian fleet. The most important event of Alexander the
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 1: seconds the reign was the abolition of serfdom.
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 2: Both Catherine the.
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: Second and Alexander the First had wished to do this,
• 2:00:06
  Speaker 1: but the project had never been realized, and when Alexander
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 1: the Second came to the throne, there were over twenty
• 2:00:12
  Speaker 1: two million.
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 2: Serfs in Russia.
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 1: On February nineteenth, eighteen sixty one, Alexander abolished serfdom, and
• 2:00:20
  Speaker 1: the peasants had land allotted to them, which they were
• 2:00:23
  Speaker 1: to redeem from the landowners at.
• 2:00:25
  Speaker 2: A fixed rate.
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 1: This act was received with great enthusiasm by the people
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 1: and gained Alexander the title of the Liberator. Alexander brought
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 1: in many reforms. Thus, in eighteen sixty three, he placed
• 2:00:39
  Speaker 1: the local management of governments and districts in the hands
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 1: of the Zemstvo, a council elected from among the inhabitants
• 2:00:47
  Speaker 1: who were naturally better acquainted with local needs. He also
• 2:00:50
  Speaker 1: introduced trial by jury in an open court and abolished
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 1: corporal punishment. The Polish emigrants and insurgents of eighteen thirty
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 1: had been gant dented an amnesty by Alexander the Second
• 2:01:02
  Speaker 1: and had been allowed to return to their homes, but
• 2:01:05
  Speaker 1: they merely took advantage of this to foster discontent in
• 2:01:08
  Speaker 1: the country, and in eighteen sixty three another rebellion broke out.
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 1: Night attacks on the Russian soldiers were made simultaneously in
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: many parts of Poland, and bands of armed insurgeons spread
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 1: all over the country. A guerrilla warfare was carried on
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 1: for several months, but then Muroev, the Russian viceroy in Vilna,
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 1: ordered the Russian troops to take such radical measures that
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 1: the rebellion was soon stamped out. The conquest of the
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 1: Caucasus had been going on gradually but steadily since the
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 1: beginning of the century, but the opposition of the mountain
• 2:01:41
  Speaker 1: tribes became desperate when Shamil placed himself at the head.
• 2:01:45
  Speaker 2: Of the movement.
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 1: He was the chief of the mohammadan sect of the Murids,
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 1: and a sworn enemy to Russia. The hill men made
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 1: fierce raids on the Russian soldiers and then retired to
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 1: their mountain fastnesses, where.
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 2: They were safe from suit.
• 2:02:01
  Speaker 1: At last, Alexander determined to put an end to this
• 2:02:04
  Speaker 1: state of things and appointed Prince Baryatinsky to the command
• 2:02:08
  Speaker 1: of the Caucasus. Prince Baryatynsky devoted all his attention to
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 1: the eastern Caucasus, where he made clearings in the forests
• 2:02:16
  Speaker 1: and military roads. He then stormed Shamil's fortress of Vaden
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 1: and drove him into the wilds of Dagistan. Here Shamil
• 2:02:24
  Speaker 1: made a desperate stand in the hill fort of Kunib,
• 2:02:28
  Speaker 1: but the Russians stormed his position, and after some hours
• 2:02:31
  Speaker 1: of fighting, Shamil surrendered to Prince Baryatinsky. This brought the
• 2:02:35
  Speaker 1: whole of their Eastern Caucaus to Russia's feet, but the
• 2:02:38
  Speaker 1: Western Caucasus had still to be conquered step by step,
• 2:02:42
  Speaker 1: and was not finally subdued until eighteen sixty four. Those
• 2:02:46
  Speaker 1: of the hill Men who would not accept Russian rule
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 1: emigrated to Turkey and Asia Minor. The Christian inhabitants of
• 2:02:53
  Speaker 1: the Balkan Peninsula had for centuries been trying to throw
• 2:02:56
  Speaker 1: off the dominion of Turkey, and Serbia had already become
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 1: a separate principality. Bulgarian now showed similar aspirations, and the Turks,
• 2:03:05
  Speaker 1: to prevent a rising in the country, perpetuated the Bulgarian atrocities,
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 1: a wholesale massacre in which thousands of Bulgarians were killed.
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 2: This called forth the.
• 2:03:16
  Speaker 1: Intervention of Russia, who was considered the champion of the
• 2:03:19
  Speaker 1: slav nationalities. In eighteen seventy seven, Alexander the Second declared
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 1: war on Turkey and sent his army under his brother,
• 2:03:27
  Speaker 1: the Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolayevitch, into Bulgaria. The Turkish army
• 2:03:32
  Speaker 1: had concentrated in that part of Bulgaria which surrounded the
• 2:03:36
  Speaker 1: fortresses of Shumla, Varna, Rushchuk and Silistria, and had strongly
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 1: fortified the town of Plevna. This town the Russians under
• 2:03:45
  Speaker 1: General Skobelev besieged and made several attempts to carry by storm,
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 1: but they met with a most stubborn resistance. While supplies
• 2:03:54
  Speaker 1: began to run short, the Turks in Plevna under Osman
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 1: Pasha made a desperate attempt to break through through the
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: Russian besieging force, but they were overpowered by numbers and
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 1: the whole of the Plevna garrison had to surrender. The
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 1: Russians under General Gruko then made a winter march across
• 2:04:11
  Speaker 1: the Balkans in the face of great hardships, and again
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 1: defeated the Turks at the Shipka Pass. The Grand Duke
• 2:04:19
  Speaker 1: Michael Nikolaievitch, another brother of the Emperor, had command of
• 2:04:23
  Speaker 1: the army operating in Asiatic Turkey, and with his generals Lauris,
• 2:04:27
  Speaker 1: Mehlikov and Hayden took Kars. Once across the Balkans, the
• 2:04:32
  Speaker 1: Russian army moved quickly forward and occupied Adrianopoli without a struggle.
• 2:04:37
  Speaker 1: Turkey then sued for peace, which was concluded at San
• 2:04:41
  Speaker 1: Stefano in February eighteen seventy eight and later on ratified
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 1: in Berlin. Russia received back the mouth of the Danube,
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 1: and the districts and fortresses of Kars and Batum, Montenegro,
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 1: Serbia and Romania were acknowledged independent, and Bulgaria became a
• 2:04:58
  Speaker 1: separate principality under the Suzuz Guaranty of Turkey. During the
• 2:05:02
  Speaker 1: greater part of the nineteenth century, revolutionary and anarchistic ideas
• 2:05:06
  Speaker 1: had gradually been developing and gaining ground in Russia, and
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 1: had manifested themselves in several attempts on the life of
• 2:05:13
  Speaker 1: the Emperor as the representative of the mononarchical regime. These
• 2:05:18
  Speaker 1: attempts were organized by a body of revolutionaries called the Nihilists,
• 2:05:22
  Speaker 1: whose ringleaders mostly lived abroad. The mass of the Russian
• 2:05:26
  Speaker 1: people were and are still devotedly loyal to the throne,
• 2:05:30
  Speaker 1: but the emissaries of the Nihilists could always find hair brained,
• 2:05:33
  Speaker 1: hot headed enthusiasts ready to be carried to any lengths
• 2:05:36
  Speaker 1: by plausible lies. On March first, eighteen eighty one, a
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 1: bomb was thrown under the Emperor's carriage as he was
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 1: driving to the Winter Palace. He was mortally wounded by
• 2:05:47
  Speaker 1: the explosion and died an hour later. He was succeeded
• 2:05:51
  Speaker 1: by his son Alexander the third end of chapter twenty
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 1: two recording by Violet Blue of Albert Tis, Chapter twenty
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 1: three of a Short History of Russia by Lucy Kaseley.
• 2:06:12
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
• 2:06:16
  Speaker 1: Violet Blue of Albertvil. Alexander the Third eighteen eighty one
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 1: to eighteen ninety four Nicholas the Second eighteen ninety four
• 2:06:26
  Speaker 1: to present. Alexander the Third was the first Russian emperor
• 2:06:31
  Speaker 1: to whom the peasants took the oath, for until the
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 1: emancipation of the serfs, it had been administered only to
• 2:06:37
  Speaker 1: the upper and official classes. His reign, which lasted for
• 2:06:41
  Speaker 1: over thirteen years, was a period of peace for Russia,
• 2:06:44
  Speaker 1: and Alexander the Third, through his personal influence, did much
• 2:06:48
  Speaker 1: to maintain the peace of Europe. In Central Asia, Russian
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 1: power had been making great strides during the last years
• 2:06:55
  Speaker 1: of the previous reign, and in eighteen seventy eight the
• 2:06:59
  Speaker 1: Emir of Bokhara had placed himself under Russian protection, an
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 1: example which Samarkand and mirv soon followed. Their submission was
• 2:07:08
  Speaker 1: not obtained without some resistance on the part of the natives,
• 2:07:12
  Speaker 1: but the Khans realized that Russia meant to subjugate them
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 1: and preferred submitting voluntarily and thereby retaining their religious and
• 2:07:20
  Speaker 1: tribal privileges. The advantages to be obtained from trade with
• 2:07:24
  Speaker 1: Russia were a potent factor in the gradual Russification of
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 1: Central Asia. In her dealings with Eastern countries, Russia has
• 2:07:33
  Speaker 1: invariably followed an astute policy of more or less peaceful
• 2:07:37
  Speaker 1: occupation ending in complete annexation. And thus the tables have
• 2:07:42
  Speaker 1: been turned, and the Mongol now has to submit to
• 2:07:45
  Speaker 1: the Russian yoke. Alexander the Third married the Princess Dagmar,
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 1: daughter of the King of Denmark, who, on joining the
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 1: Greek Church, took the name of Maria Fyodorovna. Alexander the
• 2:07:57
  Speaker 1: Third died on October twentieth d eighteen ninety four and
• 2:08:01
  Speaker 1: was succeeded by his eldest son, Nicholas. Nicholas the Second
• 2:08:06
  Speaker 1: married Princess alex of Hesse Darmstadt, who took the name
• 2:08:09
  Speaker 1: of Alexandra Feyodorovna and has five daughters and one son, Alexey.
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 1: So far, the principal events of his reign have been
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 1: the opening of the Trans Siberian Railway, the somewhat disastrous
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 1: war against Japan nineteen o four to nineteen o five,
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 1: the spread of the strike movement and the increase of
• 2:08:30
  Speaker 1: terrorist acts, the granting of the Russian Constitution by the
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 1: Manifesto of October seventeenth, nineteen o five, and the armed
• 2:08:38
  Speaker 1: rising in Moscow and its suppression in December nineteen o five,
• 2:08:42
  Speaker 1: and the opening of the first State Duma or parliament
• 2:08:45
  Speaker 1: on April twenty seventh, nineteen o six. End A Short
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 1: History of Russia by Lucy Kaseley, recording by Violet Blue
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 1: of Albertville,