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EUSSIA 493 Paris as the foremost among the allied mon- archs to whom Napoleon succumbed. In the congresses of Vienna (1814-'15) and Aix-la- Chapelle (1818), which reorganized the polit- ical relations of the European states, the in- fluence of Alexander, the founder of the " holy alliance," was paramount ; the duchy of War- saw, which Napoleon had created, was sur- rendered to him, and transformed into a king- dom of Poland under the Russian sceptre ; and in the contest which soon sprung up through- out Europe between the liberal and democra- tic tendencies of the age and the hereditary rights of the princes, Russia was regarded as the chief support of the latter. At the same time Alexander was eagerly intent on promo- ting the civilization of his empire and develop- ing its immense resources. The system of public instruction was greatly improved, and religious reforms were encouraged; serfdom had been abolished in Courland and Livonia. The death of Alexander, Dec. 1, 1825, acceler- ated the outbreak of a conspiracy which had wide ramifications throughout Russia, and es- pecially in the army ; but his brother and suc- cessor, Nicholas I. (1825-'55), suppressed it with great energy, and the leaders of the con- spiracy were either put to death or exiled to Siberia. A war, begun by Persia immediate- ly on receiving the intelligence of the death of Alexander, was victoriously terminated by Paskevitch ; and by the peace of Turkmantchai, Feb. 22, 1828, Russia gained the provinces of Erivan and Nakhitchevan, 80,000,000 rubles as indemnity, and the exclusive control of the Caspian sea. A war against Turkey commenced in 1828 was equally successful, the Turks be- ing obliged to cede in the peace of Adrianople (Sept. 14, 1829) several fortresses on the fron- tier and the mouths of the Danube, and to pay a large indemnity. The heroic efforts of the Polish nation in 1830-'31 to recover its in- dependence at length succumbed to the over- whelming power of the czar, who by a ukase of 1832 declared the kingdom of Poland a Russian province without diet and without its own army, and openly announced his inten- tion gradually to transform the Poles into Rus- sians. The same plan was pursued with re- gard to the numerous other tribes and nation- alities of the empire, and no means was left untried to extend the dominion of the Rus- sian language and the Russian church. A war against the independent tribes of the Caucasus, who after 1834 were led by Shamyl, was car- ried on, with but little interruption and with varying success, through the entire reign of Nicholas. In 1849 a Russian army was sent to the aid of Austria against the Hungarians, and assisted in the suppression of the revolu- tion. In 1853 Russia demanded from the Turkish government certain guarantees of the rights of the Greek Christians of Turkey, which the Porte believed to involve an actual abdica- tion of its sovereignty, and which it therefore refused to concede. This led in the same year to the beginning of the " eastern war." in which France, England, and Sardinia took sides (1854) with Turkey, on the ground that the existence of the latter empire and the equi- librium of political power in Europe were en- dangered by Russia. This war, which culmi- nated in the siege and capture of Sebastopol, was terminated under Nicholas's son and suc- cessor, Alexander II., who ascended the throne on March 2, 1855. (See CRIMEA.) By the treaty of Paris (March 30, 185G) Russia lost a small strip of land in Bessarabia, and her naval preponderance in the Black sea. She recovered the latter, however, by withdrawing from the treaty of Paris in 1870, when France was en- gaged in a disastrous war, while England alone was unable to compel Russia to respect the treaty. A large fleet for the southern waters is now (1875) in course of construction. The reign of Alexander II. opened with a series of liberal reforms, which at once aroused the slumbering energies of the nation. (See ALEX- ANDER II., and GORTCHAKOFF.) The war in the Caucasus terminated with the capture of Shamyl in 1859. A new rising in Poland, which broke out in January, 1863, was crushed in the following year, and in consequence of it the administration of that country was en- tirely assimilated to that of Russia proper, the long exercised Russianizing process being de- veloped with the utmost rigor. (See POLAND.) Favorable commercial treaties were concluded in 1858 and 1860 with Japan and China, and from the latter power a valuable and exten- sive tract of land on the river Amoor was acquired, while the Japanese have ceded to Russia all their claims on the island of Sagha- lien. On the other hand, Russia sold to the United States in 1867 the vast territory of Alaska, which had been occupied since the reign of Paul. A telegraph line has been com- pleted from St. Petersburg to Yokohama, and the Siberian railway is speedily pushing for- ward toward the Pacific coast. Another rail- way line, the Central Asian, is in process of con- struction to Tashkend, a very important com- mercial town, and the rendezvous of the car- avans of Turkistan. The Russian conquests in central Asia have recently attracted general at- tention, though the Russian advance into these regions began centuries ago, when the czars of Moscow, freed from the Tartar invasion, began to retaliate upon the invaders, and en- deavored to find a market for their manufac- tures, which, being of a very inferior quality, had no sale in Europe. Between the Ural riv- er, which forms a part of the natural eastern boundary of European Russia, and the Irtish, formerly on the S. W. frontier of Siberia, ex- tended boundless steppes, the whole popula- tion of which consisted of a few thousand wan- dering Kirghiz. These tribes, when not fight- ing among themselves, united in attacks upon the Russian frontier settlements, and compelled the Russians to pursue them into the interior of the steppes. During these continued fights