THE RISE OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE PUBLISHER’S ANNOUNCEMENT _Demy 8vo, Cloth, 25s._ _With two coloured maps and ten specially drawn_ RUSSIA IN ASIA A RECORD AND A STUDY 1558-1899 BY ALEXIS KRAUSSE _Author of “China in Decay”_ SPECTATOR.--“It is well that the vague alarm generally inspired in the average Englishman by the thought of Russian successes in Asia should be replaced by exact knowledge. Books without number have already been written upon the several phases of the Russian advance, but Mr. Krausse’s volume is, we think, the first concise presentation in English of its entire history.” LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS 9 HENRIETTA ST., COVENT GARDEN, W.C. [Illustration: MAP OF RUSSIA under the EARLY RURIKOVITCH PRINCES ] THE RISE OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE BY HECTOR H. MUNRO “On se flatterait en vain de connaitre la Russie actuelle, si l’on ne remontait plus haut dans son histoire.”--LE PÈRE PIERLING. LONDON GRANT RICHARDS 1900 PREFACE With the exception of a translation of Rambaud’s somewhat disjointed work, there is no detailed history of Russia in the English language at all approaching modern standards. The reigns of Petr the Great and of some of his successors down to the present day--a period covering only 200 years--have been minutely dealt with, but the earlier history of a nation with whom we are coming ever closer into contact is to the English reader almost a blank. Whether the work now submitted will adequately fill the gap remains to be seen; such is its object. The rule observed with regard to the rendering of names of places and persons has been to follow the spelling of the country to which they belong as closely as possible. The spelling of Russian words employed, and curiously distorted, by English and other historians, has been brought back to its native forms. There is no satisfactory reason, for instance, why the two final letters of _boyarin_ should be dropped, or why they should reappear tacked on to the equally Russian word _Kreml_. Moskva is scarcely recognisable in its Anglicised form, and Kiev can only be rendered Kieff on a system which would radically disturb the spelling of most English towns. A list of works consulted is appended, arranged somewhat in the order in which they have been found useful, precedence being given to those which have been most largely drawn upon. HECTOR H. MUNRO, 1899. WORKS CONSULTED KARAMZIN--Histoire de l’empire russe. 1819. (French translation by MM. St. Thomas et de Divoff.) S. SOLOV’EV--Istoriya Rossie. 1858. TH. SCHIEMANN--Russland, Polen und Livland. 1885. A. RAMBAUD--History of Russia. 1879. (English translation.) L. PARIS (translator)--Chronique de Nestor. 1834. N. KOSTOMAROV--Rousskaya Istoriya v jhizneopisaniyakh eya glavnieyshikh dieyatelen. 1874. N. KOSTOMAROV--Sieverno Rousskiya Narodopravstva. 1886. SIR H. H. HOWORTH--History of the Mongols. ANONYMOUS--Geschichte der Ostseeprovinzen. 1879.