eign friends and instructors. He often visited the German settlement called the Koki and made the acquaintance of German officers who assisted him in building a little army while playing at soldiers with his boy companions. German officers had been called to Russia by Peter's father and grandfather to teach the Russian soldiers military arts. There were at that time in Moscow many other foreigners of different professions, such as merchants, physicians, druggists, architects, who had begun settling there during the rule of Joann III, when relations with Europe, broken during the Mongolian oppression, had been resumed through his marriage with Sophia, the daughter of the emperor of Byzantium, who came to Russia together with many Greeks and Italians. At the age of 17 Peter I placed in a monastery his sister Sophia, who still had pretensions to the throne, and by means of intrigues tried to attain her ends and finally succeeded in sharing the reign with her brother. Tsar Peter's interest in the army and navy, which was shown in his early childhood, still continued. He went twice to Arkhangelsk to view foreign vessels and conceived the idea of gaining a foothold on the Azov Sea for the purpose of trading with Southern Europe. After an unsuccessful attack he triumphantly took possession of Azov in the next year (1696). He then set out traveling in western Europe to study fortresses and to learn the arts of Western civilization. He joined his own embassy to Europe and, disguised as a Dutch carpenter, settled in Sardam to study the art of shipbuilding. There he boarded with a blacksmith, but, upon identification he changed his abode for Amsterdam, where he continued his studies. He was impressed by foreign customs and manners and began reforming Russia according to foreign models. He tried even to change the appearance of the Russians by replacing the feriaza, a long coat with very long sleeves, by the longtailed coat and the kaftan, and by prohibiting a beard to all except the clergy and the peasants, unless a tax were paid for the privilege of wearing one. He turned also his attention to the condition of women, against whose seclusion he strongly protested, and made the Moscovite princes introduce their daughters in society, costumed according to Western fashions. He organized gatherings for social intercourse which he called "assemblies." Marriage agreements were to be made only by the consent of the two concerned and not by their parents, as had been the custom up to this time. With the change of the Russian ways and habits Peter also started a reconstruction of the empire. In the place of the former prikazni he established collegii, the different branches of which were to take charge of commerce, revenue, army and navy, etc. The Boyarskaya Duma was replaced by the Senate and different German official ranks were substituted for Russian. Ecclesiastical affairs were entrusted to the Synod, an assembly of archbishops, which was to take the place of the former patriarchate. He was aware of the lack of education and established schools for children of the nobility, who were not allowed to carry before they could read and write. The army as well as the people, particularly the clergy and the staroviertzi (i.e., old believers), were dissatis

9

fied with the foreign innovations. Protesting against the strict foreign discipline the army revolted during Peter's absence abroad, but the revolt was quelled and the rioters severely punished upon his return. Dissatisfaction with the reforms was persecuted and tried by a special secret court (Tainoe Sudilishte) before which one could be brought by any one who cared to denounce his personal enemies by simply pronouncing the words "slovo i dielo (i.e., "word and act"). Peter replaced the militia called "strieltzy" by a standing army to be composed of peasants and urban population. Military duties became compulsory even for the young noblemen unless declared unfit or employed in the civil service. The greater part of his reign Peter spent in wars against Sweden. In alliance with Poland and Denmark he set out against the Swedes for the recapture of lost possessions along the Gulf of Finland, but after the battle of Narva (1700) retreated with heavy losses. This encounter with the Swedes was for him a lesson in the art of warfare and he utilized it to gain a foothold on the Finnish coast (1703) by capturing many cities in the absence of King Charles who was fighting the Polish king, August II. By taking possession of the Swedish fortress Nienshanz upon the Neva, he came into possession of the river, and under his own supervision built there a church and the Peter-Paul fortress as the nucleus of Petrograd which he now made the capital. Charles XII was lured again to Russia by his hopes to secure the Little Russia, whose hetman (or chief) Mazeppa turned traitor to Peter and promised to assist the Swedes with a great army of Cossacks. Charles XII met, however, with a crushing defeat in the battle of Poltava, 27 June 1709, and together with Mazeppa fled to Turkey. Here he instigated the Turkish sultan to declare war against Russia. With an army of 40,000 Peter set out for Turkey to face a considerably greater army of Turks and Tartars on the shores of the river Pruth. He was repelled, however, and by the Treaty of Pruth was forced to give up Azov and with it the outlet to the Southern seas and the mouth of the Don (1711). He succeeded, however, in establishing himself firmly on the coast of the Baltic Sea where, as a result of a warfare of 10 years, by the Treaty of Nieshtat (1721) Sweden ceded to Russia Livland, Esthonia and Ingria (the present district of Petrograd). In that same year he crowned himself, assuming the new title of "Imperator." Peter's infirm brother having died, his empire went to his grandson, Peter II, whose father, Aleksei, had died in exile escaping his death sentence pronounced against him by Peter I for expressed dissatisfaction with reforms. Peter Alekseiyevich was, however, only 10 years old, and Peter's second wife, Katharine I, used the opportunity to become ruler for two years (1725-27). At the expiration of this period she appointed Peter Alekseiyevich as her successor, and the Supreme Secret Council, a body of high officials, as the regents during his minority. Katharine I was German by birth the chief officials of the empire under her were Germans, and Ostermann, the son of a German pastor, was at the head of the government. The same state of affairs continued when Peter

As

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Alekseiyevich died before he reached his majority, and the Duchess of Courland, Anna Joannovna (1730-40), the daughter of Joann V, ascended the throne. Biron, a native of Courland, was at the head of the government. He was a cunning and hard-hearted man who for his selfish purposes imposed a heavy tax on the peasants and exacted it with unusual cruelties. At that time Munnich, who was in charge of the military affairs, introduced strict discipline in the army. He was the founder of the corps of cadets for the training of military officers. He became Prime Minister under Anna Leopoldovna, a niece of Anna Joannovna and the mother of little Joann VI (1740-41), whom Anna Joannovna appointed her successor to the throne. The dissatisfaction of the people with a foreign court grew greater and greater, and as a result little Joann, with his mother, Anna Leopoldovna, spent the rest of his days in the Schluesselburg fortress where Biron was also imprisoned. The domination of Germans at the Russian court came to an end with Elizabeth (1741-61), second daughter of Peter I. Munnich and Ostermann were exiled to Siberia and the Germans were replaced by Russian statesmen, Razumovski and Shuvalov. In those days it became the custom to use the French language at the Russian court. The nobility and the bureaucracy, following the tone of the court, engaged foreign educators for their children. Elizabeth's rule was marked by valuable internal improvements. During her reign the first Russian university (1755) and the first Russian theatre were founded in Moscow, the Academy of Science having been established in Petrograd by Peter I. External affairs also proved to the world that Russia since Peter the Great was occupying a prominent position among European powers. It participated with great success in the Seven Years' War as an ally of Maria Theresa, empress of Austria, against the Prussian king, Frederick 11.

The rule of Elizabeth's successor, Peter III, the son of her sister Anna, was of a very short duration. However, he succeeded in half a year in earning the gratitude of the people by abolishing the secret courts with its muchhated "Slovo i Dielo." He was succeeded by his worthy wife, Katharine II, née Princess Anhalt-Ferbst, whose rule of 34 years (1762– 96) was for Russia a period of expansion. Russia came into possession of the long-desired outlet to the Black Sea, and hence to the Mediterranean by her victories over the Turks at Larga and Kagula (1770) under the command of Rumiantzev Zadunaiski in the so-called First Turkish War which ended by the Treaty of Peace concluded at Kuchuk-Kainardgi (1774); and in the Second Turkish War, under the commanders Potyenkin and Suvarov, in which she took possession of the famous fortresses Ochakov (1788) and Izmaihil (1790) and, by the Treaty of Peace of 1791 concluded in Yassmui, obtained the territory on the northern coast of the Black Sea. By the third partition of Poland, Russia annexed White Russia, Voluinia, Lithuania and Courland. This took place in 1795 when, after a desperate battle under the leadership of Kosciusko and the successive partitions, the Polish kingdom ceased to exist. During Katharine's rule Eastern Rus

sia suffered a great deal from the insurrection stirred by the Cossack, Pugachev, who pretended to be the dead Peter III, and, with a band of Cossacks, Tartars and fugitives of malcontent peasants and laborers of the Uralworks, attacked and took possession of one fortress after another along the Ural boundary, putting to death their commanders. The insurrection was finally subdued and its leader executed in Moscow in 1775. Catherine II carried out and promoted some of the important reforms started by Peter I. He had divided Russia into 12 districts; she extended the division to 150 governments (districts) with subdivisions into counties in 1775. Each district had its administrative and judicial departments. Two hundred villages were turned into townships with a local administration. The city charters of 1785 divided the urban population into three classes: the merchants, the citizens and the craftsmen. The centre of the city administration was the city council (Gorodskaya Duma) and its head was the mayor elected by the people. The nobility was granted a charter defining its rights and privileges. These were a voluntary military body exempt from taxation and corporal punishment. Peter the Great had placed church property under state supervision. Catherine II made the land and the serfs belonging to the Church property of the Crown in 1764. She attempted also a reform of the Russian judicial courts by abolishing tortures at trials and contemplated a code of new laws. She had composed her own legal maxims and appointed a committee to help her draw up a new code of laws, but these attempts were stopped by the outbreak of the Turkish wars. She showed great concern in the spread of education by establishing several city schools and a few other educational institutions; as also in the moral rectitude of the people by increasing salaries of officials in order to stop bribery. She also took an active part in educational reform by writing fairy tales and comedies in which she ridiculed vice for the purpose of correction. Her reforms were continued by her son and successor, Paul I (1796-1801). Of these the most valuable was the improvement of the condition of the peasant serfs limiting the service to their masters to three days in the week. He further reconstructed the army following the Prussian style which was then considered the model by all Europe. He introduced even the Prussian decorative court uniform of locks and pigtails. When the French Revolution broke out, Paul I formed an alliance with England, Austria and Prussia to fight the French revolutionists, but dissatisfied with his allies he soon withdrew his troops after some successful military operations in Italy. His successor, Alexander I (1800-25), is represented in history as a good-natured man of a friendly attitude who won the favorable disposition of the people by the changes which he at once instituted. Some of his edicts greatly improved the condition of the peasantry and gradually led to its emancipation. His main administrative reforms were: the removal of the system of collegii established by Peter I and their replacement by a group of ministers, such as the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of War and others. He

also established the Imperial Council which acted as a Senate or Upper House. His activities on the educational field are also significant, for he promoted the general learning of the masses, established many higher schools, as Gymnasia, Progymnasia, theological seminaries and universities. Under the protectorate of Alexander I, Karamskin compiled the first "History of the Russian Empire,' and the Metropolitan of Moscow, Platon Sershin, wrote in 1812 a History of the Russian Church.' Alexander I appreciated to a high degree the works of Pushkin and Krylov, the two great poets of his time. His further plans for internal improvements and reform were impeded by the great wars which swept over Europe with the appearance of Napoleon I. Russia participated in the anti-Napoleonic campaigns, first as an ally of Austria and was defeated at Austerlitz, and then as an ally of Prussia, both being defeated at Friedland. Peace concluded in Tilsit (1807) was soon disturbed again by the reappearance of Napoleon in 1812. He invaded Russia with a great army and despite the desperate fight of the Russians under the commander Barklai-de-Tolli, they were defeated in the famous battle of Borodino. Napoleon then proceeded to Moscow which he entered cnly to find it in flames and ruin. Famine and the severe cold of the Russian winter forced the French to withdraw with enormous losses. Napoleon hurried to France intending to return with a reinforced army, but Alexander I, by an offensive attack transferred the scene of military operations first to Germany and then to France herself. Allied with other European powers, he finally succeeded in defeating Napoleon and, by the Treaty of Vienna (1815), which gave Europe a general peace, Russia annexed the Polish territory along the Vistula. There were yet further territorial expansions of Russia under Alexander I through his wars against Sweden, Turkey and Persia. Upon the conclusion of peace with Sweden, Russia obtained all Finland, and the war against the Turks ended with the annexation of Bessarabia (1812), through the splendid victories of Kamenski and Kutuzov. About the same time Russia came into possession of the kingdom of Georgia. By a treaty of 1813 its king, George XII, agreed to have it become a dependence of Russia whose protection he sought against Turkish invasions. Alexander I was childless and his brother Konstantin Pavlovich, at that time Viceroy of Poland and residing in Varsow, was proclaimed emperor of Russia. He abdicated, however, in favor of his younger brother Nicholas. The dissatisfied people used this occasion for a rebellion. The leaders who were members of noble families and army officers persuaded the troops under their command that Nicholas was the author of a plot against his brother. The mutiny was quelled on 14 Dec. 1825, and a great number of revolutionists called "Decembrists" were executed or exiled. This incident of 1825 made Nicholas see the inadequacy of Russian laws for his times and he commissioned Strauski to draw up a new code of laws which appeared in 1833, known as "Svod Zakonov." The most important events of his rule were the abolition of the "Uniya" and the Polish insurrection which ended unsuccessfully. Nicholas I led two wars

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against Turkey, the first for the liberation of the oppressed Greece, which came to a victorious end in 1829 and sealed by the Treaty of Adrianople, and in the second, called the Crimean War, Russia suffered heavy defeats at the hands of Turkey and her allies, England and France. After a vain resistance of 11 months, the strong fortress Sevastople, was destroyed in 1855. The Crimean War ended during the reign of Nicholas' successor Alexander II (1855-81). By the Treaty of 1856 Russia lost her control over the Black Sea. Alexander II continued his father's foreign policy of expansion. The southern boundary was pressed further down by the annexation of Eastern Caucasia (1859) after a continuous war of 60 years. Five years later the western part was also annexed. The Siberian frontier was moved southward at the expense of Central Asia where Russia made conquests in the wars against Bokhara and Kokand (1868). In 1877 Russia declared war against Turkey in support of the oppressed provinces of Serbia, Herzegovina and Montenegro. In the spring of that year the Russian army crossed the frontier, captured Nikropolis, and after successful battles of Shipka Pass and Plevna, stormed Kars to free its way to Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire was forced into submission and Alexander dictated the peace terms at San Stefano (1878) exacting for Russia a large war indemnity. The advantages gained by Russia were, however, lost again, due to England's and Germany's intervention. By the peace treaty in Berlin, Turkey's stability and independence were restored, Montenegro and Serbia were recognized as independent, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were given temporarily to Austrian administration. Russia, however, regained Bessarabia which she had lost in the Crimean War. It seemed for a time that Alexander II was stirring Russia toward greater liberty. On 19 Feb. 1861 he signed the famous manifesto emancipating the serfs and the charter, granted them in 1862 on the anniversary of Novgorod's milennium, made them almost self-governing. He recalled from Siberia the exiles of the conspiracy of 1825 and the Polish exiles of 1821. All this made the people hold out hopes for greater freedom. Bitter disappointment followed, for Alexander continued an autocratic strict policy with the oppression of non-Russian nationalities. Renewed Polish attempt for a separation was mercilessly crushed. Their oppression grew worse; the Polish language was banished from their schools, Polish landowners were made to sell their land and Poles were prohibited from buying. The Ukrainophile move. ment which had originated in Little Russia in Nicholas' time also grew stronger under Alexander's renewed oppression of the Ukrainians. Alexander's improvements in railways, telegraphs and postal service promoted financial development. This, however, affected but little the general prosperity of the people. The embitterment culminated in the assassination of Alexander II. The effect of this assassination was the austere policy of his son Alexander III who was crowned at Moscow in 1883. Every act of his expressed his opposition to reforms. It was a gloomy period of great restriction and oppression of non-Russian nationalities, the peasantry became more

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impoverished. His foreign policy was that of expansion and he continued the conquest of Central Asia until the Siberian frontiers closely approached Afghanistan. The policy of Russian tsars was not in the least changed under the last Romanov Nicholas II (1894-1917). His autocratic attempts for territorial expansion involved the country in the Russo-Japanese War which led to the surrender of Port Arthur and crushing defeats at Mugden. The despotic régime grew more intense. Pobiedonostev, called the "evil spirit of Russia," practically ruling Russia from 1881, now became omnipotent. The Zemstvos, rural provincial organizations created by Alexander II for the self-government of peasants after their liberation, were increasingly repressed in their activities. Poles, Jews, Armenians, Georgians and various sects of Orthodox malcontents were oppressed and persecuted. The anathematizing of Leo Tolstoy by the Holy Synod characterizes the country's attitude toward the freedom of speech and conscience. Despite the fact that Nicholas appealed in 1898 to the Great European powers to form a peace conference at The Hague for the discussion of terms for a lasting international peace, he had no sympathy with progressive reforms. These were achieved by the Revolution.

The

The Uprising of the Decembrists was the culmination of a long growing dissatisfaction which was still more stirred by the democratic ideas which the Russian officers brought back from their anti-Napoleonic invasion of France. Upon their return to Russia they formed secret societies for dissemination of these ideas. organizers of these societies hoped to reach a democracy in Russia by influencing Alexander I, who in the beginning of his rule was very progressive and instituted many reforms. At first Alexander I seemed to bend toward the progressive element. He planned to grant a constitution and a large measure of self-government, but ultimately yielded to his reactionary advisers. He not only was on watch against the revolutionary movements at home, but also helped to suppress such in Germany, Spain and Italy, having obliged himself to do so by signing the protocol. The execution and exile which followed the suppression of the mutiny in 1825 still more embittered the people. The secret societies for the purpose of overthrowing the autocracy began to grow. Their branches scattered all over Russia. With the growth of popular discontent and unrest, the rule of Nicholas I, called the "Iron Tsar," became more austere and more oppressive. He tried to crush all progressive movements by establishing a strict censorship and a secret service police which became the terror of the fighters for liberty. The leaders of the societies called "circles," men like Petrashevski, Hezen and Bakunin, became more active. The discontent was followed by outbreaks on the part of the peasants. The defeats suffered by Russia in the Crimean War lessened in a high degree the confidence of the people in the government and the cry for reforms grew louder. When Alexander II ascended the throne he could not but obey the national will and he introduced a series of reforms, chief amongst which were the emancipation of the serfs, 1861. This, however, appeased the peasants only for a short time.

For though released the peasants continued to live in bondage. The soil allotted to them was to be paid for and the period for payment was 50 years. Autocratic ruthlessness continued. Its natural consequence was increased activity on the part of the revolutionaries. New secret societies came into existence. "Land and Freedom," organized in 1876, instigated agrarian uprisings. Their suppression was followed by terroristic acts. High officials were assassinated and finally Alexander II himself paid with his life, 13 March 1881.

The immediate successors of Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II, were still more reactionary. Instead of carrying out reforms promulgated by Alexander II, they met demands for reforms with a greater restriction of the press, wholesale arrests and exiles to Siberia. These measures could hardly moderate the discontent. The oppression of the people took more definite form. The revolutionary element organized into parties which were mostly of a socialistic nature. The best known of these are the Social-Democratic and the Social-Revolutionary parties and the "Bund.” The methods of fighting the government were also changed. Terroristic measures were replaced by a systematic development of revolutionary literature and its rapid spread. The failure in the Russo-Japanese War, in the same way as the defeat in the Crimean War of the time of Nicholas I, discredited the government in the eyes of the people. Along with their legal movement for freedom grew out another which endeavored to bring about reforms by legitimate means. On 21 Jan. 1905, the people decided peacefully to approach the Winter Palace and to ask for freedom. The response of the government was firing upon the crowds in which there were many women and innocent children. This incident, called the "Bloody Sunday," enraged the people and a series of revolutionary outbreaks followed. This marked the beginning of the Revolution of 1905. Aware of the general popular unrest the government saw no other expedient but to grant a constitution in October 1905. The liberties which it promised, however, were withdrawn before they were ever realized. The general strike which followed the withdrawal was successfully broken and the revolters were savagely punished. Massacres of Jews crowned the triumph of the government. Of all granted reforms only one remained in force. This was the establishment of a Duma, i.e., a parliament, however, only of a consultative nature. The first Duma with a majority of Constitutional Democrats convened in April 1906, but was dissolved for its demands of a limited monarchy. The second Duma met with the same fate. third Duma which was composed mainly of reactionaries was in session five years without accomplishing anything of importance. Exile to Siberia remained still a prominent and effective measure of the government. Only the fourth Duma elected in 1912 succeeded in bringing about a change of great significance. The unrest in the world of labor and strikes had ended by an apparent triumph of the government. When the War of 1914 broke out the Duma was still a pillar of reactionism. The Duma and the people were two hostile camps, but the war brought them together. Almost

The

all political factors found it advisable to join the Russian government in its struggle against German autocracy which oppressed Russia economically. Moreover, all Russians united in the common work of war relief for which purpose the Zemstvos became one of the main factors of the Revolution and formed an "All Russian Zemstvo Union" with a general committee and Prince Lvov as its president. The towns and different industries also formed into unions, while the people, both revolutionaries and conservatives, were drawn nearer to each other by common interests. At the same time, they began to lose their confidence in the government on account of its repeated defeats in the field. This lack of confidence was especially manifest when Russia's defeat and heavy losses inflicted by Hindenburg in the autumn of 1914 was followed by the execution of a member of the Russian General Staff, Colonel Myasoyedov, for treason; and, when after the occupation of Poland, Lithuania and parts of Loluinia and Courland by the Germans, the Minister of War, Sukhomlinov, was found guilty of accepting bribes. The persecution of Jews and their removal from homes near places of military operations (1914-15), in order to veil the treacherous acts of the government, did not produce the desired effect on the people; on the contrary, it only increased bitterness.

The reactionary element of the people also became hostile to the government and when the Duma met in 1915, the Octobrists (the Conservative wing, so named after the manifesto of October 1905), joined their former political opponents and formed the so-called "Progressive Bloc" in August 1915. The main point of the program was the demand of a coalition government composed of men who would enjoy the confidence of the people, a true parliamentary form of government and various progressive reforms. This was the first move of the Duma for liberty and reform. Upon this, the reactionary Goremnikin, who was then at the head of the government, obtained the tsar's signature for the suppression of the Duma. The members of the Cabinet who favored concessions to the Duma were recalled and reactionaries appointed in their places. Furthermore, the government disgraced itself in the eyes of the people by its submission to the so-called "dark forces," i.e., a clique behind the government prompting and helping it to serve its private ends. The centre of those "dark forces" was a monk, by the name of Rasputin, who, playing upon the ignorance, superstition and prejudices of the Imperial Court, gained an easy access to it in 1905 and used its influence to obtain appointments and promotions to high official positions of the various charlatans who had won his friendships, as also the ruin of those toward whom he was not favorably disposed. His influence was so great that he once succeeded in forcing the very Synod to nullify its own decision. Among the associates of Rasputin there were such personages as the metropolitan of Petrograd, Pitrim, and Manasevich-Mamilov, who acted for the Russian government as secret agents. This influence of the "dark forces" on the government brought about the split in the conservative circles and a strange opposition of the few who endeavored to conclude a secret treaty of peace

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with Germany. The people became especially suspicious when Boris Sturmer, the grandson of an Austrian Teuton, succeeded Goremnikin as Prime Minister with the portfolio of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, which he took from Sasonov, when the latter retired in demonstrative opposition to a separate peace with the Central Powers. In order to prevent any further anti-peace discussions the press of the country was severely censored. The heaviest blow, however, which caused great irritation, was the order of the cabinet in the spring of 1916, prohibiting all national conventions or conferences of the social organizations for relief work. But the protestation and unrest of the people were of no effective consequence as long as the armies were with the government. The revolutionary element, however, commenced gaining ground with the military circles. This was to a certain extent accomplished by the fact that most of the social workers at the front were revolutionary college students who spared no efforts to enlighten the soldiers by establishing schools in which they conveyed to them the idea of democracy. When the Duma met on 14 Nov. 1916, its speakers, one after another, attacked the government, and its president, Rodzianko, a rich landowner, who enjoyed the fullest respect of the conservatives of the country, came out openly against the Prime Minister, Sturmer. In the speech delivered by the leader of the Constitutional Democrats, Sturmer was also severely attacked. Even the reactionary Pirreshkevitz assaulted the Minister of the Interior who was guided by the policy of Sturmer and worked for a separate peace. For the first time in Russia's history, the greater majority of the Imperial Council sided with the Duma and severely criticized the government and the "dark forces behind it. The congress of the nobility, which met in December, joined the rest unanimously denouncing the "dark forces." The War and Marine Ministers at once declared themselves on the side of the Duma and Prime Minister Sturmer saw no other way out of the difficulty but dissolving the Duma, and set out for the general headquarters to urge the emperor to approve of his step; but before he reached his destination he was informed of his dismissal by the imperial order. A. Trepov succeeded him. Before adjourning for Christmas the Duma adopted a resolution protesting against the forces undermining the nation's effort to win the war and endorsing the activities of the social organizations. The embitterment in high circles against the evil influences of the "dark forces" resulted in the assassination of Rasputin, 30 Dec. 1916. The murder was followed by the removal of several ministers whose seats were filled by strongest reactionaries. On 1 Jan. 1917, the tsar gave a blow to the liberal forces of the Imperial Council by issuing an edict recalling a large number of progressive members and replacing them with reactionaries. The bureaucrat Scheglovitov was made president of the council. The cabinet was also to be reorganized, replacing its members with strongest reactionaries before the next meeting of the Duma. On 27 February the Duma convened. On that day 30,000 laborers went on strike in Petrograd. The trouble in the Duma began with the refusal