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Nicholas I, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas I, 1796–1855, czar of Russia (1825–55), third son of Paul I. His brother and predecessor, Alexander I, died childless (1825). Constantine, Paul's second son, was next in succession but ha...

Nicholas II, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas II, 1868–1918, last czar of Russia (1894–1917), son of Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna. Discontent at home grew, the army tired of war, the food situation deteriorated, the governme...

Mari El, constituent republic, Russia

(Encyclopedia)Mari El mäˈrē ĕlˈ [key], constituent republic (1990 pop. 760,000), c.8,900 sq mi (23,100 sq km), E central European Russia, in the middle Volga valley. Yoshkar-Ola is the capital. The region is a...

Peter I, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Peter I or Peter the Great, 1672–1725, czar of Russia (1682–1725), major figure in the development of imperial Russia. Peter's personal traits ranged from bestial cruelty and vice to the most ...

Peter II, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Peter II, 1715–30, czar of Russia (1727–30). A grandson of Peter I and the son of the czarevich Alexis, he succeeded on the death of Catherine I. He was too young to rule, but he willingly lent hi...

Peter III, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Peter III, 1728–62, czar of Russia (1762), son of Charles Frederick, dispossessed duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and of Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great. He succeeded to the throne on the death...

Mordovia

(Encyclopedia)Mordovia môrdˈvə [key], constituent republic (1990 est. pop. 965,000), c.10,000 sq mi (25,900 sq km), E European Russia. Once a densely forested steppe, it consists of the Volga upland in the east ...

Shilka

(Encyclopedia)Shilka shēlˈkə [key], river, c.345 mi (560 km) long, formed E of Chita, Chita oblast, SE Siberian Russia, by the confluence of the Onon and Ingoda rivers, both of which rise along the Mongolian-Rus...

Razin, Stenka

(Encyclopedia)Razin, Stenka stĕngˈkä räˈzēn [key], d. 1671, Don Cossack leader, head of the peasant revolt of 1670. As commander of a band of propertyless Don Cossacks, he raided and pillaged (1667–69) thro...

Ermanaric

(Encyclopedia)Ermanaric ûrmănˈərĭk [key], d. c.375, king of the Ostrogoths. He extended his power over other barbarian tribes and thus built up in eastern Europe an empire stretching from the Dneister River no...