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bility in Euro in teh first d de of the twentieth century: 1 5, Gr ks in Crete revolt a inst Turkey; 1 , volt in Ru French fl t m­ bards blan ; 1 8, King l I of Portu l and Crown Prince mur­ dered, revolt in Macedonia, riots in hemia; 1910, re lt in Portu l; 1911, Italy declares war on Turkey; 19 , Turkey declar war on Bul and Serb 1913, King George I of Gr e murdered, R ia d lar war on Bul r invade Al nia Immen suffering was in store for Euro , but no one would have lieved it ibl
Ra
Ru ia remained the m t a lutist country in Euro . e T was en as the unifier of all Ru ia, but Ru ia was large that he had to t up a bureaucracy to rule throughout the country. l al bureaucrats uld g or d and there was a wide variation among them. When they were d, they r ived the hatred of the ople, who retained their love and loyalty to the T r, wh ver he might , whom they called their ittle Father." In m t Ru ian homes, no matter how r, a picture of the T r would hang near the icon of the Ble d Mother or the glo ied Christ The ople were still in rfdom, but the condition of the fr s varied Hou hold rfs could ri to itions of authority or ski ed craftsmen, and their lot was g e a icultural rfs la red on their master's estate and then on their own land; their lot de nded largely on their master. The rfs in the worst condition were the factory rfs, who longed to the owner of the factory and received rely enough to r­
vive. Nicholas I, the T r of the Crimean War, died in 1855, his death pro ably hastened by Russia's humiliation in that war. He was succeeded by his oldest n, Alexander (185 1 11 who presided over the end of the war in January 1856.
Alexander had made him lf per nally familiar with the condi­ tions of the rf In 1861 he i ued the E ncip ion Act. All rfs were ven per nal freedom and a ant of land which was taken from the landlord e landowners were paid by the state, and the nts in tum were to refund the treasury by installment payments spread over a riod of 49 yea Forty eight million rfs received their freedom; with their fa lies, they made up eighty r cent of the pulation of Ru ia Th gh the basic idea of freedom for the s was g and long overdue, the ac­ tual fact of emancipation led to many problems. T many ts had t little land; the payments to the treasury were t large for them to