Alexander I of Russia: Did you mean...?

Seleucus I Nicator (l. c. 358-281 BCE, r. 305-281 BCE) was one of the generals of Alexander the Great (l. 356-323 BCE) who made up the group of Diadochi ("successors") who divided the vast Macedonian Empire between them after the death of...

The hypaspists or hypaspistai were a distinct type of infantry soldier who served as a vital part of the Macedonian armies of both Phillip II of Macedon (r. 359 BCE - 336 BCE) and his son and heir Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE). The...

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914) in the Balkans in the summer of 1914 set off a chain of events that led to the First World War (1914-18). For over a decade before, imperialistic governments, a fierce arms race, rising...

The Bolshevik Revolution occurred on 7 November 1917 (old calendar 25 October) and established a new republic: Soviet Russia. The Bolsheviks were radical socialists led by Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), whose goal was a fairer society where...

The alliance system in Europe was one of the causes of the First World War (1914-18), although it did not make war inevitable. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Triple Entente powers of Great Britain, France, and Russia stood against...

Elephants were thought of as fierce and frightful monsters in antiquity, very real though rarely seen until the Hellenistic period. They were deployed on the battlefield to strike terror into the enemy, however, since fear was considered...

Cyrus the Great (558-530 BCE) built the first universal empire, stretching from Greece to the Indus River. This was the famous Achaemenid Empire of Persia. An inscription at Naqsh-i-Rustam, the tomb of his able successor Darius I (521-486...

A 1780s oil-on-canvas portrait by Alexander Roslin of Empress Catherine II of Russia (1729-96). Catherine was formally crowned empress regent on 22 September 1762 and this portrait endorses her royal status, perhaps a welcome endorsement...

Portrait of Peter I of Russia, oil on canvas by Maria Giovanna Clementi (1690-1761).

The ivory throne of Tsar Ivan IV The Terrible of Russia (r. 1547-1584). Kremlin Museums, Moscow.