Ivan IV of Russia: Did you mean...?

The long-term goal of the Bolsheviks, who took power by force in Russia in November 1917, was a fairer society where workers and peasants were not exploited by wealthy capitalists. The more immediate consequences...

Portrait of Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa in armour with St. Andrew's ribbon, oil on canvas painting, 18th century. Art Museum, Dnipro.

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...

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...

Batu Khan (l. 1205-1255 CE) was a grandson of Genghis Khan and the founder of the Golden Horde. Batu was a skilled Mongol military commander and won battles from China to Persia, although his most famous exploits involve the grand...

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

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...

Prince Józef Poniatowski (1763-1813) was a Polish soldier and patriot, who served as commander-in-chief of the Polish army during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). A steadfast ally of French Emperor Napoleon I (r. 1804-1814; 1815...

Kievan Rus (862-1242) was a medieval political federation located in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine, and part of Russia (the latter named for the Rus, a Scandinavian people). The name Kievan Rus is a modern-day (19th century) designation...

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...