ALEXANDER 



175 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT 



After the Battle of Waterloo the Russian em- 

 peror joined with the emperor of Austria and 

 the king of Prussia in the agreement known 

 as the Holy Alliance (see HOLY ALLIANCE). Al- 

 exander's policy in home affairs was at first 

 one of progress and reform. He tried to im- 

 prove the condition of the serfs, created eight 

 new departments in the government, founded a 

 national bank, and encouraged education, art 

 and literature. Later in his reign, however, he 

 followed the policy of the Austrian statesman 

 M< -un-nich. the foe of popular liberty. See 

 :KRNICH. 



Alexander II (1818-1881) succeeded his 

 father. Nicholas I, in 1855, before the end of the 

 Crimean War. After signing the peace treaty 

 at the end of that conflict, he set himself the 

 task of bringing about national reforms. His 

 greatest act was the setting free, under certain 

 conditions, of over 22,000,000 Russian serfs 

 (1861). He also founded a regular system of 

 courts and public and scientific schools. During 

 his reign the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 

 took place (see BERLIN, CONGRESS OF). After 

 1863 Alexander became more and more 

 despotic, which led to his assassination in 1881 

 by a Nihilist (see NIHILISTS). 



Alexander III (1845-1894) succeeded his 

 father Alexander II in 1881, but was not 

 crowned until 1883. Fear of attacks from 

 Nihilists kept him a prisoner in his palace 

 during his reign, and prevented him from 

 adopting a liberal course. The people of the 

 Baltic province and of Finland were given less 

 liberty, the Jews were oppressed, and the 

 Nihilists sternly held in check. In the affairs 

 of Europe Alexander was an advocate of peace 

 and without war succeeded in extending the 

 Russian frontier in Asia. Though his reign was 

 not eventful, his country made considerable 

 progress through his encouragement of rail- 

 roads and manufacturing. He was succeeded 

 in 1894 by his eldest son, Nicholas II. the 

 last czar of the Russians. 



ALEXANDER, JOHN WHITE (1856-1915), 



one of the greatest of American artists, who 



with Wlu-ikr. Abbey and Sargent made up 



th. so-calld "big four" of their day. He 



was born in Allegheny City, Pa., became a 



u-raph boy, but showed such <!<< -idc-d artistic 



t that an employer enabled him to gain 



tin art education he so much desired. After 



study i nu in Bavaria, in Italy, in Holland and 



in Pans he returned to the United States, 



"h> : .- soon became great. Many dis- 



:i.'h-l iii.-n. mi-luiling Oliver Wendell 



Holmes, John Burroughs, Robert Louis Steven- 

 son, Roden and Walt Whitman, sat to him for 

 their portraits, and his portrait of the last 

 named ranks as one of his greatest works. 

 Particularly noteworthy are his mural paintings 

 on The Evolution oj the Book in the Con- 

 gressional Library and his Apotheosis of Pitts- 

 burgh series in the Carnegie Institute of that 

 city. 



ALEXANDER SEVE'RUS (205-235), a Ro- 

 man emperor who, in a corrupt age, sought 

 to improve the moral condition of his people. 

 He was made emperor in 222 by the praetorian 

 guards, and governed ably both in peace and 

 war. When on an expedition into Gaul to 

 repress an invasion of the Germans, he was 

 murdered with his mother in an uprising of 

 his troops, headed by the brutal Maximin, who 

 succeeded him as emperor. 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT (356-323 B.C.), 

 the most impressive figure of his age, and one 

 of the most remarkable characters in all his- 

 tory. Among the mighty warriors of the past, 

 he ranks with those whose genius has been 

 effective in alter- 

 ing the current of 

 the world's his- 

 tory Julius Cae- 

 sar, Charlemagne, 

 Napoleon. Alex- 

 ander was the 

 son of Philip of 

 M a c e d o n (see 

 Philip II), him- 

 self an able gen- 

 eral and organ- 

 izer. It is said 

 that the young 

 prince, even more 

 ambitious and en- 

 than tin- 

 kiim. wept bit- 

 terly to hear of 

 his father's con- 

 quests, for he 

 feared there THK BUST CALLED 

 would be no -ALEXANDER uu:i TIKI > 

 worlds for him to From a bust in th.> Royal 

 conquer. At the 



age of thirteen the youth became the pupil of 

 Aristoth'. who inspired the talented boy with 

 an eager love for literature and philosophy, 

 w i' Ming an influence that was permanent and 

 < uching. 



When Alexander came to the throne of 

 Macedon, at the age of twenty, he was con- 



