Wallace accepted a private invitation to visit Russia, having a strong desire to study the Ossetes, a tribe of Iranian descent in the Caucasus. Living in Russia from early 1870 until late 1875, Wallace found the Russian civilization far more interesting than his original Ossetes. Wallace returned to the United Kingdom in 1876 and published his work Russia by 1877, right before the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War. His book had great success, going through several editions and being translated into many languages.
