For this purpose, I begin by examining the grounds
on which the traditional conceptions are founded.
If we were to question a dozen fairly intelligent, educated Englishmen
why Russia has usually been regarded as a hereditary enemy and an
impossible ally, they would probably give two main reasons: First, that
she is the modern stronghold of barbarism, ignorance and tyrannical
government, and, secondly, that she threatens our interests in
Southeastern Europe and Central Asia. Let us examine dispassionately
these two contentions.
As to barbarism, there is no doubt that in the general march of
civilization Russia long remained far behind her West European sisters
and that she has not yet quite overtaken them, but it should be
remembered--and here I appeal to the Englishman's proverbial love of
fair play--that she did not get a fair start. Living on an immense plain
which stretches far into Asia, her population was for centuries
constantly exposed to the incursions of lawless, predatory hordes, and
this life-and-death struggle culminated in the so-called Mongol
domination, during which her native princes were tributary vassals of
the great Tartar Khan. Under such circumstances she could hardly be
expected to make much social progress, and she was further impeded by
difficulties of intercourse with the more favored nations of the West,
from whom she was separated by differences of language, customs and
religious beliefs.
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