On Saturday, April 18, 2020 at 12:09:57 PM UTC-5, Alan Grayson wrote: > > > > On Saturday, April 18, 2020 at 7:28:18 AM UTC-6, Lawrence Crowell wrote: >> >> The Russians had a pan-Slavic ideology, where all the Slavic regions of >> the world would be under the tutelage of Russia, This included much of the >> Austro-Hungarian empire, where this was a sore point. Bohemia, now the >> Czech Republic, Slovakia and areas formerly within Yugoslavia and prior to >> that within the Austro-Hungarian empire were intended to be a part of a >> greater pan-Slavic domain. This required by geography influence over >> Romania and Hungary. This was finally achieved by the USSR in the end of >> WWII. >> >> There was also something called the "Great Game," where Afghanistan the >> Hindu Kush and that general region was contested by Russia and the British >> Empire. The current problems with Kashmir is a carry over from this, where >> a Muslim majority region is a part of Hindustan India. This is an elevated >> region that in a sense looks over India, and was the staging area for the >> Mogul invasion of India. The UK was loathe to having Russia perched in that >> position over the "Jewel in the Crown" that was the British Raj in India. >> >> Then finally there is the middle east or the Ottoman Empire and Persia. >> Tsarist Russia hovered over these archaic and declining regions. Russia >> coveted the straits and a return of the "Truth Faith" of Orthodox >> Christianity to Constantinople, and this would give Russia more naval >> access. The Ottoman Empire was called the sick man of Europe, and the >> Crimean war was fought to keep Russia out of the straits of Dardanelles and >> Anatolia, and Russia worked to foster the disintegration of the Ottoman >> Empire. Russia also sought increased influence in Persia. >> >> LC >> > > I really appreciate having access to your command of history. One other > thing while we're on the subject of European history. What exactly is a > "Slav"? I once looked it up on Wiki and the definition or concept seemed > unintelligible; vague at best. AG >
A part of my heritage is Slavic. It really is more a language distinction. Anyone who has Slavic heritage just means someone in their family tree spoke Russian, Ukranian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian or Slovenian etc. It is not really a race, It is much the same distinction as Germanic, which can include Anglo-Saxons as much as what might be called the German-Saxons. Slavs have been considered less civilized than the rest of Europe, and define the more tattered eastern European region. It is the case that war and violence have been more severe in this region. Poland, part of my heritage, was treated largely the way a baby treats a diaper by Russia and Germany. The first Slavic nation to reach some par with the rest of Europe was Bohemia, now Czechia. Then maybe next was Poland. Remember that Copernicus was Polish and Kepler Czechian. Even prior to that the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Charles was Czechian. Russia was regarded as a barbaric howling human wilderness for a long time. My experience with Russia is that it is quite impoverished and there is an unusual deference for authority. BTW, Hungary is not Slavic, it is Uralic. That language, a language "invented by the Devil," is more related to Finnish, Turkish and even Mongolian. LC > >> On Saturday, April 18, 2020 at 2:17:01 AM UTC-5, Alan Grayson wrote: >>> >>> As you probably know, Barbara Tuchman was awarded a Pulitzer prize for >>> The Guns of August (1962). In a later work, The Proud Tower (1966), focused >>> on European history in the two decades preceding WW1, she writes the >>> following in chapter 5 (emphasis mine); >>> >>> JOY, HOPE, SUSPICION—above all, astonishment—were the world’s prevailing >>> emotions when it learned on August 29, 1898, that the young Czar of Russia, >>> Nicholas II, had issued a call to the nations to join in a conference for >>> the limitation of armaments. All the capitals were taken by surprise by >>> what Le Temps called “this flash of lightning out of the North.” That the >>> call should come from the mighty and *ever expanding power* whom the >>> other nations feared and who was still regarded, despite its two hundred >>> years of European veneer, as semi-barbaric, was cause for dazed wonderment >>> liberally laced with distrust. *The pressure of Russian expansion had >>> been felt from Alaska to India, from Turkey to Poland.* “The Czar with >>> an olive branch,” it was said in Vienna, “that’s something new in history.” >>> But his invitation touched a chord aching to respond. >>> >>> What expansion is she referring to? TIA, AG >>> >>> >>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/65ba759b-2583-48d2-9aba-9de53f9997c4%40googlegroups.com.
