A word from the author... (09/10/00)

A word from the author...

Following is the text of the author's preface to the new paperback edition of "Russian Imperialism from Ivan the Great to the Revolution" (reprinted with the author's permission).

The first edition of this book was published in 1974, a time when the Russian Empire, albeit under the name of the Soviet Union, cast its shadow around the entire globe, influencing and, in some cases, determining the geopolitical relations among nations. Indeed, the rhetorical questions of Michael Pogodin, a 19th century Russian historian, about the greatness and power of Russia echoed not only during the existence of Soviet Union, but also during Russian President Boris Yeltsin's visit to China on December 9, 1999. Angered by President Bill Clinton's criticism of Russian policy in Chechnya, President Yeltsin not only criticized the policy of the United States, but also reminded President Clinton of Russia's nuclear arsenal. Moreover, catering to Chinese political ambitions, Mr. Yeltsin stated, "It will be as we agreed with Jiang Zemin. We will dictate the world."

When Pogodin posed his rhetorical question - "Who can compare with us? Whom will we not force into submission? Is not the political fate of the world in our hands whenever we want to decide it one way or another?" - he already had his answers. The echo of these questions, however, is heard 130 years later in the villages and towns of Chechnya destroyed by the Russian armed forces.

It is interesting to note that another visionary of Russian millenary messianism, Nicholas Danilevskii, anticipated that Russia, in pursuit of its geopolitical objectives, would find herself in an irreconcilable relation with Europe. In light of European reaction to Russian policy in Chechnya, Danilevskii's prediction turned out to be remarkably prophetic. The problem facing a historian, who wants to decipher the past and demonstrate its validity for the present, consists in establishing continuity or change in Russia's historical empire-building process.

Viewing the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of 15 sovereign republics, one detects among the Russians a post-imperial syndrome characterized by a longing for the lost great power status and for the dominant position they enjoyed over the entire USSR. Indeed, it is the attitude of the Russians today that gives us a better historical perspective of the drive for power which created the largest continental empire of all times. At the end of the millennium Russia is still fighting the old wars defending both her imperial image and those territories that became Russian as a result of imperial expansionism.

- Taras Hunczak

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