Last October reputable American political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski said that “Russians are more open to the world now than ever before.” This of course is flattering but less than the full story. It seems once again that the history of country is no longer than the life story of Brzezinski, who is turning 84 in March.
In 2012 we are going to celebrate a rather conditional holiday – the 1,150th anniversary of the Russian statehood. It is conditional because no historian takes this given date for granted, for the Russian statehood could go back even futher!
But this is not the point. Is it true that Russia has never been open to the world throughout its more than 1,000-year history and only nowadays the situation has changed?
Year after year Mr. Brzezinski discusses Russia’s “imperial complex” and hopefully some imperial atavisms have remained. But who can give at least one example of a “closed” imperial nation? For the very imperial development principle implies an absolutely open mode of existence! Can any expansion, annexation of new territories, colonization and assimilation of new peoples be possible under autarchy? Let’s remember the Roman and the Mongols, the Ottomans and the Brits. Perhaps the only exception is the USSR, but this entity did not develop as an empire and the history of the USSR is not identical to the history of Russia.
No sooner had the imperial instinct been awakened in Russia, than it immediately turned into a rather communicative power. It’s needless to remind of Peter’s ‘window into Europe’, the Voltairism of Catherine the Great, continental repartition after Napoleon’s wars, free migration from the second half of the 19th century.
I’d rather recall the Note of Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Muravyov, handed over on January 11, 1899, to all foreign ambassadors accredited in St. Petersburg. This was actually a proposal of Russian Emperor Nicholas II to hold an international conference devoted to arms control in the world – a rather odd idea for the autocracy of the biggest nation on the planet!
The Minister’s Note was not the first document on this subject. In August 1898, a note was sent from St. Petersburg to Russian embassies and representative offices. This wasn’t a clandestine paper and soon the entire politically active Europe was discussing its major propositions. And there was much to be discussed!
In particular the note said, “Safeguarding peace in the whole world and reduction of excessive armaments weighing upon all peoples is the target to be sought by all governments.”
But while the summer “circular note for internal use” looked more like a declaration of intentions than a plan of action, the paper from January 11 for the entire world was very specific.
Eight questions were suggested for the international conference’s agenda. Among them was curtailment of military budgets, a ban on new armaments, air bombings, torpedo warfare on sea waters, refinement and ratification of the Declaration of 1874 on War Laws and Customs…
The civilized European nations elicited a cold response. Even France, Russia’s ally at the time, seemed to be nervous. European politicians tried to guess what really stood behind the initiative of those eastern barbarians.
Initially they did not believe that the Barbarians and their young monarch were sincerely concerned over the perpetual problem of war and peace. But even skeptics sent their delegates to the conference convened in May 1899 in the Dutch city of Hague. Overall the diplomats of 25 nations sat at the table of negotiations plus Bulgaria without the right of vote. All European countries sent their envoys to Hague, in addition to China, Mexico, Persia, Siam, the US and Japan. Incidentally, the conference was chaired by a Russian representative – Baron Yegor Staal.
The results did not surpass expectations; rather the contrary was true. The most important outcome was that Russia proposed a template for peaceful settlement of many military issues.
Yet nobody says “thank you!” today – certainly not Mr. Brzezinski…
Mikhail Bykov
