SUMMARY:

David Schimmelpennick argues that there were important similarities between Russian and West European territorial expansion in the late nineteenth century and that Russian expansionism was shaped by competing philosophies, each of which represented a particular view of Russia’s imperial destiny. He focuses on the ideas expressed by Nikolai Przhevalskii, Esper Ukhtomskii, Sergei Witte and Aleksei Kuropatkin during the Russian fin-de-siècle infatuation with the Far East. One obvious case for the author is the Tsar himself, whose inconsistent East Asian politics betrayed the contradictory elements of various ideologies. Nicholas’ contempt for the Asians’ martial talents, his faith in the superiority of Russian arms, and his lust for empire in the East were all characteristic of Przhevalskii’s conquistador imperialism. Yet the Tsar’s response to the Boxer rising shows that he also shared Ukhtomskii’s enthusiasm for Russia’s Oriental destiny and the Middle Kingdom. And, very early in his reign, before Nicholas had lost faith in his finance minister, he was intrigued about the economic possibilities the Trans-Siberian Railway might open for his empire.
As with the Tsar, these four ideologies also played a part in the actions of his government. D. Schimmelpennick concludes that Russian perceptions of its place in the world have never been monopolised by a solitary ideology, be it an “urge to the sea,” “Third-Rome Messianism,” “pacifying the frontier,” or some other notion.