登陆注册
5382300000302

第302章 CHAPTER XXXVIII(5)

Farther east, towards the Balkan Peninsula, the expansive tendency is much more complicated and of very ancient date. The Russo-Slavs who held the valley of the Dnieper from the ninth to the thirteenth century belonged to those numerous frontier tribes which the tottering Byzantine Empires attempted to ward off by diplomacy and rich gifts, and by giving to the troublesome chiefs, on condition of their accepting Christianity, princesses of the Imperial family as brides. Vladimir, Prince of Kief, now recognised as a Saint by the Russian Church, accepted Christianity in this way (A. D. 988), and his subjects followed his example. Russia thus became ecclesiastically a part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the people learned to regard Tsargrad--that is, the City of the Tsar, as the Byzantine Emperor was then called--with peculiar veneration.

All through the long Tartar domination, when the nomadic hordes held the valley of the Dnieper and formed a barrier between Russia and the Balkan Peninsula, the capital of the Greek Orthodox world was remembered and venerated by the Russian people, and in the fifteenth century it acquired in their eyes a new significance. At that time the relative positions of Constantinople and Moscow were changed. Constantinople fell under the power of the Mahometan Turks, whilst Moscow threw off the yoke of the Mahometan Tartars, the northern representatives of the Turkish race. The Grand Prince of Moscow thereby became the Protector of the Faith, and in some sort the successor of the Byzantine Tsars. To strengthen this claim, Ivan III. married a niece of the last Byzantine Emperor, and his successors went further in the same direction by assuming the title of Tsar, and inventing a fable about their ancestor Rurik having been a descendant of Caesar Augustus.

All this would seem to a lawyer, or even to a diplomatist, a very shadowy title, and none of the Russian monarchs--except perhaps Catherine II., who conceived the project of resuscitating the Byzantine Empire, and caused one of her grandsons to learn modern Greek, in view of possible contingencies--ever thought seriously of claiming the imaginary heritage; but the idea that the Tsars ought to reign in Tsargrad, and that St. Sophia, polluted by Moslem abominations, should be restored to the Orthodox Christians, struck deep root in the minds of the Russian people, and is still by no means extinct. As soon as serious disturbances break out in the East the peasantry begin to think that perhaps the time has come for undertaking a crusade for the recovery of the Holy City on the Bosphorus, and for the liberation of their brethren in the faith who groan under Turkish bondage.

Essentially different from this religious sentiment, but often blended with it, is a vague feeling of racial affinity, which has long existed among the various Slav nationalities, and which was greatly developed during last century by writers of the Panslavist school. When Germans and Italians were striving after political independence and unity, it naturally occurred to the Slavs that they might do likewise. The idea became popular among the subject Slav nationalities of Austria and Turkey, and it awoke a certain amount of enthusiasm in Moscow, where it was hoped that "all the Slav streams would unite in the great Russian Sea." It required no great political perspicacity to foresee that in any confederation of Slav nationalities the hegemony must necessarily devolve on Russia, the only Slav State which has succeeded in becoming a Great Power.

Those two currents of national feeling ran parallel to, and intermingled with, the policy of the Government. Desirous of becoming a great naval Power, Russia has always striven to reach the sea-coast and obtain good harbours. In the north and north-

west she succeeded in a certain degree, but neither the White Sea nor the Baltic satisfied her requirements, and she naturally turned her eyes to the Mediterranean. With difficulty she gained possession of the northern shores of the Black Sea, but her designs were thereby only half realised, because the Turks held the only outlet to the Mediterranean, and could effectually blockade, so far as the open sea is concerned, all her Black Sea ports, without employing a single ship of war. Thus the possession of the Straits, involving necessarily the possession of Constantinople, became a cardinal point of Russia's foreign policy. Any description of the various methods adopted by her at different times for the attainment of this end does not enter into my present programme, but I may say briefly that the action of the three factors above mentioned--the religious feeling, the Panslavist sentiment, and the political aims--has never been better exemplified than in the last struggle with Turkey, culminating in the Treaty of San Stefano and the Congress of Berlin.

同类推荐
  • 僧伽吒经

    僧伽吒经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • A Footnote to History

    A Footnote to History

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 种芝草法

    种芝草法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 树杞林志

    树杞林志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 郴江百咏

    郴江百咏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 历史是明天的心跳

    历史是明天的心跳

    人们为何在回顾生命时总要陷入对历史的追问,为的是将生命扶成正果。历史的神情里常有一些深邃的忧伤把我们感动,一种无法言说的荒诞令我们悲戚或惊忧,使我们对其中所有的细节充满敬仰。本书以古今中外的历史名人为感悟对象,如蔡伦、文天祥、钱钟书等历史人物,通过提纯他们身上历史的美质,以增强现代人的人格情操;采撷历史精英人性之美,净化现代人被污染的灵魂。
  • 乘天

    乘天

    他是仇人蹂躏的对象,他是猛兽撕咬的猎物,他是别人练功的沙包……直到他机缘巧合掌握乘天剑诀!“世人辱我,欺我,杀我;我必怒之,伐之,屠之!”建组织,收武兽,尊武大陆众生俯首!美女诱惑、金银财宝,绝不为之所动!为何?因为他想要的,远远不止这些……
  • 这样读资治通鉴(第5部)

    这样读资治通鉴(第5部)

    青年学子亦可从中学到有别于课堂上的历史讲述,一部一直放在毛泽东床头的大书,一部曾经让毛泽东读了17遍的大书,《资治通鉴》是中国人的管理智慧。这样读《资治通鉴》,是为官者的管理智慧,是企业家的MBA教材,是奋斗者的行为指南。
  • 快来我心里gank

    快来我心里gank

    双向暗恋1v1传说中全kpl职业联赛里最高冷的打野骆予,平时的业余爱好竟然是看直播?粉丝们:什么?我倒要看看是哪个狐狸精在搞事!!于是一大群愤怒的粉丝冲进了某个女主播的直播间……三分钟后,看过直播之后的粉丝:天呐!这操作!这手速!这颜值!粉丝们大惊,像这样有颜值有骚话有技术的女主播不粉简直对不起男神好吗?粉丝们:果然,男神喜欢的人都不是一般人,陛下,我要为你生猴子!突然,这条弹幕飘过之后,屏幕突然转动,画面出现两个人脸,只见某个高冷的男人很严肃:对不起这位粉丝,她只能给我生猴子。屏幕陡然黑掉。直播间粉丝:?????女主播本人:????
  • 时光倾城

    时光倾城

    程铭轩和平丽都惊呆了!良久才回过神来。眼前的朱雪达简直就是一只活生生的小狼狗!平丽想喝退朱雪达,朱雪达冷冷地望着程铭轩:“我是朱戌辰的儿子,是朱家的男人,这家用不着别人。”程铭轩突然想喊“你是我的儿子”,可面对朱雪达那冷冷的目光,话在他的喉咙里卡住了,有些胆怯地在孩子面前低下头去。慢慢地走出了朱家的大门。平丽无声地拉起朱雪达的手,含着泪把程铭轩掩在了门外。
  • 摩根家书

    摩根家书

    《摩根家书》是美国财富巨擘摩根家庭的奠定者约翰·皮尔庞特,摩根给儿子小约翰·皮尔庞特的信,是父子之间交流感情和工作的私人信件。这些信件是摩根家族的至宝,信札“透露了摩根强大、富有的秘籍……”
  • 微博论语

    微博论语

    本书精选了钱教授几年来微博中的精华,以微博语录的形式,将其原生态语言归纳在领导策略、市场竞争、科技制造、产品质量、人才培养、文化建设等若干个大主题之下,将其多年来积聚的睿智思维和思想火花展现在读者面前,是为经济运行的智慧总结、企业管理的实战经验汇总。
  • 佛本行集经

    佛本行集经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 歧路兄弟

    歧路兄弟

    入秋了,金黄色的杨树叶子纷纷飘落。张中常下班回到家,母亲正坐在沙发上看电视。看见儿子回来,母亲招呼一声:“二儿回来了!”张中常应着,把包放在茶几上,走过去坐在母亲身边,握住母亲的手尽量平静而缓慢地说:“妈,我哥就在这个城市。”母亲“呀”了一声,差点没从沙发上弹起来,瞪大眼睛喊:“你哥在这儿?”张中常连忙拉紧母亲的手说:“您别激动,这样对心脏不好。我哥是在这个城市。”“他、他、他在干啥?你哥过得怎么样?他还好吧?”母亲紧抓着儿子的手,瞪着他急切地连声问。
  • 悬疑故事

    悬疑故事

    无数事实、经验和理性已经证明:好故事可以影响人的一生。而以我们之见,所谓好故事,在内容上讲述的应是做人与处世的道理,在形式上也应听得进、记得住、讲得出、传得开,而且不会因时代的变迁而失去她的本质特征和艺术光彩。为了让更多的读者走进好故事,阅读好故事,欣赏好故事,珍藏好故事,传播好故事,我们特编选了一套“故事会5元精品系列”以飨之。其选择标准主要有以下三点:一、在《故事会》杂志上发表的作品。二、有过目不忘的艺术感染力。三、有恒久的趣味,对今天的读者仍有启迪作用。愿好故事伴随你的一生!