The Origins of the Russian Land

«…The fate of each people is especially strongly influenced by three circumstances: the characteristics of the land on which it lives; the properties of the tribe to which it belongs; and also the course of external history — the influence of neighboring peoples and events around it.

From childhood we repeat: Russia is the largest state in the world; growing up, we try to understand what lies behind those words. The immense size of such an “organic body” suggests that, in order to preserve its structure and equilibrium, special conditions are needed; at the same time, a тревoga arises — are these conditions sufficient, does the whole hold firmly, and is there any threat of premature disintegration? If a huge realm was formed as the result of conquering many peoples by one, its fragility is understandable. But if it came about through the gradual settlement of one people across vast territory — a people that, step by step, strengthened its state system — then this implies extremely slow development and lagging behind countries of smaller size: across wide expanses, any state affairs inevitably move slowly, especially when the population is small and scattered. With such disunity, foreign elements that are difficult to absorb can easily be inserted into the fabric of national life; moreover, separate parts have to be connected and set into common action by an external force, which is why power is compelled to work at the limit, without support from a closely-knit mass of the population…»