Colossus or Humbug? The Soviet Union and its Southern Neighbours

Abstract

‘A great humbug’: so one of the most renowned of all British Foreign Secretaries, Lord Palmerston, described Russia in 1837¹. He expressed a view widely held during the nineteenth century by those Britons who, contemplating the ramshackle structure of the Tsarist Empire and the inefficiencies of its government and its economy, declined to be unduly concerned about Russia’s threatening movements in Asia. Palmerston’s observation may be contrasted with the opinion of other British statesmen and publicists who saw Russia as ‘the Colossus of the North’ — a fearsome, barbaric giant which threatened both the interests of Britain in Asia and the peace and liberties of Europe and was to be held in check only by great exertions, extensive alliances and the levying of mighty armaments. To those who inclined to the latter view moderate scepticism about Russia’s capabilities appeared as self delusion or worse; one of their more extreme spokesmen, David Urquhart, even accused Palmerston of being a Russian agent.²