A Sense of Precariousness and the Rise and Fall of Russia

忧患意识与俄罗斯的兴衰

Over more than a thousand years of civilizational history, the Russian people have created a brilliant and distinctively characterized culture. Among the cultural traits related to national security, the most prominent is the Russians’ innate sense of insecurity and precariousness, and the concern for security, emphasis on territory, indomitable will, and flexible and pragmatic capacity for diplomatic strategy that have been forged on this foundation. George Kennan, the architect of America’s policy of containing the Soviet Union, wrote in his essay “The Sources of Soviet Conduct”: “For centuries, the Russians have waged remote wars against nomadic peoples across vast, unshielded plains, proceeding with caution, deliberation, and adaptability… Russian political action is like a stream that, wherever the environment permits, flows unceasingly toward a fixed goal. What it cares most about is filling, as much as possible, every nook and cranny it touches in the great basin of world power. If it encounters an insurmountable obstacle on its path forward, it accepts and adapts to this reality with equanimity. The emphasis is on constant momentum, pressing unceasingly toward the ultimate goal.” This distinctive culture runs through the entirety of Russian history, has exerted a fundamental influence on its national security, and finds concentrated expression across many chapters of that history.

在一千多年的文明史中，俄罗斯民族创造了灿烂而有鲜明特色的文化。在与国家安全相关的文化特质中，其最突出的就是俄罗斯人与生俱来的不安全感和忧患意识，以及在此基础上锻造而生的对安全的关注、对领土的重视、坚韧不拔的意志及灵活务实的外交谋略能力。美国遏制苏联政策的始作俑者乔治·凯南在《苏联行为的根源》一文中这样写道：”几个世纪以来，俄国人在毫无屏障的辽阔平原上与游牧民族进行偏远的战争，小心谨慎、深思熟虑、灵活应变……俄国的政治行为就像一条溪流，只要环境许可，就不停地朝着一个既定的目标推进。它最在乎的是，在世界权力的大盆地中，尽量灌注它所触及的每一个角落和缝隙。如果在前进的道路上遇到不可逾越的障碍，它会达观地接受并适应这一现实。重点是持续的推动力，朝着最终的目标不断推进。”这种独特的文化贯穿了整个俄罗斯历史，对其国家安全产生了根本性影响，在其历史的多个篇章中得到集中体现。

Breaking Free from the “Mongol Yoke”

挣脱”蒙古桎梏”

The darkest chapter in Russian history is the period of the “Mongol Yoke,” an era that was an important formative period for Russia’s distinctive culture. At the time, Russia was known as Kievan Rus’ (or simply “Rus'”), composed of dozens of principalities large and small. The entire state structure was loose, with the Grand Prince as the nominal supreme leader — a title that rotated among several major principalities. After Genghis Khan led the Mongol armies to conquer the Khwarazmian Empire, he ordered his forces to continue westward. In 1223, the Mongol army crossed the Caucasus Mountains, destroyed the Cuman Khanate established by the Turkic peoples, and approached Rus’. The Cuman Khan Kotyan fled north to Rus’ and appealed to the Rus’ princes for military assistance. The Rus’ forces, led by the “Bold” Mstislav with his son-in-law Daniel as deputy commander, marched south to fight the Mongol army at the Kalka River, only to suffer a crushing defeat. The Mongols won a great victory, killing nine Rus’ princes — this was Kievan Rus’s first encounter with the Mongol horde. In 1236, the Mongol Great Khan Ögedei ordered a second westward campaign, and in 1237 launched a surprise attack on the Principality of Ryazan in eastern Rus’. At the time, the Rus’ principalities were embroiled in internal conflict, and the scattered Rus’ people had made no advance preparations against a Mongol invasion. Many princes, in order to protect their own fiefdoms, preferred to stand pat rather than unite against the common enemy. Ryazan was thus swiftly conquered and its population massacred. Over the following years, the Mongols conquered most of Kievan Rus’. Mongol cavalry advanced rapidly across frozen rivers — this was also the only time in Russian history that invaders defeated Russia in winter.

俄罗斯历史中最黑暗篇章莫过于”蒙古桎梏”期，这段岁月是俄罗斯独特文化的重要形成时期。当时的俄罗斯被称为基辅罗斯（简称”罗斯”），由数十个大大小小的公国组成。整个国家结构松散，大公是名义上的最高领袖，这一头衔在几个主要公国间流转。成吉思汗统率蒙古军队征服花剌子模后，命令大军继续西征。1223年，蒙古军队跨过高加索山脉，摧毁了突厥人建立的库曼汗国，逼近罗斯。库曼汗忽滩北逃至罗斯，请求罗斯诸王公出兵。罗斯军队以”大胆的”姆斯季斯拉夫为首，其女婿丹尼尔为副将，南下至迦勒迦河与蒙古军作战，却遭到蒙古人痛击。蒙古人大胜，九位罗斯王公被杀，这是基辅罗斯与蒙古大军的第一次相遇。1236年，蒙古大汗窝阔台下令再次西征，并在1237年出其不意地进攻了位于罗斯东部的梁赞公国。当时罗斯各公国正在内部混战，一团散沙的罗斯人没有提前为蒙古人侵做准备。许多王公为了保护自己的封国，宁愿按兵不动，也不愿联合起来共同抗敌。梁赞因而迅速被征服并遭屠城。随后的几年里，蒙古人征服了基辅罗斯的大部分地区。蒙古骑兵在冰冻的河面上迅速推进，这也是俄罗斯历史上仅有的一次在冬季被入侵者击败。

The Mongols did not directly rule Kievan Rus’, but instead established the Golden Horde on the lower Volga River and set up an institution at the capital Sarai to handle Rus’ affairs. The Rus’ Grand Princes acknowledged Mongol suzerainty, made regular pilgrimages to Sarai, collected taxes in Rus’ on behalf of the Golden Horde, paid tribute to the Mongols, and were sometimes compelled to supply troops to the Mongol armies. In this way, Mongol rule over Rus’ lasted approximately 250 years. The fate of the enslaved Rus’ people was extremely wretched — they were required to pay taxes, serve in military campaigns, and could be sold into slavery. A folk song captured the conditions of the time: “Whoever has no money, they take his children; whoever has no children, they take his wife; whoever has no wife, they cut off his head.”

蒙古人并没有直接统治基辅罗斯，而是在伏尔加河下游建立了金帐汗国，并于首都旧萨莱设立了一个负责处理罗斯事务的机构。罗斯大公则承认蒙古的宗主地位，经常性前往旧萨莱朝觐，并代表金帐汗国在罗斯征税，向蒙古人纳贡，有时也不得不向蒙古大军输送兵员。就这样，蒙古人对罗斯的统治大约持续了250年之久。被奴役的罗斯人命运极其悲惨，需缴纳赋税、当兵出征、卖身为奴。有首民谣就唱出了当时的景况：”谁个没有钱，就要他的子女；谁个没子女，就要他的妻；谁个没有妻，就把他脑袋砍去。”

The Mongol impact on Rus’ was profound, altering not only the historical trajectory of Russia but also forging a distinctive Russian culture. Some European historians argue that the Mongol occupation of Rus’ largely severed its traditional close ties with Byzantium and the West, deepening Rus’s relative isolation during this period; and that without the Mongol invasion, Rus’ might have participated in such epoch-making European historical processes as the Renaissance and the Reformation. Equally important, the Mongols’ economic exploitation burdened the Rus’ people heavily, while resistance could only bring more brutal suppression and punishment. Struggling to survive, the Rus’ people watched the sophisticated and refined Kievan Rus’ way of life rapidly decline. Historians estimate that the Mongol invasion set back Rus’s development by 150 to 200 years. Other Russian historians, however, argue that Mongol rule also had positive significance for Russia. They emphasize that it was precisely Mongol rule that transformed Rus’ from a weak, fragmented state into a powerful, unified autocratic regime.

蒙古人对罗斯的影响是深刻的，它不仅改变了俄罗斯的历史轨迹，也锻造了俄罗斯人特殊的文化。有欧洲历史学家认为，蒙古人对罗斯的占领在很大程度上切断了其传统上与拜占庭以及西方的密切联系，加剧了这时期罗斯的相对孤立；而如果没有蒙古人的入侵，罗斯可能就会参与到文艺复兴以及宗教改革等划时代的欧洲历史进程中。同样重要的是，蒙古人在经济上的横征暴敛使得罗斯人背上了沉重的包袱，而反抗往往只能换来更加残酷的镇压与惩罚。为了生存，罗斯人苦苦挣扎，发达而精致的基辅罗斯式生活方式迅速衰落。历史学家估计，蒙古人的入侵使得罗斯的发展停滞了150—200年。另外一些俄国历史学家则认为，蒙古统治对俄罗斯也有积极意义。他们强调，正是蒙古的统治使得罗斯从一个软弱、四分五裂的国家变为一个强大、统一的专制政权。

In sum, the Mongols had a profound influence on the formation of Russian culture. It was the “Mongol Yoke” that forged the Russian cultural traits of both resilience and pragmatic flexibility. No wonder there is a European proverb that says: “Scratch a Russian and you find a Tatar.” Conversely, it was precisely this distinctive culture that enabled the Russians to ultimately break free from the “Mongol Yoke.” This historical mission fell upon the Principality of Moscow, which would later develop into Russia.

总之，蒙古对俄罗斯文化的形成影响重大。正是”蒙古桎梏”锻造了俄罗斯人既坚韧又务实灵活的文化特征。难怪有一句欧洲谚语说道：”剥开一个俄罗斯人，就会看见一个鞑靼人。”反过来，正是这样特殊的文化，使得俄罗斯人得以最终挣脱”蒙古桎梏”。这一历史的使命落到后来发展为俄罗斯的莫斯科公国肩上。

The Russians are called resilient because, under Mongol rule, the Principality of Moscow endured humiliation and worked hard to develop itself in order to survive. Moscow did not appear in historical records until 1147, when it was merely a town where a local lord resided; its walls were not built until 1156. In 1237, Moscow was razed to the ground in the Mongol invasion. The subdued rulers of Moscow bore humiliation under the “Mongol Yoke,” outwardly obeying the Mongols while quietly building up their own strength. In the second half of the 13th century, Moscow formally became a principality. By the early 14th century, the Principality of Moscow had extended its rule across the entire Moscow River basin, becoming a powerful force competing with the Principality of Tver for predominance over Rus’.

说俄罗斯人坚韧，是因为在蒙古人的统治下，莫斯科公国为了生存，卧薪尝胆，努力发展自己。莫斯科公国直到 1147 年才第一次出现在历史记载中，当时它还只是一个地方诸侯居住的镇子，1156 年才修筑起城墙。1237 年，莫斯科在蒙古人的入侵中被夷为平地。被打服了的莫斯科统治者在”蒙古桎梏”下忍辱负重，一面对蒙古言听计从，一面默默壮大自己的力量。13 世纪下半叶，莫斯科正式成为一个公国。到了 14 世纪初，莫斯科公国已经将统治扩大到整个莫斯科河流域，成为与特维尔公国争夺罗斯主导权的强大力量。

The Russians are called pragmatically flexible because the Principality of Moscow knew when to yield and when to strike, using Mongol power to gradually strengthen itself while seizing opportunities to resist the Golden Horde. In 1327, the Principality of Moscow settled old scores by assisting Mongol forces in punishing its old rival — the Principality of Tver, which then held the title of Grand Prince and had fallen out with the Mongols. It was through this military achievement that Moscow’s Prince Ivan I supplanted the ruler of Tver and ascended to the Grand Prince’s throne. ＞ Rus’ people in battle with the Tatars The rulers of the Principality of Moscow carefully managed their dealings with the Golden Horde: on one hand, they used their position as Grand Prince to act as the Golden Horde’s agent overseeing other principalities and obtained the privilege of collecting taxes on behalf of the Khan; on the other hand, they lined their own pockets, purchasing vast tracts of land from the increasingly impoverished other principalities, and gradually became the most powerful principality in all of Rus’. In 1357, the Golden Horde erupted in internal strife, cycling through more than twenty Great Khans in twenty years — this provided an opportunity for the Principality of Moscow, whose wings had grown strong. In 1378 and 1380, Grand Prince Dmitry of Moscow successively won two great victories over Golden Horde forces at the Vozha River and the Don River, shattering the myth of Mongol invincibility. Dmitry thereby earned the epithet “Donskoy” (of the Don), and the Principality of Moscow became the leader of all Rus’ people in resisting Mongol oppression.

说俄罗斯人务实灵活，是因为莫斯科公国能屈能伸，利用蒙古人的势力逐步壮大自己，并善于抓住机会反抗金帐汗国。1327年，莫斯科公国”公报私仇”，协助蒙古军队惩罚了与蒙古人结怨的老对手、当时拥有大公头衔的特维尔公国。正是通过这一战绩，莫斯科公爵伊凡一世取代特维尔公国统治者而登上了大公宝> 罗斯人与鞑靼人交战座。莫斯科公国的统治者们小心翼翼地与金帐汗国交往，一方面利用大公地位，作为金帐汗国的代理人监管其他公国，并获得代为大汗收税的特权；另一方面又中饱私囊，从日益贫困的其他公国手中购买大片土地，逐步成为全罗斯最强大的公国。1357年，金帐汗国爆发内乱，在20年中换了20多位大汗，这为羽翼渐丰的莫斯科公国提供了机会。1378年和1380年，莫斯科公国的德米特里大公先后在沃扎河、顿河畔两次大胜金帐汗国军队，打破了蒙古大军不可战胜的神话。德米特里因此收获”顿河王”美名，莫斯科公国也成为所有罗斯人反抗蒙古压迫的领袖。

However, in 1382 the Mongols returned in force, capturing and sacking Moscow. The Principality of Moscow and all of Rus’ were compelled to once again accept the suzerainty of the Golden Horde and resume paying tribute. The Rus’ people endured for decades, until the Golden Horde’s internal strife intensified and it began to fragment in 1430. By 1452, even a fugitive Mongol prince had accepted the suzerainty of the Principality of Moscow. Historians consider this to mark the de facto independence of the Principality of Moscow and all of Rus’. The reign of Ivan III from 1462 to 1505 is regarded as a turning point in Russian history, during which a loose Kievan Rus’ under Mongol rule developed into an independent and centralized Principality of Moscow. Ivan III annexed the two major rivals on the path to a unified Russia — the Principality of Tver and the Novgorod Republic — and greatly expanded Moscow’s territory by defeating the Lithuanians. At this point, the Principality of Moscow finally waited for the moment to break with the Mongols. After several demands for tribute were refused, the last ruler of the Golden Horde, Khan Akhmat, led his forces against the Principality of Moscow in 1480, only to withdraw without success. From that point on, the Principality of Moscow and all of Rus’ formally shed the “Mongol Yoke” and became an independent state. In 1493, Ivan III crowned himself “Sovereign of All Rus’,” and a new chapter in Russian history began.

然而，1382年蒙古人卷土重来，攻陷并洗劫了莫斯科。莫斯科公国和整个罗斯被迫重新接受了金帐汗国的宗主地位，恢复向金帐汗国进贡。罗斯人隐忍了数十年，直到金帐汗国内乱加剧，并在1430年开始分裂。1452年，甚至有一名出逃的蒙古王公接受了莫斯科公国的宗主地位。历史学家认为，这标志着莫斯科公国和整个罗斯事实上的独立。1462年到1505年伊凡三世统治时期被认为是俄罗斯历史的转折时期，一个被蒙古人统治的、松散的基辅罗斯发展成独立而中央集权的莫斯科公国。伊凡三世吞并了统一俄罗斯道路上的两大对手——特维尔公国和诺夫哥罗德共和国，并通过打败立陶宛人大大拓展了莫斯科公国的疆域。此时，莫斯科公国终于等到与蒙古人决裂的时刻。在数次要求纳贡被拒后，忍无可忍的金帐汗国末代君主阿黑麻汗在1480年率军进攻莫斯科公国，却无功而返。从此，莫斯科公国和整个罗斯正式摆脱”蒙古桎梏”，成为独立的国家。1493 年，伊凡三世为自己冠上了”全罗斯大君主”的头衔，俄罗斯的历史翻开了新的篇章。

At the critical moment when the state and nation faced a life-or-death struggle, the resilient and flexible dimensions of Russian culture shone brilliantly. When weak and defeated, the Russians endured; at the same time, they seized every possible opportunity to strengthen themselves, bided their time to strike back, and ultimately overcame powerful enemies, turning defeat into victory and advancing toward prosperity. This cultural trait was both a gift of that era and the force that led the Russian people out of the dark ages. As a precious spiritual legacy, this cultural trait would once again save the fate of the Russian nation in the years to come.

在国家和民族面临生死存亡的关键时刻，俄罗斯文化中坚韧而灵活的一面熠熠生辉。俄罗斯人在弱小和失败时隐忍，同时尽可能抓住机会壮大自身，伺机反扑，并最终战胜强敌，反败为胜，走向兴盛。这种文化特质既是这段岁月所赋予的，同时也带领着俄罗斯人走出黑暗时代。作为宝贵的精神财富，这种文化特质还将在未来的岁月中再度拯救俄罗斯民族的命运。

Imperial Expansion

帝国的扩张

Another important trait in Russian culture is an intense sense of insecurity, and the resulting intense preoccupation with territory. The Russian people’s sense of insecurity was jointly shaped by their geographical characteristics and historical traditions. Western Russia shares the same great plain as the other countries of Eastern Europe — the terrain there is flat, with no barriers whatsoever. The reason Germany’s tank-led blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union was able to advance so rapidly in its early stages was precisely due to the flat terrain of the Eastern European plain. But for Russia, this became a disadvantage: without sufficient natural barriers to create space and time for troop deployment, defense became extraordinarily difficult, and once an enemy broke through, it could rapidly advance to the gates of Moscow, posing a grave threat to Russia’s national security. Consequently, in the earlier periods of its history, Russia was frequently invaded by Eastern and Northern European peoples such as the Poles, Lithuanians, and Swedes. The vast Kievan Rus’ territories now located in Belarus and Ukraine were long ruled by the Poles, and even Moscow itself was once captured by the Poles. Similar to the situation in the west, Russia’s southeastern frontier connects with the vast steppes of northern Asia, which made Russia’s southern regions a perennial corridor for westward-advancing Asian nomadic peoples. Historically, the ancestors of the Russians fought wave after wave of nomadic peoples, and ultimately were defeated by the Mongols, becoming part of the Mongol Empire.

俄罗斯文化中另外一个重要的特质就是强烈的不安全感，以及由此产生的对领土的高度关注。俄罗斯民族的不安全感是其地理特征与历史传统共同塑造的。俄罗斯西部与东欧其他国家同属一个大平原，那里地势平坦，没有任何阻隔。德国依靠坦克闪击苏联之所以能够在初期快速推进，正是得益于东欧大平原的平坦地势。但是对于俄罗斯来说，这就成了劣势：没有足够的自然障碍为其调兵遣将创造空间和时间，防守变得异常困难，敌人一旦突进，可以迅速兵临莫斯科城下，严重威胁俄罗斯的国家安全。因此，在其历史的前期，俄罗斯经常受到波兰、立陶宛、瑞典等东欧、北欧民族的侵略。现在位于白俄罗斯、乌克兰的大片基辅罗斯领土曾经长期被波兰人统治，甚至莫斯科都曾被波兰人攻陷。与西部的情况类似，俄罗斯的东南边疆与广袤的北亚大草原相连，这使得俄罗斯的南部地区常年成为亚洲游牧民族西进的通道。在历史上，俄罗斯的先民曾与一波波的游牧民族战斗，并最终败给蒙古人，成为蒙古帝国的一部分。

Although modern Russians are called a “warrior nation,” Russia in fact long faced the pincer pressure of powerful states from both east and west, and could only survive with great difficulty in the space between them. Consequently, the Russian people possess an innate sense of insecurity, and the resulting obsession with territory. Brzezinski argued: “The Russian people have an atavistic instinct for survival, which drives Russians to feel an urgent need for more land; their expansion is a process of continuously infiltrating adjacent territories, and insecurity becomes unceasing expansion.”

尽管现代的俄罗斯人被称为”战斗的民族”，但其实俄罗斯曾长期面临东西方强国的夹击，只能在夹缝中艰难求生。因此，俄罗斯民族拥有与生俱来的不安全感，以及由此产生的对领土的执着。布热津斯基认为：”俄罗斯民族有一种争取生存的返祖本能，并因此驱使俄国人迫切地感到需要更多的土地，他们的扩张是一种不断向毗邻领土渗透的过程，不安全感变成持续不断的扩张。”

It is precisely for this reason that, after throwing off Mongol subjugation, the Russians set out on a path of expansion. Ivan IV was a famous ruler in Russian history — brutal by nature, he even killed his own son with a scepter, and was thus also called “Ivan the Terrible.” Though ill-tempered, he was simultaneously a ruler of great talent and bold vision. Under his rule, Russia’s territory expanded dramatically. Russia first destroyed the Kazan Khanate — one of the main successor states of the Golden Horde — in a campaign from 1547 to 1552. This was also a major turning point in Russian history, marking the complete reversal of the balance of power between Russians and Mongols on the Eurasian steppe. Russian forces then drove eastward, crossing the Ural Mountains and within a few years annexing the Astrakhan Khanate, the Siberian Khanate, and other remnants of the Golden Horde, conquering the Nogai and Bashkir peoples, and bringing many peoples of the North Caucasus under Russian suzerainty — Russia began to become a multi-ethnic state. In 1572, Russia crushed the siege of Moscow by the Crimean Khanate, known as the “whip of Ottoman Turkey.” At the time, the Ottoman Empire was at its zenith, its shadow of aggression looming over all of Eastern Europe, and crushing the Crimean Khanate was like delivering a head-on blow to the Ottomans, foiling their ambitions to dominate Russia and Eastern Europe. After accomplishing this series of feats, Ivan IV crowned himself “Tsar” (meaning “Caesar” in Old Russian), proclaimed himself the successor to the Roman Empire, and the state was officially renamed the Tsardom of Russia, with Moscow becoming the “Third Rome” — Russia thus entered an era of autocratic rule.

正是因为这样，俄罗斯人在摆脱蒙古人的奴役后，就走上了扩张的道路。伊凡四世是俄罗斯历史上著名的君主，他生性残暴，甚至亲手用权杖击毙了自己的儿子，因此也被称为”伊凡雷帝”。他虽然脾气不好，但同时也是一个雄才大略的君主。在他的治下，俄罗斯的版图急剧扩张。俄罗斯先是在1547—1552年的远征中灭亡了金帐汗国的主要继承者之一——喀山汗国，这也是俄罗斯历史上重大的转折点，标志着在欧亚大草原上，俄罗斯人与蒙古人实力的彻底逆转。随后俄罗斯大军挥师东进，越过乌拉尔山，在几年中吞并了阿斯特拉军汗国、西伯利亚汗国等金帐汗国的残余势力，征服了诺盖人和巴什基尔人，并使北高加索许多民族归顺俄罗斯，俄罗斯开始成为多民族国家。1572年，俄罗斯粉碎被称为”奥斯曼土耳其之鞭”的克里米亚汗国对莫斯科的围攻。当时奥斯曼土耳其正处于鼎盛时期，其侵略的阴影笼罩着整个东欧，而粉碎克里米亚汗国犹如给奥斯曼土耳其以迎头痛击，挫败了其统治俄罗斯及东欧的企图。在完成这一系列壮举后，伊凡四世给自己加冕为”沙皇”（在古俄语中是”恺撒”的意思），并自诩为罗马帝国的继承者，国家也正式改名为俄罗斯沙皇国，莫斯科则成为”第三罗马”，俄罗斯从此进入极权统治时代。

Russia first experienced the benefits of vast territory for national security in the early 17th century, when Russia was in acute turmoil domestically, with a vacant throne attracting many ambitious contenders, and external forces also intervening. In 1605, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth sent its armies into Russia by supporting the “False Tsar” Pseudo-Dmitry I, igniting the Russo-Polish War. The Poles were initially irresistible, occupying vast swaths of Russian territory and briefly capturing Moscow. But the Russian forces employed a war of attrition, using the country’s great strategic depth and abundant human resources to exhaust Polish supply lines, ultimately driving the Poles out of Russia and recovering most of the lost territory.

俄罗斯第一次感受到庞大领土对国家安全的好处是在17世纪初，当时俄罗斯国内急剧动荡，皇位空悬引来诸多野心家”逐鹿中原”，外部势力亦插手其中。1605年，波兰立陶宛联邦通过支持”假沙皇”伪德米特里一世，将大军开进俄罗斯，引爆了俄波战争。波兰人一度气势如虹，占领了俄罗斯大片国土，并曾短暂攻陷莫斯科。但俄罗斯军队采用消耗战，以本国的大纵深和丰富的人力资源消耗波兰军队的补给，最终将波兰人赶出俄罗斯，收复了大部分领土。

Having tasted the benefits that strategic depth brings to national security in this war, the Russians became ever more fixated on territorial expansion. Russia’s tsars were almost constantly at war. After Peter the Great came to power, he launched his famous reforms. He eagerly studied the nations of the West, while simultaneously using Western technology and standards to drive military modernization — the establishment of a navy in particular greatly enhanced the combat effectiveness of Russian forces. To expand territory, Russia continuously fought neighboring states such as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ottoman Empire, and Sweden. In 1721, following victory in the Great Northern War against Sweden, Peter the Great officially crowned himself Emperor and proclaimed the establishment of the Russian Empire. To consolidate his gains and demonstrate his resolve to align with the West, Peter the Great built St. Petersburg at the newly acquired mouth of the Neva River as the empire’s new capital. In this way, Russia transformed from a small principality in a corner of the world into the Russian Empire, one of the great European powers. After Peter the Great’s death, a testament attributed to him circulated across the European continent. This testament made explicit arrangements for Russia’s post-Peter expansion plans, calling on future Russian rulers to maintain a state of prolonged warfare, partition Poland, seize as much Swedish territory as possible, expand southward along the Black Sea, and press as close as possible to Constantinople and India. Although the Russian government has always denied the authenticity of this testament, the paradox is that Russia’s subsequent historical trajectory bore a striking resemblance to its contents.

俄罗斯人在这次战争中尝到战略纵深给维护国家安全带来的好处，愈发执着于领土扩张了。俄罗斯的沙皇们几乎一刻不停地在打仗。彼得大帝当政后，开始了著名的改革。他如饥似渴地向西方各国学习，同时以西方技术和标准推动强军建设，尤其是海军的建立极大增强了俄军的战斗力。为了扩张领土，俄罗斯不断与波兰立陶宛联邦、奥斯曼土耳其、瑞典等周边国家作战。1721年，在与瑞典的北方战争胜利后，彼得大帝正式加冕为皇帝，宣布成立俄罗斯帝国。为了巩固胜果，并展现向西方靠拢的决心，彼得大帝在新夺得的涅瓦河出海口兴建了彼得堡作为帝国的新首都。就这样，俄罗斯从偏安一隅的小公国变为欧洲列强之一的俄罗斯帝国。彼得大帝去世后，欧洲大陆流传着一份他的遗嘱。这份遗嘱对其身后俄罗斯的扩张计划做出明确安排。要求未来的俄罗斯统治者长期保持战争状态，分割波兰，尽量多地占领瑞典国土，沿黑海向南扩张，尽可能迫近君士坦丁堡和印度。尽管俄罗斯官方一直否认这份遗嘱的真实性，但吊诡的是，俄罗斯后来的历史轨迹与这份遗嘱的内容惊人地相似。

The most rapid expansion in Russian history occurred during the reign of Empress Catherine II. During this period, Russia’s territory expanded to an unprecedented scale, earning the era the title “the Golden Age of Empire.” In the west, Russia joined Prussia and the Austrian Empire in partitioning Poland three times, not only completely eliminating this once-formidable western rival, but also extending Russia’s strategic depth in Eastern Europe by 500 kilometers. In the south, Russia defeated the Ottoman Empire in the Fifth Russo-

俄罗斯历史上最迅速的扩张发生在女皇叶卡捷琳娜二世统治时期。这一时期，俄罗斯的领土空前膨胀，被称为”帝国的黄金时代”。在西部，俄罗斯与普鲁士王国、奥地利帝国三次瓜分波兰，不仅将这个曾经不可一世的西部强敌彻底消灭，还把俄罗斯在东欧的战略纵深扩展了500公里。在南部，俄罗斯在第五次俄

A Sense of Precariousness and the Rise and Fall of Russia

忧患意识与俄罗斯的兴衰

Peter the Great of the Russian Romanov Dynasty

俄罗斯罗曼诺夫王朝彼得大帝

Turkish War, seized access to the Black Sea, and annexed Crimea. Through the Sixth Russo-Turkish War, Russia extended its influence into the Balkan Peninsula. Although the Ottoman Empire was not completely expelled from Europe, it could no longer pose a serious threat to Russia. In the east, over 200 years Russia’s territory advanced 5,000 kilometers, at one point reaching into Alaska, making Russia a vast empire spanning three continents — Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Some have calculated that Russia’s territory grew by a full 400 times in the mere 300-odd years from the 15th to the 18th century. Catherine II named her grandson Alexander, hoping he would become a “conqueror of the world” like Alexander the Great of ancient Macedonia. Before her death, she reportedly declared with no small measure of regret: “If I could live to be 200, all of Europe would prostrate itself at my feet; Russia would have six capitals — St. Petersburg, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Constantinople, and Astrakhan.” This reveals her obsession with territorial expansion. After her death, Catherine II was honored with the title “the Great,” becoming the only ruler in Russian history besides Peter the Great to bear that title.

士战争中打败了奥斯曼土耳其，夺取了黑海出海口，吞并克里米亚。通过第六次俄土战争，俄罗斯又将势力伸入巴尔干半岛。虽然奥斯曼土耳其没有被完全赶出欧洲，但已不能再对俄罗斯构成严重威胁。在东部，200年间，俄罗斯的疆域推进了5000公里，一度伸入阿拉斯加，使俄罗斯成为横跨欧、亚、美三大洲的庞大帝国。有人统计，俄罗斯的疆域在15世纪到18世纪的短短300多年时间里增长了整整400倍。叶卡捷琳娜二世为自己的孙子取名为亚历山大，希望他像古希腊马其顿王国的亚历山大大帝一样，成为”世界的征服者”。她临终前曾不无遗憾地放出豪言：”假如我能够活到200岁，全欧洲都将匍匐在我脚下；俄国将拥有6个首都——彼得堡、柏林、巴黎、维也纳、君士坦丁堡和阿斯特拉罕。”可见其对扩张领土的执着。叶卡捷琳娜二世死后被尊为”大帝”，成为俄罗斯历史上除彼得大帝外唯一一位拥有该头衔的君主。

The emphasis on territory and strategic buffers in Russian culture would save the state a second time, allowing Russia to be reborn through fire and become the hegemon of the European continent. At the end of the 18th century, the French Revolution erupted and Napoleon Bonaparte burst onto the scene. He was invincible in battle, repeatedly crushing the anti-French coalitions and bringing most of the European continent under his sphere of influence. In 1812, Napoleon turned his sights on Russia. At the time, the military strength of France and its allies was approximately three times that of Russia. Napoleon deliberately launched his attack in summer, hoping to achieve a swift, decisive victory before the onset of winter. Because of weak defenses, insufficient troops, and outdated equipment, the Russian army knew it could not resist the French forces that had swept all before them in Europe, and therefore decided to exploit the advantage of territorial depth by adopting a strategy of retreat, luring the enemy deep into Russian territory. As they retreated, Russian forces set fires along the way, implementing a scorched-earth policy that burned everything the French forces would pass through — this disrupted Napoleon’s plan for a quick, decisive victory and foiled his plan to fight while seizing supplies along the way. Left with no choice, Napoleon had to advance deep into Russian territory alone, hoping to force Russia to surrender and sign a favorable treaty by capturing its largest city, the former capital Moscow, and thereby obtain supplies. After assessing Napoleon’s intentions, the Russian forces resolutely abandoned Moscow. When the Grand Army arrived in Moscow, Napoleon was disappointed to find he had captured only a scorched and empty city. The French forces, having advanced too far with supply lines stretched too thin, faced severe supply difficulties. Russia’s winter came early — by October, snow had already begun to fall on the front lines, and the expeditionary French forces were starving and freezing. Napoleon was forced to order a retreat. Once the French forces began to withdraw, the Russian army seized the moment and followed close behind, but rather than committing its main force to battle with the French, it harassed them through Cossack cavalry and guerrilla ambushes. By the time the retreat reached Warsaw, the originally 600,000-strong French army had fewer than 60,000 men remaining. The Russian main force then pursued the fleeing enemy, and by late December, when Napoleon fled back to Paris, the remnants following him numbered only 30,000. The previously invincible Napoleonic army suffered its first defeat, while Russia turned the tide for all of Europe. In 1814, Alexander I — on whom his grandmother Catherine II had placed such high hopes — rode a white horse into Paris in the magnificent posture of leader of the Holy Alliance. Russia thereby became the arbiter of European affairs.

俄罗斯文化中对于领土和战略缓冲的重视，将第二次拯救国家，并使俄罗斯浴火重生，成为欧陆霸主。18世纪末，法国爆发大革命，拿破仑·波拿巴横空出世。他战无不胜，连续数次击溃反法同盟，把欧洲大陆的大部分地区纳入自己的势力范围。1812年，拿破仑将矛头对准俄罗斯。当时法国及其盟军的军事力量大约是俄罗斯的3倍。拿破仑有意在夏天发起进攻，希望能在寒冬到来前速战速决，击败俄罗斯。由于防守薄弱、兵力不足、装备落后，俄军深知难以抵抗此前在欧洲所向披靡的法军，因而决定利用领土纵深上的优势，采取撤退战略，诱敌深入。俄军在撤退时沿途放火，实行焦土政策，把法军将要途经之处烧得一干二净，这打乱了拿破仑速战速决的设想，也令其边作战边抢夺补给的计划泡汤了。无奈之下，拿破仑只得孤军深入俄罗斯腹地，期望通过占领第一大城市——旧都莫斯科迫使俄罗斯投降，签署对自己有利的条约并获得补给。在研判了拿破仑的意图后，俄军果断放弃莫斯科。大军抵达莫斯科后，拿破仑失望地发现他收获的只是一个化为焦土的空城。而法军由于过分深入，补给线又太长，面临严重的补给困难。俄罗斯的冬天来得很早，不到10月，前线就开始飘雪，远征的法军饥寒交迫，拿破仑被迫下令撤退。等到法军开始撤退后，俄军伺机而动，紧随法军后方，但不派出主力跟法军交战，而是通过哥萨克骑兵、游击队埋伏骚扰法军。撤退到华沙后，原本60多万的法国大军只剩下不到6万人。俄军主力则乘胜追击，到12月底拿破仑逃回巴黎时，追随他的残部只剩下3万人。不可一世的拿破仑大军首次遭遇败绩，而俄罗斯则为整个欧洲挽回了败势。1814年，被祖母叶卡捷琳娜二世寄予厚望的亚历山大一世骑着白马、以神圣同盟盟主的英姿君临巴黎。俄罗斯自此成为欧陆事务的仲裁者。

At its height, Russia’s territory stretched from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the southern shores of the Black Sea in the south, from the German border in the west to Alaska in the east, covering an area of more than 22.8 million square kilometers with a population of 125 million — the world’s second largest state after the British Empire. What had originally stemmed from the deep-rooted sense of insecurity and precariousness in Russian culture — the emphasis on territory — ultimately made Russia an empire with hegemony over the European continent. From that point on, the gene of territorial obsession was branded like a steel stamp deep into the marrow of the Russian nation.

在极盛时期，俄罗斯的疆域北起北冰洋，南达黑海南部，西起德国边境，东抵阿拉斯加，面积达到2280多万平方公里，人忧患意识与俄罗斯的兴衰口 1.25 亿人，是仅次于大英帝国的世界第二大国。对领土的重视原本来自于俄罗斯文化中根深蒂固的不安全感与忧患意识，最后却使俄罗斯成为一个拥有欧陆霸权的帝国。从此，执着于领土的基因就像钢印一样，深深地刻在俄罗斯民族的骨髓之中。

Rebirth Through Fire

浴火重生

In the first half of the 20th century, the Russian nation faced the most severe existential crisis since the “Mongol Yoke,” but ultimately the Russian people escaped their predicament at enormous cost and turned crisis into opportunity. Throughout this process, the cultural traits related to national security in Russian culture found concentrated expression. Flexible pragmatism, foresight, and indomitable will ultimately enabled the Russian people to win this war.

20 世纪中前期，俄罗斯民族面临自”蒙古桎梏”以来最严峻的生存危机，但最后俄罗斯人以极大的代价摆脱了困境，最终转危为机。在这其中，俄罗斯文化中与国家安全相关的特质得到集中体现。灵活务实、未雨绸缪以及坚韧不拔的意志使俄罗斯人最终赢得这场战争。

In the early stages of World War II, the Soviet Union’s policy of neutrality and the establishment of the “Eastern Front” reflected the flexible and pragmatic dimension of Russian culture — always taking the safeguarding of national security as the fundamental starting point. Before 1939, the Soviet Union had strongly opposed Nazi Germany and supported the Republicans fighting against Nazi Germany and Italian Fascism in the Spanish Civil War. In 1938, Germany and the Western powers signed the Munich Agreement, under which Germany occupied the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. At the same time, with the Western powers pursuing a policy of appeasement, Germany’s intention to expand eastward was plain for all to see. The Soviet Union was deeply concerned. From April to August 1939, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union held military and political negotiations in Moscow. In the negotiations, the Soviet Union proposed to Britain and France the conclusion of a mutual anti-aggression assistance treaty among the three states, valid for five to ten years and including military assistance; that the three states guarantee the security of Central and Eastern European states; and that specific agreements be reached on the methods and scale of mutual assistance among the three states. But against the backdrop of the Western powers’ appeasement policy, the negotiations ended without result. Britain and France tacitly accepted Germany’s freedom of action in Eastern and Central-Southern Europe, and rejected the Soviet Union’s demand for guarantees of the security of Central and Southeastern European states.

二战初期，苏联的中立政策和”东方战线”的建立体现了俄罗斯文化中灵活务实、始终以维护国家安全为根本出发点的一面。在 1939 年以前，苏联一直强烈反对纳粹德国，并且支持西班牙内战中与纳粹德国和意大利法西斯做斗争的共和主义者。1938 年，德国与西方列强签署《慕尼黑协定》，据此占领了捷克斯洛伐克的苏台德地区。同时，由于西方国家采取绥靖政策，德国向东扩张的意图昭然若揭。苏联对此十分担忧。1939 年 4—8 月，英、法、苏三国在莫斯科举行军事、政治谈判。谈判中，苏联向英、法建议，缔结三国之间有效期 5—10 年、包括军事援助在内的反侵略互助条约；三国保障中欧和东欧国家的安全；达成关于三国间相互援助方式和规模的具体协议。但在西方国家缓靖政策的大背景下，谈判无果而终。英、法默认了德国在东欧和中南欧自由行动，拒绝了苏联提出的保障中欧和东南欧国家安全的要求。

At the same time, Hitler repeatedly made overtures to the Soviet Union through Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, indicating that Germany had no intention of invading the Soviet Union, expressing hope for improved relations, and proposing the signing of a non-aggression pact. Japan, meanwhile, provoked the “Battles of Khalkhin Gol” in the Far East, launching an attack on the Soviet Union. The two fascist states of Germany and Japan were also at that time negotiating the formation of a military alliance, and the Soviet Union faced the real danger of being attacked from both sides, while negotiations with Britain and France had made no progress. Faced with an extremely complex and perilous situation, and in order to safeguard national security, the Soviet Union weighed the pros and cons and decided to take extraordinary measures. On August 23, 1939, Ribbentrop traveled to the Soviet Union and that same evening reached an agreement with the Soviet Union, signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. After World War II, Britain, France, the United States, and other countries published a batch of captured German diplomatic documents, including a secret additional protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, primarily concerning the Soviet-German “division of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe.” After this protocol was published, the Soviet Union was extremely displeased but neither confirmed nor denied its authenticity.

与此同时，希特勒通过外长里宾特洛甫一再向苏联示好，表示德国无意侵犯苏联，希望改善彼此关系，并签署了一项互不侵犯条约。日本则在远东地区挑起”诺门军战役”，向苏联发动进攻。德、日两个法西斯国家此时又在谈判结成军事同盟，苏联面临腹背受敌的现实危险，而同英、法的谈判又没有进展。在极端复杂险恶的形势下，为了维护国家安全，苏联权衡利弊，决定采取非常措施。1939 年 8 月 23 日，里宾特洛甫前往苏联，并在当晚与苏联达成协议，签署了《苏德互不侵犯条约》。二战后，英、法、美等国公布了它们缴获的一批德国外交文件，其中包括《苏德互不侵犯条约》的一项秘密附加议定书，主要涉及苏、德”对东欧势力范围的划分”。这份议定书公布后，苏联极为不满，但对其真伪未置可否。

Both the Soviet Union and Germany understood clearly that the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was nothing more than a delaying tactic. A piece of paper produced by a flexible and pragmatic policy could not dispel the sense of insecurity and precariousness deep in the Russian soul — foresight was their instinct, and their choices were typically Russian behavior. In order to defend “the security of the western border,” the Soviet Union controlled approximately 600,000 square kilometers of territory by sending troops into eastern Poland, waging the Winter War against Finland, and annexing parts of the Baltic states and Romania, extending its western strategic depth by approximately 300 kilometers — roughly restoring it to the level of the late Tsarist period. While actively preparing for war on the western front, the Soviet Union also agreed to Japanese requests for negotiations and in April 1941 signed the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact. Thereafter, Japan chose to expand southward rather than toward the Soviet Union’s Far East and Siberia.

苏、德两国都清楚，所谓的《苏德互不侵犯条约》只不过是缓兵之计。灵活、务实政策带来的一纸条约并不能消弭俄罗斯人骨子里的不安全感与忧患意识，未雨绸缪是他们的本能，而他们的选择也是典型的俄罗斯式行为。为了保卫”西部边界的安全”，苏联通过出兵波兰东部、进行苏芬战争、合并波罗的海三国和罗马尼亚部分领土的方式，控制了约60万平方公里的土地，将西部战略纵深扩展了约300公里，大致恢复到沙俄末期的水平。在西线积极备战的同时，苏联还同意日方的谈判请求，在1941年4月与日本签订了《苏日中立条约》。此后，日本选择了向南，而不是向苏联的远东和西伯利亚地区扩张。

However, what caught the Soviet Union off guard was how quickly the German attack came. After achieving a series of victories on the western front, Nazi Germany rapidly brought under its control the human and material resources of 16 European countries, including France, Poland, the Netherlands, and Norway. Surveying the world, only Britain was fighting to the death with the advantage of the sea — this led Hitler to feel he had an opportunity to free his hands to deal with the Soviet Union to the east, and he began drawing up the “Barbarossa” plan for the invasion of the Soviet Union. The German plan was to concentrate 3.8 million troops and, using blitzkrieg tactics, launch rapid and deep strikes from three directions to separately capture the Soviet capital Moscow and the second and third largest cities, Leningrad and Kiev; to destroy the main Soviet forces in the western regions; and then to drive deep into the Soviet interior, reaching the line of Arkhangelsk, the Volga River, and Astrakhan, while using air power to destroy the Ural industrial zone — thereby crushing the Soviet Union and forcing its surrender. The Soviet Union was completely unaware of the German plan. Although British intelligence and Soviet intelligence agents repeatedly reported to Stalin that “Germany will attack the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941,” Stalin believed that before the war between Britain and Germany had reached a conclusion, the German military was not yet capable of invading the Soviet Union. He even suspected this was a trap fabricated by the British to draw the Soviet Union into the war against Germany. On June 22, 1941, Hitler suddenly tore up the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, activated the “Barbarossa” plan, and launched an attack on the Soviet Union — the Soviet-German War broke out.

然而，出乎苏联意料的是，德国人的进攻竟然来得这么快。在西线获得一系列胜利后，纳粹德国迅速控制了欧洲包括法国、波兰、荷兰、挪威等16个国家的人力、物力资源。放眼世界，此时只有英国凭借海洋的优势在拼死抵抗，这让希特勒感到有机会腾出手来对付东边的苏联了，他便开始着手制订入侵苏联的”巴巴罗萨”计划。德军计划集中380万名兵力，以”闪电战”从3个方向实施迅猛而深入的突击，分别占领苏联首都莫斯科以及第二、第三大城市列宁格勒和基辅，把苏军主力消灭在西部地区，尔后向苏联腹地长驱直入，进抵阿尔汉格尔斯克、伏尔加河、阿斯特拉罕一线，并用空军摧毁乌拉尔工业区，从而击垮苏联，迫使其投降。苏联对德国人的计划浑然不觉，虽然英国情报机构和苏联谍报人员多次向斯大林报告”德国将在1941年夏进攻苏联”，但斯大林认为在英国和德国的战争分出胜负之前，德军还没有能力进犯苏联。他甚至怀疑这是英国人为了将苏联拉入对德作战的陷阱而捏造的。1941 年 6 月 22 日，希特勒突然撕毁《苏德互不侵犯条约》，启动”巴巴罗萨”计划，对苏联发动进攻，苏德战争爆发。

If the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact reflected the flexible and pragmatic dimension of Russian culture, then this magnificent “Great Patriotic War” gave full expression to the Russian people’s cultural traits of indomitable resilience and determined struggle. The scale and force of Germany’s surprise attack on the Soviet Union was almost beyond belief. Hitler committed 175 divisions to the assault — more than 3 million German troops in total, including numerous armored units, with a powerful air force providing close air support. The German objective was to wage a blitzkrieg and defeat the Soviet Union within two to three months, or at the latest before the onset of winter. The Soviet Union’s lack of preparedness allowed the German war machine to roll forward along the entire front, advancing rapidly on three axes — north, center, and south.

如果说《苏德互不侵犯条约》体现了俄罗斯文化中灵活务实的一面，那么这场波澜壮阔的”伟大的卫国战争”则将俄罗斯人坚韧不拔、努力抗争的文化特质表现得淋漓尽致。德国对苏联突袭的规模和力度令人难以置信，希特勒在进攻中投入了 175 个师，共 300 多万德军，包括众多装甲部队，一支力量强大的空军则近距离给予空中支持。德国人的目标是发动一场闪电战，在两到三个月的时间内、最迟也要在冬天来临之前击败苏联。苏联的准备不足使得德国的战争机器沿着整个前线滚滚向前，在北、中、南三条战线上迅速推进。

But the fierce resistance of the Soviet people foiled the German plan. On the northern front, Leningrad was besieged by German forces beginning on September 9, 1941, and did not defeat the enemy until January 27, 1944 — a total of 872 days. Due to starvation, disease, and war casualties, the city’s population fell from 4 million to 2.5 million; a single cemetery within Leningrad buried 500,000 victims of the siege. Some assessments hold that this was the single battle with the greatest casualties and most severe economic losses in human history. Yet the people of Leningrad did not surrender — they not only halted the German advance on the northern front but also achieved final victory. January 27 was later designated “Russian Military Glory Day.”

但苏联人民的奋勇抵抗让德国人的计划落空了。在北线，列宁格勒从1941年9月9日开始被德军围困，直至1944年1月27日才打败敌军，共计872天。由于饥饿、疾病和战争伤亡，整个城市的人口从400万减少到250万，列宁格勒市内的一个墓地就埋葬了50万名围城战的遇难者。有评估认为，这是人类历史上伤亡人数最多、经济损失最严重的单场战役。然而，列宁格勒人民并未投降，他们不仅挡住了德军在北线的继续推进，还取得了最后的胜利。后来，1月27日被定为”俄罗斯军人荣誉日”。

The Battle of Stalingrad is another vivid testament to the indomitable will of the Russian people. In this battle, which lasted more than half a year, both sides engaged in street fighting for every inch of ground; although German forces at one point occupied ninety percent of the urban area, they were still unable to capture the last Soviet defensive positions. While the Germans slowly advanced through the city, Soviet forces assembled more than one million troops on the eastern bank of the Volga River and in the northwestern suburbs of Stalingrad, and on November 19, 1942, launched “Operation Uranus,” breaking through the defensive lines hastily established by Axis forces and encircling the German and other Axis forces within the city. Although the Germans attempted to relieve the encircled forces through air supply and “Operation Winter Storm,” they were repelled by Soviet forces. In the end, 90,000 Axis soldiers inside the city surrendered and were taken prisoner. This was Germany’s first large-scale defeat in World War II, and it completely eliminated the possibility of German victory on the Eastern Front, transferring strategic predominance to the Soviet forces. The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point of both World War II and the Soviet-German War. In modern history, the casualties and economic losses of this battle were second only to the Siege of Leningrad, with approximately 710,000 killed on both sides.

斯大林格勒战役是俄罗斯人坚韧意志的另一个生动写照。在这场历时半年多的战役中，双方进行了寸土必争的巷战，尽管德军一度占领了九成的城区，但仍无法拿下苏军的最后防区。在德军于城中缓慢推进时，苏军集结了100多万兵力在伏尔加河东岸和斯大林格勒市西北郊，并在1942年11月19日发动的”天王星行动”中突破轴心国军队临时建立起来的防御线，包围了城中的德军和其他轴心国军队。虽然德军想通过空军补给和”冬季风暴行动”解除被围歼的危机，但被苏军击退。最后，城内9万名轴心国士兵投降被俘。这是德国在第二次世界大战中的首次大规模败仗，也使德军在东线胜利的可能性彻底消失，战略主导权易手至苏军手中。斯大林格勒战役是第二次世界大战和苏德战争的转折点。在近代史上，这场战役的伤亡及经济损失仅次于列宁格勒保卫战，双方阵亡约71万人。

After the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet Red Army shifted to strategic counteroffensive, recovering most of the occupied territories by late 1943 and early 1944, and then began advancing into other countries occupied by German forces. On April 25, 1945, the Soviet Red Army and American forces met in a victory rendezvous on the banks of the Elbe River. On May 2, Soviet forces captured Berlin. On May 9, the Third Reich surrendered unconditionally to the Allied forces. Despite enormous losses, the Soviet Red Army ultimately withstood the German assault and gradually forced it back, until completely crushing it.

斯大林格勒战役后，苏联红军转入战略反攻，并在1943年末至1944年初收复了大部分被占领土，随后开始进入德军占领的其他国家。1945年4月25日，苏联红军与美军在易北河畔胜利会师。5月2日，苏军攻克柏林。5月9日，第三帝国向盟军无条件投降。尽管损失惨重，但苏联红军最终顶住了德军的进攻并逐步迫使其后退，直至将其彻底击溃。

This was truly a great victory: countless soldiers fought with the highest heroic spirit. The names of commanders such as Zhukov became synonymous with victory.

这确实是一场伟大的胜利：数不清的士兵怀着至高无上的英雄主义气概参加战斗。朱可夫等指挥官的名字成为胜利的同义

Beyond the regular forces, courageous and resolute partisans also fought the invaders to the last. The government managed, under extremely difficult conditions, to organize supplies for the armed forces. According to statistics, the Soviet Union suffered a total of 59.8 million casualties in this war — encompassing nearly all Soviet males of military age (16 to 40 years old) — of whom approximately 26.6 million died. The Soviet-German War also severely affected the gender ratio of the Soviet population; to this day, Russia remains in a state of having more women than men. This reflects precisely the cultural traits of indomitable resilience, endurance through hardship, and extreme regard for national security in Russian culture. Compared with other Western peoples who collapsed at the first contact with the powerful German forces, the Russian people’s feat was particularly distinctive and moving. It was also on the strength of this victory that the Soviet Union and the Russian people swept away the gloom of successive defeats in the late 19th century and their declining status in Europe and globally, rapidly advanced toward revival, and leapt to become a superpower on par with the United States.

词。除了正规军，英勇而坚决的游击队也同侵略者奋战到底。政府则在极为困难的条件下设法组织武装部队的补给。根据统计，苏联在这场战争中共有 5980 万人伤亡，几乎涵盖苏联全国兵役适龄（16 岁至 40 岁）男性，其中死亡约 2660 万人。苏德战争也严重影响了苏联人口的性别比例，直到今天，俄罗斯都处于”女多男少”的状态中。这反映的正是俄罗斯文化中坚韧不拔、卧薪尝胆，以及对国家安全极度珍视的特质。对比遇到强大德军便一触即溃的其他西方民族，俄罗斯人的壮举是尤为独特而感人的。也正是凭借这场战争的胜利，苏联和俄罗斯人一扫 19 世纪后期接连战败、在欧洲和全球地位下降的阴霾，迅速走向复兴，并一跃成为与美国并驾齐驱的超级大国。

The Temptation of World Hegemony

世界霸权的诱惑

During the Cold War, the state with the Russian nation as its core reached the pinnacle of its history. In the process of the Soviet Union’s ascent to the summit, the deep-rooted emphasis on territory and the distinctive sense of mission in Russian culture were always important factors.

冷战期间，以俄罗斯民族为主体的国家走上了其历史的巅峰。在苏联迈向顶峰的进程中，俄罗斯文化中根深蒂固的对领土的重视，以及特殊的使命意识始终是重要因素。

The history of World War II once again demonstrated to the Russian people the vital value of strategic buffer zones for national security. Without its enormous strategic depth, the Soviet Union might have been forced to bow to Hitler as France had been. Stalin understood clearly that deep-rooted ideological and geopolitical contradictions, combined with the disappearance of a common enemy, would ultimately lead to the dissolution of the wartime alliance between the Soviet Union and the American-led West. In order to establish a shield for national security, and in accordance with the “Percentages Agreement” reached between Stalin and Churchill in 1944, the Soviet Union actively promoted the establishment of people’s democratic regimes in Eastern Europe. In 1944, with the assistance of the Soviet Red Army, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the two symbolically significant cities of Berlin and Vienna were liberated. After the war, Eastern European states one by one established socialist regimes. In 1955, the Warsaw Pact was established; with the exception of Yugoslavia, all Eastern European states joined, and the socialist camp led by the Soviet Union formally formed a military alliance in Eastern Europe.

二战的历史再次向俄罗斯人证明了战略缓冲区对于国家安全的重要价值。如果没有巨大的战略纵深，苏联可能会像法国一样被迫向希特勒低头。斯大林很清楚，根深蒂固的意识形态和地缘矛盾，以及共同敌人的消失，终将导致苏联与美西方战时同盟的瓦解。为了建立国家安全的屏障，同时依据 1944 年斯大林与丘吉尔达成的”百分比协定”，苏联积极在东欧推动人民民主政权的建立。1944 年，在苏联红军的帮助下，匈牙利、罗马尼亚、保加利亚、波兰及捷克斯洛伐克等国以及柏林、维也纳这两个有标志性意义的城市获得解放。战后，东欧国家纷纷建立起社会主义政权。1955 年，华沙条约组织成立，除了南斯拉夫外，所有东欧国家均加入其中，以苏联为首的社会主义阵营在东欧正式结成军事同盟。

The sense of mission in Russian culture was the spiritual force behind the Soviet Union’s confrontation with the United States. As the Russian poet Tyutchev lamented: “Russia cannot be understood with the mind, cannot be measured by ordinary standards; what exists there is a special character — the only thing applicable to Russia is faith.” Solzhenitsyn also once said: “Russia is a nation that lives by ideals.” The sense of mission in Russian culture can be traced back to the claim of being the “Third Rome.” Within decades of the fall of Constantinople — capital of the Byzantine Empire (i.e., the Eastern Roman Empire) — to the infidels in 1453, some Orthodox Christians began calling Moscow the “Third Rome” or “New Rome.” As Moscow’s Grand Prince Ivan III married Sophia Palaiologina, niece of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI, the concept of the “Third Rome” came into widespread use. In a panegyric addressed to Moscow’s Grand Prince Vasily III, it was written: “Two Romes have fallen, the third stands, and there shall be no fourth. No one shall replace your faithfulness to Christ.” The title of Tsar that Ivan III bestowed upon himself means “Caesar” in Old Russian — the title used for the emperors of the Roman Empire.

俄罗斯文化中的使命意识是苏联与美国对抗的精神力量。正如俄罗斯诗人丘特切夫所感叹的：”用理性无法理解俄罗斯，用一般的标准不能衡量它，在它那里存在的是特殊的性格，唯一适用于俄罗斯的是信仰。”索尔仁尼琴也曾说道：”俄罗斯是靠理想来活着的民族。”俄罗斯文化中的使命意识可以追溯到对”第三罗马”的宣称。在拜占庭帝国（即东罗马帝国）首都君士坦丁堡 1453 年陷于异教徒之手后的数十年内，一些东正教人士开始称呼莫斯科为”第三罗马”或”新罗马”。随着莫斯科大公伊凡三世迎娶拜占庭帝国末代皇帝君士坦丁十一世的侄女索菲娅·帕列奥罗格公主，”第三罗马”这个概念开始被广泛使用。在一篇给莫斯科大公瓦西里三世的颂词里这样写道：”两个罗马倒下了，第三个站起来了，并且不会再有第四个。没人能取代您对基督的忠诚。”伊凡三世给自己冠上的沙皇头衔在古俄语中就是”恺撒”的意思，即对罗马帝国皇帝的称呼。

The Russian imagination of the “Third Rome” encompassed not only the political ambition of rebuilding the Roman Empire, but was also deeply imbued with religious spirit — it represented Russia’s inheritance of the Orthodox faith’s orthodoxy and centrality. A monk wrote to Ivan III: “All the Orthodox world is under your rule.” This imagination was simultaneously an expression of Russia’s desire, as the center of the Orthodox world, to recapture Constantinople from the infidels. Although Tsarist Russia already had two capitals — St. Petersburg and Moscow — the tsars still dreamed of capturing Constantinople and renaming it “Tsargrad” as the empire’s true capital. During World War I, the rallying cry Russian commanders used to inspire their soldiers was: “Warriors, plant the cross atop the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and reclaim it from the infidels.” This sense of mission also gave rise to Pan-Slavism, providing a theoretical basis for Russian expansion of its sphere of influence in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

俄罗斯人对”第三罗马”的想象，既包括重建罗马帝国的政治野心，更饱含着宗教精神，它代表俄罗斯继承了东正教的正统与中心地位。一名教士在给伊凡三世的信中写道：”整个东正教世界都归您统治。”这种想象同时也是俄罗斯作为东正教世界的中心，对从异教徒手中收复君士坦丁堡的渴望的体现。尽管沙俄已经有了两座首都——圣彼得堡和莫斯科，但沙皇们还是梦想着占领君士坦丁堡，并将其改名为”沙皇格勒”，作为帝国真正的首都。一战时，俄罗斯指挥官鼓舞士兵的口号就是：勇士们，把十字架插到君士坦丁堡的圣索菲亚大教堂顶端，将它从异教徒的手中夺回来。这种使命意识还萌发了泛斯拉夫主义，为俄罗斯人在东欧和巴尔干扩张势力范围提供了理论依据。

In the modern era, the sense of mission embedded in Russian culture provided fertile ground for communist ideals to take root on Russian soil. Living peacefully like other nations — this goal was simply too small for the Russian people. The fact that the first socialist state was born in Russia is deeply connected to the distinctive Russian culture. It was under the call of this sense of mission that the Soviet people strove to be first, producing many heroic stories worthy of song and praise, and in a very short time transformed a traditional agrarian state far behind Western Europe into a powerful industrial state. Churchill once remarked with admiration: “When he [Stalin] took over Russia, it was a country with a wooden plow. When he left, Russia had nuclear weapons.”

到了近代，文化中的使命意识为共产主义理想在俄罗斯大地生根发芽提供了养料。像其他民族一样安心于太平地过日子，这一目标对于俄罗斯人来说实在是太渺小了。第一个社会主义国家之所以能在俄罗斯诞生，这实在跟特殊的俄罗斯文化有莫大关系。正是在这种使命感的号召下，苏联人民奋勇争先，涌现出许多可歌可泣的英雄故事，在很短时间内将一个远远落后于西欧的传统农业国建设成一个强大的工业国家。丘吉尔曾经感慨道：”在他（斯大林）接手俄国时，那还只是个手扶木犁的国家。当他离去时，俄国已经拥有了核武器。”

After World War II, as relations with the West deteriorated increasingly, the Soviet Union became ever more aware of the importance of a solid socialist camp. Through the Communist Information Bureau, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, and the Warsaw Pact Organization, the Soviet Union helped Eastern European states effectively consolidate their socialist state power. As the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West continued to escalate, the sense of insecurity and precariousness in Russian culture was increasingly aroused. Against this broader backdrop, the Soviet Union began to use theoretical construction to package its geopolitical ambitions. In the 1960s, Brezhnev put forward the theories of “limited sovereignty,” “international dictatorship,” “international division of labor,” and “special responsibility of great powers.” This set of theories, known as the “Brezhnev Doctrine,” was in effect a manifesto of Soviet expansionism.

二战后，随着与西方关系的日益恶化，苏联越来越意识到一个稳固的社会主义阵营的重要性。通过欧洲共产党和工人党情报局、经互会与华约组织等，苏联帮助东欧国家有效巩固了社会主义国家政权。随着苏联与西方冷战的不断升级，俄罗斯文化中的不安全感与忧患意识日益被激发。在这一大背景下，苏联开始通过理论建构包装地缘野心。20世纪60年代，勃列日涅夫提出”有限主权论””国际专政论””国际分工论”和”大国特殊责任论”等。这套被称为”勃列日涅夫主义”的理论实际上是苏联的扩张主义宣言。

Firm control over Eastern Europe was the prerequisite for Soviet competition with the United States in Europe, and also the foundation of the Soviet Union’s global expansion strategy. The Soviet Union imposed its own model on others, demanding that Eastern European socialist states implement it without modification in the political, economic, military, and ideological spheres, creating difficulties for the domestic and foreign affairs of these states. After the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev’s report criticizing Stalin caused ideological confusion in socialist states, leading to the Poznań protests and the Hungarian Revolution. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union’s crude interference in the internal affairs of Eastern European states reached its peak with the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

对东欧的牢固控制是苏联同美国在欧洲争夺的前提，同时也是苏联全球扩张战略的基础。苏联把自己的模式强加于人，要求东欧社会主义国家在政治、经济、军事和意识形态领域原封不动地执行，给这些国家的内政外交带来困难。苏共二十大后，赫鲁晓夫批判斯大林的报告又造成社会主义国家在思想上的混乱，导致波兹南事件、匈牙利事件的发生。20世纪60年代，苏联粗暴干涉东欧国家内政，至苏军入侵捷克斯洛伐克达到高潮。

In the Far East, in order to make China subordinate to its interests, the Soviet Union took a series of steps including unilaterally tearing up contracts, withdrawing Soviet experts from China, and fomenting ethnic separatism within Chinese territory, while deploying one million troops along the Sino-Soviet and Sino-Mongolian borders. In addition, the Soviet Union supported India and Vietnam against China through diplomatic and military assistance, and sided with India in India-Pakistan relations. In the Middle East, the Soviet Union used the Arab-Israeli conflict as an entry point for intervention in the region, and directly sent troops to participate in the South Yemen military coup. In Africa, the Soviet Union fomented divisions among Angola’s three national liberation organizations, and transported more than ten thousand Cuban soldiers and large quantities of weapons into Angola in an attempt to bring it within the Soviet sphere of influence. The Soviet Union also extended its reach into America’s “backyard,” using Cuba to intervene in Nicaragua, supporting Salvadoran guerrillas, and attempting to shake American dominance in Latin America.

在远东，苏联为了使中国服从其利益考量，采取单方面撕毁合同、撤走援华专家、在中国境内制造民族分裂等一系列步骤，并在中苏、中蒙边境陈兵百万。此外，苏联还在外交和军事援助上支持印度、越南反华，在印巴关系上偏袒印度。在中东，苏联以阿以矛盾为切入点，在该地区进行干预活动，并直接出兵参与南也门军事政变。在非洲，苏联在安哥拉三个民族解放组织中制造分裂，并把一万余名古巴士兵和大量武器运进安哥拉，力图将其纳入苏联势力范围。苏联还把手伸向美国的”后院”，通过古巴插手尼加拉瓜，支持萨尔瓦多游击队，试图动摇美国在拉美的支配地位。

Militarily, in order to compete with the United States, the Soviet Union increased its investment in the arms race even though its economic strength lagged behind America’s. In the ten years from 1972 to 1981, Soviet military expenditure exceeded that of the United States every year, while the Soviet Union’s economic strength at the time was roughly equivalent to only two-thirds of America’s. To compete with the United States, the Soviet Union spared no expense. The Soviet Minister of Defense publicly stated that the Soviet Union “could produce any weapon in the shortest possible time” and would “spend whatever it takes.” A 1981 report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency stated that over the previous five years, the Soviet Union had surpassed the United States in the production of most types of strategic and tactical weapons by a ratio of 3 to 1. The Soviet Union was at one point on the offensive in great-power competition, while the United States was on the defensive.

在军事上，为了与美国竞争，苏联在自身经济实力与美国有差距的情况下，加大军备竞赛投入。1972—1981年的10年间，苏联军费开支年年超过美国，而当时苏联的经济实力大致只相当于美国的2/3。为了与美国一争高低，苏联可谓不惜血本。苏联国防部长曾公开说，苏联”能够在最短时间内造出任何一种武器”，”需要花多少钱就花多少钱”。美国国防部情报局1981年的一份报告中说，过去5年里，苏联在大多数型号的战略和战术武器产量方面以3∶1的优势超过美国。苏联在大国竞争中一度处于攻势，而美国落于守势。

In this way, the Russian people’s sense of precariousness and sense of mission drove the Soviet Union step by step toward its zenith. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan marked the peak of its global expansion. In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, planning to complete the mission within three months. Although Soviet forces quickly occupied Afghanistan’s major cities, the Afghan people launched a guerrilla war, placing the Soviet Union in the same predicament the United States had faced in the Vietnam War. In the end, after expending enormous human and material resources and persisting in a war lasting nine years, the Soviet Union gained nothing and was forced to withdraw. This invasion is considered a major failure of Soviet foreign policy, and the Soviet Union subsequently began its decline from its peak — becoming one of the important causes of the Soviet Union’s ultimate dissolution. In the early 1980s, in order to counter the American Strategic Defense Initiative known as “Star Wars,” the Soviet Union had to struggle on with its economy already in a precarious state. To make matters worse, at a time when the Soviet Union was already overburdened by the Afghan quagmire and the arms race, Saudi Arabia decided to significantly increase oil production, and other non-OPEC member states also increased their oil output — these factors caused oil prices to plummet in the 1980s, severely affecting the Soviet Union, whose primary source of income was energy exports. The failure of the planned economy, the collapse of oil prices, and enormous military expenditures — these and other factors combined to cause severe stagnation in the Soviet economy in the 1980s. Economic stagnation and ultimate collapse became another important cause of the Soviet Union’s dissolution.

就这样，俄罗斯人的忧患意识和使命感驱动着苏联一步步走向巅峰。苏联出兵阿富汗成为其全球扩张的顶峰。1979年12月，苏联侵入阿富汗，并计划在3个月内完成任务。尽管苏联很快占领了阿富汗主要城市，但阿富汗人民发动游击战争，使苏联落入与美国在越南战争中一样的窘境。最终，苏联在耗费了大量人力、物力，坚持了长达9年的战争后一无所获，只得撤军。苏联此次入侵被认为是其对外政策的重大失败，苏联也随之由盛转衰，成为苏联最终解体的重要原因之一。20 世纪 80 年代初，为了对抗被称为”星球大战”的美国战略防御计划，苏联只得在自身经济岌岌可危的情况下勉力支撑。祸不单行，在苏联因陷入阿富汗泥沼和军备竞赛而不堪重负之时，沙特阿拉伯决定大幅增加石油产量，而其他非 OPEC 成员国也增加了石油产量，这些因素导致石油价格在 80 年代跌落谷底，以能源出口为主要收入来源的苏联也因此大受影响。计划经济的失败、石油价格的暴跌、庞大的军事开销等种种因素叠加起来，使得苏联经济在 20 世纪 80 年代出现严重的停滞。苏联经济停滞以及最后的崩溃，成为苏联解体的另一个重要原因。

Rise and Fall

兴与衰

The influence of different national cultures on national security is enormous, and under certain circumstances can even be decisive — this is particularly evident in the case of Russia.

各个国家的不同文化对国家安全的影响是巨大的，在一定情况下甚至具有决定性作用，这在俄罗斯身上体现得尤为明显。

Russia rose because of its culture. By virtue of the traits of endurance under humiliation and flexible pragmatism in its culture, Russia rose from a weak principality under Mongol rule to become a major Eastern European power and broke free from the shackles of the Golden Horde; and due to its sense of insecurity and emphasis on territory, it gradually developed into a powerful empire spanning Eurasia with vast territories, and by virtue of its enormous strategic depth repeatedly defeated the most fearsome invaders in human history, advancing to the pinnacle of national development. In this sense, the Russian nation is undoubtedly a successful nation, and Russian culture is an excellent culture.

俄罗斯因文化而兴起。凭借其文化中忍辱负重、灵活务实的特质，俄罗斯从一个被蒙古人统治的弱小公国崛起为东欧大国，并挣脱了金帐汗国的枷锁；又由于不安全感以及对领土的重视，它逐步发展成横跨欧亚、疆域辽阔的强大帝国，并凭借广大的战略纵深，数度打败人类历史上最可怕的侵略者，迈向国家发展的顶峰。从这个意义上说，俄罗斯民族无疑是成功的民族，俄罗斯文化也是优秀的文化。

But Russia has also declined because of its culture. Russian culture is excessively fixated on land and insufficiently attentive to economic development. Many great empires in history have perished through overextension, and the lessons of the Soviet Union could not be more profound. Territorial expansion once created the conditions for Russia’s survival and development. But too much of a good thing becomes harmful — overextension placed an enormous burden on the Soviet economy, which already had significant weaknesses. At the same time, in order to keep the military machine running, the Soviet Union placed one-sided emphasis on developing heavy industry, causing the development of light industry to lag for a prolonged period, leaving the needs of the populace unmet. After oil prices collapsed, the Soviet Union was no longer able to import sufficient light industrial goods from abroad, and living standards rapidly declined. In the end, the Soviet economy began to collapse, the ruble depreciated severely, and domestic materials and goods — especially daily necessities — became extremely scarce. This development model led to economic and social difficulties in the Soviet Union and planted the seeds for a series of problems in other spheres. As Comrade Deng Xiaoping said: “What socialism actually looks like — the Soviet Union worked on this for many years without ever fully figuring it out.”

但俄罗斯也曾因文化而衰落。俄罗斯文化过度执着于土地，对经济发展缺乏足够的重视。历史上许多大帝国亡于过度扩张，苏联的教训不可谓不深刻。领土的扩张曾为俄罗斯的生存和发展创造了条件。但过犹不及，过度扩张使本就存在短板的苏联经济负担沉重。同时，为了让军事机器运转下去，苏联片面强调发展重工业，导致轻工业发展长期滞后，民众需求得不到满足，油价暴跌后，苏联已无力从国外进口足够的轻工业产品，民众生活水平迅速下降。最后，苏联经济开始崩溃，卢布严重贬值，国内物资、商品尤其是生活用品极度匮乏。这种发展模式导致苏联的经济和社会困难，并为苏联其他领域出现的一系列问题埋下了隐患。正如邓小平同志所言：”社会主义究竟是个什么样子，苏联搞了很多年，也并没有完全搞清楚。”

Furthermore, the excessively rapid and excessive expansion of territory also made it difficult for Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union to resolve ethnic contradictions. Brzezinski mentioned in his book Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower: “As a presidential assistant in the late 1970s, I had long been convinced that the multi-ethnic character of the Russian Empire was its Achilles’ heel, and I had proposed a secret plan aimed at supporting the independence demands of non-Russian republics within the Soviet Union.” In the final period of the Soviet Union, as central power was devolved, the leaders of the various union republics began seeking greater autonomy, while the chaos caused by Gorbachev’s reforms released like a volcanic eruption the contradictions that had long accumulated. The Soviet union republics one by one followed the example of the Eastern European states, breaking away from the Soviet Union and declaring independence. After the Soviet Union’s dissolution, Russia’s western border retreated to the late period of the Principality of Moscow — that is, the core territory of the Russian nation.

此外，国土的过快、过度膨胀还使沙俄和苏联难以解决民族矛盾。布热津斯基在《第二次机遇：三位总统与超级大国美国的危机》一书中提到：”作为20世纪70年代末的总统助手，我长期以来确信俄罗斯帝国的多民族特征是其阿喀琉斯之踵，我曾提出了一个秘密计划，旨在支持苏联内部非俄罗斯共和国的独立要求。”苏联末期，随着中央权力的下放，各加盟共和国的领导人开始寻求更大的自主权，而戈尔巴乔夫改革造成的混乱则将长期以来积累的矛盾如火山喷发般释放出来。苏联各加盟共和国一个个效法东欧诸国，脱离苏联而独立。苏联解体后，俄罗斯的西部边界退回到莫斯科公国后期，也就是俄罗斯民族的核心疆域。

In today’s world, where great powers generally compete across all dimensions (economic strength, techno-scientific strength, military strength), these shortcomings are even more apparent. Some Westerners say that Russia’s body has entered the 21st century while its mind remains in the 19th century. Russian President Putin has said: “Russia is large, but there is not a single inch of land to spare.” The Russian Geographical Society is chaired by Defense Minister Shoigu, and President Putin has personally attended the Society’s events on multiple occasions — highlighting the Russian people’s emphasis on territory. At one annual meeting, Putin asked a prize-winning young boy: “Where does Russian territory end?” The boy answered: “At the Bering Strait, next to America.” Putin half-jokingly corrected him: “Russian territory has no end.” Putin’s words drew enthusiastic applause from the entire audience — perhaps a vivid illustration of the Russian culture’s obsession with territory. Russians lament and regret the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and therefore, once an opportunity arises, they seek to correct past mistakes — this is why Russia is willing to pay the price of falling out with the West and enduring sanctions in order to take hold of the strategically vital Crimea.

在大国普遍全方位（经济力、科技力、军事力）竞争的当今世界，这种弊端表现得更加明显。有西方人说，俄罗斯的身体进人了21世纪，而脑子还停留在19世纪。俄罗斯总统普京曾说：”俄罗斯虽大，但没有一寸土地是多余的。”俄罗斯地理学会由国防部长绍伊古担任会长，普京总统多次亲自出席学会活动，凸显了俄罗斯人对领土的重视。在一次年会上，普京曾问获奖的小男孩：”俄罗斯国土的尽头在哪里？”男孩回答：”在美国边上的白令海峡。”普京半开玩笑地纠正他说：”俄罗斯的国土没有尽头。”普京的话引发全场热烈掌声，这也许就是俄罗斯文化中对领土执念的生动写照吧。俄罗斯人哀叹、后悔于苏联解体，因此一旦获得机会，就要修正过去的错误，这就是俄罗斯甘愿付出与西方闹翻、承受制裁之苦的代价，也要拿下位置关键的克里米亚的原因。

Russian culture is very different from ours, but it still offers much to reflect upon. The indomitable will and unwavering commitment to national security that stem from the Russian people’s sense of precariousness are important reasons why Russia developed step by step, survived repeated ordeals and was reborn through fire, and often emerged stronger after setbacks — growing more powerful after suffering. The flexible pragmatism of Russian diplomacy is the key factor enabling Russia to repeatedly punch above its weight in adversity, using a small force to overcome a large one. However, the Russian people’s excessive emphasis on territory and neglect of economic development is an important reason for their decline from the heights of power. As our state draws ever closer to realizing the goals of the “Two Centenary Milestones” and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and advances ever closer toward the center of the world stage, the experiences and lessons of the Russian nation are always worth keeping in mind.

俄罗斯文化与我们很不一样，但仍有值得体味之处。俄罗斯人的忧患意识带来的坚韧不拔的意志、对国家安全的执着，是其一步步发展壮大，历经磨难而涅火重生，且往往愈挫愈勇、在苦难后更加强盛的重要原因。俄罗斯外交的灵活务实则是其能够屡屡在劣势中以小博大、四两拨千斤的关键因素。但是，俄罗斯人过于重视领土，轻视经济发展是其盛极而衰的重要原因。在我们国家越来越接近实现”两个一百年”目标、中华民族伟大复兴，越来越走近世界舞台中央的今天，俄罗斯民族的经验和教训始终值得我们铭记。