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Madame Olga Novikov, Propagandist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Joseph O. Baylen
Joseph O. Baylen*
Affiliation:
New Mexico Highlands University
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Extract

The almost continuous conflict between the interests of the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire in the Near and Middle East, during the latter half of the nineteenth century, gave rise to several attempts on the part of Pan-Slavs and some Slavophiles to win the English over to the Russian point of view. It was the opinion not only of such a prominent Slavophile as Ivan Aksakov, and the militant independent, Mikhail Katkov, but also of certain officials, that a “great understanding” with England would be more advantageous to Russia than “a great war.” Many, even before 1878, sought to woo England by interpreting to the English public Russian objectives in the Balkans and Central Asia. With the aid of sympathetic English journalists and encouragement from leaders of the Liberal Opposition, these Russian groups sought to explain Russia's past sins and honest motives. It was, in effect, a strange alliance of the anti-imperialist and democratic Western Liberals and the imperialist Pan-Slavs and a small group of reactionary Slavophiles, united by a common desire for peace.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , December 1951 , pp. 255 - 271
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1951

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References

1 Up to 1862, Katkov was so enamored with England that he voiced the belief that England and Russia were natural allies whose duty it was to carry civilization to “the barbarous nations … , ” Sutherland, H. Edwards, Sir William White (London, 1902), p. 239 Google Scholar. See also Griining, Irene, Die Russische öffentliche Meinung und ihre Stellung zu den Grossmächten, 1818-1894 (Berlin, 1929), pp. 39–40 Google Scholar.

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