How the Russian National Idea Came into Being: The Expansionist Wars and the French Enlightenment

Abstract

In the eighteenth century, the Russian Empire saw Rome as a model to be emulated and the Ottoman Porte as an enemy to be destroyed. French and French-speaking authors such as Voltaire, Friedrich Melchior Grimm, the Chevalier d’Éon, Jean Sylvain Bailly, Volney, the Prince de Ligne, Jean Potocki and others portrayed Russia in their works and in their correspondence with Catherine II as the heir to ancient civilization who was destined to revive Greece. The wars against Turkey fueled a political and military mythology that developed in Russia and Europe. The official goal was the liberation of the Orthodox peoples from the Muslim yoke, i.e. the invasion of Crimea, Moldavia and Wallachia as well as the Greek islands. Further goals were the capture of Istanbul, the conquest of Syria and Palestine, the strengthening of the Russian presence in the Caucasus and the attack on Persia. Finally, Poland was to be divided with Prussia and Austria and Ukrainian and Belarusian territories annexed. Territorial expansion and the founding of new cities in the south of the country enabled the Russians to present themselves as descendants of the Scythians, Sarmatians and Amazons and as the legitimate heirs of the princes of Kiev, who had attacked Constantinople and introduced the Orthodox religion. French heralds of Catherine II and Russian victories declared the country to be the cradle of the peoples who had conquered and civilized Europe. This warlike mythology fueled the wars between Russia and Turkey in the nineteenth century and unfortunately also the current war.