ABSTRACT
In g e n e ra l, w es te rn a tt i tu d e s to th e Soviet Union have acco rded w ith th e Soviet con ten tio n th a t th e c o u n try is a un iq ue po litica l phenom enon. R einhold N iebu hr e x p re s se d th e view th a t ’The w orld is co n fro n ted w ith w hat seem s to be an e n tire ly u n iq u e em ergence in h i s t o r y . '[1] H ow ever, while th e S ov ie ts , a long w ith th o se who su b sc rib e to th e ir ideological w o rld -v iew , have p e rc e iv e d th is u n iq u e n e ss in id ea lis tic te rm s , o p po nen ts o r s c e p tic s , w h e th er consciously o r un con sc io u sly , h av e more o ften u sed geopolitical a rg u m en ts to re in fo rce th e ir c o n te n tio n s . From th is s ta n d p o in t th e Soviet Union em erges as a u n iq u e ly d a n g e ro u s , su b v e rs iv e , ex p an sio n is t a n d , a t w o rs t, ev il fo rce in th e w orld . T h is view r e s ts on two re la te d elem ents in th e Soviet scen e : th e p ro se ly tis in g n a tu re of M arx is t-L en in is t ideology and th e h is to rica l e x p a n sionism of R u ssia , now m etam orphosed in to th e Soviet U nion. The two h av e been fu sed in to th e p e rc e p tio n of a po litical u n it which d isp lay s a se t of in te r re la te d g eo g rap h ica l, h is to rica l and ideological a t t r ib u te s . Such a t t r ib u te s w ere g ro u p ed to g e th e r in to w hat S erg e de C h essin proclaim ed in 1930 to be ’D ark n ess from th e E a s t’. [2] A ccord ing to him, ’The "R ed” d o c trin e m arks a se t-b a c k and a p a ra ly s is of p ro g re s s . . . I t rea lly em bodies th e w o rst form of reac tio n (an d ) re p re s e n ts th e w o rst form of s ta g n a tio n , a p e trific a tio n of th o u g h t . I t is no lo n g e r lig h t th a t comes from th e E as t; it is n ig h t, den se n ig h t, to ta l d a rk n e s s , a new Mongol in v as io n , b u t on a sp ir i tu a l p la in th is tim e. The A pocalyp tic horsem en adv ance from a B o lshev ised A s ia .’[3] De C h essin concludes th a t "le g ra n d so ir" su re ly need s no cosm ological ju s tif i ca tio n ’, [4] since i t in d ica ted th a t R u ssia was now eng aged in ’sum m oning th e S cy th ian s to th e p lace of th e V a ran g ian s’. [5] In say in g th is , de C h essin p laces th e phenom enon c lea rly in to th e R u ssian geopolitical c o n te x t. I t was an e x p re ss io n , he sa id , of th e c o u n try ’s ex p e rien ce and th u s ’Lenin be longs to th e line of G engis K han and T am erlaine . Social rev o lu tio n s red u ce them selves in h is mind to th e id ea of in v a s io n .’ T hu s in s te a d of th e cosm ological comes th e geo g rap h ica l ex p la
n a tio n . fT he E u ras ia tic s te p p e s , th a t immense sh a p e le ss p la in s tre tc h in g betw een two w o rld s’ had a lw ays, as de C h essin sees i t been ’an h is to r ic re c e p ta c le ’ fo r ty ra n n ie s , and as a con sequ ence ’a g ro u n d alw ays open to new m a s te rs '. [6] T he new m aste rs had on th is occasion e sp o u sed a c re e d which s e rv e d as a pow erfu l ju s tif ic a tio n fo r dom ination , no t on ly o v e r ’th e E u ras ia tic s te p p e s ’ th em se lv es , b u t also o v e r th e whole o f E u ro p e . De C h e ss in ’s con cep t o f ’M ongolian socialism ’ was ak in to K ris to f’s ex p lan a tio n of R u ssian b eh av io u r in A siatic te rm s. ’T hey a re th e non-nom adic h e irs to th e nom ads; th e y h av e re b u ilt th e Mongol em pire from i t s w es te rn e n d . ’[7]
While s u b sc r ib in g to th e id ea of th e u n iq u e n e ss of th e Soviet U nion, T im asheff u n scram b led i t s com ponents and d e tach ed i t s c e n tra l fe a tu re from th e R u ssian p a s t . ’The form ation of th e Soviet U nion’, he w r i te s ,’ was e n t ire ly a t v a r ian ce w ith th e h is to r ic a l p a t te r n o f R u ssian ex p a n s io n ’ . [8] As a r e s u l t of th e u n iq u e n a tu re of th e new id eo logy , ’i ts limit is th e to ta li ty of th e g lobe’ , som eth ing w hich T im asheff co n ten d s was n e v e r in th e th o u g h ts of ’h is to r ic a l R u s s ia '. [9] P rio r to th e R evolu tion he sees th e o b jec tive d a ta as confirm in g th a t 'R u ss ia was no more a g g re ss iv e th a n an y o th e r g re a t p o w er’ . [10]
H ow ever, w h e th e r th e y d e r iv e d from b ro a d geopolitical p e rc e p tio n s o r n a rro w e r ideological o n es , th e v e ry re a l fe a rs e x p re s se d b y L av isse of 'th e R u ssian g l a c ie r . . . alw ays g lid in g o n w a rd '[11] in ev itab ly came to in flu en ce in te rn a tio n a l view s an d to b r in g abo u t d e fen s iv e re a c tio n s . 'S o v ie t R u ss ia ’ becam e a com posite term fo r som eth ing w hich was b o th a tan g ib le re a lity and th e e x p re s s io n of a d isq u ie tin g id ea l, th e fu sed elem ents of w hich in c lu d ed i t s s iz e , lo ca tio n , r e so u rc e s , n a tio n a lity , ideology and system of g o v ern m en t. I ts v e ry im m ensity , as Mahan h ad sa id of th e R u ssian E m pire, was ca lcu la ted to a ro u se fee lin g s of awe an d a p p re h e n s io n . While th is a p p reh en s io n h ad b een p re s e n t well b e fo re World War I I , th e sp e c ta c u la r Soviet v ic to ry o v e r Nazi G erm any re in fo rc e d i t . To W eigert th e Soviet Union was a E u ras ian s ta te w ith alm ost un lim ited p o ten tia l p o w er, and he q u o ted th e p ro p h e tic S p en g le r who ’saw c lea r ly th e g ig an tic co n to u rs o f th e A siatic face of R u ssia a r is e in th e m ists th a t co v er th e f u tu r e ’ . [12] The ’a z ia tch in a ’, w hich to B u k h a rin was th e 're a l liv in g s p ir i t o f th e re v o lu tio n ' r e p re s e n tin g t r u e lib e ra tio n from E u ro p e , was from th e w es te rn geopo litical v iew poin t a h o stile and m enacing s p e c tre r is in g ou t o f th e e a s t . [13]
In th e y e a rs follow ing World War II w e s te rn fe a rs a ro u se d b y th e Soviet U nion 's 'g ig a n tic c o n to u rs ' w ere c la r i fied an d ra tio n a lised b y A nglo-A m erican po litica l g e o g ra p h e rs . In do ing th is a la rg e nu m ber o f them looked a t M ack in der's H eartland th e o ry . W eigert affirm ed in ’H ea rtlan d R e v is ite d ’ th a t in h is estim atio n , ’M ack inder’s c itad e l o f lan d pow er s till s ta n d s - and m ig h tier th a n e v e r . ’[14] He was th e f i r s t in a
long line of p o s t-w a r po litica l g e o g ra p h e rs who th e n pa id th e ir re sp e c ts to th e H eartland th e o ry and vouched fo r i t s co n tin u in g v a lid ity in th e co n tem po rary w orld . T his p o s t-w a r H ea rtland would not in e v e ry case have been recogn isab le to M ackinder h im self, s ince i ts size and shap e was o ften much a lte re d b y th o se who th e n a d d re s se d them selves to i t . [15] It was g re a tly e n la rg ed b y Faw cett to cov er a re a s of A frica and th e Middle E as t, and was s h ru n k b y Meinig in to th e fa s t n e sse s of c e n tra l A sia , b u t e i th e r way i t re ta in e d i ts position as th e u ltim ate focus of lan d pow er and as such an e n d u rin g d a n g e r to th e m aritim e w orld . G ilbert and P a rk e r w ere in no d o u b t as to i t s C o n tin u in g v a lid ity ’[16] and even th e more scep tica l E ast and S p a te , while q u es tio n in g many of M ack inder’s a ssu m p tio n s , w ere conscious o f ’i t s ominous r in g and u n can n y re lev an ce to th e p re s e n t w orld s itu a tio n ’. [17] W alters, h o w ev er, rem ained un con v in ced and saw th e H eart lan d as b e in g le ss a geopolitical re a lity th a n a ’d read fu lly om inous’ sym bol. In en d eav o u rin g to exp la in th is symbolism he invoked ’The C astle ’ b y F ran z K afka. ’The s ilen t c a s tle ’ , he sa id , ’epitom ised b y th e Krem lin i ts e lf and b y th e H ea rtlan d , loomed o v erp ow ering ly in th e d a rk re c e sse s of th e m ind. I t is no w onder th a t th e w ritin g s of K afka seem to re fle c t th e atm osphere of th e Cold W ar.’[18] By th e 1950s so s tro n g had become th e s tra te g ic fixa tion w ith th e H eartlan d th a t S tep hen Jon es commented th a t i t ap p ea red to have been tran sfo rm ed in to a fa ta lis tic d o c tr in e of ’H erzland tlb e r a lle s’ .[19 ] The u n d e r ly in g re a so n s fo r th is w ere to be found le ss in its rea l a t t r ib u te s th a n in i t s role in th e in te rn a tio n a l scene as p e r ceived from th e West since World War I I . T his was dom inated b y th e global co n fro n ta tio n of th e two an tag o n is tic s u p e r p o w ers , and th e H eartland th e o ry took on a new lease of life in th is c o n te x t. As a r e su lt i t was se ized upon as a m ethod of g iv ing a new sp a tia l exp lan a tio n fo r th e w orld scen e . [20]
As h as been o b se rv e d , th e Soviet Union e x h ib its a close conform ity w ith many of th e c h a ra c te r is t ic s of th e dom inant s ta te as spec ified in C h ap te r 3. In th e evo lu tion of i t s core reg io n , d irec tio n s of te r r i to r ia l ex p an s io n , in te rn a l m ovements of po w er, acqu isitio n of ’lim ites n a tu re lle s ’ and expansion to w ards th e sea i ts sp a tia l b eh av io u r h as been ak in to th a t c h a ra c te r is in g th e o th e r dom inant s ta te s which have been exam ined. [21] N e v e rth e le ss , th e re do rem ain a num ber of geopolitical c h a ra c te r is t ic s which h av e c o n tr ib u te d to s e tt in g th e Soviet Union a p a r t in th e m inds of fo re ig n o b s e rv e rs . The most s ig n if ican t of th e se co n cern i t s s ize , lo ca tio n , te r r i to ry and con cep t of te r r i to r ia l a u th o r ity .
