But the Russian mind hates being faced with an “either-or” situation such as whether to attack Prussia or Berlin, so what easier solution than to do both at once? Thus, at the same time that First and Second Army were just beginning their advance into East Prussia and all the fighting still lay ahead of them, Tenth Army was being scraped together on paper at General Headquarters in order to march on Berlin. . . . Yet all this was a trifle compared to the fact that Zhilinsky had given his promise to Joffre the year before and had moved forward the date of the attack so generously at Russia’s expense: totally unprepared as they were, the Russians had been committed to moving forward on the fifteenth day after mobilization instead of the sixtieth. Her ally France was in trouble, and Russia was ready to crawl through the mire for her while waiting to the English to get themselves across the Straits of Dover. However, just as, in private life, friendship should not be carried to the point of self-immolation . . . the same is true with even grater force in international politics. How long would France remember Russia’s sacrifice? — Solzhenitsyn, Alexander. (trans.: Glenny, Michael) August 1914. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 1972 [ISBN: 0-374-10684-3] p. 116. #RussianMind #friendship #France #internationalPolitics #Solzhenitsyn #August1914. https://facebook/FlandersFields1418?ref=profile
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 04:26:11 +0000
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