Timeline for Bismarck urged not to hinder Russia from going deeper into the "oriental dead end." What did he mean by "oriental dead end?"
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28 at 20:40 | vote | accept | Mitsuko | ||
| Apr 26 at 1:20 | comment | added | Mary | Note that at the time "the Orient' also meant anything from Turkey to Japan | |
| Apr 25 at 12:32 | comment | added | Paul Smith | He said oriental not the Orient, so I think he was just talking about the east. An oriental impasse or dead end simply repeats his earlier point that an attack to the east could not be successful. | |
| Apr 25 at 11:32 | comment | added | vsz | @BrianZ : and considering that Russia did focus on the eastern frontier, and got into a war with Japan which ended in a humiliating defeat for Russia, Bismarck was quite right. | |
| Apr 25 at 5:52 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Apr 25 at 1:39 | comment | added | Mary | Note that at the time, "oriental" meant anything from Turkey to Japan so there are a lot of possibilities. | |
| Apr 25 at 1:02 | answer | added | ccprog | timeline score: 12 | |
| Apr 25 at 0:23 | comment | added | Jon Custer | Construction on the Trans Siberian railway did not start until 1891, but had been talked about for some time before. It is a bit unclear how long it took to pay off. So Russia sunk lots of money and effort into it, reducing what could go into other projects. | |
| Apr 25 at 0:12 | history | edited | Mitsuko | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 242 characters in body
|
| Apr 24 at 23:57 | comment | added | Mark Olson | Siberia was an enormous landmass which was never going to be productive with 19th century techniques -- it hardly is with 21st century techniques! I suspect Bismarck hoped that Russia's imperialistic bent could be induced to spend itself trying to conquer and colonize the taiga. | |
| Apr 24 at 22:32 | comment | added | T.E.D.♦ | More context for this letter would be really helpful here. I know he addressed the Reichstag a month prior about the Bulgarian Crisis, including the need to avoid a 2-front war. If that was still the subject, it would make sense that he was talking about attacking Russia on their Eastern (aka "Oriental") border in general. "Oriental" didn't always used to mean "the far East", like it kind of does in modern English. | |
| Apr 24 at 22:24 | history | edited | Mitsuko | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 139 characters in body
|
| Apr 24 at 22:22 | comment | added | T.E.D.♦ | @BrianZ - "... when the enemy is making a false movement we must take good care not to interrupt him." | |
| Apr 24 at 22:10 | comment | added | SPavel♦ | This may be a reference to the Great Game between Russia and Britain in central Asia. But it's hard to say for certain. | |
| Apr 24 at 22:04 | comment | added | Brian Z | I interpret the quote as meaning that if we leave Russia alone it will weaken itself by focusing on its eastern frontier. I don't have enough context to say if that really makes sense, but based on your translation that seems the most obvious interpretation to me. | |
| Apr 24 at 21:48 | history | asked | Mitsuko | CC BY-SA 4.0 |