Pan-Slavism—Austrian Slavs—Constantinople and the Straits—British apprehensions— Folly of Russian ambitions— Importance of neutralizing the Straits—Russia’s real mission—Rivalry of the Great Powers—Fate of my Memorandum—German influence.

This chapter demonstrates the unreality of the so-called "Great Slav Idea", alias "Pan-Slavism", as a possible factor in practical politics, and consequently the inadvisability of adopting it as a guiding star in the conduct of Russia's foreign policy. Catherine the Great never as much as dreamed of the conquest of Constantinople—her imagination was concerned merely with the restoration of the Byzantine Empire under the sceptre of a Russian Grand Duke—the celebrated so-called 'Greek Project'. Russia, occupying the greater part of the European Continent, may be assimilated to a continent by itself, standing between Europe and Asia, self-contained and self-sufficient, like the United States. Russia's only cultural mission is confined to Asia. Her paramount interest is peace with all the world, and the only rational policy for her to pursue must be freedom from entangling alliances of any kind and abstention from participation in any of the rivalries and conflicting policies of the Powers of Central and Western Europe.