Germany’s and Italy’s claims for colonial expansion were based on the slogan Might
Makes Right. In Germany social Darwinism expressed itself also in pan German theories, which were “a racist variant of those legitimation and expansion attempts.”[23] “Economic advancement and the subjugation of overseas territories seemed due to
the ‘natural qualities’ of the nation, ‘that means its racial qualities.’ In any case,
massive demands could be deducted from these. Out of the racist pan Germanism, that
would heal the world, emerged a pseudo-scientifically ‘disguised legitimation’ for
permanent expansion.”[24] Theories of the white man’s burden, even if they might have appeared hypocritical,
still preserved a moral legitimation for imperial rule and justified this rule by the benefits that this
rule was supposed to bring to the colonized populations. Pan Germanism and social
Darwinism, on the contrary, did away with any bad conscience and proclaimed loudly
and without any moral restraint the right of the strongest. “The general basic values
in Imperial Germany,” wrote Helge Pross, “. . . were order, obedience, subordination,
duty, work, performance, discipline, functioning. In the thinking of very many bourgeois
men and women the state, monarchy, national greatness and [Germany’s] international
standing equally had the status of values, they were desirable and should be realized.”[25] “Many citizens dreamt of German greatness, German international standing, a policy
that would give Germany its rightful place as one of the leading world powers. . .
. The state became a value in itself.”[26] Worshipping an almighty state that was able to extend its imperial rule overseas
went hand in hand with feelings of racial superiority. According to the historian
Hans-Ulrich Wehler the logical conclusion of these theories was fascism: “Undeniably since the 1870s–1880s this social Darwinism has spread throughout the
western industrial nations and it has exercised a demonstrably great influence, but
it reached its apogee only in the racist radicalization by National Socialism.”[27]
Three Russian Legitimation Theories for Imperial Expansion: Orthodoxy, Pan Slavism,
and Communism
It is now time to turn to Russia and to ask what kind of legitimation theories were
used during the expansion of the Russian empire. As was already mentioned, in the
first centuries of Russian expansion no special legitimation theory seemed necessary.
Territorial expansion was “the normal way of life” of the Russian state. It was something
akin to breathing: you are doing it, but you are not conscious of doing it. This was
especially the case when the empire expanded into quasi-empty, sparsely populated
territories. However, when the expansion began to take place in territories occupied
by foreign populations there emerged a need for legitimation theories. We can distinguish
at least three:
The Orthodox religion
Pan Slavism
Communism
Sometimes these legitimation theories overlap. But they will be represented here as
different, sequential phases.
