Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 1.pdf/195

Rh  Kriege, 1906). But in the light of these considerations Russia's defeat appears all the more disastrous. From the Russian side we are frequently and perhaps truthfully assured that notwithstanding her reverses Russia would have been able to pursue the war to a successful conclusion had it not been for the outbreak of revolution at home. Can we levela graver accusation against Russian policy and administration? It is not to be denied that upon the battlefields in the far east Russia was conquered, not by the Japanese, but by the enemy within her gates, that the author of her defeats was cæsaropapist absolutism.

Numerous Russian works have been published of late dealing with the Russo-Japanese war. Andreev's The Red Laugh is Well known in Europe. Bělorěckii, who had personal experience at the front, analyses the war successfully. In a number of tales he depicts for us the mood of the Russian army. The general title of his stories is Without Idea. The various characters endeavour to discover "the idea," the meaning, of the war. In the end, however, one of the officers sums it up by saying: "What is the meaning of the war? Its principal meaning is that it has no meaning at all"