The Human Tragedy of Osteuropa
Recounting the past hundred and some years of Eastern Europe is one of unrelenting tragedy. In 1900, Russia and Ruthenia were still struggling to adapt to modernity such as it was then. The former Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth was torn between three empires, and Russia was the last absolutist type monarchy still kicking. The other monarchies had given much power to technocrats and parliaments as ways of coping with public opinion and scale. What has changed since then? It’s worth trudging through the events of that day and of ours to see. Nicholas II had to deal with an attempted revolution and assassination attempts early in his reign. By 1905, on the heels of a war with Japan that went sour he found the first signs of failure ringing in the Russian regime. Most of the European powers had counted Japan as easy prey since they were a joke and still using swords and matchlocks fifty years before. But by 1905, they were thoroughly modern, gave the Russians a bloody nose and got terr