The Russian emperor is often credited with the phrase that in politics a country can only rely on its own armed forces. We checked whether Alexander III said this.
In November 2017 in Crimea solemnly opened monument to Emperor Alexander III. Its pedestal is decorated with the inscription “Russia has only two allies - its army and navy.” President Vladimir Putin attended the ceremony mentioned this quote two years earlier, during the traditional “Direct Line”. In connection with Alexander III, this phrase was used, in particular, by the politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky in interview Latvian Sputnik, director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky in interview "Interlocutor" and authors material on the Gazeta.Ru website.
The earliest mention of Alexander III saying the verifiable phrase can be found in the memoirs of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, the emperor's son-in-law. He published his memoirs in English in 1932, and it was translated into Russian a year later. Note that Alexander III died in 1894, that is, almost forty years before the publication of the book. Grand Duke remembers: “In the whole world we have only two true allies - our army and navy. “Everyone else will take up arms against us at the first opportunity.”
Citing this quote from his father-in-law, Alexander Mikhailovich adds that the emperor “loved to tell his ministers” about this. Nevertheless, we were unable to find the corresponding memoirs of at least one minister of that time who would mention the emperor’s phrase about two allies. Some claimthat in fact one of them, Minister of War Pyotr Vannovsky, was the author of the expression, but it was also not possible to find relevant evidence.
Historian and cultural scientist Konstantin Dushenko believes, that “the source of the saying about the “two allies” should be sought in Germany.” In particular, in 1914, the words of the German Kaiser Wilhelm, “The main support of the state is the army and navy,” were widely circulated in the domestic press. Moreover, back in the middle of the 18th century, a similar thought was expressed by the Prussian king Frederick II the Great - after the victory in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg, he said: “Our best allies are our own troops.”
Thus, the primary source of the expression about two allies is the memoirs of a relative of Alexander III, published several decades after his death. We were unable to find other evidence in the memoirs of members of the imperial family, officials and court officials or newspaper publications of that time.
This is not accurate
- Alexander Mikhailovich. Book of Memories
- K. Dushenko. Red and white: From the history of political language
- Is it true that a recording of the voice of Emperor Alexander III was discovered in Denmark?
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