The Big Three: Their Aims and Interests
| Published date | 01 March 1947 |
| Date | 01 March 1947 |
| Author | Ross W. Collins |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070204700200107 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Big
Three:
Their
Aims
and
Interests*
Ross
W.
Collins
O
ne
fact
stands
out
prominently
as
a
result
of
World
War
II,
namely,
the
dominant
position
in
the
post-war
world
of
the
three
great
powers,
Russia,
Great
Britain,
and
the
United
States,
the
first
and
last
of
which in
natural
resources,
territorial
ex-
tent,
and
manpower
greatly
overshadow
the
second.
The
pre-
sent
position
and
outlook
of
each
is,
to
a
large
extent,
coloured
by
its
past,
for
there
has
been
a
good
deal
of
continuity
in
their
respective
foreign
policies.
We
shall
glance
at
each
in
turn.
Under
the
Romanovs
(1613-1917)
Russian
foreign
policy
as-
sumed
very
definite
forms,
namely,
expansion
to
the
Baltic
and
Black
Seas
under
Peter
the
Great
and
Catherine
II,
inclusion
of
White
Russians and
Little
Russians
(Ukrainians)
by
the
three
partitions
of
Poland,
occupation
of
Western Siberia
and
expansion
to
the
Pacific
(seventeenth
century),
spread
of
Russian
dominion
in
Central
Asia to
the frontiers
of
Afghanistan
and
in
the
Cau-
casus,
and
an ambition
to
play
a
predominant r6le in both
the
Near
and
Far
East
(nineteenth
century).
By
the
close
of
the
eighteenth
century
Russia
was one
of
the
leading
powers
of
Europe
and
took
a
prominent
part
in
achieving
the overthrow
of
Napoleon.
In
the
nineteenth century
Russia's
policy
became
definitely
imperialistic,
inclined to
follow
economic
penetration
with
political
or
military
control,
as
in
Manchuria and
Persia.
This
brought
Russia
into
conflict
with Britain
and
France
in
the
Near
East
(hence
the
Crimean War) and
with the
Japanese
in
the Far
East
(Russo-Japanese
War).
Britain
feared
Russian
encroachments
on
India
and
a
Russian
menace
to
its Mediter-
ranean
lifeline.
But
in
1906,
under
the
threat
of
the
rising
power
*Editor's
note:
Professor
Collins'
article
is
the
fourth
of
a
series
of
articles appearing
in
International Journal
and summarizing
round
table
discussions
at
the Annual-
Conference
of
the
Canadian
Institute
of
Inter-
national
Affairs.
Professor
Collins
has
rounded
out
these
discussions
and
expanded
them with
a
survey
of
developments
down
to
the
begin-
ning
of
November,
1946.
59
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