“If I were asked to express an opinion, from a military point of view, upon the comparative importance of Russian interests in different parts of the Empire, and on different frontiers, I should put my judgment into the form of a pyramidal diagram, placing the least important of our interests at the top and the most important at the bottom, as follows: Our interests in Korea. Our interests in Manchuria. Military District of the Pri-Amur. Safe-guarding of this territory for Russia. Defence against China and Japan. Securing the safety of Russia against Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, Great Britain, and China. Military Districts of the Caucasus, Turkestan, and Siberia. Maintenance of domestic peace and order by the forces of all Military Districts. Maintenance of the territorial integrity of Russia against the Powers of the Triple Alliance. The foundation of Russia’s safety in her western boundary. “This diagram shows clearly where the principal energies of the Ministry of War should hereafter be concentrated, and in what direction in future Russia’s main powers and resources should be turned. The interests that lie at the foundation of our position as a nation are: (1) The defence of the territorial integrity of the Empire against the Powers of the Triple Alliance; and (2) the employment of the forces of all our military districts for the preservation of internal peace and order. In comparison with these tasks all the others have secondary importance. The diagram shows, furthermore, that our interests in the Pri-Amur region must be regarded as more important than our interests in Manchuria, and that the latter must take precedence of our interests in Korea. I am afraid, however, that, for a time at least, our national activity will be based on affairs in the Far East, and, if so, the pyramid will then be turned bottom upwards, and made to stand on its narrow Korean top. But such a structure on such a foundation will fall. Columbus solved the problem of making an egg stand on its end by breaking the egg. Must we, in order to make our pyramid stand on its narrow Korean end, break the Russian Empire?” Upon my return from Japan I showed the above diagram to M. de Witte, who agreed that it was correct. Notwithstanding the disastrous conclusion to the recent war, we did not adopt Columbus’s method. Russia is not yet broken; but undoubtedly, now that the war is over, the above diagram must be considerably altered.