The Greatest of Arts

Review of the Current International Situation in the Light of Higher Strategy

By: Alexey Vandam

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

On July 26, 1910 lieutenant colonel Vandam resigns from the military to start on a literary career. After publishing 'Our Position: ...' in 1912 a year later the author wrote 'The Greatest of Arts: ...', also a work of exceptional geopolitical value. Geopolitics is a science that arose on the basis of three main scientific approaches: civilizational (N. Ya. Danilevsky, K. N. Leontiev, O. Spengler, etc.), geographical determinism (J. Woden, C. Montesquieu, G. Bockle, A. von Humbolt, K. Ritter, etc.), and military-strategic (N. Machiavelli, K. von Clausewitz, H. I. Moltke, A. Mahan, etc.).

'The Greatest of Arts' can rightfully be attributed to the military-strategic direction in geopolitics. They, in fact, were pioneering works that, along with the works of D. A. Milyutin, V. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky and A. E. Snesarev, laid the foundation for the domestic geopolitical school. The book is a geopolitical analysis of the situation in Europe and the world on the eve of the First World War. Vandam prophetically predicts not only the causes and course of the upcoming war (including the scenario for its outbreak), but also its possible results, from which Russia, in his opinion, will gain practically nothing. And therefore, under no circumstances should Russia allow itself to be drawn into the coming war, which will be waged solely in the interests of England.
Vandam himself assessed the role of his works quite modestly; in his opinion, they “represent only a light scratch on the virgin soil of Russian political thought that urgently requires development” [Present. ed. P. 29].
At the same time, numerous reviews that appeared in Russian periodicals after the publication of these books indicate that the author’s thoughts and conclusions turned out to be extremely relevant and found a wide response from readers.
The popularity of Vandam’s works is evidenced by the fact that, for example, the book “Our Position,” immediately after its publication, was “recommended for purchase in officer libraries” by Circular of the Naval Training Committee No. 112 of April 20, 1913.
In addition, according to unconfirmed information, his book “The Greatest of Arts” was translated into German in 1916 and published in Germany.