Book: Battle of the iron Chancellor

There is nothing Gibernau for the country <...> the apathy of the people to the foreign policy of his country...

- Yes, - said Gorchakov, - we promised England not to go to Bukhara and Khiva, but the inhabitants of Bukhara and Khiva did not promise that will stop coming to us with complaints of their khans.
- Your answer - ironically Napier, reminded me response to the ladies who have violated the oath of love: "Yes, I swore to love him to the grave, but I'm not sworn to do!"

A peace based on humiliation of the vanquished is not the world, but only a brief truce between two wars.

Favorite show of the gods to see the person joined the fight against an insurmountable obstacle.

The enemy, < ... > no fires of public opinion, the enemy razyat only bullets...

1882 - the beginning of the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who (as the Germans say) wanted to be at every wedding - the bride at every christening - baby, at every funeral the corpse.

Bismarck, frowning asked:
- Maybe start by getting a drink?
- E, Bismarck! - said Gorchakov. - It is only in Russia at first drink, and then come to blows. Let's modify this order: first fight, and then drink...

Bismarck angrily slammed the Desk drawers, digging out any documents. Said
- Gorchakov behaved like the young lady that hussar wants to kiss. The young lady will tell you "no", then immediately kiss...

Moltke in gray pants with stripes and modest tunic reappeared in the Belgian Embassy, where at the sight of him, the Ambassador winced.
- The war wants not the country that attacked, he said, and one that forces us to attack her...
From this academic phrase stuck out wolf teeth. Moltke doctrinaire veiled sense of aggression: blame is the one who is weak won't weak - you're not to blame.

Together with Russian slaves from Khiva, were rescued and 40,000 Persians, who had been in slavery; leaving home, the Persians cried to the soldiers: "Now, we will oblige dust from your divine boots..."
<...>
Russian soldiers did not go where it was not expected. He went there, where awaited him as a liberator. Ringing in the heat of the desert Russian people overthrew the thrones of despots medieval khans, sultans and beys, all this filth and scum that have settled in the desert since the time of Tamerlane. And it is a sin to forget our forefathers, who in the brutal hardships have created a great multi-ethnic state...

Gorchakov has already partially neutralized Whitehall assurance that Russia considers Afghanistan as outside the sphere of Russian influences. And he did not like reminders about the power of the British Navy:
- Karakum armadillos did not win.

The most barren thing in this world - to seek the truth!

In the leaflets the Germans promised the Versailles "the protection of person and property, public monuments and works of art". In fact, it looked like this: the soldiers broke into any house, ate and drank what he wanted and, all plundered, moved to another. The Versailles had imposed a contribution of 400,000 francs; the city of the Sun King has turned into a cross between a barracks and a brothel. <...> All residents Stieber forced to fill the forms from the French demanded to specify the exact age. Women were amazed that a stranger man, the stranger from a foreign country, wanting to know their summer, which did not even guess husbands and lovers...

Gorchakov visited and the Ambassador of distant Washington:
America never recognized the terms of the Paris Treaty. Squadron of the United States Navy at your disposal. Say the word and our monitors will appear on the Bosphorus, the finished shots of the seraglio of the Sultan of Turkey to pay Russia for all the services that she has provided President Abraham Lincoln in his fight with the Southern States...
Thank you, - said Gorchakov. - Give gratitude to the Congress. But the war is confined to the fluttering of papers. Then all the papers will be filed in the archives, and we calmed the nerves with Valerian, we proceed to the revival of the black sea fleet.