Seems to me that many Western Europeans of the 19th century had severe Russophobia went it came to the growing power of Imperial Russia.
For context, here are some musings from political writers of the time:
"In Russia, everything you notice, and everything that happens around you, has a terrifying uniformity; and the first thought that comes into the traveler's mind, as he contemplates this symmetry, is that such entire consistency and regularity, so contrary to the natural inclination of mankind, cannot have been achieved and could not survive without violence."
- Custine 1839
"I should rather prefer such an increase in the threatening attitude of Russia, that Europe would have to make up its mind to become equally threatening—namely to acquire one will, by means of a new caste to rule over the Continent, a persistent, dreadful will of its own, that can set its aims thousands of years ahead."
- Nietzsche 1886
The reign of Europe is over, well over… The future of France seems less certain but it is unnecessary to become illusioned… I do not believe by the way that Germany might count for a much longer future… We could… envisage… the possibility that England and her immense Empire comes to surrender to the United States. The latter… is the true adversary of Russia in the great struggle to come… I also believe that the United States is appealed to triumph. Otherwise, the universe would be Russian.
- Vacher de Lapouge 1899
● Given this, what's the plausibility that a popular campaign among western nations to contain Russian growth could've arisen in the 19th century?
● If plausible, what might it look like and what would be the effects for Western Europe and Russia if such a coalition were to form?
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