Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of

 

Date of this Version

Summer 1941

Citation

Prairie Schooner, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Summer 1941), pp. 78-83

Comments

[The German invasion of Russia began June 22, 1941.]

Abstract

As this is written, Russia is not in the war; nevertheless, she may eventually win the war. It may not be immediately, it may not be for a generation, it may not be for fifty or more years, and it may be very soon. The "War" may not even be the present holocaust which engulfs Europe; but eventually Russia may win, even though new battles may be won and lost and perhaps much more blood spilled in the meantime; even a German victory may intervene with far-flung domina- tion in all of the continents.

Russia possesses unmeasured elements of strength and vitality. The realm of the Russian Bear encompasses a relatively sparsely settled do- main of vast extent, and contains known but unestimated natural re- sources of every kind: fuel in the forms of coal and oil; iron, copper, manganese, and other common minerals; unknown but large deposits of probably every kind of strategic mineral; and agricultural potentiali- ties unequalled anywhere, perhaps not even in North America. Perhaps the Ukraine alone contains more natural wealth than all the rest of Europe. And Russia contains two hundred millions or more of the world's population, counting the more recent acquisitions. Furthermore, great internal expansion and materialistic development are taking place and will, without undue crowding, continue for a long time within this vast region.

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