Do you realise that the Moscow Kremlin is the largest Italian fortress in the world? Far surpassing anything you can find in Italy, Europe or elsewhere? That its construction in the late 15th c. required around 200-250 million bricks, making it a project of Albert Kahnish scale?
Do you also realise that Moscow Kremlin is only *one* of the fortresses Italians built in these god forsaken lands in around 1500? There were more, see the Kolomna Kremlin for example. Don't look at the architecture, think about the insane quantity of bricks it took to build it
Obviously, original Kremlin was significantly larger. Moats and outworks were all destroyed in the 19th c. The sheer size, the speed of construction (-> material production) suggests the concentrated efforts comparable with Stalin's industrialisation happening in around 1500
So let's get this straight. You are let's say a skilled architect from Bologna. You sort of have customers and orders in Europe. But a brutal savage warlord in the far Northeast can concentrate resources at a far greater scale (& commission a larger construction) than anyone
What you don't get is that savagery and brutality of the Russian state is not a bug. It's a feature. A perk. Facing no checks, having no legal or institutional constraints, the northern warlord can just rob the country and concentrate resources for your megaproject right now
It is the brutality, savagery & absence of legal or institutional constraints that turns Russia into the dream customer of a European industrialist that has a nice defence related project to sell. Kremlin. A tank plant. An integrated manufacturing solution
100% compatibility
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.