We are accustomed to seeing the role of the Russian Empire in post-Napoleonic Europe presented as that of a profoundly conservative and often reactionary force, interested primarily in either expanding its own territory and sphere of influence or protecting, restoring, and installing traditional regimes. These motivations did indeedfigure prominently in a good number of interventions undertaken by the Russian empire-state. But sometimes Russia played roles on the international scene that did not fit this mold. Bulgaria’s first post-Ottoman constitution, ratified in the town of Veliko Tarnovo on April 16 (April 28), 1879, and popularly known as the “TarnovoConstitution,” presents a notable example: this is not a document one would expect to be produced, endorsed, and encouraged by the bureaucratic machinery of the Russian Empire. The story here is of how an autocratic empire-state behaved against the expectations of contemporary observers and later historians in abetting the production of a surprisingly progressive legal order for a client state. That legal order, intended to fortify Bulgaria’s status as Russia’s ally, instead accelerated the client state’s exit from the empire-state’s sphere of influence.

中文翻译：

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战略家和理论家：俄罗斯人和保加利亚特尔诺沃宪法的制定，1878-1879 年

我们习惯于看到俄罗斯帝国在后拿破仑时代的欧洲所扮演的角色是一支极其保守且往往是反动的力量，其主要兴趣要么是扩大自己的领土和势力范围，要么是保护、恢复和建立传统政权。这些动机确实在俄罗斯帝国国家进行的大量干预中占有突出地位。但有时俄罗斯在国际舞台上扮演的角色并不符合这种模式。保加利亚的第一部后奥斯曼帝国宪法于 1879 年 4 月 16 日（4 月 28 日）在 Veliko Tarnovo 镇获得批准，并俗称“TarnovoConstitution”，它提供了一个显着的例子：这不是人们期望产生的文件，受到俄罗斯帝国官僚机构的支持和鼓励。这里的故事是关于一个专制的帝国国家如何违背当代观察家和后来的历史学家的期望，怂恿为附庸国制定出令人惊讶的进步法律秩序。该法律秩序旨在巩固保加利亚作为俄罗斯盟友的地位，反而加速了附庸国退出帝国势力范围的进程。