Talk:Alexander the Great vs Ivan the Terrible/Rap Meanings/@comment-28632429-20160713105108

The "First servant of State" is a quote from Frederick's letters: he thinked that the King was the first servant of the State, he had a great conception of his role (he is a enlightened monarch). He used the oblique deployment in battle (very effective against the linear army of the other nations). Catherine is "picking up where Peter left off" because, after some less important Tsars, she continued his policy of expansionism and modernization of the State.

For the unbalanced line I think it has a geopolitical meaning: Europe, for Montesquieau for example, has a political balance that is broken if a nation begins a long series of wars and conquest, unbelancing the original layout.