Good point about "Russia" as a land itself. Talk about people repeating mistakes others made before them, you'd think Hitler had never read history. Napoleon conquered or subjugated nearly all of continental Europe, then decided he was on a roll and should invade Russia. (In winter no less, if I'm recalling correctly).
Have you read Conan Doyle's Brigadier Gerard stories? Very droll and ironic, told by a blindly patriotic French soldier who blissfully misunderstands what goes on around him but which the reader understands.