And at no point I said they didn't do any conquering and taking freedoms, just like other superpowers that got high on "great game". The paranoia that led to things such as nearly starting preemptive strike in response to Able Archer 83 is well documented though. Great powers don't go for conquering for fun (usually...). They wage wars and atrocities to fulfill the goals as they see them, whether it's ensuring creation of border zones by conquest or making vassals out of border countries, or ensuring they get cheap fruit or ensuring another country doesn't better on literacy tests - none of that excuses the atrocities done.

However understanding the reasoning can help figure out why, what, and how things happened, and it's useful for actually stopping to believe in propaganda and, most importantly, keep seeing the other side as people - even if horrible people (then you might figure out the levers to pull).

As for Carre - I picked it out, because he wrote it better (on basis of his own professional experience, even) than I had the idea for, about believing one's own propaganda.