Russia is the largest country in the world today, reaching an astonishing 17 million square kilometers. Although my country has a large territory, it is still slightly insufficient compared to Russia. Today's Russia is not the largest area in its history. The largest time was the Tsarist Russia period. It was about 1866, with an area of more than 24 million square kilometers. The famous American enclave Alaska is still the land of Tsarist Russia.
my country’s ancient history of wars over the years, Russia in Europe is also in constant wars, so how did Russia continue to strengthen itself from world wars?
The unity of the nation and the establishment of the country
From the middle of the 9th century to the 12th century, the East Slavs were still in the struggle for tribes. Years of warfare made the nation long for one day to be unified, but several domestic princes merged. Did not get the support of the people. In order to quell the war, they invited the three of the chiefs of the foreign power Varang, the three brothers, Rurik, to lead their troops to Novgorod. In the end, the Rurik brothers successfully quelled the war, smoothed out the major forces, and established the Rus State on this basis. This is the famous Rurik dynasty in Russian history (862-1598).
After the establishment of the Ross State. They began to conquer more East Slav tribes. In 882 AD, the army captured the famous city of Kiev. The East Slav tribes and non-East Slav troops around Kiev were established with Kiev as the capital to establish the famous Kievan Rus Principality. They did not stop the expansion of their territory. Finally, in the 10th century, the territory reached the mouth of the Volga River in the east, through the Crimean Peninsula to the mouth of the Danube, from Lake Ladoga in the north, along the coast of the Baltic Sea, and facing the grassland in the south. At this time, the area is already very large, and it has reached more than 7 million square kilometers when it was the largest.
At this time, the Russians united their own nation through constant wars, and also conquered many other ethnic tribes and land grabs, and had become a powerful country in Europe. At this time, Russia officially converted to Christianity.
The emergence of the Russian Empire
Although Kievan Rus was established, the regime was not strong. Many people saw Russia dominating the world, affecting the world pattern, and controlling the final victory of World War II. But they also have a tragic history, that is, they were once occupied by Mongolia. People have ruled for more than 200 years.
In the early 12th century, when the Mongol army expanded to all sides, Kievan Rus was conquered by the Mongols, and the whole territory was under the control of the Mongols. In 1241, Wokutai died and Batu returned to China for funerals. His father Muchi established the Qincha Khanate, one of the four Mongolian Khanates. Although the Qincha Khanate was unstable, he still ruled Kiev. Rose for more than 200 years. The cruelty of the Mongols made the Russ look forward to the Mongols, and they did not dare to show up. If they were not convinced, the whole family would suffer. However, the Mongols themselves do not have outstanding culture, religion, language, etc. They can only use the cultural characteristics of the land in the conquered land, and their own advantages are gradually assimilated. They handed over taxes to some small duchy to manage and collect them, and they lived an increasingly luxurious life. In the middle of
, Kievan Rus, which lost its power, was once again divided into several feudal principalities, of which the Moscow principality with Moscow as its capital was the strongest. The leaders of the Principality of Moscow still have some vision. They all have the dream of replacing the Mongols as the new masters. When successive kings collected taxes for the Mongols, they constantly suppressed other principalities and took the opportunity to expand their own power and power. After the 1420s, they accepted the canonization of the Qincha Khanate and obtained the power to conquer all-Russian Gunna. By the 1440s it became the strongest principality in Russia. By the time Ivan III came to the throne, the Qincha Khanate had gradually declined and infighted. As early as 1380, Dayuan had been beaten into the North Yuan by the Ming Dynasty in China. The Mongols were no longer powerful, and Russia was freed from it in 1480. He defeated the Mongols' rule and defeated the imposing Mongolian army (the Great Horde divided from the Qincha Khanate), and unified the divided feudal duchy around it, and established a centralized Russian state centered on Moscow. By 1533, Russia's national territory had changed from 430,000 square kilometers to 2.8 million square kilometers. After Ivan IV ascended the throne, he called himself Czar, and the country was renamed Czar Russia. In 1721, Czar Peter I was awarded the title of "Emperor of All Russia" by the Russian Senate, and he officially became Russian afterwards.Empire.
Ivan IV
conquering all sides
After talking about the history of Russia’s founding, it is necessary to talk about his expansion history. Successive emperors are full of desire to conquer Mongolia, perhaps a shadow of more than 200 years of rule. After Ivan IV ascended the throne (ascended the throne in 1547), he was an energetic monarch, vigorous and vigorous, with lofty ideals. At that time, Mongolia, which had been dominating for a while, had split into multiple countries. In the face of a declining enemy country, the Russians had no mercy.
After the split of the Kazan Khanate, the Astrakhan Khanate and the Chincha Khanate, the two Tatars were established. The Kazan Khanate was conquered in 1552 and the Astrakhan Khanate was conquered in 1556. Completely conquered;
European countries have relatively complete territories and high developability. After 1570, Russia fought the Northern War with Sweden and competed for the ownership of the Baltic Sea. St. Petersburg was conquered later;
Poland and Russia have long-standing The contradiction arose during this period. The two countries fought for a long time. Poland was the first to gain power and once sent the army to Moscow, but the practice was brutal, and the ruling Russian class did not want to live, so it took advantage of Poland’s weakness. Russia not only repelled Poland, but also acquired a lot of land in Poland;
Ukraine, Belarus, and Bessarabia were also annexed during Russia’s expansion. Finland and Russia also fought for territorial issues. Finally, Russia successfully expanded itself. territory.
Although Russia’s westward expansion is an expansion of its territory, it is full of difficulties. The European economy is relatively developed. Every conquer of a place consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, and the ruling area is still quite unstable. If it only expands westward, it will definitely not become the largest country today. His territory is mainly derived from the eastward and southward expansion.
To the east of Russia is Siberia and other regions. This place is also in charge of the Mongols. The country at that time was the Siberian Khanate. Russia's westward and southward expansion from 1598 to 1800 basically laid the territory of today's Russia.
Regarding the loss of parts of China's north of Heilongjiang and Sakhalin Island, it was mainly due to the Opium War in 1840. The Qing government was corrupt and incompetent. After forcing China to sign the "Sino-Russian Ahui Treaty", it then tried to mediate the Second Opium War between China, Britain and France. As an excuse for meritorious service, China forced China to sign the "Beijing Treaty" and ceded over 1 million square kilometers of territory north of Heilongjiang and east of Ussuri River, including Sakhalin Island, to Russia.
, by the way, in fact, the largest period of Russia’s area was before the handover of Alaska to the United States. Alaska belonged to Russia before, but at that time Russia was defeated in Crimea and felt that it was unable to control Alaska. The territory was sold to the United States for several million dollars. According to some statistics, before the delivery of Alaska, the area of Russia was more than 24 million square kilometers.
On the eve of World War I, that is, in 1914, Russia, after years of continuous expansion, has an area of more than 2,200 square kilometers, becoming the largest country in the world. Later, the Soviet Union was established. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1990, Russia still has an area of more than 1,700 square kilometers and is still the largest country in the world.
Generally speaking, Russia’s expansion was mainly reflected in the period between 1480 and 1800. This period was the most violent period of expansion. It was also at that time that most of the territory of today’s Russia was laid down, followed by continuous government and plunder. It was mainly the looting of small plots of land, and there was no large-scale competition, such as the territory of my country's Heilongjiang belt, the cession of the Xinjiang border, and the loss of German enclaves during the reunification of East and West Germany.
read the history of Russian expansion. I think they should be grateful to the Mongols. Although the Mongols have ruled them brutally for more than 200 years, the Mongolian territory is the cornerstone of Russia's expansion, and most of the Russian territory is inherited from Mongolian territory. The second is hatred. This hatred inspired the vodka surging in the Russians, so that they finally allowed their nation to stand among the strongest nations of the world.
The expansion of the great monarch
Russia I think there are three other monarchs that should be listed separately.
1, Ivan IV, who carried out reforms during his reign to make Russia gradually strongerGreat, the first tsar in Russian history. When Ivan IV was alive, he had a great love for expansion. The Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates were conquered within 10 years of their superiority. After seeing Russia's strong military strength, he began to actively expand to Siberia and westward. In addition to expansion, Ivan IV also formulated many policies that weakened the power of the nobility and others, allowed the power of the country to be centralized again, reorganized the administrative structure, reformed the military system, and strengthened the military.
2, Peter I, the famous Peter the Great, is a Russian monarch who has made wills and will continue to expand in history. If Ivan IV has stabilized Russia's national status and will no longer arbitrarily cannibalize and deprive it, then Peter I will regenerate Russia. The two biggest contributions of Peter I during his reign were reform, that is, comprehensive Westernization. When Peter was alive, he saw that if Russia wants to conquer its neighbors, it must have a strong national power. For this reason, he determined to learn from the West and carry out Westernization reforms in the political, economic, military, and technological fields, making Russia one of the major European powers. One. It can be said that the development history of politics, economy, culture, education, science and technology in modern Russia all originated in the era of Peter I.
followed by war. Peter I was a complete war mad. During his reign, he continued to expand to the surrounding areas. He established the capital of St. Petersburg, won the Battle of Poltava, won the Great Northern War, and captured the Baltic Sea. With strong national power, coupled with strong military strength, Peter I was invincible and conquered many territories.
Under the rule of Peter I, Russia finally stood among the powers of the world and could stand alongside the great powers such as Poland at that time.
3, Catherine II, later known as Catherine the Great, she is the eighth emperor of Russia and one of the most famous emperors in Russian history. Her most outstanding contribution was also the reform of the country and the expansion of the military. Under her governance, the country became the most powerful country in Europe. She advocated enlightened despotism, consolidated feudal serfdom, defeated the Ottoman Empire, and opened up the Black Sea to the sea. Partitioning Poland three times brought Russia to its peak. Some people say that the previous emperor gave Russia a body, then Catherine II injected a soul into Russia.
Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and where there are rivers and lakes, there is competition. In the previous era of cold weapons, only the nation with the most powerful and toughest force could have the last laugh. There are four ancient civilizations in the world. Except for the Chinese civilization, the other three have already been wiped out under the wheel of history. Over the years, the country has been destroyed and merged, and the place is still that place, but the people and horses have long been different. The longevity of Chinese civilization is based on its indomitable will and strong national integration ability.
Russia also experienced tribal conflicts in ancient times, and finally reunified; through the cruelty and rule to seek independence and self-reliance, finally, in the continuous expansion and conquest of many generations of emperors, it gradually gained the current family background. Their expansion is not very simple. In the process of conquering, the monarchs continuously injected ideas, culture, etc., to stabilize the situation in the ruling area.
The previous article talked about the love-hate relationship between Russia and Ukraine. Some fans wanted the history of Russia’s expansion. In fact, the history is too long. I wrote about it for a long time. The expansion of Russia is a long history, not just one. An article with a few thousand words can fully explain it. Here are only some of the more important remarks. If there are any omissions, please correct me!
(The next article is also about Russia, about the power and final fate of its unfinished aircraft carriers after the Soviet Union split, welcome to pay attention!)
