, First of all, because Russia is actually a European country, resident in the Eastern European plains , and is under strong squeeze from the West, very embarrassed and has no choice but to retreat.
Although Russia is a major country spanning Eurasia from the map, the Asian part accounts for two-thirds and the European part accounts for one-third, but only the Eastern European plains are suitable for human habitation and reproduction, while other Asian states are in high-altitude areas and are not suitable for human habitation at all, and are more like natural areas such as the Arctic and Antarctic. Therefore, the actual effective Russia is the part of the European plain west of the Ural Mountains. This is the actual Russia.
In this way, Russia will be much smaller. Look at Figure 1 below. (Note, all the pictures and information in the article are from 360)
Russia's survival pressure mainly comes from the West, but Russia cannot retreat to the Siberian high-altitude zone. If it retreats there, Russia will die, and Russia will quickly decline into the Eskimo tribe. Therefore, Russia can only survive on the Eastern European plains. This requires that Russia must be a strong man. Fortunately, the Russian nation is just a powerful combat nation, and therefore it is growing increasingly in the constant competition for survival space. Look at the picture below 2, 3
Figure 2
Figure 3
Because Russia lies in the easternmost part of the Eastern European plains, it cannot retreat, so Russia must fight to the West and withstand the squeeze from the West. Over time, Russia's national character has been formed, which is to expand, and first launch an attack on the West to win enough living space. Here, Russia has a national living space guarantee line, which is just on the junction between Ukraine, Belarus and NATO . If NATO crosses this line, Russia immediately feels that its national existence is under threat. This is the first reason why Russia refused to let Ukraine leave freely. It is also a fatal geostrategic reason.
From the above picture, we can see that Western powers such as Britain, France and Germany put pressure on Russia from west to east, Türkiye put pressure on Russia from south to north, and Northern Europe's Sweden put pressure on Russia from north to south. Russia is subject to force on three sides, so it needs to use force in reverse, which forms a strong inertia for Russia to continuously expand its territory and rush out of the inland.
2. Ukraine is the origin of Russia and the core area of Russia. The flesh-and-blood relationship cannot be divided
The first country in Russia's history was the Principality of Kipulus, as shown in the figure below 4
Figure 4
Early history
Early history
History of the Russian nation was a branch of the Eastern European plains East Slavs . The Russian nation is a nation that is good at flowing, which is called "liquid factor". As a branch of the Eastern Slavs, early Russians lived on the vast Eastern European plains starting from the Transnistria River in the west, reaching the Dnieper River in the east, and the northern shore of the Black Sea in the east. The geographical overview of this land is: forests and swamps intersect, rivers cross, soil is mainly sandy clay, and it is also far away from the ocean and connected to the prairie.
In the early AD, the Eastern Slavs still retained the clan system, and each tribe was composed of several clans. They cut down forests, leveled the land, engaged in farming, raised livestock collectively, hunted and fished, and all issues were decided by the clan assembly.
Dule of Kiev
Around the 8th to 9th centuries, the Eastern Slav tribal wars were frequent. In 862, the army of Vikings Liurik occupied Novgorod and ascended the throne of the Grand Duke of Novgorod and established the Kingdom of Ross. Liurik died in 879, and Oleg succeeded as the prince and fought in the south. In 882, he occupied , Kiev and moved the capital to Kiev. The period of the Principality of Kiev Rus officially began. This is a place where the Khassa people are stationed.
As early as the 1st century AD, the Dnieper River, Oder River, , Vistula River and Buge River were in the basins of Slavs in Central and Eastern Europe. By the 6th century, the Slavs were divided into Eastern Slavs, , Western Slavs and Yugoslavs.The Eastern Slavs are distributed in the middle and upper reaches of the Dnieper River, the Oka River, the Volga River, and the West Devina River, and the ancestors of the Russians, the Belarusians and the Ukrainians. By the 7th and 8th centuries AD, the Eastern Slavs had two quasi-state organizations, Kuyaba, centered on Kiev and Slavia, centered on Novgorod. In 862, due to the continuous civil war between the tribes of Slaviluoya for power, the tribes were exhausted, so they discussed finding a prince to govern the tribes and ruled on the disputes. In their eyes, the Varyag people (i.e., Ross ) who lived in northern Europe were smart and capable, and were well-ordered, so they invited the leader of the Varyag people, Liurik, to be their grand duke. Liurik Dynasty starts from this.
879, Liurik died and Oleg took over the position of Grand Duke. Oleg believed that Novgorod was remote and unfavorable to development, and coveted Kiev in the south. In 882, he led his troops south, first occupying Smolensk and Liubech, and then heading south to Kyiv. Oleg established his capital in Kiev and was called "the mother of the city of Ross". Afterwards, he continued to conquer the tribes around him, putting the Slovens, Krivichs, Delevyans, Sheverians, Radimics, and non-Slavs Mariyas, Vishi and Chudes under control, thus forming a country centered on Kiev, known in history as Kiev Rus .
Mongol Empire occupation period
Kievan Rus was occupied by the Mongolian Golden Horde in the 13th century.
1223 Under the leadership of two generals under the leadership of Genghis Khan, Subutai, and a 25,000-man Mongolian army entered the present-day Russian state of Kiev. At that time, the great Dukes of Ros formed an alliance with their long-term enemy, Qinzha and Subutai, and confronted the Mongolian Empire's reconnaissance army on the banks of the Karka River. Because the grand dukes of the Ross did not understand the Mongol Empire, and were surrounded and annihilated, the five grand dukes were killed. Later, the command of the army in Zhebe and Taiwan led the army to attack the Crimean Peninsula and killed them and then continued to advance westward to the Transnistria River and then turned back.
Then, after defeating the Chincha people in 1236, the Mongolian Imperial Army defeated Vladimir, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir in 1237. After massacre and repatriation of supplies within the territory of each principality, it reinvaded the Ross transit in 1239 and captured Kiev on December 6, 1240, representing the beginning of Mongolia's 240-year rule. In 1236, Genghis Khan's grandson Badu made an expedition to Europe, first conquering the entire territory of Ross, Poland, , Hungary and Asia. From 1240 to 1480, it was the rule of the Mongols, the Golden Horde , causing Russia's economy and culture to lag far behind western Europe.
Grand Principality of Moscow period
When the Mongol Empire invaded Kiev Rus, Moscow was just an inconspicuous border town of the Principality of the Republic of Novgorod. Although the Mongol Empire's army burned in the winter of 1238 and looted the town in 1293, Moscow's remoteness and complex forest terrain slowed down the attack and occupation of the Mongols to a certain extent. Adding several rivers flowing to the Baltic Sea of , the Black Sea and in the Caucasus region of , allows this small town to gradually develop.
But the most important factor in Moscow's ability to eventually develop into a state form was a series of princes and rulers with both ambitions, strength and luck. The first ruler of the Principality of Moscow, Daniel Alexandrovich, , is the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, of the Principality of Novgorod. He seized Kolomna and inherited Pereslavl-Zalesky, thus expanding the territory of the principality. Daniel's son, Yuri, of Moscow, controlled the entire Moscow River Basin and developed westward to Mozaisk. He then formed an alliance with Yuebi of the Mongolian Golden Horde, the master of Prince Ross, and married the Khan's sister. He then claimed to be the Grand Duke of Novgorod, allowing him to interfere in the affairs of the Novgorod Republic.
Yuri's successor, Ivan I (reigned from 1325 to 1340), maintained good relations with the Golden Horde and obtained the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir, thereby having the power to collect contributions and taxes from other principalities of Ross. Relations with the Golden Horde also provided opportunities for Ivan's expansion, especially against Tver in the north, which revolted against the rule of the Mongols in 1327. The rebellion was jointly suppressed by the Golden Horde and Moscow. Ivan I was considered the richest man in contemporary Ross, and he was also given the title of "Kalita" (meaning "purse"). He used his wealth to buy more territory from other principalities and supported the construction of the Kremlin in Moscow. In 1327, the Orthodox Metropolitan Peter moved from Kiev to Moscow, further enhancing the prestige of this emerging principality.
Ivan's heirs continued to seize the territory, population and wealth of the Principality of Moscow. During the expansion, conflicts of interest were inevitable with the west-neighboring , the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Lithuanians long to overwhelm the Eastern Slavics and the Orthodox Church they believe in. The Grand Duke of Lithuania, Algirdas, married Tver and formed an alliance. He made three expeditions to Moscow in 1368, 1370 and 1372, but failed to capture the city. Smolensk, a city between Moscow and Vilnius , became the focus of the competition between the two sides.
1348-1349, the country and royal family were severely hit by the Black Death . Dmitry Ivanovich's parents died when he was nine years old, and the throne of the Grand Duke fell into the hands of his distant relative, Dmitry of Suzdal. Surrounded by pagans and Muslim tribes from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Dmitry decided to form an alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church. At that time, the Russian Orthodox Church gradually grew due to the reform of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
Under the teaching and influence of Bishop Alexes, Dmitry claimed to be the protector of the Orthodox Church and had a mission to unite the Principalities of the Ross in the melee against the Golden Horde. He challenged the authority of the Golden Horde and defeated Mamai Khan's army in 1380 at the Battle of Kulikovo. Although the fruits of the victory of this war were offset by the lost expedition several years later, he successfully washed away the image of the Duchy of Moscow that had always been flattering the Mongols. In 1389, Dmitry passed the throne of the Grand Duke to his son Vasily I without the permission of the Golden Horde.
Russian Empire
The Principality of Moscow, established in 1147, gradually became stronger in the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries and led other principalities to break away from the rule of the Mongols. Since then, Russia has gradually expanded outward. In 1605, Godunov died suddenly, and the Russian world was in chaos and entered a "chaotic era". This turbulent period finally ended until Mining and Pozalsky, Nizhny Novgorod, led the militia to drive the Polish invading troops out of Moscow. In 1613, the nobles elected 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov, a relative of Ivan IV, as the new Tsar, and established the Romanov dynasty [10]. In the second half of the 16th century, with the formation of the autocratic system, and Ivan and the throne pursued a policy of invasion of foreign expansion during the reign of the throne. The Russians crossed the Ural Mountains and advanced into Asia. In this process, the Mongolian Tatar Empire in Northeast Asia was destroyed one after another. In the 17th century, Russian basically completed the expansion of Siberia . Russia's oriental colors are getting stronger and stronger. Since the 17th century, Russia has gradually approached the West with
3. In the long run, Russia cannot live without Europe. The body determines the mind.
Russia's body is in the Eastern European plains, so it is difficult for Russia to leave Europe. Today, Russia's energy system is already connected with Europe. As long as Europe does not touch Russia's survival red line, Europe will gradually integrate with Russia. Here, American hegemony is an externally inserted inverse factor. But this is a gradual decline factor. One day, the independent EU will approach peaceful Russia, let go of its past grudges, and move towards integration. However, this requires a strong external force to achieve, and this external force is China.
China's rise is becoming increasingly powerful, which makes the United States afraid that the era of American hegemony will come to an end and greatly alleviates the pressure on Russia's shoulders. Therefore, the Russian-Ukraine War can be said to be the end of the Russian Empire and the battle for China to step onto the historical stage. Russia is too tired and cannot conquer the Western fortress. Ukraine's undestroyment and becoming a powerful Eastern European power has really limited the revival of the Russian Empire. In fact, it is undoubtedly a big strategic buffer between Russia and the West, and can eliminate the power conflict between the EU and Russia. A relatively long-term peace in Europe can be expected.
The historical trend is clear, China's rise is unstoppable, and this natural power of Eastern giant is hard to violate the destiny, and he has to carry the whole world on his shoulders.
