Perhaps people have the view that Russia's expansion has a solid resource base (land, population, minerals, science and technology). In fact, Russia has no advantage most of the time.
When Russia broke away from Mongolian rule and began to enter the world stage as an independent country, its land area and population were very limited, Ukraine and Belarus had not merged, and even Novgorod, a major town in northern Russia, was in an independent state. Russia's environment is very sinister, surrounded by strong neighbors for a long time. To the east, Kazan khanate is still very strong, and it can also attack and plunder eastern Russia. In the south, mainly Turkey, although it was not the most powerful period at that time, it surpassed Russia in land, population, military strength and resources, and it was really a behemoth. There are also fierce Crimean khanates and unruly riders on the grasslands. In the west, Poland has the strength, ambition and action to annex Russia. Poland and Turkey form alliances from time to time. If Russia wants to bring Belarus and Ukraine into the territory, it must first pass through Poland and Turkey. In the northwest, Sweden was the master of northern Europe at that time and also a big bully in Europe. These powerful neighbors, especially Poland, Turkey and Switzerland, have the ability to destroy Russia.
Russia's environment is not good and there is not much room for expansion. It may be fatally attacked from the west, south and east. When wrestling with enemies in any direction, you may be attacked by powerful enemies in other directions. There are no enemies in the north, but Russia is already in the north and then enters the polar regions. How many people can the polar regions support?
Russia first annexed the Kazan khanate in the east, relieved the threat from the east, and entered Siberia. Although Russians kept expanding their territory in Siberia out of their love for land, the value of Siberia was gradually reflected in the 20th century. For a long time, Siberia mainly provided fur products. It is not very helpful for Russia's defense and attack in the west and south. Because Siberia is cold and desolate, it is impossible to come here after the defeat.
Then it had a long-term competition with Poland and Turkey in the west and south, and Ukraine and Belarus were finally included in the territory. When Peter I, Russia defeated Sweden, gained access to the Baltic Sea, carried out reforms, and gained advantages over Turkey in science, technology and culture. Later, it stopped fighting with Turkey for 300 years, and finally consolidated the Black Sea coast, Crimea, Caucasus, Danube estuary and southern Russian grassland. After widening the gap with Poland, Turkey and Switzerland, Russia got in touch with western Europeans and stepped onto a bigger stage. 18 12 and 194 1 year, Russia and the Soviet Union were violently invaded by the two most powerful armies in the firearms era.
1807, Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon signed the Tilsit Peace Treaty, which stipulated that Russia could seize Finland. The following year, 24,000 Russian troops suddenly invaded Finland in three ways in the cold winter, and completely occupied Finland at the end of that year. 1809, Russian troops attacked Sweden, defeated the Swedish army and forced Sweden to sign a treaty. Sweden ceded Finland, including the Alain Islands, and Finland became the grand duchy of Russia. The czar also served as the Grand Duke of Finland. At the Vienna Conference, Russia and these two countries carved up Poland again and seized most of it. From 1826 to 1828, Russia defeated Iran, forcing Iran to cede almost all of Georgia, northern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, and Iran also paid 20 million silver rubles. From the spring of 1828 to the autumn of 1829, Russia launched a war against the Ottoman Empire, annexing the entire Black Sea coast in the Caucasus region and forcing the Ottoman Empire to recognize its annexation of the South Caucasus region acquired from Iran. Russia also gradually pushed into Central Asia, and by the middle and late19th century, it had annexed a vast area including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, covering an area of nearly 3.9 million square kilometers. For the capture of Central Asia, Engels once pointed out: "From a military point of view, the great significance of these conquered areas lies in that they have established the core of the operational base for attacking India; Indeed, since the Russian army went deep into Central Asia, the plan to attack India from the north is no longer vague, but has a fairly clear outline. " /kloc-in the middle and late 9th century, Russia successively occupied a vast area of China1500,000 square kilometers through a series of unequal treaties signed with China, such as Aihui Treaty, Tianjin Treaty, Beijing Treaty and Northwest Border Treaty between China and Russia.
Russia is basically tenacious and strategic. For example, in the last war of independence-the confrontation on the Uggla River, Russia's successful diplomatic activities and internal contradictions put it in a strategic favorable position. It chose favorable terrain to confront the Mongolian army until the enemy could not support it and took the initiative to withdraw.
We fought and made peace with Turkey for 300 years, but we didn't launch a full-scale war against Turkey under the dominant situation, so we didn't fall into this great nation. You know, warm Turkish land is very attractive to Russians from cold regions. There is also a plot to get China to cede land. If we carefully read the history books, Russia got the land south of the Outer Xing 'an Mountains-north of Heilongjiang and east of the Wusuli River, which was the "reward" demanded by the British and French allied forces when they burned the Yuanmingyuan. It didn't cost a single soldier, and the demarcation between Xinjiang and China was cheap, and there was no direct armed conflict with China. China had a bitter war with several big countries-Britain, France, Japan and the United States (1950~ 1953), but there was only a fierce armed conflict with Russia and the Soviet Union, and there was no Sino-Russian war, and there was no Sino-Soviet war (Eight-Nation Alliance was overthrown by everyone, so China and Russia did not confront each other alone, and jaxa's war was not real. It can be found that Russia did not take the initiative to launch a war of "with you and without me, with me and without you" against big countries and powerful countries.
Russia's expansion seems to be rapid, but it is actually "within its power", which is much more sophisticated than the Third Reich. We don't just go to war, and we don't just give in. If we are invaded by a strong enemy, we will fight to the death at the cost of blood to drive away the invaders.
Generally speaking, Russia has some advantages in territorial expansion, such as tenacity, patience, endurance, paying equal attention to military and politics, being able to assess the situation, being willing to absorb advanced technology and culture to strengthen itself, and paying great attention to its own cultural output (which is why we like Russian culture).
Because the process of Russia's independence and expansion is very difficult, the Russian nation has strong cohesion, endurance and toughness. They pay little attention to "personality" and are very resistant to rebellious behavior and wandering behavior.