In his will, Peter I specifically mentioned the division of Poland and the conquest of Sweden. Take every opportunity to participate in European affairs and discussions, expand northward along the Baltic Sea, expand southward along the Black Sea, and be as close as possible to Constantinople and India.
Judging from the development after Russia, the expansion of Russia really has a lot to do with the will of Peter I. Because of this, Russia and Osman fought for hundreds of years, and Russia has been advancing to India without interruption. So Russia's crazy expansion is related to Peter the Great's will, but Russia's expansion is not based on Peter the Great's will, which is not the fundamental reason.
We know that Russia developed from a small principality in Moscow. Before that, it was ruled by Mongols for hundreds of years and suffered humiliation. This humiliation is beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
The first reason is national security.
After the independence of Moscow Principality, it must defend its own security. A country on the Great Plains is not safe. In order to completely eliminate the threat, the new Russia must take the initiative to nip the threat in the cradle as much as possible. It can be seen that Russia's expansion did not begin with Peter I, so it can only be said that Peter I's expansion is part of Russia's expansion.
The second reason is serfdom.
Russia is a serfdom, and it needs a lot of land to be distributed to the nobles in exchange for their loyalty to the tsar. As a result, Russia has fallen into this strange circle, just like snowballing, getting bigger and bigger.
The third reason is trade demand.
Russia is located in the cold zone, and its economy cannot get rid of it. The fur of Siberian sable and other precious animals is as expensive as gold, which leads to Russia's crazy expansion and plunder, which is also one of the driving forces for Russia's eastward expansion.
Finally, if we put Russia in the international situation, in fact, Russia's expansion is not worth discussing at all. Because since the great voyage, European powers have been expanding, but their form is to establish colonies through the sea, which is no different from Russia. Without this foundation, Russia began to expand from land, that's all.
However, judging from the final result, the achievements of Russian expansion were basically left behind, while most other western powers gave up with the subsequent war and development.