Stretching from Eastern Europe to Northeast Asia, Russia has the largest territory in the world, although it has a population of more than 100 million. So, how did a small country that was only a corner of Eastern Europe become the largest country in the world?
How did Russia come to be so vast in territory? And what are the considerations for the Russians to expand their territory so much?
In the middle of the ninth century, Kievan Rus' on the Eastern European Plain gradually rose to become a feudal state with Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, as its capital, and the main ethnic group was the Slavs.
China at the time was in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, while the Arab Empire was rising and expanding. In this world, Kievan Rus looks insignificant. However, the country's origin story is quite unique.
In 862 AD, the Novgorod nobility invited the three brothers Rurik, the chieftain of the Varyags, to quell the rebellion, which is the origin of Kievan Rus'.
After the war subsided, the three Rurik brothers succeeded in driving out the Grand Duke of Novgorod and establishing the Rus' state, starting the Rurik dynasty by virtue of their victorious aftermath.
However, after Rurik's death, his relative Oleg took the opportunity to rise to the throne and began to attack the weak opponents around him.
In 882 A.D., Oleg successfully captured Kievan and incorporated the surrounding small principalities and non-Slavic tribes into his territory, creating Kievan Rus'. Under the leadership of Oleg and other rulers, Russia began a centuries-long path of territorial expansion.
By about 1000 AD, Kievan Rus' territory had reached one million square kilometers, stretching from the Carpathian Mountains to the east, the banks of the Don River to the west, the southern Baltic Sea to the north, and the northern shore of the Black Sea to the south.
Although the size of the territory at that time could not be compared with that of today's Russia, it was already a considerable achievement for Rurik during the entrepreneurial period. However, the rulers of Kievan Rus' were not satisfied, and the expansion of their territory instead stimulated a strong desire for expansion.
When the Eastern Slavs embraced the ** religion, Kievan Rus' gained a powerful religion while expanding its territory. In 1036, during the reign of Yaroslav, with the help of religion, he succeeded in uniting all the Eastern Slavs.
Subsequently, the addition of armies allowed them to bring the surrounding non-Slavic tribes into their territory, making it the largest country in Europe. However, territorial expansion often led to internal disputes, which was also reflected in the Yuan Empire established by the Mongols.
Kievan Rus' was no exception, and in the middle of the twelfth century AD, the rapid expansion of territory led to the beginning of cracks in the unified regime within the country, and different political forces began to emerge in an attempt to disintegrate the country.
Why use Kiev as a starting point for a discussion of the origins of Russia? Because in that wave, Kievan Rus' became a number of independent feudal principalities, and eventually formed the countries known today as Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia.
In 1147, Moscow was just a small village on the banks of the Oka River, a tributary of the Volga River. In constant territorial expansion, Muscovy gradually rose on the basis of this small village.
However, Muscovy was not very large at that time, only 1,300 square kilometers, and it was still under the rule of the Mongol-Tatar Kipchak Khanate. It can be said that the territory gained by Kievan Rus' was only a small part occupied by Muscovy.
The path of expansion of Muscovy was not smooth, but they did not bow their heads because of this. Despite their initial limitations, they actively expanded their territory. This genetics and tradition of expansion are deeply imprinted in the hearts of every Russian and become their driving force.
In the XIV century, Muscovy began to gather strength and embarked on a journey of expansion. After decades of hard work, they gradually gained a place in the local competition, and even gained the power to collect tribute on behalf of the Kipchak Khan.
This power gave them a huge advantage, allowing them to suppress and weaken the surrounding principalities and become a force to be reckoned with. Muscovy believed that only through its own efforts could it change its destiny and win more respect and power.
The Kipchak Khanate, once confident in its own strength, turned a blind eye to the misdeeds of Muscovy. But Muscovy did not stop there, but continued to grow its power.
The decline of the Kipchak Khanate and internal strife provided a godsend for Ivan III, the ruler of Muscovy, to finally free himself from Mongol rule in 1480.
With years of plunder and accumulation, Ivan III successfully integrated the surrounding feudal principalities and established a centralized state in Russia with Moscow as the center.
By 1533, Russia's territory had expanded to 2.8 million square kilometers, larger than the Rus' principalities. At that time, the territory of Russia stretched from the North Sea to the north, the Dnieper River to the west, the tributaries of the Ural Mountains to the east, and the Oka River to the south.
In Europe at that time, Russia had become the country with the largest territorial area. However, due to the frequent wars of European countries, the annexation of small countries by large countries, and the fact that large countries became small countries, people did not pay much attention to the expansion of the Russian state.
Because of religious reasons, the center of Europe at that time was mainly concentrated in Western Europe and Southern Europe, and the Eastern Slavs, although they believed in ** religion, were regarded as barbarians by Europeans, so little attention was paid to Russia in remote areas of Europe.
However, with the expansion of the territory, the rulers of the Russian state began to realize that with such a vast territory, it seemed that it was not enough to call it a principality, so they carried out reforms in 1547.
The ruler Ivan IV was crowned Tsar, making Russia the Russian Empire. The title Tsar comes from the Roman Emperor Caesar, and Ivan IV used this title for self-evident meaning.
Ivan IV boasted of vast territory and supreme authority, and had the ambition to carry on the traditions of Rome and Caesar. The news of his tsar's coronation spread throughout Europe, but few rulers took it seriously.
Not only did they despise the Slavic states on the border of Eastern Europe, but they also made a bad judgment based on the strategic position of the Russian Empire. At that time, Russia was bordered by the ocean to the north, but its high latitude made it difficult for shipping.
In the world at that time, the countries surrounding the Russian Empire were very powerful. Although the territory of the Russian Empire was vast, much of it was acquired by bullying weaker tribes and feudal principalities.
In the process of expansion, they have not yet encountered a truly strong opponent. In the northwest of Russia, there is a powerful country, Sweden, although it does not have a strong presence now, but at that time, Sweden was a first-class maritime power in Europe and was in a period of rising national power.
To the west, Lithuania and Poland were once powerful, and like Sweden, they were both ancestors.
In just a few hundred years, from the founding of the Russian Empire until the end of the 19th century, the Russian Empire expanded at a rate of 50 miles per day.
By 1914, the Russian Empire had reached a staggering 8.66 million square miles, and its expansion was so rapid and scale that it was even hailed by Lenin as the second largest colonial empire after Britain.
Under the leadership of Ivan IV, the country rose rapidly under the vigorous rule of Ivan IV, although the surrounding countries had a certain strength. Around the Russian Empire, the Kazan Khanate and the Astrakhan Khanate were relatively weak.
In 1552, Ivan IV personally led a large army to attack the Kazan Khanate, which took only two months to conquer, and similarly, the Astrakhan Khanate was conquered in a short time.
This expansion allowed the Russian Empire to recognize its own strength and dare to challenge stronger opponents. At the same time, by controlling the Volga basin and opening the door to eastward expansion, they possessed the Black Sea gateway and the basis for southward expansion.
One might ask, Britain's colonial expansion was for the acquisition of raw materials and overseas markets, but what about Russia's expansion? Are they just plotting territory and population? Aren't you afraid that the peoples who have been incorporated into the territory will cause internal unrest?
In fact, the purpose of the Russians' territorial expansion is not only because the vast territory gives them a sense of security, but also because they desperately need it, which is access to the sea.
Russia's geography once constrained the pace of its development, like a bear confined in a cage. Although it can barely cope with it when it is weak, as the country's strength increases, it is inevitable to break this limitation.
Therefore, we can see that when Russia expands its territory, it strikes on all sides, with its expansion footprints on three sides: east, west and south. However, even though the Tsar** already possessed a large amount of territory at the beginning of the 18th century, its limitations as a landlocked state remained.
Although the Black Sea is already considered an inland sea, it still cannot meet the needs of Russia to sail far away.