Is it really safe to have a bigger territory? How did the deformed view pit Russia?
Land is an important part of the country and is vital to any country.
Territory is essential for the survival and development of a country. It not only determines the upper limit of the resources that a country can have, such as population and minerals, but also frames a country's living space and strategic maneuver space.
In a relatively fixed area, the size of the territory directly affects the strength of a country, and the larger the territory, the more insignificant the surrounding threats. Therefore, territory is considered to be the wealth of the country, which is also an important reason why small countries such as Japan are desperate to eat more and occupy more.
However, the extremes of things must be reversed. Excessive territorial expansion is not a good thing, especially when the cost of managing a territory is far beyond the capacity of a country, then the territory is no longer a wealth, but a disaster.
Therefore, territorial expansion must be carefully considered and cannot be pursued endlessly.
Russia is undoubtedly a typical representative of this situation. The Second Mongol Crusade devastated many countries east of the Danube, and Muscovy, one of the regimes on the Eastern European Plain, was forced to endure more than 240 years of Mongol slavery.
The long-term colonial rule not only made this East Slavic country, which was one of the three major barbarian tribes in Europe, further "barbarized" and became a "fighter among the barbarians", but also injected the Mongolian "soil-loving" gene into the blood of these "white-skinned Tatars".
Even after Ivan III married Sophia, the last princess of the Byzantine Empire, in 1472, Russia called itself the "Third Roman Empire" and achieved so-called civilization with the help of Orthodox Christianity, their desire for land never changed, and even became stronger.
According to the analysis of the historical background of the Russian Tsarist Empire, after the fall of the Golden Horde, many states appeared in the Eastern European Plain. In order to survive in a crowded environment, the Russian Empire needed to constantly improve its strength.
They continued to annex the surrounding countries, gradually becoming the giants of the Eastern European Plain, thus escaping the danger of being trampled by the iron hooves of the nomads. With the continuous expansion of its territory, the Russian Empire also gradually occupied important areas such as the Valdai Highlands, the Central Russian Highlands, and the highlands along the Volga River, establishing a solid natural defense line.
By "integrating" the Eastern European Plain, the Tsarist Empire successfully solved the existential problem and largely eliminated the threat of the country's extinction.
The unification of the Eastern European Plain made Tsarist Russia ambitious, and they began to use this plain as a base to accelerate the pace of expansion. Despite the contempt for Tsarist Russia in Western European countries, Tsarist Russia was full of dreams of developing westward.
After all, since the Age of Discovery, Western Europe has become an important force leading the development of world history. Although the coat of arms of Tsarist Russia faced both the East and the West, their desire to integrate into the West was very urgent.
However, while the countries of Western Europe were expanding around the world, they also rejected the accession of Tsarist Russia. Despite Tsarist Russia's attempts to use Orthodoxy as a stepping stone, Western Europe was already dominated by Catholicism and Protestantism, which made Tsarist Russia seem out of place.
The core idea: Tsarist Russia's yearning and expansion of Western Europe, but it was rejected by Western Europe.
While elevating the status of ethnic Russians, Russia also tried to expand this oppression to the whole world, promoting the popularity of "Great Russia". Therefore, those countries of Western Europe who did not want to become vassals of Tsarist Russia felt extremely disgusted with Tsarist Russia.
In order to realize the ideal of westward expansion, Tsarist Russia chose to advance westward without being able to integrate into the West, and carved up Poland several times. Due to its deep involvement in the conflict in Europe, the external environment of Tsarist Russia has become more difficult, and it must fight incessantly to become the hegemon of Europe.
Under the leadership of Peter I, Russia gradually developed from a regional power to a world power. This "Emperor of the Ages" has set the strategic goal of "going to the four oceans" for Russia, because most of Russia's territory is located in the middle and high latitudes, and it is full of yearning for the warm south.
Although Russia is a large country, the coastline is relatively closed and there is a great lack of good ports. Thus, marching into the four oceans, especially the warm Indian Ocean, has always been a dream goal for successive Russian rulers.
To this end, Russia engaged in long wars with neighboring countries, such as the protracted Great Northern War, which eventually defeated the Kingdom of Sweden; There were also 12 Russo-Turkish wars spanning more than 300 years, which pushed the invincible Ottoman Empire into decline.
Through almost "no years without war," Russia's territory has swelled dramatically, and its territory has increased by more than 400 times in more than 400 years, and it has become the world's largest territorial power spanning three continents: Asia, Europe, and the United States.
However, the constant expansion of territory has also brought great trouble and disaster to Russia.
Although the Russian Empire had a vast land, it was infused with the "warlike genes" of the Mongols, but it was unable to inherit its brave and warlike characteristics. In fact, the Tsarist Empire, although known as a "fighting nation", was only "warlike but not warlike".
On the battlefield, without several times the enemy's forces and **, it was often difficult for the Tsarist Empire to win the war. And in their war record, there are more defeats and fewer victories, and for each victory or defeat, they spend huge wealth and population.
At the same time, due to the fact that the Tsarist Empire was located in the middle and high latitudes, the natural growth rate was extremely low, coupled with the influence of "Great Russia", they had a strong rejection of other peoples, and due to economic problems, their attraction to other peoples was almost zero.
As a result, the population of the Tsarist Empire grew at an almost negligible rate.
In the pursuit of territorial expansion, ethnic Russians have paid a huge human price. In order to quickly stabilize the new territory, Tsarist Russia implemented the strategy of "saving land and losing people", that is, forcibly expelling or even ** aborigines, and then introducing ethnic Russians for assimilation.
As a result, Russia's expansion has become more difficult, although its territory has expanded. Although in Soviet times, the emergence of nuclear ** provided protection for the territory of Russia and avoided the dilemma of territorial erosion.
However, judging by the experience of the collapse of the USSR, the protective effect of nuclear ** was not so effective. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia lost more than 5 million square kilometers of land, and after the end of the Cold War, due to factors such as severe cold climate and economic downturn, Russia's population continued to outflow and remained in a state of negative growth for a long time, making it more and more difficult to protect the huge territory.
Over time, and especially with the continued shrinking of the size of the population, the huge territory will undoubtedly become a heavy burden for Russia.
The territorial expansion of the Tsarist Empire provoked revolts from the surrounding countries and peoples, and the surviving countries hated Tsarist Russia except for the annexed regime.
The prevalence of the "Great Russia" doctrine made all countries in the world hate Tsarist Russia, which eventually led to internal and external difficulties in Tsarist Russia. After all, no country wants to be enslaved by Tsarist Russia.
The huge body and aggressive posture of Tsarist Russia also frightened the great powers such as Britain, France, the United States, and Germany, which undoubtedly aggravated the bad international environment of Tsarist Russia. After the collapse of the USSR, the CIS countries, which once fought side by side under the patronage of the USSR, should theoretically be allies and partners of Russia.
However, Russia's "land greed", especially its territorial ambitions in Ukraine, Germany, South Austria, and Abkhazia, has betrayed these former allies, further exacerbating Russia's loneliness.
However, even in the face of this situation, Russia seems to hold on to its convictions, convinced that Russian territory has no borders.
In the history and culture of Russia, there is a strong tradition of admiring the strong and strong leaders. This tradition stems from centuries of frenzied expansion and the prevalence of "Great Russia", and the most direct manifestation of the leader's strength is to win more territory for Russia.
In order to achieve this goal, Russia has even resorted to the strategy of "gambling on the fortunes of the country" of small countries in the face of insufficient strength, devoting all its limited national strength to territorial expansion, hoping to achieve the rise of a great power through the increase of land.
However, the strategy of "betting on the fortunes of the country" does not always succeed, and while it can bring huge gains, it can also allow Russia to lose nothing. Russia's military operations in Eastern Europe suggest that it may no longer be able to expand its territory as smoothly as it has in the past.
Hopefully, this setback will make the Russians realize this deeply. However, given the centuries-old traditions that Russia has always adhered to, such an idea may just be a pipe dream.
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