Russia is a very big country, biggest in the world in fact, but just 500 years ago it was
a principality that had just broken off from part of the wreckage of the Mongol Empire,
but it would eventually capture so much uninhabitable land that it eventually meant something.
So how did this Slavic principality come to conquer Northern and Central Asia, become
a major player in the Pacific, and make itself into a world superpower, all the while being
actually quite diverse?
(Sponsored by CuriosityStream)
The year is 1480, what we will eventually know as Russia was the Grand Duchy of Moscow,
which had just gained its independence after kicking out the last of Mongol rule in the
Great Stand on the Ugra.
The Grand Duchy at this time had gradually expanded from the area in and around Moscow
until it had already encompassed much of the easternmost stretches of Europe, all the way
up to the Arctic Ocean port of Arkhangelsk (too bad it was basically useless as a port
though).
Moscow was in a vulnerable position however, since it sits in the widest part of the North
European Plain, a massive expanse of flatland extending all across the northern half of
Europe from France to (modern day) Russia, and let me tell you as someone who lives in
one of the cities up here… it’s goddamn flat!
As Poland knows all too well, this leaves any city or nation situated here critically
vulnerable to attack, including the Russian heartland.
Thus Moscow gradually started to expand its influence as far as it needed to in order
to not be attacked… again.
After becoming the Tsardom of Russia in 1547, Russia started to expand through a variety
of means, including but not limited to Cossack exploration, purchasing land, Cossack diplomacy,
straight up conquest, Cossack conquest, turning their neighbors into puppet states, and many
other ways (largely involving Cossacks).
In 1552 the Khanate of Kazan was conquered at the end of the Russo-Kazan Wars, and then
in 1556 the Khanate of Astrakhan fell to Russian forces, with the former city of Xacitarxan
being burned by Ivan the Terrible and built anew as Astrakhan a few kilometers to the
south, with Russia now reaching the Caspian Sea.
Along the way, of course, numerous different fortresses (ostrogs) were built, so far including
Tyumen and Tobolsk, each established in 1586.
In 1592 Fyodor I launched the conquest of the Khanate of Sibir, a vital first step in
the conquest of Siberia.
Yeniseysk was established in 1619, as well as Krasnoyarsk in 1628, and Yakutsk in 1632.
Cossack missions in Siberia took off shortly after, eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean
by 1639, and filling everything in a bit later.
Now that Russia had finally reached the Pacific Ocean and were mostly just filling the gaps
in Siberia, more attention could be focused on Europe and Central Asia.
In 1667 they shaved a few territories off Poland-Lithuania, and the Qasim Khanate was
conquered in 1681.
Kiev and Zaporizhia were then fully incorporated in 1686, while Tomsk was established in 1694.
Under Peter the Great in 1721, Estonia, Ingria, Livonia, and Karelia were made part of the
empire.
Russian America was established in 1733, and Southwest Karelia was conquered after the
Russo-Swedish War of 1741-43.
Queen Catherine the Great then oversaw some serious territorial gains, including Kalmykia
in 1771, Eastern Belarus in 1772, Kabardino in 1774, Crimea in 1783, Yedisan in 1792,
the rest of Belarus and right-bank Ukraine in 1793, and Western Galicia and Southern
Masovia in 1795.
Alaska was fully conquered in 1799.
Then Alexander I also oversaw a lot of territorial expansion, including Eastern Georgia in 1801,
Finland in 1809, Western Georgia in 1810, Bessarabia in 1812, the Duchy of Warsaw in
1813, and then Russia expanded even further into the Caucasus with the Russo-Persian Wars
of 1804-13 and 1826-28, in which Russia… actually, Tariq from Hikma History, you want
to give this a shot?
Sure, in the early 19th century the Russian and Persian Empires fought two wars that were
going to decide the fate of the Caucasus region.
The first war from 1804-13 ended with a decisive Russian victory which was concluded with the
Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, where Persia ceded parts of what is now Georgia, Dagestan, Northern
Armenia, and Azerbaijan to Russia.
The latter war was from 1826-28 and ended with the Treaty of Turkmenchay, in which Persia
ceded the rest of what is now Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iğdır to Russia.
These wars were how much of the Caucasus was ceded to Russia after previously being under
Persian control.
If you want to learn more about this, please check out the video I made on my channel,
Hikma History.
Thanks, Tariq, I didn’t of course just force him into the video just to do a tiny bit of
my work for me, we’re actually collaborating this week, his video being on the Treaties
of Gulistan and Turkmenchay, which ended each of those wars and ceded control of the Caucasus
from Persian to Russian hands, so be sure to check out his video once this one’s done.
Back to the history, Russia then expanded into what now makes up the Amur Oblast, Jewish
Autonomous Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, and Primorsky Krai, taking these lands from the Qing in
the Second Opium War in the late 1850’s.
Vladivostok was founded in 1860, making this Russian city younger than Portland, Oregon,
yeah this place is hella remote.
Around this time Kazakhstan gradually came fully under Russian hands, and in 1866 Bukhara
was conquered in Eastern Uzbekistan.
In 1867 Alaska, now proving itself to be more trouble than it was worth for a nation constantly
fighting all these wars several thousand kilometers away, was sold to the US at just $7.2 million,
roughly $109 million in 2020 US Dollars (though maybe it’s also worth mentioning Alaska’s
GDP these days is more like $47 billion, but still).
Alexander II may have lost Alaska, but he also gained North Turkmenistan in 1873, Sakhalin
in 1875, Kyrgyzstan and West Tajikistan in 1876, and the Kars and Batum Oblasts in the
same year.
All this was finally finished with the conquests of Alexander III in South Turkmenistan in
1885 and East Tajikistan in 1893, four years after Anadyr was founded.
Finally, with its heartland very well defended, Russia was a global superpower to be reckoned
with, so big that it almost bordered the UK… in Asia; and was now the most powerful nation
in the world, I‘m kidding its economy totally sucked (and so did all its ports) and the
monarchy was on its last legs, Communism time!
This video may have (at least hopefully) shown how Russia came to be such a big country,
but I kind of cut everything off as soon as we reached the 20th century.
However, as probably everyone who watches my videos knows, Russia was a big hitter in
the 20th century, and there really is no better place to learn about all that than this week’s
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Thanks as always for watching, and be sure to check out Hikma History’s video now that
this video is done, and if you liked this video be sure to give it a like, share it,
and subscribe to learn something new every Sunday.