How Russia became the largest power in the world
Russia is the largest country in the world on the globe. It includes the vast expanses of Eurasia, from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean and from the Far North to the Caucasus Mountains. But a few centuries ago, the fragmented Russian principalities were dependent on the powerful empire created by Genghis Khan and his descendants. Many other states and peoples, much more successful at that time than Russia, disappeared after the Mongol invasion, being dissolved in the mass of conquerors. But the Russian principalities survived. Moreover, the Moscow principality managed to rally all of Russia around itself and quickly enough to turn into a powerful competitor to the Golden Horde.
Three centuries passed - and Russia already began to expand to the lands occupied by the Turkic-Mongolian peoples of the Great Steppe. So, under Ivan the Terrible, the Astrakhan and Kazan Khanates were conquered, and then a campaign was made on the huge Siberian Khanate, which laid the foundation for the Russian development of the vast Siberian expanses. Now Siberia is the most economically important region of Russia, the richest storehouse of innumerable natural resources. Gold, diamonds, gas, oil, timber and much more - all this is Siberia and all these riches became available to Russia precisely thanks to the campaigns on the Siberian Khanate and the subsequent eastward movement.
Peter I, opening the “window to Europe”, provided Russia with access to the sea and carried out a colossal modernization of all aspects of public life - from culture and science to the armed forces and public administration. So Russia turned into an empire that combined European and Asian principles and included a variety of peoples. Petersburg lived as a European capital, and on the outskirts of the empire, steppe peoples roamed in yurts. Not only Siberia and the Far East, but also Central Asia, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the Northern Black Sea Region and the Baltic were in the orbit of Russian influence.
Until now, Russia's closest neighbors are asking how the Russians managed to master and subjugate such a vast territory. The key to the riddle is in the national mentality of the Russian people, the features of its formation. From time immemorial, Russians not only differed in mobility and militancy, but also included many representatives of other peoples in their composition - for example, among Russian nobles, thousands of surnames had Golden Horde, German, Dutch, Caucasian roots. All these people brought the most varied benefits to the Russian state. Settling in the vast Eurasian open spaces, the Russians enriched themselves with a rush of new blood, mingling with representatives of the conquered peoples, and new knowledge and skills.
Another undoubted plus of Russia has always been that by conquering or including voluntarily other nations, it successfully integrated them into its political space. Representatives of these peoples were given the opportunity to live in peace, develop, and pursue a career in a powerful Russian empire. Is it possible to imagine a Hindu minister in the XNUMXth century British Empire, an Algerian Arab general in France at the same time? It is impossible, since racism and nationalism determined the political ideology of the European colonial powers. In Russia, in turn, the empires of the Tatars and Armenians, Poles and Kalmyks, Georgians and Caucasian Muslims successfully served. And this unity of peoples made the country only stronger.
Three centuries passed - and Russia already began to expand to the lands occupied by the Turkic-Mongolian peoples of the Great Steppe. So, under Ivan the Terrible, the Astrakhan and Kazan Khanates were conquered, and then a campaign was made on the huge Siberian Khanate, which laid the foundation for the Russian development of the vast Siberian expanses. Now Siberia is the most economically important region of Russia, the richest storehouse of innumerable natural resources. Gold, diamonds, gas, oil, timber and much more - all this is Siberia and all these riches became available to Russia precisely thanks to the campaigns on the Siberian Khanate and the subsequent eastward movement.
Peter I, opening the “window to Europe”, provided Russia with access to the sea and carried out a colossal modernization of all aspects of public life - from culture and science to the armed forces and public administration. So Russia turned into an empire that combined European and Asian principles and included a variety of peoples. Petersburg lived as a European capital, and on the outskirts of the empire, steppe peoples roamed in yurts. Not only Siberia and the Far East, but also Central Asia, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the Northern Black Sea Region and the Baltic were in the orbit of Russian influence.
Until now, Russia's closest neighbors are asking how the Russians managed to master and subjugate such a vast territory. The key to the riddle is in the national mentality of the Russian people, the features of its formation. From time immemorial, Russians not only differed in mobility and militancy, but also included many representatives of other peoples in their composition - for example, among Russian nobles, thousands of surnames had Golden Horde, German, Dutch, Caucasian roots. All these people brought the most varied benefits to the Russian state. Settling in the vast Eurasian open spaces, the Russians enriched themselves with a rush of new blood, mingling with representatives of the conquered peoples, and new knowledge and skills.
Another undoubted plus of Russia has always been that by conquering or including voluntarily other nations, it successfully integrated them into its political space. Representatives of these peoples were given the opportunity to live in peace, develop, and pursue a career in a powerful Russian empire. Is it possible to imagine a Hindu minister in the XNUMXth century British Empire, an Algerian Arab general in France at the same time? It is impossible, since racism and nationalism determined the political ideology of the European colonial powers. In Russia, in turn, the empires of the Tatars and Armenians, Poles and Kalmyks, Georgians and Caucasian Muslims successfully served. And this unity of peoples made the country only stronger.
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