Since the fifteenth century, Russia seems to have been on the road of aggression and expansion, and it seems to be enjoying it. From the Muscovite Principality, which was only a few tens of thousands of square kilometers, to the Tsarist Russia, which was later more than 20 million square kilometers, and to Russia, the world's largest territorial power today, it seems that Russia's territory is already large enough, so why should it persist in territorial expansion?
The reason is simple: large areas of Russian territory are located in high latitudes and cold zones, rivers have particularly long icing periods, land cultivation periods are particularly short, food crops have short growth cycles, and the environmental conditions for social production are poor. All in all, it was extremely difficult to develop here, so the constant russian aggression and expansion that had lasted for centuries was essentially a search for two things— suitable land for farming and warm water ports.
Expansion of Russian territory
To the east and south, from the mid-seventeenth century to the Qing government's control of the Heilongjiang River Valley, to the seizure of the Korean Peninsula in the mid-nineteenth century, and the seizure of control of Lushun during the Russo-Japanese War, all in search of warm water inlets and outlets along the Pacific Ocean;
To the west and north, from defeating Sweden to seize control of the Baltic Sea to defeating the Ottoman And Turkish Empires to gain rights in the Black Sea and the Turkish Strait, it was all about gaining a foothold on the Atlantic coast. Although Russia's warm water ports along the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are still on the fence, there is no doubt that territorial expansion has provided a new option for Russia's development.
On the other hand, Russia's serfdom and feudal monarchy have always been a constraint restricting the development of productive forces, so compared with Western countries, Russia lacks the impetus to promote effective economic development. The backward feudal ideology and the mutual exclusion with the Western European countries have hindered Russia's ideological emancipation and led to the long-term stagnation of Social Development in Russia, so in this environment of internal and external troubles, the best way for Russia to seize wealth and accumulate capital is to plunder resources through wars of aggression and to accumulate the original conditions for the development of capitalism through the occupation of territory.
For example, after the occupation of Siberia, the rich fur resources fell into the hands of the Russians, and the lucrative fur business was monopolized by the Russians. Over time, a pattern of Russia's long-term dependence on territorial expansion for development was formed, which is the so-called "no land, no joy, and the devouring of soil". Even today, this fixed idea persists, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said – "there is no end to Russia's borders". Because territorial expansion never stops!
Then again, although Russia has long relied on territorial expansion to capture resources and wealth, in terms of the results of the war, there are not many real victories, on the contrary, most wars end in bitter victories or defeats.
Although the Russians were born tall and mighty, and have always been known as the "fighting nation", in fact, they are not good at war, and the reason why they can seize such a vast land is because of their demographic advantage.
Why is it so difficult to aggressively expand here?
Most of the reasons for this are due to the cold climate; as mentioned earlier, most of Russia's territory is located in the alpine zone, where the frozen soil is vast and very hard, which invisibly adds a layer of defense to the defending troops, and in the cold, the soldiers are often difficult to deploy, the artillery and firearms are more likely to fail, and the supply of grain and grass here is very inconvenient, and it is extremely difficult for the attacking side to start a war.
In this way, Russia was able to destroy the neighboring countries by virtue of its demographic superiority and protracted battles, but it was powerless against the European countries that were slightly farther away. Similarly, although European countries coveted a large area of Territory in Russia, they had to give up in view of the harsh environment there!
Of course, there are those who do not accept defeat and do not believe in evil, such as Napoleon, and then Hitler, who once swept through Europe and was invincible, but he suffered a major defeat in the process of expedition to Russia, laying the seeds for the collapse of the French Empire.
Although Nazi Germany during World War II had the most powerful mechanized corps at that time, and the morale of the soldiers was high, in the face of the Soviet Red Army, which was stubbornly defending the city, it was finally defeated in the cold and cold, and finally had to withdraw from Russia. Tyrants as strong as Napoleon and Hitler can't help the cold land of Russia, what else can they do?
In summary, it is quite difficult to carry out an invasion in russia, especially in the vast land of Siberia, not to mention that it is difficult to conquer in the environment of low temperature and cold winds, because it is cold all year round, agricultural production and resource exploitation are quite difficult; coupled with the fact that such an area of land necessarily requires a large number of personnel to manage and garrison, it is difficult to fully control even if the war is won. Under these factors, although the Siberian region is vast, it has become a "wasteland" that no one cares about.
Did Russia "pick up" Siberia in vain?
Such a description alone may not really explain the cold in Siberia, so we may wish to use temperature statistics to illustrate it.
According to the meteorological observatory, the temperature in Irkutsk, located in the Siberian region, is below zero degrees Celsius all year round, and the average temperature in January or so is as low as minus thirty degrees Celsius! Imagine what it would be like to live in an environment of minus thirty degrees.
However, the low temperature is not the most terrible, due to the high latitude, resulting in short daylight in Siberia, the lack of light, food production is often very low, coupled with the fact that there is not much land suitable for farming, so the food problem in Siberia is the primary difficulty that the local population needs to overcome.
Moreover, the temperature is too low, resulting in the local rivers in a long-term ice period, land transportation was originally underdeveloped, and now it is encountering the suspension of shipping routes, which can be imagined that the transportation in Siberia is inconvenient.
In fact, at the beginning of the Siberian region, there was a state called the Siberian Khanate. However, in such a vast land, there are only about 200,000 inhabitants living. What do you mean? On an average of tens of square kilometers, there is only one person! It is conceivable that such a sparsely populated country had no ability to organize a defense, so Tsarist Russia easily occupied it and incorporated it into Russia's territory.
And after Siberia was incorporated into Tsarist Russia, it almost did not encounter any substantial invasion, on the one hand, it is related to the inability of many neighboring countries to match Tsarist Russia, on the other hand, it is because of the lack of food and manpower that we mentioned earlier, the key is that it is still difficult to take care of here, so who is too lazy to invade Siberia? No wonder some people say, "Siberia was completely picked up by Russia."
Instead of picking up for nothing, Siberia was also won by Russia through war
In fact, it is not accurate to say "pick up", after all, this is where the Tsarist Russia sent troops to fight, and then the Later Franco-Russian War and the Soviet-German War, the Russians have made great sacrifices to defend the territory here. Other covetous countries, on the other hand, were powerless to seize them from the Russians, so it was understandable that Siberia fell into the hands of the Russians.
Today, the Russians occupy Siberia and make a lot of money.
First of all, the presence of Siberia greatly enlarged The territory of Russia, making it the largest country in the world in terms of territorial area, which also gave him the upper hand in the competition with many European countries;
Secondly, the Far East, including Siberia, is extremely rich in mineral resources, and russia's subsequent development provides a steady stream of power. Energy is precisely the foundation of a country's development, Rao is Japan and Germany during World War II, even if the military is strong, the lack of mineral resources support is just a paper tiger;
Finally, along with the progress of agricultural production technology and variety improvement, it has effectively promoted the development of agricultural production in Russia and contributed a lot to solving the food problem of the poor in Russia.
In this way, Siberia really means "picking up a big bargain", after all, its existence has had a profound impact on Russia's political and military, production and culture!