Today, let's talk about the country far to the northeast - Russia. Did you know that in the early 19th and early 20th centuries, Russia went through a series of really jaw-dropping changes and reforms? Unlike some soap operas, every twist and turn is about the fate of thousands of people.
Imagine that Tsarist Russia was a behemoth that stretched from Europe to the depths of Asia. But don't look at its large territory, there are many internal problems. The monarchs changed one after the other, and some of them were quite interesting. Alexander II, for example, came to power with a wave of reforms, most famously the abolition of serfdom. At that time, this was equivalent to a bombshell, and it was so relieving to think that the serfs who had been bound for hundreds of years were suddenly able to breathe fresh air freely!
Then another character appeared - Stolypin. The eldest brother was also a reformer, and he did a more practical job, starting land reform and modernizing agriculture. If it weren't for his sudden assassination (which was dramatic), who knows what Russian agriculture would have become?
Don't think that Tsarist Russia is only busy with internal construction, and it is also involved in foreign wars and diplomatic tug-of-wars. Take, for example, the Crimean War, when Tsarist Russia first tried to flex its naval power in the Black Sea. The result...... Although the final fight was not very good, at least it showed the European countries that Russia is not just a snowy continent.
Let's talk about the Russo-Japanese War. This is really not just a petty fight between two countries! It has changed almost the whole of East Asia and even the world. Imagine who would have thought that an island nation could defeat an empire before that war, and that after the end of the war, Tsarist Russia would be devastated in the Far East.
When it comes to comparison, we always like to compare ourselves to others. Lao Sha (I'll just call Tsarist Russia like this) also likes to compare! They watched Britain and France divide territory and establish colonies in Africa and the Americas, and they felt envious, jealous, and hateful! Therefore, they were not idle, and they vigorously expanded their sphere of influence in Asia.
Through such a historical review, we can find that the once huge territory of Tsarist Russia is actually like a dynamic picture: there are not only territorial expansion and transformation, but also the reshaping of the internal structure and political outlook of society; there are both imperial ambitions and military wrestling that are manifested by foreign toughness, and it also reveals the helplessness of having to make choices and adjustments in the changing times.
In short, in that turbulent era of various forces, Tsarist Russia was like a teenager who was growing tall and fast in adolescence, but his knees were often painful, and he occasionally had to go to the dentist to have his wisdom teeth extracted (meaning reform) - growing up was always accompanied by pain and challenges.
After all, no matter what, leaving a strong mark in the long river of history is always a thing worthy Xi of respect and retrospective learning, right?