#时事热点头条说#
The Russian-Ukrainian war is over in 2023, but the eastern front of Ukraine cannot be pushed. The Ukrainian army counterattacked and recaptured 523 square kilometers, and the Russian army launched an offensive on all fronts, which also captured 587 square kilometers. Of these, 416,000 square kilometers are in Bakhmut and 2.3 square kilometers in Maryinka. Russia and Ukraine fought corpses all over the field for some projectiles, and rivers of blood flowed. At this time, the United States took advantage of the fact that the Russian army had no time to look eastward and vigorously expanded its territorial waters by 1 million square kilometers, and the main area was located on the north and south sides of the Bering Strait.
The Russian and Ukrainian armies fought inextricably, but the U.S. military did not abandon a single soldier, and expanded its seabed sovereignty to the North Pole, and the territorial sea increased by 1 million square kilometers. From a historical point of view, this is thanks to Tsarist Russia. If it weren't for Tsarist Russia's sale of Alaska to the United States, the territorial waters of the United States would never have reached the North Pole. The United States is about the same latitude as China's main territory. Without Alaska, the United States would not have the Arctic. But why did Tsarist Russia sell Alaska? How did the United States succeed in picking up the leaks? Today, Yilin would like to talk to you about those things that Tsarist Russia is begging the United States to buy Alaska as soon as possible.
Today, we look at Alaska, which is a treasure of feng shui. It covers an area of 1,717,000 square kilometers and contains 5.7 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 30 billion barrels of oil underground, with energy reserves alone worth more than $2 trillion. After the United States expands its sovereignty over the seabed by 1 million square kilometers, the value of Alaska will be infinitely magnified, and the Arctic route is the shortest route connecting Europe, Asia, Europe and the United States. In the future, this route is expected to replace the Indian Ocean route as the world's busiest golden waterway. But in 1867, the United States bought Alaska and paid only $7.2 million, an average of $4 per square kilometer of land.
It can be said that this is the most profitable business in the history of mankind, and there is no one. But back then, it was not the United States that wanted to buy it, but Tsarist Russia who begged to sell it to the United States. After the deal was completed, Tsarist Russia still felt that it had made a lot of money, and what was going on? There are four main reasons:
First, scarcity is expensive, but the territory of Tsarist Russia is too large. At the height of Tsarist Russia, land was the least valuable thing. Before the sale of Alaska, Tsarist Russia had already forced the Qing government to cede more than 1 million square kilometers of the outer northeast. For Tsarist Russia, continuing to invade northeastern China was more valuable than Alaska.
Second, Britain is eyeing Alaska, and if it is not sold, it is likely to be snatched away by Britain. At that time, Canada was still a British colony. If Alaska is sold to the United States, it will not only get back a sum of money, but also strengthen the United States and balance Britain. At that time, the United States was nothing more than a small emerging North American power, and there was no threat to Tsarist Russia.
If the British army attacked Alaska, Tsarist Russia would not be able to defeat the British at all. Rather than being snatched away by the British, it is better to sell Alaska to the United States and unite with the United States to resist the British.
This is not without precedent. In the Napoleonic era, France sold Louisiana to the United States for the same reason. Louisiana was too far from France to hold on, and sooner or later it was to be snatched up by the British. Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States in order to raise military funds. Alexander II simply followed Napoleon's choice.
Third, in the Crimean War, Tsarist Russia suffered a crushing defeat, with 520,000 casualties and a cost of 800 million rubles, the national economy was close to collapse, and Tsar Nicholas I committed suicide in despair. Tsarist Russia at this time was extremely weak and was no match for Britain at all. Alaska has become a hot potato, and in the hand, Britain will be worried. If it was taken away by the British army, Tsarist Russia would not have made a dime.
Fourth, at that time, mankind had not yet entered the era of internal combustion engines, and the demand for oil and natural gas was not large, and important resources such as oil and natural gas were not discovered in Alaska. Standing in 1867, the princes and nobles of the Tsarist palace were not aware of the true value of Alaska. On the contrary, after getting rid of it, I felt a great sigh of relief, got rid of a burden, and could concentrate on traveling through Northeast China.
In terms of resource endowment and geographical conditions, Alaska is a bitter cold land, but Northeast China is different, with fertile black soil and a warm outlet to the sea, which are all dreamed of by Tsarist Russia. Therefore, after the sale of Alaska, Tsarist Russia went all out to the south, forcibly leasing Lushun and Dalian, building the Eastern Railway, and establishing the Pacific Fleet.
Tsarist Russia did not want Alaska, and the United States also disliked it, thinking that it was not cost-effective to spend $7.2 million to take over an enclave. $7.2 million is not a small amount, and the total fiscal revenue of the United States is less than $20 million a year. This means that the United States will have to spend nearly half of its fiscal revenue to buy a piece of bitter cold land that no one cares about.
Moreover, the United States has just finished the Civil War, owes $76 million in foreign debt, and has to carry out post-war reconstruction, which requires a large amount of money, so how can it have money to buy Alaska? In order to repay the debt, US Treasury Secretary Hamilton also suggested that tariffs be imposed to make up for the fiscal shortfall. The deal was difficult from the start. The money bag of the United States is in the hands of Congress, and if Congress opposes it, the appropriation will not be forthcoming.
In order to allow the United States to buy Alaska smoothly, the Russian ambassador to the United States spent $200,000 to dredge up relations, and finally passed with 113 votes in favor and 43 votes against. In other words, Tsarist Russia actually received only $7.5 million, and the remaining $200,000 was used to unblock US parliamentarians.
But when the deal was completed, U.S. Secretary of State Seward was immediately impeached by the U.S. Congress. Some opposition US lawmakers openly mocked: "This is nothing more than the purchase of a polar bear park for President Johnson".
In the 30 years since, no one has considered it a profitable deal. Except for the 50,000 Eskimos who can endure the cold winter of Alaska and insist on fishing and hunting, there are no more than 50 whites in the whole of Alaska. The United States wanted to immigrate to Alaska, but because of the cold weather and the lack of money, they couldn't even eat a hot meal, so they all ran back. It wasn't until 1899 that gold was discovered in Alaska!
As soon as they heard about the existence of gold, groups of Americans frantically poured into Alaska and began a frenzied gold rush. It was also from this moment that the Americans completely reversed their views on Alaska. It's like if you go and buy a big desert, the desert is full of oil, and the Americans finally realize that they have made a fortune!
Today, Alaska is not only an energy base for the United States, but also a bridgehead for the United States to enter the Arctic, generating huge profits for the United States every year by exporting timber, fish, minerals, etc. This time, the United States is expanding its seabed sovereignty by 1 million square kilometers with Alaska as the center, in order to obtain two major resources: one is lithium ore and the other is the Arctic route.
Lithium is known as "white oil", and the Arctic route can replace the Indian Ocean route, which will break the United States' dependence on Middle Eastern energy and the Suez Canal. Russia has invested 700,000 soldiers on the battlefield in Ukraine, bleeding desperately, and has not yet fully controlled the east of Ukraine, but the United States has won 1 million square kilometers of seabed sovereignty with Alaska without much effort.
When a dynasty declines, it is not distressing for the cub to sell his field, but what his descendants lose may be the ancestral land that can never be regained.