In 1914, Tsar Nicholas II, who had broken the jar, intended to divert domestic contradictions by participating in World War I. As a result, in 1917, with their mass casualties on the battlefield, the Romanov dynasty lost the hearts and minds of the people, thus bringing Tsarist Russia to an end.
After the fall of Tsarist Russia, the great Russia began to fall apart. Due to the size of Tsarist Russia, it has a total area of 22.88 million square kilometers. Many of the conquered areas have not yet been completely assimilated by the Russians, so after the collapse of Tsarist Russia, all parts of the border began to separate and work alone.
Finland, the three Baltic states, Poland and other countries became independent
Before the end of World War I, Tsarist Russia ended first. The German troops on the eastern battlefield were immediately out of pressure, and Sensei was overjoyed, and immediately ran to the western battlefield to clean up the Entente.
At the same time, Soviet Russia signed the Treaty of Brest with Germany, promising to cede one million territories in the west and compensate Germany with 6.2 billion marks in exchange for Russia's safe withdrawal from World War I.
Germany is satisfied with this, it can get land and money without going to war, and it can also reduce the pressure on the eastern battlefield, why not? This is also where many people criticize Lenin, believing that he did not see the situation clearly, and that Germany's defeat was inevitable, but he offended the Entente and took the initiative to cede his own territory, which really should not be.
As a result, trouble came, and before Soviet Russia could gain a foothold in Russia, the forces of the Entente had already rushed into Russian territory. They invaded Russia from all sides, intending to wipe out Soviet Russia in its infancy.
At the same time, Finland, Poland, the Baltic countries and other territories of the former Tsarist Russia have chosen to go it alone and establish their own countries. Moldova, which originally belonged to Tsarist Russia, also went it alone, choosing to merge with its original home country of Romania in March 1918.
These things were supported by the Entente, and Soviet Russia naturally could not stop them. After all, it was Soviet Russia that took the initiative to cede these territories, even if Germany was defeated and Soviet Russia did not recognize the "Brest Peace Treaty", but it is a fact that people came out to go it alone.
At that time, Soviet Russia had not even finished the war on its own soil, and a large number of Russian forces opposed to Soviet Russia were concentrated in Siberia, intending to counterattack Moscow and St. Petersburg, which was enough for them to drink a pot, and Soviet Russia naturally did not have more time to entangle these lost territories in the west, how to act independently and independently.
The Far East was also almost thrown out to go it alone
The direction in which the Entente invaded Russia came from all directions. In addition to landing in Murmansk and Crimea, the Allies also entered Russian territory from Transcaucasia, Central Asia, and the Far East.
Especially in the Far East, Soviet Russia encountered a very strong opponent, that is, Japan.
In April 1918, Allied forces landed in Vladivostok, mainly including United Kingdom, United States, and Japan. Although Beiyang also sent troops to Vladivostok at that time, it was mainly for the evacuation of overseas Chinese.
In the face of these powers, Beiyang is not competitive. It would be good if they could guarantee that the great powers would not come to bully themselves, and Beiyang would not dare to think of this piece of Russian meat. In fact, it was only about half a century since Vladivostok was cut off by Russia. We can say no to the land ceded by unequal treaties.
Among the three countries of Britain, the United States and Japan, United Kingdom was still the world's first brother at that time, and United States also made enough oil and water in World War I, and his international status was increasing day by day, which was enough to wrestle with United Kingdom. As for Japan, it seems to be the weakest, but their ambitions for Russian territories in the east are the greatest.
In addition to landing at Vladivostok, Japan also pulled troops to Manchuria, from which it crossed into Siberia. Therefore, Japan is the most active one in the process of sending troops this time, and it is also the one that has sent the largest number of troops.
Several other countries symbolically sent thousands of troops, after all, there were not many Russian resistance forces in the Far East. However, Japan has sent more than 70,000 troops to the shores of Lake Baikal. It's like I'm going to do a lot here.
Under this pressure, Soviet Russia did not rush into conflict with the Japanese army in the Baikal region, they chose to save the country by supporting the local Russians in the Far East and creating a new state in the Far East, the Far Eastern Republic.
At the same time, the forces of Soviet Russia also quietly entered this area and launched a frantic sneak attack on the Japanese army. Under these circumstances, Britain and the United States and other countries were also very dissatisfied with Japan's intention to occupy Siberia, and even proposed the "Four-Power Pact" to restrain Japan's aggressive behavior.
In desperation, Japan fought and retreated, and finally withdrew from Vladivostok in 1922 after occupying the Far East for four years. Abandoned the struggle with Soviet Russia for Siberia and the Far East.
After Japan withdrew its troops, the Far Eastern Republic fulfilled its historical mission. In November 1922, they announced the abolition of the republic and its annexation to Soviet Russia in the form of the Far Eastern states.
Why Russia was able to keep the Far East for a long time
The Far East was originally China's inherent territory. We will not trace the history too far, since the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, there has been a Nuer Gandu Division in the Far East, responsible for the management of the vast Far East including the Heilongjiang estuary.
During the Qing Dynasty, the Far East was their land of dragons. Therefore, in 1689, when the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia signed the Treaty of Nebuchu, the Far East was included in the Chinese sphere of influence, and the two sides were bounded by the Outer Khingan Mountains.
This is the first border treaty signed between China and a foreign country, and it is logically significant. But this first border treaty was torn up.
The Treaty of Aihun in 1858 and the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing in 1860 directly tore up the previous Treaty of Nebuchu, and more than 1 million square kilometers of land in the outer northeast were all occupied by Tsarist Russia. Originally, everyone was bounded by the Outer Xing'an Mountains, and there was nothing to do with each other for more than 100 years. As a result, it directly became the boundary of Heilongjiang.
Heilongjiang hardly has any role as a moat, and to be honest, the two sides use this as a boundary, and neither side has any sense of security. In any case, after 1860, the Far East was Russian in the West.
For more than 50 years, Tsarist Russia has always had a strong attitude towards the Qing Dynasty, so they not only kept the Far East, but also occupied the Northeast for five years.
Even after the fall of Tsarist Russia, the newly established Soviet Russia was still more playful, and they used the Far Eastern Republic as a springboard to successfully regain possession of the Far East.
During the Soviet period, Japan became more and more powerful, and the Soviet Union deployed a large number of troops in the Far East, although it did not want a war with Japan, but it was not willing to let the Far East fall into the hands of Japan.
As for China at that time, it fell into the stage of warlord melee, and the Northeast could not be saved, let alone the Far East.
Japan also used the Zhanggufeng incident and the Battle of Nomenhan to provoke Soviet forces in the Far East, but all of them were repulsed. This also convinced Japan that even if the Soviet Union disposed of most of the generals, its combat effectiveness was still very strong, so it was best not to provoke them north. At that time, Japan believed that it would be much smoother to go south and bully China than to provoke the Soviet Union.
When World War II was about to end, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945, and immediately sent millions of troops into the northeast, and slapped Japan in the east. Of course, this act is suspected of picking peaches, after all, the war ended on August 15.
After World War II, China needed strong support from the Soviet Union, so the two sides spent an 11-year honeymoon period, during which it was naturally impossible for China to demand the return of the Soviet Union's territories to the Far East. However, after 1960, China and the Soviet Union became hostile, and the relationship between the two sides deteriorated, and it was reasonable to make territorial claims.
However, our strength is still not as good as others, so we can only endure it. But this historical topic has been moved out of the dust, which can be regarded as a kind of progress.
Historically, Russia's eastern territory has remained largely unchanged
Whether it was the fall of Tsarist Russia or the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's territory in the west changed very much. Especially with the collapse of the Soviet Union, even the central region of Central Asia was separated from Russia and went it alone.
However, in the process of the collapse of Tsarist Russia and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia's eastern territory has never changed much. Vladivostok has always been their naval base, and Sakhalin has always been under their control.
They can still look across the Bering Strait and look out over Alaska. They have always been able to navigate the Sea of Japan, and even the Heilongjiang estuary has always been their territory.
They occupied it for more than 160 years, starting in 1860. Russia people have said that the land in St. Petersburg used to belong to the Kingdom of Sweden, but after being occupied by Russia for hundreds of years, who else would think that land belonged to Sweden? Perhaps the same thing.