This sentence is too classic, what you can't get on the battlefield, you want to get it through negotiations? That's wishful thinking. After all, war is a key factor in determining the direction of resources, and simply put, whoever wins will be able to seize more resources.
On the battlefield in the Middle East, why did Israel's territory gradually expand from 15,200 square kilometers at the time of its founding to the whole of Palestine? The main reason is that they are winning on the battlefield.
In the same way, the reason why Russia was able to have the largest territory in the world was not all friendly gifts from its neighbors, but mainly because Russia won it on the battlefield.
From the Grand Duchy of Moscow, to the Russia Empire
Russia currently has more than 17 million square kilometers, ranking first in the world in terms of land area. In fact, this is already their shrinking territory, at the peak of Tsarist Russia, with 22.88 million square kilometers, and at the peak of the Soviet Union, with 22.4 million square kilometers, all of which are the world's largest in terms of local area.
The reason why Russia has been able to achieve such glory is not because they are good at negotiation. Mainly because they are on the battlefield and have taken care of the surrounding neighbors. If the space of the neighbor's house is small, the space of their home will naturally be larger.
Originally, Russia was just a Muscovy with more than 20,000 square kilometers, which was equivalent to a city-state. As a result, after the Mongolians came over in the 13th century, they leaned on the big tree of Mongolia and began to show off their power in the Rus' state.
After the annexation of Ryazan, Tver, Pskov, Novgorod and other Rus' principalities, Muscovy's strength increased unprecedentedly. Of course, these Rus' neighbors also became the pockets of Muscovy.
Beginning in the middle of the 15th century, Muscovy began to rebel against the rule of the Mongolia Golden Horde, and after the fall of the Golden Horde, Muscovy successively completed the Kazan Khanate, the Astrakhan Khanate, the Siberian Khanate and other small khanates split from the Mongolia Golden Horde. As a result, Muscovy was once again strengthened, and in 1547 it became Tsarist Russia.
By the early 18th century, Tsarist Russia defeated its neighboring Kingdom of Sweden and received the Baltic coast and St. Petersburg from Sweden. Due to the great achievements of Peter I, he was canonized emperor of all Rus', so Tsarist Russia became the Russia empire again.
In the late 18th century, Tsarist Russia, together with Prussia and Austria, divided the Poland and Lithuania Commonwealth, thus expanding the sphere of influence of the Russia Empire to the west by 460,000 square kilometers. At the same time, the Russia Empire, having defeated Ottoman Turkey, destroyed the Crimean Khanate and received the Crimean peninsula.
Because of these exploits during Catherine II's reign, she was also canonized as the Great Emperor of the Russia Empire, and was the only female emperor.
From a small principality to a large empire, along the way, Russia conquered a series of neighbors around it through wars, thus expanding its territory unprecedentedly.
The million-dollar land of the Far East is an exception
If there is any territory in Russia that was not acquired through war, it is the Far East, which is commonly known as the Outer Northeast. This place is located north of the Heilongjiang River and east of the Ussuri River, covering an area of more than 1 million square kilometers.
With such a large territory, can it really be decided by non-war means? It seems to be very fake, but with a little brain, it is impossible to give away such a large piece of land at the negotiation table, right?
When Russia conquered Siberia, although the Siberian Khanate was conquered, the Khanate, which had only 200,000 people, fought against Tsarist Russia for 17 years.
It also took Russia 20 years to conquer the Buryats east of Lake Baikal. The population of the Buryats was even smaller than that of the Siberian Khanate.
When Russia conquered Central Asia, it went through a series of difficult wars, during which it lost a large number of Russian troops before conquering several khanates in Central Asia.
Therefore, it is hard to imagine that more than 1 million square kilometers will be pocketed through a battle of words? In fact, when Tsarist Russia got this territory, it really didn't send a single soldier.
In 1847, Tsarist Russia appointed Muravyov as governor of Eastern Siberia, equivalent to a state of exile. When this guy came to the Far East, he wanted to make a career and prove his abilities to the Tsar.
But he didn't have many soldiers and horses in his hands at all, and there were only a few hundred people, after all, the north of the Outer Xing'an Mountains was not suitable for human survival at that time. In order to make a career, he took a fancy to the area south of the Outer Khing'an Mountains.
He was reminded that China and Russia had already signed the Treaty of Nebuchu in 1689, stipulating that the Outer Khingan Mountains would be the boundary, and that if you crossed the Outer Khingan Mountains, it would be an invasion and would be violently beaten.
Muravyov smiled, because he had already seen from the Opium War that the Qing Dynasty was going downhill and it was time to take advantage of the fire to rob. Of course, for the sake of insurance, Muravyov sent a number of small detachments to enter the Outer Northeast in batches in the form of expeditions.
By 1858, the Russia Empire had illegally established a number of strongholds in the Outer Northeast. Of course, these strongholds are mainly concentrated in no-man's land.
At this time, just in time for the Second Opium War and the Taiping War, Muravyov felt that God helped me, and decisively began to put pressure on the Heilongjiang general Yishan. After many threats, Yishan had no choice but to compromise and sign the "Aihui Treaty" with him, ceding the Outer Northeast to him.
In 1860, China and Russia signed the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing, recognizing the legitimacy of the Treaty of Aihui, and the more than 1 million square kilometers of the Outer Northeast were returned to Russia at the negotiating table.
The Aihui Treaty is a pain that is difficult to heal
Today, Russia commemorates the Treaty of Aihun every year, not only because it won them more than 1 million square kilometers in the Far East, but also because this treaty is a testimony to the large land they obtained through negotiations.
With this treaty, they were able to show the world that Russia did not expand its territory purely by war, and that sometimes it was able to acquire large tracts of land with lip service. Of course, they should remember such achievements from generation to generation, and it is not uncommon for them to be commemorated on a large scale every year. Especially the Russians in the Far East, without this treaty, these Russians did not even have a homeland, and they naturally bowed down to this treaty.
Muravyov, who signed this treaty, is regarded as a national hero by them, and his bronze statue still stands in Boli, facing the direction of the Heilongjiang River, looking at this side of the river, and its meaning is self-evident. In addition, his bronze statue is printed on 5,000 roubles, which is the largest denomination of rubles issued in Russia so far. Peter the Great was only printed on 500 rubles, which shows that in the minds of many Russians, Muravyov is more important than Peter the Great.
For us, it's a pain that's almost hard to erase. The loss of more than 1 million square kilometers of land is naturally very frustrating, and the process of losing it has brought us a huge shame that is difficult to wash away.
Because throughout human history, it is almost impossible to imagine that such a situation will be possible, and it is unthinkable to threaten two sentences at the negotiating table and get a million square kilometers of land without having to use your hands. It is estimated that this is the only one in human history, and this shame cannot be shaken off.
If you have the right opportunity to negotiate, you can still get what you want
Some people believe that it is almost impossible to return to these territories. Because the aborigines of this place have basically been disposed of by Russia, and the more than 6 million people living here now are basically Russians.
But in reality, this is not a problem. During World War I, in order to withdraw from the war, Soviet Russia signed the "Brest Peace Treaty" with Germany and took the initiative to cede more than 1 million square kilometers in the west.
At that time, Soviet Russia was facing not only the pressure of the remnants of internal Tsarist Russia, but also the pressure of the Entente, which could really be described as internal and external troubles, but the situation was exactly the same when the Qing Dynasty lost the Outer Northeast. Kou can go, I can also go, why only allow people to rob us while the fire is hot, but we want to repay our grievances with virtue and silently help?
So, you can feel that the time is not ripe enough, but you can't say that there is no chance. As long as Russia is faced with the same dilemma, they will have to agree to whatever we ask. What is lost at the negotiating table, we can still get it back from the negotiating table.