History Analysis / RussianGuySuffersMost

For almost all of its history, Russia had several running themes: a corrupt leader who will sacrifice the population for his or her goals, a corrupt bureaucracy that violently struggles for power, and awful working and living conditions for the vast majority of the people. With only a few intervals, Russians have never experienced a fully democratic system, first-world prosperity, or the rule of law. Despite having vast resources and a highly educated population that had produced innovations like the periodic table and space travel, Russia has remained under some authoritarianism for centuries.

Russia is such a massive country that the European portion alone, where the majority of the population lives, is 3,969,100 square kilometers (1,532,500 sq mi) is bigger than UsefulNotes/{{India}}. While this region is large, it also has several weaknesses:

##No warm water ports: European Russia is so far north that much of its water is frozen for much of the year.[[note]]However, climate change is beginning to create more ice-free waters for Russia to use.[[/note]] There is a reason Russian leaders have coveted IstanbulNotConstantinople: aside from believing itself to be a "Third Rome," the SpiritualSuccessor of the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire, controlling Istanbul would give Russia control of the straight through which Black Sea commerce flows, as well as warm Mediterranean waters.

##Flat land: Much of the Russian core is situated on the East European Plain, a flat territory with no geographic barriers that can deter invasion.

The geographic weaknesses of UsefulNotes/KievanRus would become apparent with the arrival of a particular enemy: the Mongols under the command of Batu Khan, UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan's grandson, wholly leveled the Rus principalities, with the only principalities that agreed to pay tribute being spared, most famously the Novgorod Republic. When Kyiv fell to the Mongols, only 2,000 people out of a population of 50,000 were left.

## In 1991, Gorbachev tried to democratize the weakening Soviet regime by turning it into [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Union_Treaty a democratic confederation]]. While some of the Soviet republics were disinterested in anything but total independence, many of the Republics did sign up and hosted referendums in support of a new confederation. August 20 of that year was scheduled for the treaty's ratification... only for Gorbachev to be nearly overthrown by Soviet hardliners. While the coup fizzled out, it killed any chances for the Soviet republics to stay together, and a [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia new Russia]] of widespread corruption, inflation, economic collapse, and social problems under UsefulNotes/BorisYeltsin then UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin was born.

## In 1991, Gorbachev tried to democratize the weakening Soviet regime by turning it into [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Union_Treaty a democratic confederation]]. While some of the Soviet republics were disinterested in anything but total independence, many of the Republics did sign up and hosted referendums in support of a new confederation. August 20 of that year was scheduled for the treaty's ratification...only for Gorbachev to be nearly overthrown by Soviet hardliners. While the coup fizzled out, it killed any chances for the Soviet republics to stay together.

## While Nicholas II was a stubborn and out-of-touch autocrat, his final years did see some reforms, including the creation of a parliamentary system, albeit one that left the tsar with lots of power, the granting of peasants their land, rapid industrial and scientific expansion [[note]]Russia was expanding so quickly, one of the reasons Germany wanted to start a war was because they feared Russia would get too strong to beat.[[/note]] Of course, all this progress was blown out of the war once Nicholas dragged his unprepared country into UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.
## The initial February Revolution led to the toppling of the tsar and its replacement with an incredibly progressive set of laws that, on paper, granted things like ethnic autonomy and freedom of speech. Unfortunately, the Provisional Government leaders burned their goodwill by continuing World War I, leading to their overthrow by the Bolsheviks in November 1917.
## In 1991, Gorbachev set about trying to democratize the weakening Soviet regime by turning it into [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Union_Treaty a democratic confederation]]. While some of the Soviet republics were disinterested in anything but total independence, many of the Republics did sign up and hosted referendums in support of a new confederation. August 20 of that year was scheduled for the treaty's ratification...only for Gorbachev to be nearly overthrown by Soviet hardliners. While the coup fizzled out, it killed any chances for the Soviet republics to stay together.

As a result of these constant invasions, the Russian peasantry developed a degree of nationalism and loyalty to the state that did not exist in the rest of Europe for another couple of centuries and was quite willing to die if it meant the survival of Russia. The Russian leader also decided that expanding into as much territory as possible was the best way to ensure security. Aside from also getting access to more warm water, the centralized government believed a buffer would be the best way to shield Russia from invasion. Hence Russia's expansion into Siberia, Poland, the Baltic, Ukraine, and Central Asia.

Why have Russian leaders been so harsh to their populations? And why have Russians rallied around autocracy?

##No warm water ports: European Russia is so far north that much of its water is frozen over for much of the year.[[note]]However, climate change is beginning to create more ice-free waters for Russia to use.[[/note]] There is a reason Russian leaders have coveted IstanbulNotConstantinople: aside from believing itself to be a "Third Rome," the SpiritualSuccessor of the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire, controlling Istanbul would give Russia control of the straight through which Black Sea commerce flows, as well as warm Mediterranean waters.

As a result of these constant invasions, the Russian peasantry developed a degree of nationalism and loyalty to the state that did not exist in the rest of Europe for another couple of centuries and was quite willing to die if it meant the survival of the Russian state. The Russian leader also decided that the best way to ensure security was to expand into as much territory as possible. Aside from also getting access to more warm water, the centralized government believed a buffer would be the best way to shield Russia from invasion. Hence Russia's expansion into Siberia, Poland, the Baltic, Ukraine, and Central Asia.

## The elements: While the Russian winter is indeed harsh, Russia also has harsh summers and a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasputitsa a mud season that can slow down invaders]]. Napoleon's forces fumbled around because the mud made lightning warfare extremely difficult.

## Autonomy: sometimes the centralized authority offered a modicum of self-rule: UsefulNotes/{{Finland}} was given a duchy, the UsefulNotes/{{Cossacks}} were allowed autonomous communities, and under the German-born UsefulNotes/CatherineTheGreat, Germans were encouraged to settle along the Volga and even rise to become generals. The Soviet Union allowed (at times) cultural autonomy to its various republics, and the modern Russian federation gives people like the Chuvash control over autonomous territory.
## Forced assimilation and persecution: other times, Russian leaders would try and force other non-Russians to assimilate into Russian society. When Russia gained a sizeable Jewish population after the annexation of Poland, the tsars segregated Jews into a Pale of Settlement, conscripted Jewish boys into the army for 25 years so they could be bullied into renouncing their heritage, or tormented them with pogroms.

It is important to note that while oppression and poverty are common in Russian history, they are far from the ''only'' parts of Russian history, and Russia had many opportunities when it almost became a wealthy and democratic nation.

## Alexander II's reign saw even further reforms, including the abolition of serfdom, the modernization of the judiciary, and the creation of local governmental councils, known as Zemstvos. Alexander II came very close to establishing a kind of constitutional monarchy...only to be blown up by anarchists in 1881. His successor, the arch-reactionary Alexander III, canceled this government reform, and in the "[[https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/manifesto-unshakable-autocracy-1881/ Manifesto of Unshakable Autocracy]]", he asserted his belief that Russia had to be governed autocratically.
## While Nicholas II was a stubborn and out-of-touch autocrat, his final years did see some reforms, including the creation of a parliementary system, albeit one that left the tsar with lots of power, the granting of peasants their own land, rapid industrial and scientific expansion [[note]]Russia was expanding so quickly, one of the reasons Germany wanted to start a war was because they feared Russia would get too strong to beat.[[/note]] Of course, all this progress was blown out of the war once Nicholas dragged his unprepared country into UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

It is important to note that while oppression and poverty are common in Russian history, they are far from the ''only'' parts of Russian history, and Russia had many opportunities when it almost become a wealthy and democratic nation.

## A population that existed to serve the whims of whoever held power and could be culled if necessary.

## Guerilla warfare: the Russians not only adopt guerilla warfare to harass any invader, but they are also willing to burn down their own resources and cities to spite their potential invaders. The governor of Moscow during Napoleon's invasion, Fyodor Rostopchin, had his own house burned to the ground to keep Napoleon from getting any supplies.

## Straight-up genocide and ethnic cleansing: if an ethnic minority was seen as a significant enough threat, the Russian leadership would brutally suppress that group to keep them from becoming a (potential fifth column). Examples include the genocide of the Circassians, the starvation of the Ukrainians during the UsefulNotes/TheHolodomor, and the deportation of Chechens and Crimean Tatars during World War II.

## Size: holding onto any piece of land in Russia requires a commitment of land and troops, and whenever there's an invasion, the Russians can fall back into places like Siberia.
## The elements: While the Russian winter is indeed harsh, Russia also has harsh summers and a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasputitsa a mud season that can slow down invaders]].
## Guerilla warfare: the Russians not only adopt guerilla warfare to harass any invader, but they are also willing to burn down their own resources and cities to spite their potential invaders.

The inevitable consequence of occupying these territories is large numbers of non-Russians came under the rule of a Russian state.

The Golden Horde, the successor state of the Mongols in Eastern Europe, turned the principalities into vassals that would pay tribute to the Golden Horde's khan.

!!Too Many Nationalities

The geographic weaknesses of UsefulNotes/KievanRus would become apparent with the arrival of a particular enemy: the Mongols under the command of Batu Khan, UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan's grandson, wholly leveled the Rus principalities, with the only principalities that agreed to pay tribute being spared, most famously the Novgorod Republic.

For almost all of its history, Russia had several running themes: a corrupt leader who will sacrifice the population, a corrupt bureaucracy that violently struggles for power, and awful working conditions for the people. With only a few intervals, Russians have never experienced a fully democratic system, first-world prosperity, or the rule of law. Despite having vast resources and a highly educated population that had produced innovations like the periodic table and space travel, Russia has remained under some authoritarianism for centuries.

##Flat land:

For almost all of its history, Russia had several running themes: a corrupt leader who will throw , a corrupt bureaucracy that struggles for power, and awful working conditions for the population. With only a few intervals, Russians have never experienced a fully democratic system, first-world prosperity, or the rule of law. Despite having vast resources and a highly educated population that had produced innovations like the periodic table and space travel, Russia has remained under some authoritarianism for centuries.

Why have Russians leaders been so harsh to their populations? And why have Russians rallied around autocracy?

The Russian heartland

!!It Always Gets Worse
For almost all its history, Russia had several running themes: a corrupt leader, a corrupt bureaucracy, and poverty and forced labor for the population.



!!Geography