Russia's territorial expansion

Russia's territorial expansion began in the15th century. Since Tsar Ivan IV came to power in the middle of16th century, Russia began to expand eastward, gradually annexing large areas of Siberia and the Far East and extending its territory to the Pacific coast. In the process of Russia's eastward expansion, the first obstacle is the Siberian khanate adjacent to Russia.

1556, the tsar summoned the Lohan family in Kharkov state adjacent to the Siberian khanate, asked about the border situation and authorized them to resist the Siberian khanate. They were ordered to build fortifications near the Siberian khanate, recruit soldiers, acquire weapons and wait for an opportunity to occupy the Siberian khanate.

1574, the tsar once again ordered the Strohan family in Kharkov State to build cities and recruit troops in the east of Ural-ob river and its tributaries, the Tours River, the Tobol River and the Irtysh River, thus Russia directly expanded its power to the territory of the Siberian khanate. The Lohan people in Kharkov state, adhering to the will of the tsar, invaded the Siberian khanate many times and had fierce conflicts with the people of the khanate.

1579, the Lohan family in Kharkov sent someone to contact Ermak, the Cossack leader who had been severely punished by the Tsar, to encourage him to join in, conquer the Siberian khanate and help the Tsar colonize the territory.

158 1 year, after a long period of preparation, Ermak led a team of 840 people to conquer Siberia under the weapons of the Strohan family in Kharkov. Russian troops marched along the waterway, passed through the Chusovaya River, crossed the Urals, crossed the Shereka River, the Tagil River, the Tours River and the Tobol River, and finally invaded the Irtysh River.

158 1 year1year1October 26th, Kashrek, the capital of the Siberian khanate, was captured. Ermak and his gang made great contributions to Russia's expansion. The czar government decided to pardon Ermak and others, commend their actions, and award a large number of salaries. The Rohan family in Kharkov was also encouraged and rewarded by the two cities. The Russian aggression and atrocities aroused great anger among the people of the Siberian khanate, who struggled to resist the Russian invaders and persisted for more than 20 years.

1598, Russian troops defeated Kuchum Khan, and Kuchum Khan died shortly after fleeing to the prairie. At this point, Russia finally conquered the Siberian khanate. Its aggressive forces crossed the Urals Mountains, and Ermak's expedition opened the prelude to Russia's large-scale expansion to Siberia. By the 1930s and 1940s of 17, Russian aggression had crossed the Yenisei River and reached the Lena River, Chukchi Peninsula and the Sea of Okhotsk. After Russia conquered the Siberian khanate, it sent heavy troops, built castles, held military positions and consolidated the newly occupied areas. And take these strongholds as the base camp, and further get their hands on the Balabin prairie. In order to occupy the middle and lower reaches of ob river, Russia also sent troops to Peking University, successively destroying the Emirate of Piram and the Emirate of Yepancha, and establishing two cities, Piram and Turinsk. The northern Urals and the lower reaches of the ob river are known as the Yugra and Bossola regions in Russian history. Samoyed, Hunter, Mansi and Trude have lived here for a long time. Their aquaculture and fur industry are very famous, and Russians have long coveted the wealth here. After Russia eliminated the Siberian khanate, it paved the way for the complete conquest of the lower reaches of ob river.

1593, after Russia defeated the Teutonic people, it established Berezov City on the former sites of Hante and Mansi Sugemutawa, and continued to March on the Taza River on this basis. In 160 1 year, it established Mangateya City in the lower reaches of the Taza River, which indicated that Russia basically occupied the lower reaches of ob river. At the same time, Russia stepped up its push to the upper reaches of ob river and established Tomsk City at the mouth of Tomu River. In this area, Russian troops fought fiercely with local Mongolians and Kyrgyz, and began to advance to the northwest frontier of China.

From the beginning of17th century, Russia continued to expand eastward and occupied the Yenisei River area in the 1920s. Russia's eastward advance is mainly based on the huge flow of Siberia, along the criss-crossing rivers and streams, from one stream to another. Between two similar waters and rivers, Russians call them land and water roads. In winter, you can walk on ice. Land and water can shorten many distances.

By the early 1930s, the Russians had occupied the middle, lower and upper reaches of the Yenisei River. In the process of Cossack's colonization, news about the Lena River has been heard all the time. And obtained some route information to the Lena River. After the Russian government occupied the two major water systems in Siberia, it also wanted to occupy the Lena River, the third largest water system. So they sent troops from Mangaxia in the north and Yenisesk in the south, and occupied the Lena River at the same time. Cossack troops came to the Lena River basin mainly through the north road of the Lower Tunguska River, the south road of the Upper Tunguska River and the ancient roads often used by the Ewenki people. They plundered the property on both sides of the river and established strongholds. Central Villier, Lower Villier and Upper Villier were successively established.

1638, the Russian government ordered the establishment of the Yakutsk military governor's office, forcibly incorporating large envelopes in the Lena River area into the Russian territory. Yakutsk was originally built on the right bank of the Lena River. 1643, Governor Golovin ordered the city to be moved to the left bank of the river. Since then, Yakutsk has become the command center of Russia's further expedition to Northeast Asia. The geographical conditions in Northeast Asia are complicated. Besides mountains and rivers, it is also close to the Arctic Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk.

From 65438 to the end of 1930s, Russian Cossacks began an expedition to Northeast Asia. Thaksin mainly entered the Arctic Ocean from the mouth of the Lena River by sea, reached all parts of Northeast Asia by using the Lena River and its tributaries or by land, or reached the Sea of Okhotsk by several different routes. Russian colonialism established many castles and winter camps in this area in the process of advancing eastward.

For example, 1638 established Vilho Jansk on the Yana River, and 1642 established Nijansk; Peter Vilske and others set up a stronghold on the Indigilka River. 1645, Mikhail Stadukhin and others arrived at the Jorge Lema River, and successively established three winter camps in Upper, Middle and Lower Kolemesk.

Fort Okhotsk was built in 1647. By the fifties and sixties of 17, Cossack's footprints had spread all over Northeast Asia. Then, they began to advance to kamchatka peninsula. At this time, the kamchatka peninsula was inhabited by Igor, Creole, Eskimo, slaves and so on. They are engaged in fishing and hunting here and live a primitive life.

1695, Yakutia Cossacks went to Fort Anadel in the overseers. Some of them visited kamchatka peninsula the next year. At the beginning of 1697, Atlasov, a Cossack of 50 people, assembled a team of 120 people to conquer kamchatka peninsula, where he fought fiercely with the local people. Later, castles such as Upper Kamchatka were built and guarded.

By 17 1 1, the whole of kamchatka peninsula was conquered and incorporated into the Russian territory. After occupying Northeast Asia and kamchatka peninsula, Russia stepped up its push to Alaska and Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific. In the process of expanding to Siberia and the Far East, Russia also extended its aggression tentacles to Lake Baikal and Heilongjiang.

/kloc-In 1930s and 1940s, Russia invaded Lake Baikal from the west and north, centering on Yenisesk and Yakutsk. Cossacks established Balagansk (1654) and Irkutsk (1652) in the Angara River basin, and Vilho Lensk (1642) in the upper reaches of the Lena River. In the northeast corner of Lake Baikal, Cossacks established Upper Angarsk (1647) and Balguzin Fort (1648), and 1652 established Fort Bowen Tosk. In this way, Russian troops generally surrounded Lake Baikal from the north, laying the foundation for further southward and eastward advancement. Russian troops went all the way south from the south bank of Lake Baikal, reaching the Mongolian area of China. One moves eastward to the Shileka River in the upper reaches of Heilongjiang and then invades Heilongjiang.

On the way to the east and south, the Russians chose to go hand in hand with land and built several town castles in a hurry. For example, Nebuchadnezzar was founded in 1658, Telianbinsk in 1658, Serengesk in 1665 and Houdusse in 1666. These castles have played an important role in Russia's military, diplomatic and economic activities and trade with China.

65438+ In the forties and fifties of last century, Russia invaded the Heilongjiang River Basin. 1643, the branch of Cossack Bojar did not take the Ardan River, a tributary of Lena River, but entered the Mka River in New York State along the Wuqiur River, then crossed the outer Xing 'an Mountains, took the land route of lianshan, and finally entered the Jingjili River (Jieya River), a tributary of Heilongjiang Province. The other route starts from Mahe River in aulick and reaches Heilongjiang along Tujil River, its tributary. Khabarov's expedition to Heilongjiang took this road. In order to strengthen management, the Russian government set up the aulick Minsk Fortress at the Mahekou in aulick at 1656. Russia conquered the vast Siberia and the Far East, and immediately established administrative and military institutions to control and implement colonial rule. The whole Siberia is managed by the central Siberian government. The region is divided into inspector jurisdiction and county. There are four supervision areas, namely Tobolsk, Tomsk, Yakutsk and Yenisesk, and each area belongs to several counties.

/kloc-in the 0/7th century, there were 19 counties in Siberia, such as Tulinsk, Tyumen and Tara. Each district and county has supervisors who are responsible for all military, administrative, judicial and economic powers in their respective areas. After four and a half centuries, the territory of the Russian empire has expanded nearly a hundred times. 1462, the territory of the young Moscow Principality was only 240,000 square kilometers. By 19 14, the total area of Russia has reached 22.38 million square kilometers. At the end of 18, this expansion was mainly manifested in the annexation of the southern region. As mentioned earlier, Zaporoge Cossack, who left his native land with Mazepa, returned to his native land in 1734 and established a new Seki. By 1770, there were 200,000 people living in this land (Cossacks only accounted for a part of them), mainly engaged in farming, animal husbandry and commerce. The czar's government used Zaporozek Cossack in the two wars against Turkey. The Kingdom of Lithuania, Poland, with a population of 1, 1 10,000 and a territory of 733,000 square kilometers, has been greatly weakened militarily because of its backward social economy and political anarchy. So the three most aggressive neighbors-Russia, Prussia and Austria-took advantage of the situation and divided Poland, Lithuania and the Republic of China three times in just 23 years. 1772 for the first time, Russia seized a part of Belarus, and Austria acquired East Galicia and Bukovina. 1793 was partitioned for the second time, and Ukraine on the right bank (four provinces: Portoli, Warren, braz Raf and Kiev) was included in the Russian territory.

1795 During the third partition, Russia annexed Warren in the east and Belarus in the west. шляхами: Really? Укра? ни, Ки? в, 1993, pp. 93-94. In this way, the kingdom of Lithuania in Poland, which lasted for 226 years, was destroyed. Russia is the biggest beneficiary, with a total of 62% of the territory and 45% of the population of this divided country. Austria gained 18% territory and 32% population, and the remaining 20% land and 23% population fell into Prussia's hands. Through these three divisions, Russia controlled 80% of the total land of Ukraine.

1850, taking advantage of the decline of China in the Qing Dynasty, invaded the Heilongjiang River Basin by force. In jaxa, Russians even eat Sauron people as food, which is really a man-eating demon; Nikolayev captured the Temple Street, brutally killed the local Hezhe and Ewenki residents, created the Temple Street tragedy, and renamed it Nikolayevsk; At the same time, it forced the Qing Dynasty to sign the Sino-Russian Love-Faint Treaty and the Sino-Russian Beijing Treaty, and seized 6,543,800 square kilometers of China territory in the Heilongjiang River Basin, including a large area of territory north of Heilongjiang, south of the outer Xing 'an Mountains and east of the Wusuli River to Sakhalin Island. Hezhe people living in this territory were slaughtered, the Elunchun people of Jieya River were forced to move into Daxing 'anling, and the Jurchen people were forced to move into the west of Wusuli River south of Heilongjiang. Finally, Russian immigrants became the main ethnic group in the area. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of Han people immigrated to Northeast China and became the main ethnic group in Northeast China, which ensured the centripetal force of Northeast China to China and became the strongest force to consolidate the border defense in Northeast China. Sixty-four villages east of Hailanpao River were reclaimed by Han Chinese for many years, so it was specifically declared in the Aihui Treaty to be reserved as the territory of China, becoming the only territory in China, north of Heilongjiang. At the end of the Qing dynasty, the Russians broke the contract and drove the Han and Oroqen residents to Heilongjiang to drown or kill them. This is the Hailan gun tragedy! After the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai, the Northern Warlords and the Kuomintang regime refused to recognize the occupation of Liusiton in Jiangdong and insisted that Jiangdong was a part of China territory. 1900, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, and Russia took advantage of the fire to seize and colonize the whole northeast of China.

1939 On August 23rd, the Soviet Union and Germany concluded a non-aggression treaty in Moscow. The secret agreement stipulates that the northern border of Lithuania is the border of Soviet-German sphere of influence in the Baltic region; The sphere of influence of the two countries in Poland is roughly bounded by the Nalev River, the Vistula River and the Sang River. As a result, Poland was divided between the Soviet Union and Germany.

1945, the Soviet Union recaptured the southern part of Sakhalin Island and Vladivostok from Japan, and occupied the entire Kuril Islands (including four northern Japanese islands). Tangnu Wulianghai was originally a part of Outer Mongolia, but it was embezzled by the Soviet Union when Outer Mongolia became independent. At present, East Nuu Liang Hai is still a part of the Russian Federation and has been merged into the Siberian Federation. It is located in the northwest of Outer Mongolia, south of Siberia, near Sayanling in the north and Tangnu Mountain in the south. It is a narrow strip between the two mountains, with a total area of about 6.5438+0.7 million square kilometers. At present, people usually call Dongnu Liang Hai the Republic of Tuva.

199 1 year, the Soviet union disintegrated, and Russia's European territory returned to the range before Catherine II came to power.

How should we view these changes? This is, of course, the victory and success of Russia's territorial expansion policy and the result of the Russian empire's foreign aggression. For the Ukrainian nation, the objective result of this historical process is the reunification of Ukraine, which has been divided by Poland, Lithuania, Hungary and Moldavia since14th century.

However, the historical fact that cannot be forgotten is that this is not the national reunification of Ukraine, but that the Russian Empire annexed these Ukrainian lands and Ukrainians living on these lands into the territory of Russia for its own interests. At best, it can only be said that objectively speaking, for the future national rejuvenation and national independence of Ukraine, integration is better than endless separation. Looking back at history from today's standpoint, tearing down the border between Ukraine on the left bank and Ukraine on the right bank has objectively created favorable conditions for the unified development of the Ukrainian nation in economic, spiritual and cultural life. However, this is unpredictable by the czar government, and of course it runs counter to the interests of the czar government. The tsar was proud of the continuous expansion of his territory.