Why did Russia conquer Siberia? (Short Animated Documentary)

Siberia is vast and despite the long distances Russia conquered it throughout the 16th and seventeenth centuries. But given that it was mostly empty and put Russia in contact with potential enemies why did Moscow conquer it? To find out watch this short and simple animated history documentary.
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[@12mickeyd12]

I’ve lived in Northern Siberia, in Surgut. Coming from Ireland, I couldn’t believe that such a place could be inhabited. -40 for a month in January. All there was was a few sparsely populated nomadic tribes before oil was discovered and produced there. Surgut is a city of 400,000 now. Can you imagine how much electricity is needed to keep that town warm? Siberia when you’re not in the cities is also beautiful. It’s still mostly just forest and the mountainous areas in Krasnoyarsk Krai in particular have some of the best scenery in the world

[@shycracker]

One of few things i like about Russia is they're so large these part of natures are naturally conserved just because there's too much land.

[@slewone4905]

So Siberia is like North Dakota. And My Canadian Relatives who live North of North Dakota was wondering why I never visit.

[@Zraknul]

@@slewone4905 visit in the summer, it gets hot.

[@AnniversaryRoad]

Was just going to say that half of this explanation sounds like Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northwest Ontario in Canada and North Dakota and Minnesota in the US.

[@matthewvanostin5513]

For canadian siberia weather is not that crazy. Its a usual cold week in january february 😂

[@Victor-el3ul]

I love the fact that most of the responses to historical questions are, in essence “Because they couldn't” or “Because they could”

[@IAMMADEOFMEAT]

I hate that most of the responses to historical questions are, in essence "Because it was profitable" or "Because it wasn't profitable"

[@GeorgianDissident]

@@IAMMADEOFMEAT - Well, if it isn’t profitable, how are you going to pay your half-mercenary army?

[@mate5171]

It's just History Matters who doesn't try to explain more complex reasons for most of his videos

[@DrMrPersonGuy]

That is the answer to russian imperialism, it's imperialism for the sake of imperialism, even if it just makes everything worse for everyone. Improving their economy, let alone the world, is not a priority to them.

[@GeorgianDissident]

@@DrMrPersonGuy - Cuck cope. The Russian Empire was a net positive for the world.

[@TransformersBoss]

Tsar: “we’re taking the Eastern lands.” “How far?” “Yes.”

[@UserJWR]

"Until we are West." *takes Alaska*

[@TheDiamondBladeHD]

Reverse mongols

[@TheShaggy1324]

"Keep going until you see my backside."

[@KILLER.KNIGHT]

@@TheDiamondBladeHDExcept these Mongols were nice.

[@adamkas8396]

Tsar: As far as you can go

[@redjaypictures4528]

Pretty insane to think, that at one point in history, Russia was once part of Europe, Asia AND america all at the same time

[@freedomofspeech2867]

The Russian road is very very long my friend.

[@seannolan9857]

Pretty sure England and France have been part of all seven continents.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

France counts its overseas colonies as “France”, but I don’t think England ever counted any other part of the British Empire as “England”.

[@AyaanGaming2211]

@@lawrencedoliveiro9104 umm they count overseas territories today as BOT (British Overseas Territories), which are the remnants of the late empire, same as France. Also referring to Britain as England is gonna make a lot of scottish, welsh and n. irish people mad. Also also I do know you mean the ACTUAL empire.

[@Mesocricetos]

And with a "continuous" territory

[@ihavetowait90daystochangem67]

The more I learn about history the more I realised Russia and the US are more similar than I thought

[@thestrangecaseofharryhinde9473]

iirc Russia was the great power we were friendliest with until we started getting involved in European affairs more after World War 1 EDIT: Also they became communist, which I definitely should’ve mentioned

[@Your_President_Kanye_East]

Sounds interesting. Please, elaborate.

[@timmccarthy872]

More like Canada: "fuck yeah, furs"

[@potatogod975]

from sea to frozen sea

[@bababababababa6124]

@@PurooRoy 😱😱😱😱

[@jonahwatson9170]

Some video suggestions: 1. When did national anthems become a thing? 2. Why did Khrushchev give Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR? 3. Why did absolutism fail in England? 4. Why did Calvinism take off in Scotland but not England? 5. How was the Act of Union received in Scotland and England? 6. Why is Geneva so important? 7. Why did Bulgaria gain land after WW2? 8. Why was there no strong response to the remilitarisation of the Rhineland? 9. How did Ecuador happen? 10. Why aren't the Channel Islands part of France?

[@igorsmihailovs52]

Vote for these! Lots of REALLY interesting topics!

[@Ginkgo_leaf_3000]

The Channel Islands belonged to the Dutchy of Normandy. That's why they are property of the Crown.

[@mappingshaman5280]

2: because khruschev was ukrainian 3: well basically king John was an idiot and antagonised everyone important and got his arse beat and forced to sign the magna carta. A few kings tried to remove rights especially the stuart dynasty, but due to the stuart dynasty's association with Catholicism, absolutism got associated with Catholicism meaning the protestant majority opposed it. 8: because everyone was scared of repeating world war one 10: because the English navy hasn't been inferior to the French navy for a long time.

[@MrShadowThief]

Wasn't 8 already answered in the Appeasement video?

[@HebrewsElevenTwentyFive]

Phenomenal suggestions 👍🏾

[@j.s.7335]

As I'm sure many know, but outside the scope of this video, Russia didn't stop conquering when the had reached the end of the land. They just crossed the ocean and kept going. They made it most of the way down the North American coast, and only stopped when they encountered the Spanish a bit north of San Francisco. The northernmost Spanish mission is in the town of Sonoma, just north of San Francisco, in the California wine country. What most people don't know is that the southernmost Russian fort at Fort Ross is in the very same county, Sonoma County, just a 2 hour drive from Sonoma. So you can easily visit both a Spanish mission and a Russian fort in the same afternoon.

[@alenaurban]

I’m sure conquering is the wrong word when the land wasn’t owned by anyone and mostly none fought to defend

[@KILLER.KNIGHT]

@@alenaurbanColonisation?

[@gengis737]

@@alenaurban Actually some Russian merchant had to arm natives to retake a fort from other natives, backed by some English traders. The Russian then created some kind of state, with him at the head, to control the fur trade, but was recalled to Russia due to some other displeased Russian traders and officials.

[@alenaurban]

@@gengis737 that does not prove anything bc it was one trader

[@alenaurban]

@@KILLER.KNIGHT yeah kinda but Russia didn’t enclave people living in Siberia they welcomed them into the country

[@randomlyentertaining8287]

I remember reading of a Siberian man who was found sometime in the 2000s thought the USSR was still around and it was discovered he had last had contact with the outside world sometime in the 1930s.

[@q___m2158]

In the 1970s. A whole family has been living there since 1930s without any contact with the outside world. They didn't know that WWII happened. Lykov family.

[@robymaru03]

@@q___m2158 A bless family, imagine, living a life without being involve in all the sh*ts that's been going on.

[@NovikNikolovic]

I bet some tribes are still wondering who the new tsar is

[@randomlyentertaining8287]

@@q___m2158 That's the one. Been a long time since I read it, figured someone else knew it and could correct me lol

[@sto1238]

Hold on so dude straight up missed WW2?

[@Tobbs96]

Also to take into account is Russia's lack of natural borders. Laying on the mostly flat Eurasian Steppe, Russia has historically been forced to rely on more and more "buffer land" to protect their core territories from invasion, having little in terms of mountains or major rivers to act as natural defences. So they started with expanding east until they found a natural border, which was the Urals. Once they went beyond those, the next natural border was the Sea of Japan.

[@danieleyre8913]

Erm not quite. Large tracts of Russia was (and still is) dense woodland. And of course there are many winding rivers and marshlands and hilly country. All of that is ideal for defending. The flat steppe was more in the southern lands, which today are mostly in Ukraine.

[@revertrevertz5438]

I think that was like the main expansion happened. The fur trade explains this to some point, but it definitely doesn’t explain what it’s go all the way to Afghanistan.

[@RexIXXXX]

There are Ural mountains to the east of Moscow and huge rivers to the south and west of Moscow. Russian problems with "no natural defences" is of their own creation. Had Russians not decided to march half way across the globe Russians would not have such issues.

[@cudanmang_theog]

That's how Russian chauvinist propaganda always says. Thousand of indigenous groups across Russia from the Baltics to Ukraine and Japan Sea are not Russian. Russia is nothing but a settler colonialist genocidal state

[@planescaped]

The buffer land/stopping potential nomad raids for good was one of main reasons for Russia's expansion into Siberia, and I am surprised he didn't really even mention it.

[@kasadam85]

Basically no civilization stood on the way to prevent more expansion. Overextension was never an issue as the lands were nearly never contested. One of the reasons why Romans and Ottomans couldn't expand deeper to Africa was facing the exact opposite I conclude.

[@janpiorko3809]

Also Sahara desert exists, it makes expansion into Africa from the north very hard

[@jokerofmorocco]

The Sahara Desert was too inhospitable to expand into and there was little to gain at the time from doing so.

[@trollerjakthetrollinggod-e7761]

they did know about civilizations in Nigeria, but supplying an army through the Sahara to conquer such a remote place with little strategic value that would hardly be able to threaten Rome was seen as ludicrous.

[@kaliningradtoczechrepublic8162]

@@janpiorko3809 very hard and pretty much useless

[@John_Jim]

Sahara was contested you're saying? 🙄😂

[@user-ei7bk1tq1w]

I was born in Siberian town Kemerovo. It has about 550k population. You cannot imagine what a beutiful place Siberia is. When you're in the city there is everything - bars, factories, restrounts, cafedrals, gorgeous streets and monumental buildings, everything that a modern city like NY or Moscow has except maybe for some specificly megapolis stuff like metro(by the way Novosibirsk has a metro) but when you step out of a town... there are vast fields, hills and mountains, pure rivers and lakes you can drink from and no one around for tens of kilometers. Only you and wild taiga. When you walk in taiga it feels like exploration, there is a high possibility that you were the first man to ever visit some edge or grove. I am so in love with Siberia, i think there is no such place in the world, so urbanized and still pure untouched by civilization.

[@poshko41]

Wow you’ve really made me want to see it.

[@gamerdrache2.02]

don´t drink in a river its better than standing water but you should cook the water or get an filter

[@ferensbens5445]

Hello from Smolensk

[@this.is.berlin]

.... and of course the pretty slim blond chicks of Siberia!!!!!

[@Jaschka15]

To Bad many People never will visit this country cause of that shitty Kreml

[@Egemony]

One legend has it: Russia expanded East to find some "sunny coasts", only to stumble upon more frozen frontiers

[@shipovnik89]

Haha, that's a nice one

[@kormannn1]

Russia the land of snow

[@Airland-xx3pr]

​@@henlohenlo689russian spotted

[@darklex5150]

​​@@henlohenlo689uuum aktually, your claim has no basis and is a lie because of this and that, i will proceed to ignore the "legend has it" part because everyone knows legends are facts and i have a need to correct this "fact" 🤓

[@koffyninja7]

Calling 16th century Russia "a medium sized state" is a bit of an understatement considering there already weren't that many states bigger than them at the time that weren't continent spanning empires.

[@Strix2031]

Russia was already the larget state in europe lmao

[@scintillam_dei]

The Bible prophesied that European empires based on Rome would conquer the entire world. I plan a video on this awesome fact which upsets evil atheist ingrates.

[@renlevy411]

@@scintillam_dei Russia is not Rome you quack.

[@YannYann12345]

@@scintillam_dei cool story bro, but i think you forgot to take your pills this morning

[@frogboxe]

@@scintillam_dei lmao

[@hollowt3a199]

I often hear one of the main reasons for Russian expansion into Siberia was that the constant raiding by the Steppe peoples, and especially the trauma of the Mongols, left a societal psychological scar of “Never Again” that made Russia seek to expand its territory to create a buffer zone between the heartland and those peoples. Of course that is if outright conquest was not an option.

[@samsonsoturian6013]

There were many wars for many different reasons. With the conquest of Sibr, the Cossacks actually didn't wait for orders from Moscow

[@deron2203]

Same I heard that one and I think with the success of the Cossacks and wants to get more fur it just made sense to keep going east.

[@antonioreconquistador]

​@@samsonsoturian6013 the cossacks often embarked on their own ventures for monetary and warfare purposes- which were sometimes financed by the czar and usually financed by nobility and landowners who could supply them as horsemen.

[@chiensyang]

I thought Russia was able to expand into Siberia because James Bissonnette supported the Russian Patreon-account.

[@hkchan1339]

Sounds like an excuse to expand influence and money if you ask me.

[@Torsala]

At this point, James Bissonette has become a worldwide sensation, having appeared in practically every video.

[@scintillam_dei]

We need a face reveal. "Bissonette. James Bissonette."

[@Torsala]

@@scintillam_dei Agreed.

[@jamesbissonette8002]

@@scintillam_dei Nah

[@rmcelmur]

All I could ask is for a thirty minute episode from you- great work just want to see your longform style

[@DerCaramelized]

Some Suggestions for future videos: 1. Why did The People's State of Bavaria (And the Bavarian Soviet Republic) fail? 2. Why didn't more states break away during the dissolution of the USSR? 3. And fittingly: Why did Russia expand into the Caucasus Mountains?

[@corey2232]

When it comes to anything relating to Russian expansion, they usually took whatever the could... so my best guess for #3 would be "because they couldn't." Granted, I haven't looked into it at all, but just basing it off prior history 😅

[@DacLMK]

2. Because Russia suppressed them from breaking off either by force or with good deals. The Chechen wars being a good example of suppression and good deals when Putin came to power.

[@TNOBasedBatov]

Yea these are good suggestions I hope they make vids about it

[@DerCaramelized]

@@DacLMK Yeah, that's probably it, but it would be interesting to see what the Russians offered or threatened to do to keep them on side.

[@GeldtheGelded]

3: Probably to weaken both Iran and the ottomans, the two dominant powers in the region and sort of archrivals of russia

[@aurenkleige]

"When they first came into contact, the Qing were quick to shoot at the Russians until they left." That usually goes either very well or very badly.

[@MDMAx]

I'm trying to think of a single instance in history when there was an in between.

[@HolyKhaaaaan]

Strange that it actually went decently this time.

[@thedreamscripter4002]

@@HolyKhaaaaan it went decently because it was hard to support the forces so far from all main production centers of Russia in those times. Decades later, once the logistics, infrastructure and etc. in Siberia was developed, Russia changed its opinion and managed to get those lands (through diplomacy - but in a form of "diplomacy backed by army")

[@DieFlabbergast]

They recognised an imperialist when they saw one. Also, "it takes one to know one," as any Uighur or Tibetan could tell you.

[@Hand-in-Shot_Productions]

@@DieFlabbergast Nice proverb!

[@garabic8688]

I’ve been waiting for a video on this for a while, thanks

[@Xavier_64]

Could you please bring back 10 minute history, I really enjoyed how you were very detailed with your videos. My dad and I enjoy watching your videos, and I would love to see more. Make a separate channel you have to.

[@masterchinese28]

I enjoyed those too. Unfortunately, most people on the internet find ten minutes to be long. I'm guessing they found they got more clicks with their 3-minute videos.

[@malachi8154]

One major reason you missed: Colonialism and warm ports. The russia would have loved to have some rich overseas colonies of their own, but they lacked access to any warm ports, so expanding territory through land was the only option.

[@Dyknown]

The Russians could still have conquered westward, but I guess beating Sweden was the furthest they could go

[@kaydenlewis9246]

@Jim Harrington probably because there was no benefit to killing the natives in siberia, the land was shit, in the US however, the land had many resources and was very valuable

[@matthewplesniarski90]

@Jim Harrington its a li'l less rosy than that, russia let the natives keep their land, after russia was done taking the parts of it they wanted, most of the land left for the natives is of low quality and is essentially the forgotten scraps, I know because it's pretty much the same up here in Canada too

[@drakron]

That is not exactly true, Russia actually did some colonization of Americas reaching as far as San Fransisco. The thing is colonization was more something Russia was already doing in Siberia, they had plenty of space for their population to expand (unlike the English) and their economical system was still a feudal system, thus those colonization efforts in America werent exactly followed.

[@wabisabi119]

@Jim Harrington Bombings of civilian settlements in Kyiv while sending Buryats, Dagestani and Chechyns in disproportionately huge numbers into the meat grinder called Ukraine proves that Russia is still an Imperial state carrying out genocide of its ethnic minorities.

[@ChessedGamon]

Russia's massive size comes from the same strategy as when I secretly increase the font size of the spaces in my essay and hope nobody notices

[@sodinc]

i hate that feeling when nobody notices that simple trick for literally generations

[@criticaltheories5222]

Loving the constant interjections of humor and sarcasm. 😀👍❤️

[@joonyoungpark3255]

Two things I want to point out : 1. Korea was never incorporated into Qing as shown on your map in the video. Yes they were certainly one of Qing's 朝貢國(roughly translates to tributary state but this english term doesnt really catch the essence of east asian diplomatic relationship of the time), but nothing that could be expressed like that on the map. 2. Qing wasn't really seeking to expand into Siberia. They had already established their presence in northern manchuria long time before russians ever came near it. Moreover, Qing was busy pacifying the Middle Kingdom which they had only recently conquered. So they had only sought to repulse russians from their sphere of influence, mainly along the black dragon river.

[@xyzabcwater]

Also the Dzungars were a huge threat to the Qing

[@sskuk1095]

Add to that the fact that the Qing dynasty was manachurian.

[@chiuwong4057]

it still baffles me, how much Qing has neglected the north, or how weak they were at the moment, that they lost a big trunk of land that's supposed to be their original Homeland.

[@mojewjewjew4420]

@@chiuwong4057 Foreign dynasties many times nativize in order to win more popularity and acceptance plus minorities are absorbed in the majority. Despite the qing starting in Manchuria many of them probably never visited their "homeland" or viewed as just a frontier.

[@xinfuxia3809]

@@chiuwong4057 they made the northeast region a gigantic natural reserve for the royals to hunt, excluding all the Han people from moving north. To the extent there were less Chinese people in the region than Russians when the czar took it by force.

[@orange8420]

Imagine being an isolated civilozation in north and hearing some silly guy attacked a silly country recently while you still wondering who is the current tsar

[@samsonsoturian6013]

One group of Dutch explorers traveled the arctic coast. They came to a Russian town where the Tsar's rule was literally one guy who was paid by gifts from locals and never received any orders from his bosses. They traveled further and met nomads who had never heard of a Tsar.

[@orange8420]

@@samsonsoturian6013 pfff this must be hilarious when the dutch Explorer have to explain a couple hundred years history

[@DrMrPersonGuy]

Everyone is so casual when it's russia taking land from natives, "oh they're all just being silly".

[@thephoenix6673]

@@DrMrPersonGuy At least they coexisted with them and didn't commit mass genocide against them in the process, looking at you USA.

[@DrMrPersonGuy]

@@thephoenix6673 except they literally did that, they even denied non-russian identities existed, like they're doing now to Ukrrainians, saying they're just Russians. The Ukrainian identity was outlawed during the Russian empire. America meanwhile celebrates diversity.

[@randomizer01j23]

0:20 That “well” joke made me laugh way more than it should have lol

[@ayushtiwari2959]

Love you for being to the point.

[@puffinrust1837]

For those wanting more on this topic I can recommend the book ‘East of the sun’ by Benson Bobrick as a good starter for Siberian history.

[@leonhill8447]

I have legitimately wondered this, thank you for reading my mind and making a video about it. Also loved the subliminal foreshadowing with the oil well.

[@blossom_generosty-]

and its wrong

[@paulboardman247]

Another great video. Keep up the fantastic work!

[@jaguarstar7426]

I’ve always wondered why Russia was so large. Thanks for this

[@evgeniam685]

Soon people will learn real history, not official one that was allowed to say. Real history is more interesting. Let's just Russia, that time called Tartaria was way bigger than now. It was living as one advanced civilization all over the world without borders and wars. Before divide and conquer happened by those who controlled our planet up until now. Now Russia trying to restore that world.

[@user-wn5oy9jp5u]

@@evgeniam685 u r shizo

[@comradetomrade2184]

@@user-wn5oy9jp5u agreed.

[@HolyKhaaaaan]

1:42 - never seen THAT before! ANIMATION?!

[@fietemenke3967]

So I recently wondered about two states, which might be good suggestions for future videos. 1. Why does Uruguay exist? Why isn't it just a province of Argentina? 2. Why are the Maldives thing? Why aren't they part of India and why didn't they got independence from the British Empire together with the other states in the region?

[@brianjonker510]

Why is Cyprus occupied into Turkish and Greek zones and not its own country

[@WILLIAN_1424]

Uruguay exists because it got independence from Brazil in the Cisplatine War (1825-28) and got it's independence guaranteed by Brazil and Britain after the Platine War (1851-2). Honestly, Uruguay is the luckiest of the three, considering how Brazil and Argentina are now lol.

[@LaVaZ000]

@@brianjonker510 That one is a much less interesting answer, basically Turks live in the north and Greeks in the south.

[@___E]

@@brianjonker510 Southern Cyprus is it's own country.

[@someguy3766]

@@brianjonker510 Cyprus is its own country, the Republic of Cyprus. It is not occupied by Greece and is an EU and UN member. The northern part is an unrecognised state essentially occupied by Turkey. Part of Cyprus is still a British territory, where military bases are maintained. A better question might be why doesn't the Republic of Cyprus control the entire island.

[@MTTT1234]

I guess also a reason why they kept going east, was to look if they would find some sort of big natural barrier, a super-big river, an inland sea that connects to the arctic sea, a mountain-range going North to South, just anything they could use as a means to protect themselves against any possible super-power in Asia. They found nothing of that, so they just kept going until they finally got wet feet in the Pacific.

[@user-dl1zx9sr4q]

Actually, any river Tobol, Irtysh, Ob, or Enisey could fit this requirement to this view is just wrong. The key point was that this territory was not densely populated, and the local population was small and civilizational significantly inferior to the advancing Russian settlers. In addition, the local tribes were divided, so many of them joined the Russian Empire voluntarily in order to receive protection from other neighboring tribes. The only adequate explanation for such a rapid expansion is that nobody really claimed this territory and there was almost no resistance after Yermak defeated Sibir Khaganate.

[@wederMaxim]

Mongols. We were very afraid of the Mongols.

[@adma7298]

Russia crossed Pacific into north America. Alaska was Russia.

[@rosiefay7283]

@@adma7298 Russia settled very little of Alaska, and with not many people (fewer than 1000).

[@adma7298]

@@rosiefay7283 U.S bought current Alaska from Russia. If Russia had so little then why U.S paid for permission to control.

[@sskuk1095]

I love the fact that whenever you depict the landscape it's basically a pile of snow!

[@nik65stgt60]

Super content!

[@francesco8000]

Russia would later discover that reaching the Sea of Japan wasn't the best idea. Historians refer as what happened later as "Skill issue".

[@comradekapibarchik7997]

skill issue is what happened to Japanese in Manchuria in 1945

[@jaydenkim]

east sea not sea of japan

[@giorgijioshvili9713]

@@comradekapibarchik7997 2vs1 lol still a skill issue

[@alexvig2369]

Westerners just love looking at half the story. The Japanese were utterly humiliated during the battle of Khalkin Gol (1938) which instilled in them complete fear of attacking the USSR during WWII. And later in Manchuria and the Kuril Islands in 1945.

[@cudanmang_theog]

For a long time Communist Soviet propaganda told nothing about the bloody conquest and Russian colonialism in Siberia, we just always taught and preached again about about British American colonialism atrocities. But what bout Russias? If the Soviet Union was truly leftist, it should have given back lands to the indigenous peoples of Siberia. No, the Soviet Union was just another communistic Russian colonial empire oppressing thousands of indigenous peoples from the Baltics to the Sea of Japan

[@Funny-Shortsies]

You missed that the title "Tsar" was the equivalent to the english word emperor already.

[@darktntnoob6963]

yea, but you can't really get too deep into specifics when making a 3-4 minute video

[@jepbarhalmyradov9135]

Yeah but in Russian there's a word called "император" which translates to emperor so Tsar is kind of King more than emperor + it's a 3 minute video

[@thomasrinschler6783]

Not really. It was at some nebulous area between king and emperor that the West had no equivalent to. This can be seen by the fact when Peter the Great took the title of Emperor in 1721, it was (a) seen as an upgrade over Tsar, and (b) most European powers, especially the HRE, fought tooth and nail against acknowledging the title of Emperor when they had been perfectly fine with Tsar.

[@KaiserFranzJosefI]

The Russian Monarchy stopped using the title of Tsar after 1721.

[@jonathanwebster7091]

Also during the period where the Russian Emperors were also Kings of Poland (during the 'Congress Kingdom of Poland'), the title 'King' in reference to Poland was translated in Russian as 'Tsar'. Meaning it was, at least by the 1800s, roughly the equivalent of 'King'.

[@prakashghumaliya2002]

Thank you for video sir

[@outerspace7391]

I think initially the most important reason was that the Russians were searching for some kind of natural border that would prevent nomadic raids from the east. The Ural mountains were a great one, but unfortunately for them they didn't extend as south as to reach the Kazakh steppes so the Russians kept on and on exploring Siberia looking for a natural fortress. Eventually they found sea, realising no other natural barrier could be found, and also meaning that by now all of Siberia had fallen into their hands.

[@eljanrimsa5843]

I think you got that backwards. The natural borders thing is what they say now. It's not why they did it.

[@outerspace7391]

@@eljanrimsa5843 No no, the current war is about the status of Ukraine as a buffer being challenged. Right here Im talking about the eastward expansion which was about finding natural protections from nomadic raiders.

[@davidfire4144]

Did they solve the problem of the south by expanding to the east? And I don't think that after the Mongols there were any other nomadic tribes capable of endangering them, those who live on the Eurasian steppe were exactly south of Siberia, the nomadic tribes in the northern part are quite backward, they are not a unified group but very single, quite similar to the Native Americans, which is also why some Russians use the excuse of backward nomads and Russians helped them advance as a pretext for their expansion, the threats to Russia were not from the east as they claimed, and they did not stop at Siberia but continued to expand into North America.

[@outerspace7391]

@@davidfire4144 i dunno man, all I did was search why is Russia so large one time on the internet and trusted the word of a former Washington post journalist who used 3d animated maps. I suppose it wasn't very intelligent of me...

[@user-cx9nc4pj8w]

@@outerspace7391 The current war is about Russia's fascist dictator wanting to be seen as a "great man". Countries with nuclear weapons don't need buffer zones because noone is going to invade them. And that's assuming Ukraine could actually pick a side by joining NATO for example, which they couldn't because Russia has been quietly invading them for the past eight years.

[@mikehunt3420]

Answers to questions ive had before but hardly looked into. Thanks again history matters for doing what you do best lol

[@Willi_munich361]

Such good quality videos, you’ll make it to 2 million subscribers in no time at all, Keep it up

[@blossom_generosty-]

this video is so wrong compared with history and didnt even mention the actual genocide

[@Letheris]

Clicking on this video without knowing about any Russian history. You are able to make these topics very interesting

[@markusskram4181]

Another great video !

[@evgeniam685]

Another great lie, real history is hidden from mainstream media, and way more interesting. It was one big advanced civilization called Tartaria all over the world, now Russia is small version of what it was.

[@parkerslack8475]

I was just wondering when History Matters would post another video. The universe works in strange ways

[@scintillam_dei]

The universe whoopsed into existence, time exploded, slime became Frankenslime,and we come from supposed subhuman blacks, "but racism is wrong." This is the atheist delusion.

[@benhall4141]

42k views in 33mins. That's better than some TV channels. Well done.

[@Hand-in-Shot_Productions]

Impressive statistics!

[@HarvestStore]

Great video.

[@LanceCSTCuddy]

Every time I hear you say “raises the question” instead of the incorrect “begs the question,” I get a little warm feeling inside.

[@damianmares5338]

How is "begs the question" incorrect? Genuine question by the way.

[@stevenglowacki8576]

@@damianmares5338 "Begging the question" is the official term for the logical fallacy where you assume the conclusion that you want to prove, which makes it true automatically. The use of "begs the question" instead of "raises the question" is probably fine so long as it's clear what you mean, but people that study logic think you're using the term in the wrong way. I personally think it's fine, in the same way that plenty of words have different meanings in different situations.

[@oenrn]

@@stevenglowacki8576 Probably the same group of pedants writing angry letters to supermarkets about "5 item or less" signs.

[@marcovalentini863]

@@stevenglowacki8576 Pedants have a hard time realising that vocabolaries are descriptive and language slowly changes to suit the needs of the speakers.

[@LanceCSTCuddy]

@@oenrn Dear Sirs and Madams, FEWER. Signed, A descriptivist with literally (figuratively) two exceptions, both of which have now been addressed

[@Geographyish]

Great Video!

[@bzqp2]

This episode's "well" is pure perfection :D

[@bzqp2]

Also I'm wondering how much of the respect gained by Russia at this time was due to unfortunate map projections.

[@plrc4593]

Please make a video about why Germany wasn't devided into Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria and Wurtemberg after WWI. 🙏🙏

[@reddragon100]

because they did not sign a unconditional surrender.

[@plrc4593]

@@reddragon100 Ok, but maybe it wasn't necessary. Till WWI Germany wasn't unitary. Saxony, Bavaria and Wurtemberg were separate kingdoms with (I guess) separate parlaments. The kings were overthrown but I guess they would have willingly kept their thrones and got independence.

[@someguy3766]

Churchill actually wanted to do this to Germany after WW2, but the Americans and Soviets were not in favour.

[@reddragon100]

@@plrc4593 Most of them were already overthrown before Entente did anything. Bavaria actually made a Bavarian Soviet Republic before getting reconquered by Weimer Republic . The peace that treaty of Versailles offered were consider so humiliating from German diplomats that some legit consider re-arming again. Just imagine something more harsh. Austria-hungary had already been spilt before treaty of saint germain and treaty of trianon. The empire was breaking into pieces almost a year before peace treaty. Much of the territories were already spilt up or occupied before Entente and austria-hungarian diplomat started direct meet up for peace deal.

[@alexvig2369]

France actually wanted to balkanize Germany more or less in the way you described after WWI.

[@Daglizzh]

Can we get a video on the sino Japanese war because your videos are the best

[@tokugirones]

Very interesting and a really good video, as always. I have a suggestion for a future video: why Catalonia was directly annexed to France by Napoleon, unlike the rest of Spain (which was put in charge to Napoleon's younger brother)?

[@alonsoACR]

Probably historical reasons. Maybe Napoleon in his drive to larp and simp on Charlemagne real hard decided to make France's border kinda like Charlemagne's. Story time: The Kingdom of Francia (under Charlemagne) needed a buffer to defend against Muslim invasions (which were very frequent) so they had taken first Roussillon and then bit by bit all the way to Barcelona and made it the Marca Hispánica. It would later become County of Barcelona then, before the Franks realized it, Barcelona went independent (the Count was fed up of the fact he swore fealty to the Franks yet were never defended against muslim invasion in the County, and one day just didn't bother to show up at Frank court anymore) and the rest you can look up on your own. Kingdom of Aragon etc. So for a... debatable number of years, (most of) Catalonia was part of the Kingdom of France.

[@alonsoACR]

A second possibility: Cultural reasons. The Catalan language is very similar to Occitan. Occitan is, uh, well it's not French at all but Occitania is in France. The French only really admired the Langues d'oïl, at least some of them, so this is a rather weak argument. But possible. If Napoleon saw the Occitan as much French as anyone, then the Catalans were close family. Still, I insist with the other idea.

[@commiecrusader3064]

“Medium sized state” Is literally the size of Europe 😂

[@gamerdrache2.02]

its part of europe so i don´t understand you

[@antonm1834]

@@gamerdrache2.02 he means that it is the same size as the rest of Europe

[@sweiland75]

Imagine if Russia still owned Alaska, too.

[@somedesertdude1308]

well there would be 2 russias now or the red scare would have been more big cuz "FUCKING REDS ARE IN CANADA!"

[@bucktooth002]

They would've lost half of Siberia to the United States.

[@ananduin]

@@bucktooth002 Delusional littte boy

[@GarkKahn]

The fact that they sold it cause they wanted to be friends with usa... jesus christ, times really change

[@thunderbird1921]

It always stuns me that Canada never tried to annex it during the Crimean War. Bet Britain regretted that inaction in the years that followed.

[@calebeduardo626]

History Matters never fails to deliver

[@kingace6186]

Very informative

[@karjalatakaisin]

The outro's background is a painting of Hugo Simberg, nice

[@angrypkeyp]

Nice and informative vid

[@SnapplyPie]

0:54 Ah, the aftermath of "What is he gonna do? Beat me to death with a scepter?"

[@zddxddyddw]

Please do a video on the Argentine conquests of Patagonia and Chaco!

[@MattiavonSigmund]

0:00 You forgot to use the map, now Russia as new territories + Crimea since 2014

[@lucianoosorio5942]

“You’re a land rover, I’m a land expander.” Ivan the terrible

[@christhomson8924]

MORE OTTOMAN VIDEOS PLEASE

[@Michael_De_Santa-Unofficial]

"Here to hand your first loss, Alexander."

[@coloneldoggo]

ERBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

[@prismaticc_abyss]

@@Michael_De_Santa-Unofficial I'll school you like Aristotle, smack you harder than you hit that bottle

[@willfakaroni5808]

@@Michael_De_Santa-Unofficial “i’ll school you like Aristotle”

[@Daglizzh]

The legend returns

[@SawdEndymon]

It’s been just over a week

[@kannkanny]

@@SawdEndymon I know right, too long ago

[@christhomson8924]

MORE OTTOMAN VIDEOS PLEASE

[@Daglizzh]

@@kannkanny ye I wish they were a bit more frequent but when they do come out they’re really good

[@nathanngumi8467]

Very interesting!

[@stephenmoerlein8470]

Interesting. Always been curious how this happened.

[@Longshanks1690]

> Ivan sent him to pacify an army of Cossacks > go murder them The contrast here is genius. 😂

[@Delightfully_Bitchy]

Pacified = Resting In Peace.

[@microwave9031]

@@Delightfully_Bitchy pieces*

[@samsonsoturian6013]

There rarely is a difference

[@Angiie884]

I'm surprised you that the expansion into Alaska was not mentioned but if you are curious it happened for the same reasons, just expansion and prestige, plus that would have made them a 3 continent country

[@samsonsoturian6013]

Prestige had nothing to do with in. Furs, timber, fish, wheat. That's all that really mattered.

[@neverknowsbest2879]

Europe is continent only nominally. I wouldn't call Turkey for example 2 continent country.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

Geologically, Europe and Asia are one indivisible land mass. The other continents can be separated based on plate tectonics, but these two are firmly joined.

[@ErugoPurakushi]

@@lawrencedoliveiro9104 Even though I upvoted, I would like to mention I just found out the most eastern part of Russia is actually on the North American tectonic plate.

[@kingt0295]

@@lawrencedoliveiro9104 Africa was also connected to Eurasia before the British changed that

[@macanaeh]

A video on the Russian constitutional crisis in 1993 would be interesting I think as it's not something talked about outside of the former USSR

[@flawyerlawyertv7454]

Thanks! 😀

[@scipio109]

One thing I have learned from history, countries expand until someone or something stops them

[@josephshreeves8192]

And the more wealth, tech, and national unity you have, the bigger the obstacle needed to stop expansion

[@eatsh1t]

I think Alaska, Sakhalin and the Kuril’s should’ve been mentioned as a side piece but nonetheless it gets the point across

[@ianrogerburton1670]

Next video ?

[@blankface5052]

This makes it more about economics than strategy. Many in Russia were scarred by the mongols. They also lack many natural borders, so it’s an impetus for them to expand until they create said borders.

[@zmalevo2126]

Whilst Russia is huge it is also inflated on maps using the Mercator projection. It is 6537km from St Petersburg to Vladivostok, and 7022km across North Africa from Dakar to Mogadishu, but on a typical world map the former looks vastly more.

[@guilhermecesar9185]

Good video, and just remembering the Russians keep expanding beyond pacific and reached Americas via Alaska(who was latter selled to James Bisonnette whose sell to United States.) which already become very profitable for all of them.

[@samsonsoturian6013]

The Russia claim originally went all the way to California, but they only ever settled in Alaska.

[@090giver090]

@@samsonsoturian6013 Even Alaska was barely settled. And these roughly 1000 Russian settlers were one gold rush away from being VASTLY outnumbered by Americans and Canadians. And that would almost inevitably lead to loss of territory to US or Britain (see California and/or Transvaal)

[@PeaceToday2011]

I've always wanted to know more about the Russian expansion into Siberia.

[@jackcarlson4358]

I always chalked it up to most of Siberia being virtually uninhabitable, so any nations in a position to argue with Russia's claim were just like "eh, whatever."

[@blossom_generosty-]

you could try not relying only on stupid money grabbing shallow videos oin youtube

[@goldensea03idk51]

“ it’s free real estate “ this makes me enjoy learning

[@alexislaisney3749]

Jolly good show

[@flutee6162]

The more I learn about history the more I realize humans and other humans are more similar than I thought

[@geraldmeehan8942]

Thank you for wonderful informative video. I wonder if the power void left by Mongol demise made Siberia so easy to conquer?

[@juang1574]

Id imagine since the khanates split and the golden horde collapsed after full russian independence

[@DreamteamCarlo]

Was just thinking the same. Why didn't any Chinese / Japanese / Korea dynasties wander of into the uninhabited lands? Perhaps their history told them it was a horrible and dangerous place there up north.

[@maddogbasil]

Can you do a video next on 1) how did the arabs manage to conquer so much land 2) how did the romans manage to hold that empires border together for so long 3) how rich were the mughals 4) indian ocean trade before vascoe de Gama

[@crphic4493]

Just noticed that when he said "well" at 0:21 it showed a literal picture of a well.

[@Kabutoes]

Topic: What happened in the Vietnamese DMZ from 1955-1975 to now? (most videos talk about what happens down south but not in the literal borderline the de jure divided the two countries)

[@scintillam_dei]

Seeing the Vienamese like the US disgusts me. The US raped them so hard, but they are friends now. What a joke nations are.

[@FawltyFish]

I would love to see a video going into what lead to the Partitions of Poland.

[@user-xg9yg8kg7i]

Basically it was the idea of Prussia and only after Russia and Austria. Poland was weak at the time but if the neighbors had done nothing, then Poland could again build up its power. So the neighbors decided to share it, although here it’s even more likely that this is in fact free land.

[@electro6202]

When i read this message i thought it meant what gave poland its second polish republic borders

[@robertab929]

@@user-xg9yg8kg7i Moscovia / Muscovy not Russia. Rus was in IX-XII but not anymore.

[@thorspoczta4436]

@@user-xg9yg8kg7i bullshit. No one of mentioned can beat Poland single. Poland colapse because cant fight with Russians, Germans, Austrians, Ukrainians and Swedes same time.

[@user-xg9yg8kg7i]

@@thorspoczta4436 Why can't anyone think neutrally about their country lol. Like why no one I met at all recognized the disadvantages of their countries. According to your logic, Poland is the strongest, the coolest, the kindest, but it was blown away. I recognize what bad things Russia did, but I also recognize the good ones, and you see only the good in your countries and try to overestimate the achievements of your countries.

[@GotterVibez]

Suggestion: you could narate a bit slower and keep the animations longer because they slide too fast and i personally dont get to read or understand the images before they switch to the next one :)

[@Koalalover70]

Simple request but can you do a video on the war of 1812?

[@markoman19]

FunFact: Sava Vladislavić (ака граф рагузинский), who was the chief advisor to Emperor Peter the Great, drew a border between the Qin dynasty and Russia that remains to this day. He is originally a Serb from my hometown - Gacko (today's Reoublika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina) ☦️🇷🇸❤️🇷🇺☦️

[@jackgulit943]

😂😂😂

[@mfaizsyahmi]

The video missed the part when they went even _beyond_ Asia and crosssed the Bering Strait into North America. The resulting Russian America was later sold to US America and thus renamed Alaska.

[@legokingtm9462]

No, the video is titled Siberia for a reason...

[@scintillam_dei]

Spaniards were there before the British. Russians met Spaniards first. Brits are overrated racist shits. NO offense.

[@mojewjewjew4420]

You are very wrong, it was called Alaska by the russians.

[@Spacemongerr]

@@mojewjewjew4420 Correct, the name Alaska/Alyaska was introduced during Russian rule. It comes from a local Aleut language.

[@mojewjewjew4420]

@@Spacemongerr i know, I was reply to his fake "america renamed it" which is wrong on so many levels.

[@EvanJH02]

Bro you don’t have to say every single patron at the end of your videos. Showing their names is good enough.

[@docvideo93]

I just finished a travelogue by Colin Thurbon about him traveling along the Russia China border and he discussed some of the Qing Russian Empire conflicts.

[@Hand-in-Shot_Productions]

As a non-Russian who is interested in Russian history, I found this quite informative! I have heard of fur and Yermak, but now, I know more of the story: they wanted more trade, and there was very little resistance to the conquest of Siberia! Thanks for the video!

[@Fastest_Gun_of_The_West]

0:14 Guy on the right. I thought there was a hair on my screen and kept wiping 💀

[@2EKIEIFIO2M3IOJFO2CMEOUJ]

this man is better than some teachers I have

[@animehero343]

This is the second time my casual study matches with the video topic of the week. What are we studying next week?

[@joaqweri5661]

1:56 "shoot at the russians until they left" best way to describe any defensive war against russia

[@shad0wassassin24]

They also briefly landed in Hawaii and California but these settlements didn't last to become colonies

[@jamessills5802]

Gold!

[@rclaughlin]

I wish the narration were more slowly paced. That would afford us more time to savor the funny animation.

[@akend4426]

Russians be like: *Expands West:* “We reached Baltic Sea” *Expands South:* “We reached Black Sea” *Expands North:* “We reached Arctic Circle” *Expands East:* “We reached Pacific”

[@liamjm9278]

And still no warm water port.

[@somedesertdude1308]

@@liamjm9278 well they have a few

[@Suksass]

@@somedesertdude1308 Aren't there like two? One in stolen Crimea, the other in Kaliningrad, which can be easily blocked of becuase they need to pass Baltics to leave.

[@ForOne814]

@@Suksass returned Crimea. It was stolen in 54.

[@greenmystery1323]

Actually I agree that it is returned crimea bc Soviet leader illegally took part of Russian Soviet federative socialist republic and gave it to Ukrainian Soviet socialist republic without permission as gift

[@yarielrobles9003]

Here's an interesting suggestion:what happened to north africa after the fall of the Roman empire? Usually, people don't talk about north Africa until the Muslim conquest, which is strange, since africa was generally wealthier than Europe to my knowledge, and most of it would have been west roman territory, when the empire was divided.

[@pm-ec1fc]

If I remember correctly, the west north Africa was conquered by German tribes (Vandals) and shortly reconquered by Justinian later on. The East remind in Easter Roman Empire till Muslims... I believe that the wealthiest part of the empire was actually the near east and not the north Africa, but with Egypt being the main source of grain.

[@darkrieshunter6670]

It easy to answer that, it was under Vandal control in which they condict raid all across the Mediterranean, the most famous of their raid was their raid on Rome I. Which they sack it. Then under emperor Justinian they reconquered it until its fall by the Muslim

[@samsonsoturian6013]

It is an interesting point in the argument naturally occuring climate change caused the Roman Empire to fall. There was substantial cattle rearing in places that are empty today, and they became empty when certain kingdoms went defunct. By which I mean they just packed their stuff and left.

[@pm-ec1fc]

Many people looked into this question but there is not a commonly excepted answer to why Roman empire felt. More interestingly, the east part of it continue to function more-or-less for another millennium. Regarding the cattle rearing, I was under the impression that most of Europe were farmers earlier than bronze age.

[@MrWolfstar8]

@@samsonsoturian6013 North Africa had a very extensive irrigation system that allow for a lot of food production. After the Islamic conquest that system wasn't maintained since the conquerors preferred to goat grazing to gain production. Rome's one of the longest running continuous empire in history. The question isn't why Rome fell, but rather why did it take so long for them to fall? Most empires last around 250 years.