Maps

1. EXPANSION (1) The emergence of ‘Russia’: Moscow was founded in 1147. At this time, other older principalities of Rus, notably Kiev, had been expanding and contracting for centuries, and other proto-states, such as the Republic of Novgorod and Volga Bulgaria, were regional powers. Borders were never fixed, national identities were far from primordial, and the medieval East Slavic world was multipolar.
1. EXPANSION (1) The emergence of ‘Russia’: Moscow was founded in 1147. At this time, other older principalities of Rus, notably Kiev, had been expanding and contracting for centuries, and other proto-states, such as the Republic of Novgorod and Volga Bulgaria, were regional powers. Borders were never fixed, national identities were far from primordial, and the medieval East Slavic world was multipolar.
2. EXPANSION (2) The gathering of ‘Russia’: despite its late emergence and devastation at the hands of the Mongols in 1240, Muscovy became the centre of East Slavic civilization in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, expanding its borders with more durable success than previous or associated expansionary powers in the region, such as Kievan Rus, had managed to do.
2. EXPANSION (2) The gathering of ‘Russia’: despite its late emergence and devastation at the hands of the Mongols in 1240, Muscovy became the centre of East Slavic civilization in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, expanding its borders with more durable success than previous or associated expansionary powers in the region, such as Kievan Rus, had managed to do.
3. EXPANSION (3) The vastness of Russia: the Russian Empire continued to expand, reaching its greatest extent, covering one-sixth of the world’s land surface, by the time of the outbreak of the First World War. At this point it was approximately the same size as the British Empire, though the British Empire continued to grow after 1918.
3. EXPANSION (3) The vastness of Russia: the Russian Empire continued to expand, reaching its greatest extent, covering one-sixth of the world’s land surface, by the time of the outbreak of the First World War. At this point it was approximately the same size as the British Empire, though the British Empire continued to grow after 1918.
4. PRESSURE (1) From the north and west: in its various incarnations Russia has faced elimination at the hands of foreign invaders. Moments of total crisis included the invasion and occupation by the Mongols that began in 1240, the invasion by Sweden in 1708, the attack by France in 1812 and the assault by Germany in 1941. One of the worst moments came during the Time of Troubles at the start of the seventeenth century, when the Swedes invaded, the Poles briefly occupied Moscow, and famine and dynastic crisis converged.
4. PRESSURE (1) From the north and west: in its various incarnations Russia has faced elimination at the hands of foreign invaders. Moments of total crisis included the invasion and occupation by the Mongols that began in 1240, the invasion by Sweden in 1708, the attack by France in 1812 and the assault by Germany in 1941. One of the worst moments came during the Time of Troubles at the start of the seventeenth century, when the Swedes invaded, the Poles briefly occupied Moscow, and famine and dynastic crisis converged.
5. PRESSURE (2) From the east and south: the sheer length of its borders gives Russia’s policymakers unique strategic and defensive challenges. In the nineteenth century, Russia sensed threats from the Ottoman Empire in Asia, from the British in India and Afghanistan, and from the Japanese – as well as from the whole range of European, American and Asian empires.
5. PRESSURE (2) From the east and south: the sheer length of its borders gives Russia’s policymakers unique strategic and defensive challenges. In the nineteenth century, Russia sensed threats from the Ottoman Empire in Asia, from the British in India and Afghanistan, and from the Japanese – as well as from the whole range of European, American and Asian empires.
6. PRESSURE (3) Twenty-first century encirclement? The view from Moscow is of Washington and Brussels getting ever closer, with NATO – historically an anti-Moscow alliance – possessing a strategy of expansion, and the members of the EU defining themselves as ‘European’ in distinction to non-EU states that are also located in Europe.
6. PRESSURE (3) Twenty-first century encirclement? The view from Moscow is of Washington and Brussels getting ever closer, with NATO – historically an anti-Moscow alliance – possessing a strategy of expansion, and the members of the EU defining themselves as ‘European’ in distinction to non-EU states that are also located in Europe.