Why Russia ACTUALLY Had to Sell Alaska to the United States

Alaska is full of valuable natural resources and has made the United States a fortune compared to what they paid for it! Check out why Russia had to sell Alaska to the USA in today's epic new video! You won't want to miss the crazy reason the Russians had enough with Alaska making one of the worst real estate deals in history!

🔖 MY SOCIAL PAGES

💭 SUGGEST A TOPIC

All videos are based on publicly available information unless otherwise noted.

[OpiumSmoke]

USA: So tell me more about this place?
Russia: Its cold, you want or no?

[OfficerPak]

US: “What say you give us Alaska for a bottle of vod-“
Russia: *”SAY NO MORE!”*

[subratr]

*Russia Sells Alaska*

*US finds oil on Alaska*

Russia: "CYKA.."

[liberallooney]

As a Canadian, I’m glad that the US has Alaska. Better the Americans than the Russians at our borders. The Americans pretty much leave us alone.

[campbellelwell]

I just did a project on this why couldn't you put this out 2 days earlier

[mehdihassan]

Imagine the cold war if Alaska was still part of Russia

[phoeniximperator]

It was a smart move at the time because the British Empire was at war with Russia in Crimea. Britain was itching for a fight against Russia and Alaska was a soft target. The reason for selling to the US was that the US would serve as a buffer zone against the British. The British and the Americans weren't BFF's at the time.

[ddr]

In Russia, we are taught that it was sold because of the risk of invasion by British Canada. It was impossible to protect Alaska. Before the deal we lost the Crimeam War(1853-1856) to British, French and Ottoman Empires.

[rmylas]

Imagine if they didn't sell Alaska,
Their territory are spanning on 3 continents and 2 oceans..

"The sun never sets in the B̶r̶i̶t̶i̶s̶h̶ Russian Empire"

[interestingwiki]

It's crazy to think at one point, Russia was part of Europe, Asia, and North America.

[DudeBro]

Long story short, they didn’t want British Canada to have it

[sherlockholmes]

Me not knowing that Alaska was owned by Russia: Yes of course, that makes sense

[Jakezoola]

Russia has made the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever.

[Potato-gndi]

America: will give you a Adidas...

Russia: DEAL!

[gundamheavyarms]

Interesting fact: during the Second World War, Japan occupied a couple of islands in the Aleutian Chain, marking the first time since the War of 1812 that an enemy had occupied American territory.

The Alaska Natives put up a fierce resistance to the Japanese, aided in part by the US Armed Forces.

The invasion of the Aleutian Islands was to coincide with the Battle of Midway as part of the Pacific Shroud plan. After taking Midway and the Aleutians, the Imperial Japanese Navy would patrold between the captured islands, preventing an assault on Japanese territories and as a staging area for raids on the West Coast and a possible invasion of Hawaii.

[JamesKlyngtwofish]

Hold up. The US didn't annex Texas until 1845. Texas declared independence from Mexico in 1836, defeated Mexico, and was its own republic until 1845.

[qbertking]

The real reason Russia sold Alaska was that the moose forced them to.

[Derpy_B]

I thought I wasn’t a nerd. Yet here I am

[mrsalwaysright]

The fact that we get free short documentaries on YouTube by The Infographics Show is truly a gift. 👍

[williamweigt]

At the time; Alaska was rich in many resources; BUT it was so far/remote that it wasn’t even profitable. Having recently lost the Crimean War and needing money to develop its Siberian resources (which were MUCH easier to reach and develop), the Czar sought to get the white elephant off the books.

800 colonists (at its peak) does NOT qualify Alyeska as a “center of world trade”. Seriously.

But to whom should the land be sold? The hated British who won the Crimean War; so they could expand Canada? No. The Americans were still sufficiently “non-British” at this point in the mid 19th Century.

Czar’s clever plan:
1) abandon useless and indefensible “colony”
2) get paid
3) cede colony to a non-competitor in Russian interests
4) irritate the British, while denying them a logical addition to their current holdings
5) use money to rebuild navy and develop Siberian resources (essentially equal to Alyeska’s, at the time).
Greetings from Seward, Alaska.