How did Russia Become an Empire? | Animated History

Sign up for The Armchair Historian website today:

Sources:
The End of the Russian Empire, Michael T. Florinsky
The Extraordinary Rise of the Russian Empire, Arthur C. Hasiotis
The Princeton Review's AP European History Exam 2017

Music:
Yonder Hill and Dale by Aaron Kenny
King's Men by Biz Baz Studio
The New Order by Aaron Kenny
Trieste by Josh Lippi & The Overtime

[TheArmchairHistorian]

Also, don't forget to check out They have some excellent courses! Let me know what you think.

All corrections should be posted underneath this comment.

Griff

[hf]

fun fact: St Petersburg was designed to be like Amsterdam as it's also built on a lot of little islands

[SquallNN]

"Today Russia is one of the largest countries on earth."
I'm pretty sure it's actually the largest country on earth, followed by Canada.

[valmarsiglia]

The connection with the Byzantine empire comes from Ivan III, who married the daughter of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI. The double-headed eagle was brought to Moscow when Constantinople fell (at least according to tradition), where it became the symbol of the Russian empire and later of the Romanovs. Also, Russia kept the flame burning for Orthodox Christianity in that part of the world during the period of Mongol domination. That's why some consider Moscow the third Rome.

[EpimetheusHistory]

Awesome video-was fun collaborating with you on this video! Love your animations as always!

[petrygebliebenerschlagerfan]

Your map in 1:15 is wrong. Finland, Karelia or the Kola peninsula and the russian coast around the white sea where never controlled by the mongols. The republic of Novgorod wasn't controlled by the Mongols until the 1270s and even then, their control over Novgorod lasted until the 1290s so about 20 years.

[trickydick]

The Russian Empire was in terminal decline by the beginning of the 19th century? I think you're jumping the gun a bit there. They marched all the way to Paris as part of the coalition defeating Napoleon, aside from the Crimean War stomped the Turks repeatedly, expanded deeper into Central Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, and humiliated the Chinese at every opportunity. Sure, this was beginning to crack by the end of the 19th century and of course after the disaster of the Russo-Japanese War, but for the most part, Russia had a fairly successful 19th century.

[JappeChristian]

Ivan the Terrible's name is a bit of a misnomer
In Russian his name is Ivan Grozny. Grozny is a uniquely russian word that cannot be translated to any single english word, but the most fitting one would be "formidable"
Ivan the Formidable

[Torus]

Remember: If you have to be a despot, be an enlightened despot.

[Marta-sedo]

Пётр Великий сам работал на верфи в Амстердаме, чтоб знать, как строить корабли вплоть до гвоздя... Не каждый монарх во всей истории мира не был таким простым и одновременно великим, как Пётр I.

[xdtxyvj]

Today I find out that Russia lost the war to Napoleon. Time for amazing stories

[dad]

How did Russia become an Empire?
Answer- Empire stuff

[jacques]

6:27 probably the most inaccurate depiction of the Crimean war I've ever seen.

[elflord]

"the russian flag is based on the dutch flag"
Uses flag of Luxembourg.

[SamuriLemonX]

"One of the largest counties on Earth"

? THE

[napoleonibonaparte]

If only Peter used Quality Ideas instead...

[DavidGonzalez-pjdv]

One of the best history YouTube channels ever, keep up the awesome work

[Yusheesan]

There has never been a state called Moscovy. It's a purely western nickname. It was the Great Dutchy of Moscow that rose in power after the decline of Rus. Moscow re-united the Russian lands became the Tsardom of Russia and then the Russian Empire.

[master_ace]

Just gonna casually miss out Polish Intervention in the period of change of dynasties from Rurik to Romanov and and forget about Swedes taking a bite out of Novgorodian territories (which is what Peter The Great aimed to reclaim in the Northern War)....
But otherwise, great video!

[dams]

I think I got interested in your channel through Crimean War or Prussian history video. So nice call back.