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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[ihavetowaitdaystochangem]

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

[TransformersBoss]

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

[Victor-elul]

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

[mickeyd]

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

[jonahwatson]

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?

[redjaypictures]

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

[j.s.]

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.

[randomlyentertaining]

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.

[koffyninja]

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.

[Tobbs]

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.

[BerjozkatheHistorian]

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.

[Egemony]

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

[kasadam]

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.

[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?

[Torsala]

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

[garabic]

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

[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

[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.

[rmcelmur]

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

[jaguarstar]

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