- 2 days ago
Russia has been at war for centuries—but why? These 5 reasons explain its endless conflicts.
👉 What World Leaders NEED to Know about Russia: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6d9EIByxz1AdkmIOYUlrDd0rmByq5zSN
Why has Russia been at war for centuries? Is aggression a Russian trait, or is there a deeper logic behind it? In this video, we break down five key reasons that have driven Russia into conflict time and time again—from the fight for resources and geopolitical survival to personal ambitions and messianic ideology. Understanding Russia means understanding its past, its leadership, and the forces shaping its actions today.
Video Chapters:
00:00 Why Are Russians So Aggressive?
00:46 The Pursuit of Resources
05:11 Suppressing Political Opponents
09:11 Overcoming Geographic Barriers
10:48 Messianic Mission
14:47 Personal Motives
15:49 Can Russia Live in Peace With Its Neighbors?
👉 JOIN ME ON THE JOURNEY Sign-up for news about the New Book here: https://elvirabary.com/elvira-barys-newsletter/
Y HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK SERIES
➡️ Russian Treasures (a historical novel about the Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War) https://amzn.to/43PutaM
➡️ The White Ghosts' Empir
👉 What World Leaders NEED to Know about Russia: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6d9EIByxz1AdkmIOYUlrDd0rmByq5zSN
Why has Russia been at war for centuries? Is aggression a Russian trait, or is there a deeper logic behind it? In this video, we break down five key reasons that have driven Russia into conflict time and time again—from the fight for resources and geopolitical survival to personal ambitions and messianic ideology. Understanding Russia means understanding its past, its leadership, and the forces shaping its actions today.
Video Chapters:
00:00 Why Are Russians So Aggressive?
00:46 The Pursuit of Resources
05:11 Suppressing Political Opponents
09:11 Overcoming Geographic Barriers
10:48 Messianic Mission
14:47 Personal Motives
15:49 Can Russia Live in Peace With Its Neighbors?
👉 JOIN ME ON THE JOURNEY Sign-up for news about the New Book here: https://elvirabary.com/elvira-barys-newsletter/
Y HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK SERIES
➡️ Russian Treasures (a historical novel about the Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War) https://amzn.to/43PutaM
➡️ The White Ghosts' Empir
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00A subscriber asked me, why are Russians so aggressive?
00:04Can't they just live in peace?
00:07My name is Elvira Berry, I am a writer born in the USSR, and today we are going to break
00:13down 5 key reasons why Russia has repeatedly taken up arms throughout history.
00:20This is not a uniquely Russian trade.
00:23Many nations have followed the same patterns.
00:26But it's important to understand why this happens, and why leaders make the deliberate
00:33choice to send their own people to war and take the lives of others.
00:39We'll explore how this plays out specifically in Russia, using real historical examples.
00:50In the early Middle Ages, Russia wasn't all that different from its neighbors.
00:54Other Viking-founded states.
00:58Back then, the economy was built on raiding.
01:00People with good swords and large boats attacked those without quality weapons or transport.
01:06And their victims could not retaliate by raiding their attackers' villages in return.
01:12In those days, concepts of morality, good and evil, applied only to one's own kin.
01:18So, the only thing that could ensure peace between neighbors was the threat of blood vengeance.
01:25No vengeance, no peace and security.
01:28Initially, these raids were all about plunder.
01:31The Vikings took prisoners, selling them in the slave markets of Byzantium or forcing
01:37conquered people to pay tribute.
01:39Mostly in furs and bee-wax for candles.
01:43It was impossible to escape them because Russia's dense forests had no roads, and all trade relied
01:50on rivers.
01:52The Vikings built fortresses along these waterways, controlling the flow of commerce.
01:58Over time, settlements grew around these fortresses as they offered protection for trade fares.
02:04These towns became welfare, attracting religious institutions and housing well-armed soldiers.
02:12Eventually, they evolved into small principalities.
02:16After the Mongol invasion, these fragmented states merged into what became the Grand Duchy
02:22of Moscow.
02:23This process was very similar to what happened in ancient China, where warring states battled
02:29endlessly before eventually uniting into a single political and economic system, because that
02:36was the only way to survive.
02:37But this was not a peaceful unification.
02:40In the medieval world, land and the peasants working it was the most valuable resource.
02:47However, due to Russia's harsh climate and poor soil, its feudal lords needed significantly
02:53more land to match the wealth of their French or English counterparts.
02:58And where could they get that land?
03:01By taking it from their neighbors.
03:03So, when Moscow's rulers spoke of gathering Russian lands under one hand, it wasn't about
03:10national unity.
03:12It was about expanding wealth and power of the Grand Prince.
03:17Why did Moscow succeed over other cities?
03:20Because its rulers aligned themselves with the Mongol Khans and secured the right to collect
03:27tribute on their behalf, giving them a steady flow of money.
03:32And in any era, whoever controls the cash flow gains power.
03:37With money, Moscow could buy weapons, build fortresses and maintain an army.
03:42This allowed them to repel enemy raids while launching successful ones of their own, steadily
03:49expanding their territory.
03:51Russian rulers quickly realized that their personal wealth and influence depended on foreign
03:58trade.
03:58So, they began launching military expeditions eastward to Siberia and later to Central Asia
04:05to see what resources could be exploited.
04:08The indigenous people of Siberia could not resist Russian expansion because they allowed them to
04:12collect firearms and had a devastating weakness for alcohol.
04:18Just like in North America, where European settlers overrun indigenous lands, Russia's conquest
04:24of Siberia followed the same brutal pattern.
04:28It's just that no Hollywood westerns were made about it.
04:32So, it's largely forgotten.
04:34The Russians either struck deals with local elites, subjugating and intoxicating them, or
04:42crushed any resistance.
04:44Colonists and soldiers followed, steadily pushing Russia's borders all the way to the Pacific.
04:51Russia also fought hard to eliminate competitors in the resource game.
04:55In the late 19th century, for example, Britain and Russia fiercely competed for control over Central
05:02Asia.
05:02This region was crucial to Russia because it supplied cotton, the backbone of its early industrial textile industry.
05:15The second reason for aggression is the suppression of political opponents.
05:20This has taken different forms throughout history.
05:24First, stopping raids on Russian border settlements.
05:28The southwestern regions of the Russian Empire were vast open steppes, difficult to defend, but
05:35really attractive for settlement.
05:37Russian and Ukrainian steppes have rich black soil, similar to the Great Plains of North America,
05:45making them far more fertile than the land in Central Russia.
05:48For centuries, peasants sought to settle there, but local nomadic tribes frequently raided these
05:56settlements.
05:57Again, much like in America, bands of horsemen would appear out of nowhere, attack, plunder and
06:03disappear into the endless steppe.
06:06There was no way to track them down.
06:08The solution was a brutal one.
06:11Extermination, forced assimilation and complete political domination of the local tribes.
06:17Second, fighting wars to support key allies.
06:21A prime example is World War I.
06:25Russia did not enter the war out of a strong desire to fight Germany and Austria-Hungary.
06:31Instead, it did so because of its military alliance with Britain and France.
06:37Abandoning allies in their time of need was not an option, especially since they provided
06:43Russia with major loans and were vital trade partners.
06:47Russia hoped that Germany would be intimidated into surrendering, but as has happened many times
06:53in history, Russia overestimated its own strength.
06:57The war ultimately broke the empire's back, paving the way for the Bolsheviks to seize power.
07:04Third, crushing rebellions.
07:07The Russian Empire was a vast collection on different ethnic groups, many of whom were
07:11forcibly incorporated, though Russian history textbooks conveniently left that part out.
07:18Officially, the narrative was that all border nations, from Finland to a large portion of
07:24Chinese territory, joined Russia voluntarily.
07:27But rewriting of history does not change reality.
07:30Take Poland, for example.
07:33It spent years under Russian rule and made multiple attempts to regain independence.
07:39Russia's response was forced Russification, banning Polish language education and allowing
07:45only those loyal to the Tsar to advance in their careers.
07:49The Poles resisted, but their uprisings always ended the same way.
07:55Their leaders were executed or exiled to Siberia.
07:58This was very similar to how Britain treated Ireland.
08:02Fourth, defending against invasion.
08:05World War II provides a classic example of this.
08:09For the Soviet Union, it was a war of revenge.
08:12Once the Nazi invasion was repelled and the Red Army pushed into German territory, they showed
08:18no mercy.
08:19Believing they had the right to take revenge for their devastated homeland.
08:29One of the most brutal examples is the Russian invasion of Finland in 1714.
08:36For the Finns, this period was as devastating as World War II for the Russia.
08:41They call it the Great Wrath.
08:43At the time, Finland was under Swedish rule and during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great's
08:49army invaded.
08:50To ensure Sweden could not reclaim the territory, the Russians employed a scorched earth strategy.
08:57The war was not even against the Finns themselves.
09:00Yet, they were massacred.
09:03Their land was ravaged and many were sent to forced labor camps to build what would become
09:09St. Petersburg.
09:15Russia's chronic poverty was not just due to harsh climates and poor soil.
09:20A nation's wealth is built on trade and for centuries, Russia struggled with it, primarily
09:26because it had no direct access to the sea.
09:29This created major financial problems.
09:32The vast majority of Russia's peasants live in a subsistence economy, meaning they had no
09:38money.
09:38Taxes were collected in grain, cloth, and other goods, which then had to be sold or traded somehow.
09:46By the late 17th century, Russia had only one major seaport, Arkhangelsk, located in the
09:53far northwest, far from the country's main production and agricultural centers.
09:58The Tsar desperately needed money, but Russia had no known silver reserves at the time.
10:04Meanwhile, demand for Russian furs, timber, iron, textiles, hemp used for rope-making, and other
10:12raw materials was enormous.
10:14British and Dutch were rapidly expanding their naval fleets, and Russian experts could have
10:20played a crucial role in that.
10:22To trade profitably with Western Europe, Russia needed ports on the Baltic and Black Seas.
10:29That's why, throughout the entire 18th century, Russia fought to break free from its geographic
10:36curse.
10:37And it succeeded.
10:39The entire northern coastline of the Black Sea, including Crimea, was conquered, allowing
10:45Russia to trade through the Mediterranean.
10:51After the fall of Byzantium, Russia saw itself as the last stronghold of true Christianity and
10:59the protector of Orthodox people.
11:01This belief fueled numerous wars in the Balkans and the dream of expelling the Turks from Constantinople,
11:08now Istanbul, restoring it as a center of the Orthodox faith and conveniently seizing control
11:16of the Turkish Straits, leading to the Mediterranean.
11:19Tsar Nicholas II hoped to make this dream a reality during World War I.
11:25Even today, some Russian religious figures claim that Istanbul should belong to Russia.
11:31The city was never Russian.
11:33But since Russia considers itself the heir to the great Byzantine Empire, some believe it
11:40should inherit its ancient Orthodox capital.
11:42In the 19th century, Russian Tsars adopted another messianic role.
11:48While revolutions erupted across Western Europe, Russia established one of the most rigid police
11:54states in the world.
11:56The monarchy then positioned itself not only as the guardian of the true Orthodox faith, but
12:02also as the last bastion of stability and traditional values.
12:06Order was seen as a continuation of divine law, something to be preserved, not changed.
12:13Innovation was treated as chaos, a destructive force both physically and spiritually.
12:20The only exception was military technology.
12:24Tsar Nicholas I crushed free thought and suppressed creative expression.
12:28But at the same time, he funded Russia's first railroads and the construction of steam-powered warships.
12:38Military advancement?
12:40Acceptable.
12:41Social progress?
12:42Absolutely not.
12:44But Russia's most radical messianic idea came later.
12:48The vision of a global revolution.
12:51Today, many forget that the Bolsheviks weren't originally focused on building socialism in Russia.
12:57In fact, they believed socialism in Russia was impossible because 80% of the population were peasants.
13:05And peasants inherently desired private ownership of land and tools.
13:10To build socialism, you needed industrial workers.
13:14People without land, property or savings.
13:18At the time, such workers existed mainly in Western Europe and North America.
13:23The Bolsheviks saw World War I as the end of the capitalist world.
13:29Not in a biblical sense, but as the beginning of a global socialist revolution.
13:35When that revolution didn't materialize, they did everything possible to destabilize their international order,
13:43funding labor movements and nationalist uprisings across the globe, especially in Britain, Germany and China.
13:50They failed in Britain.
13:52They partially succeeded in Germany, but only after World War II.
13:56And in China, the Soviet Union played a direct role in turning it communist.
14:02By the way, I am currently translating my novel on this very topic titled The White Ghosts Empire.
14:09The book will be ready in a few days, so be sure to subscribe to my blog at elvirabari.com
14:15to get notification when it's released.
14:18It's an absolutely fascinating story based on true events.
14:23And here's the kicker.
14:25Russia's messianic ambitions have not gone away.
14:28The latest attempt was leading a coalition of global South nations to challenge the West.
14:34But now that Donald Trump has reconciled with Putin, the question remains if the supposed ultimate enemy is now a
14:43friend?
14:43Who exactly is Russia supposed to fight against?
14:51Russia has a deeply ingrained tradition of absolute monarchy.
14:55When one person holds immense power and controls vast resources, their personal ambitions, preferences, dreams, and fears shape national policy.
15:06Time and again, Russian rulers have launched wars simply because they wanted to.
15:13Some sought glory.
15:15Others aimed to expand their influence.
15:18And some waged wars out of personal grudges.
15:21In some cases, wars even started by mistake.
15:25The war in Ukraine is a prime example.
15:27This is Putin's war, driven purely by his personal desire to subjugate Ukraine.
15:33He had tried multiple times to bring the country under his control and failed.
15:38So, he turned to brute force.
15:41First, by occupying Crimea, then Donbass, and later launching a full-scale invasion of eastern Ukraine.
15:53Can Russia live in peace with its neighbors?
15:57Yes, it can.
15:58But only if the conditions make aggression unprofitable or impossible.
16:04That doesn't mean crushing Russia, because realistically, no single country or even a coalition has the resources to conquer it.
16:11Many have tried.
16:13But in the end, it was never military defeat that stopped them.
16:17It was resource depletion.
16:20The right diplomatic approach is not collective punishment or medieval-style group responsibility.
16:27Of course, no one wants to spend time sorting out who in Russia is guilty and who isn't.
16:33There is no energy or patience for that.
16:36But we must work with the reality in front of us.
16:39Russia today is an absolute monarchy.
16:42And broad sanctions on all Russians only strengthened this monarchy, because millions of people are now trapped with no way
16:51out.
16:52Absolute monarchy in Russia exists because, for the average person, there is only one reliable path to wealth and success
17:00– cooperating with the system.
17:02The monarch has seized all of Russia's natural wealth and treats it as his personal property.
17:09Worse still, he spends it on his own whims, like a war that serves only him and a tiny fraction
17:16of nationalist fanatics.
17:18The rest are just trying to survive and make a living in the system they are stuck in.
17:24For a deeper dive into why the Russians support Putin's war, check out my other video.
17:30The link is in the description.
17:32All surveys show the same thing.
17:34More than anything, Russians just want peace.
17:38They want to be left alone, not dragged into war, not forced into absurd political games, just allowed to live
17:46their lives.
17:46When asked about the best moment in recent foreign relations, most Russians pointed to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
17:55The country was flooded with foreign visitors, cities were full of joy and celebration, and for a brief moment, there
18:03was a real sense of connection with the rest of the world.
18:07That is what normalcy looks like for Russians.
18:10A smart foreign policy toward Russia would focus on diversifying political engagement.
18:17Right now, everything goes through one man because he is the only one world leaders talk to, the only one
18:24invited to global events that needs to change.
18:29Other Russian figures, politicians, thinkers, cultural leaders need to be given platforms, opportunities, and recognition.
18:37There are more perspectives included in international discussions, the less Russia remains a one-man show.
18:44Another key strategy is helping promising Russians build international careers.
18:49It's also crucial to reject collective blame.
18:52If one Russian athlete, Svetlana, gets caught doping, there should be an immediate counter-message.
19:00Not all Russian athletes cheat.
19:02Look at Elena.
19:03She plays fair, and we support her.
19:06This cuts off Putin's ability to exploit Russophobia as a propaganda tool to rally people around the flag.
19:14And here's an even bigger challenge, figuring out how to make Russia's wealth distribution fairer.
19:19Right now, 1% of Russians control 56% of the country's total wealth.
19:24But in reality, Putin can strip anyone of their fortune and hand out unimaginable riches as he pleases.
19:33That's the core of his power.
19:36But this system is not a law of physics.
19:39It's just a social construct.
19:42Contrary to stereotypes, Russia's business and intellectual elite aren't mindless followers, bowing before its arm.
19:50These are strong, intelligent, and ambitious people.
19:53They just have no real way to change the system because the West has shut them out.
19:59And inside Russia, they have no one to turn to.
20:03If we want peace with our neighbors, we should think about how to turn them into allies.
20:09If we want endless military spending, we should isolate Russia, turn it into a pressure cooker, and wait for the
20:17next explosion.
20:18To make the right decisions about Russia, we need to study it and understand the context.
20:25And if we want to see each other as real people instead of stereotypes, we need to read literature.
20:32Fiction helps us understand one another in a ways no political analysis ever can.
20:37For all the deep thinkers and lovers of epic Russian novels, check out my book Russian Treasures on Amazon.
20:44And if you have already read it, please leave a review.
20:47Reviews are incredibly important on Amazon.
20:51Also, if you'd like to support my channel, hit the Buy Me Coffee or Join button.
20:57Every time someone does, it makes my day.
21:00Thanks for watching.
21:01See you next time.
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