In your opinion, does Russia have a history as great and powerful as that of the United Kingdom and France?

[Julie4]

[Knightwatch27]

*As* great and powerful essentially yes, that much is hard to dispute. Though not *more so* in my view. But to be fully objective and fair to mother Russia:
From the founding of the Kievan Rus by my ancestors, Swedish vikings, the Rurikid dynasty made it into a very powerful early medieval kingdom, not to mention larger than most others from northern Finland to the Black sea.
The Rus, winning two wars against the Eastern Roman Empire itself in its earliest viking-esque days before adopting greek orthodox Christianity, also squashed troublesome eastern nomads into non-existence like the Peshenegs and Cumans. Subsequently over the centuries the Novgorod republic and Duchy of Moscow were both very wealthy via trade and politically influential with a culture and successful military all its own. The biggest lull in their power came with the Mongols of course, who crushed the Russian principalities of the 13th century who at the time were divided, fractiously contending with each other and disorganised. Here the West shined far better when knights of Poland and Hungary along with Knights Templar decisively defeated and drove the Mongols back in the Second invasion of Hungary and Third invasion of Poland in the 1280's.
Following this however, Russia only expanded and never again fell to occupation. It did come close to being occupied, such as Charles XII of Sweden's invasion of 1708 where even Moscow was taken and burnt with his hitherto undefeatable Carolean army (dubbed invincible by Russians themselves), but Russian winter came in clutch as ever and Charles lost at Poltava with a lack of artillery and a severely weakened and depleted army.
The growing Russian empire faced off against the Ottomans and won every single war against them the following centuries between the 1700's-1900's, growing ever more into the second largest empire in history, the Russian Tsarist empire.

Going forward is where the greatness ends in my opinion. The Soviet Union was miserable, communism was idiotic and an economic catastrophe, and today Russia while being the largest country on earth, has severe issues with totalitarianism and a countryside in abject poverty.

[Julie4]

Economically etc. Russia has taken a very very very long time to catch up with these countries, in fact, according to the data of various historians, it has remained underdeveloped most of the time compared with these countries.

[Knightwatch27]

Hence why I didn't say *more so*.

[Julie4]

Oh i see , sorry

[RealMarek]

As great? That depends on what one considers to be great. As powerful? Perhaps not, especially in comparison with the UK, which was the leading global power at one point. Russia has often been strongly influenced by external cultures, like the Eastern Roman Empire or, since Peter the Great, the West. This sort of influence is not uncommon for a region that is nearby a strong culture. It made substantial contributions to Western culture while not really being part of the West. That said, Russia is much more powerful than the UK or France in the current day and the internal debate among Russian elites about whether Russia should try to find its place in the West has been decisively settled by the current crisis in Ukraine. On the other side of this conflict, Russia will either be ruined or it will go its own way.

[Ngs54]

Judging by the endless questions you ask about Russia and seek negative answers to, it has a history that is strong enough to give butthurt people like you.

[RyanEC]

I think Russia had cycles of rising and falling compared to France and England.
Before Peter the great Russia was weaker, after Peter the great Russia was stronger.
During the Napoleonic wars Russia was behind but used tactics to defeat Napoleon in the end.
In 1848 Russia was strong and helped the Austrians defeat Hungarian revolutionaries but in the Crimean wars of the 1850s they were behind France and England in military technology.
In WW1 Russia was getting beaten bad by Germany, in WW2 they got beaten for a while but pushed Germany back to Berlin.
In the beginning of the Cold War Russia was beaten up pretty badly from just losing millions of people in WW2 but they gained a lot of territory and was keeping up with the US.
By the end of the Cold War in the 1970s and 1980s the Soviet Union was declining.
After the Cold War Russia was pretty weak economically in the 1990s, in the 2000s Putin tried to make Russia stronger and has to some extent since then.

[WindAtMyBack]

Maybe internally. They have a rich history and culture. But on the world stage, no.

But then terms like great and powerful are very subjective. I think a lot of the problem with Russia throughout history is their isolation (geographically). Russia proper is associated with Europe, but I think they have always been somewhat of an outsider.

[Cormac995]

Ahahahahahahahahahaha!!! Wait you were serious? Ahahahahahahaha! Russia having as a history as great and powerful as Americans, brits and the French that's a good one! Russia is a third world country pretending to be a 1st out of insecurity. It's like a Napoleon complex on the scale of a nation!

[DryGermanGuy]

Russia is an interesting mix of 1st world (Moscow, St. Petersburg), 2nd world (other large cities) and 3rd world (the countryside).

[Cormac995]

@DryGermanGuy Uh have you seen the Rubles current value and the state of their military? At this point the terrorist militias in Sudan are more dangerous and they run around on horseback with no armor and an AK 47 then the best Russian soldier today. The Ruble isn't even worth 1 full American cent right now. I have to disagree with you between the economy and military as wheel as means of leadership etc they're 100% a 3rd world country now. Maybe that was true before Ukraine but if they were a second world country then with all the comfort and power centered in Moscow and saint Petersburg. At this point living is Moscow and the major cities it's at absolute most 2nd world and like 90% of the country is 3rd world now. There are genuinely states in Africa under dictatorship regimes in that would be better than living in the nicest home in Russia save Putin's pads and his little clique.

[DryGermanGuy]

Neither the low rubles value nor the shoddy military will turn Russia's buildings and infrastructure into rubble and thus Russia into a 3rd world country. Such decline happens over time, though no doubt Russia is already walking on that path.

[Cormac995]

@DryGermanGuy Putin's government isn't going to last even 5 more years. Between the damage he's done to his population, economy, workforce, military experience and various infrastructure and equipment damages not to mention an oil business costing them millions a day in losses they're completely doomed. Putin could achieve every single one of his war goals today AND conquer Poland too and they still would not be able to save their countries economy and various other issues. Russia is choaking and blue in the face, we just need to strangle them a little longer.

[Miristheiss]

I am not sure.

I really only know Russia's history starting with the Czars at the beginning of WWI. The Russian Revolution, Lennon being trained back to Russia and him pushing for Communism and what has happened since. That and Napoleon invadeing.

[BCA6010]

In short, no, Russia has historically lagged behind western Europe for hundreds of years in most respects. Even today, its economy is only about on par with that of Italy.

The main reason Russia expanded so far to the East during the colonial period is because their attempts to establish overseas colonies like the rest of Europe failed spectacularly. Not having a significant or competent navy or overseas holdings planted them far behind the major powers of the time.

[KostasKouvalis]

I don't think so. Sure, they had the Russian empire and then the Soviet Union, but they never sailed or colonized the tropics.

They did make innovations in culture, technology, science, medicine and exploration but not as much as countries like France, Italy and the UK.

Oh speaking of France, I was gonna ask you if you could get me a picture of Jacques Cousteau's grave. It's not that far from where you live.

[Julie4]

Yes, I could do this picture but I don't know when lol

Yes, exactly

[KostasKouvalis]

REALLY? That would be cool!😃

[KostasKouvalis]

Have you been to Lascaux?

[Julie4]

Yeah lol

[KostasKouvalis]

Is it true that they don't let you visit the actual cave but a full scale replica?

[Stevepro68]

Well the Soviet union is probably the biggest empire of Russia in history. Based on that I would say it's similar enough to France to say yes. The UK was totally dominance for a period so I would say no to that.

[Julie4]

Russia had to wait until the 20th century to match and surpass the French economy, and its culture and language have not reached France's level of influence, even the Russians take French culture as an example.

Above all, France and the United Kingdom have exerted influence for much longer than Russia.

[Kaneki05]

It's not to UK obviously, but it is more so than France. It don't take a moment to know Russia's empire was bigger than France. You can judge personally on a lot of factors but nothing would change this fact.

[Julie4]

The Spanish empire had a bigger empire than France in the 17th century, but it was weaker economically and militarily, the French empire was bigger than the German empire, but the Germans beat France, in fact the size of an empire doesn't mean much if you don't take several factors into account.

Russia had to wait until the 20th century to equal and surpass the French economy. In fact, most of the time, in terms of economics, innovation, etc., it remained inferior to France, and the Russian language and culture never reached France's level of influence.

Russians still spoke a lot of French in the 19th century, even Kutuzov.

[Kaneki05]

Like I said u can judge personally on a lot of factors won't change this fact though.

[Julie4]

Forgive me for saying that this argument is slightly ridiculous.

[Kaneki05]

Never created an argument in the first place so indeed if that's what you thought this was.

[Mettbltt]

They don't have as extensive a history as France, but they do have a strong history.
Because Russians lived in tribes for most of history and could not establish political unity.
Novgorod, which we can call the first Russian state, was founded in the 1100s.
But despite everything, there are many times in history when they were strong.

[Zack-Bann]

Its not just my opinion its also a fact.
Russians have a history that goes back thousands of years.
The name of the land changed a few time but the story was always an interesting one.

[Julie4]

Russian history is thousands of years old? Not even close. And Russia has never had the cultural and linguistic influence of England or France, because the Russian language or Russian culture has never reached the same level as those two countries.

What's more, England's and France's influence and power over Europe goes back much further than Russia's. In fact, in the economic and scientific spheres, Russia has been behind these countries for a very long time, and Russians were regarded with contempt by most Europeans until the early 19th century.

Russia has a rich and interesting history, it has had a very powerful army with soldiers of great courage who have largely proved themselves, with the urss and the Russian empire it has even exercised a certain cultural influence, but not to the same level as these countries.

In fact, Russia managed to build an economy that surpassed those of countries like England and France only in the 20th century.

[Zack-Bann]

If you’re talking about russia the country then you’re right. It’s not that old.

But the land wasn’t deserted.

Even during the roman empire there were tribes living there. The scythians and sarmatians.

Ill be honest I don’t know their history and don’t think it compares to what was going on in France and England but it’s still history.

In your question you said “great and powerful” if by that you mean in terms of how strong the nation was then no its not as great and powerful as france and the uk.
Although the Novgorod empire in the middle ages was pretty rich and powerful

[Julie4]

In that sense, I understand what you mean. We must give Russia its due. As I said, it has a very strong military history, and it has demonstrated on several occasions throughout its history, it has also exerted a not inconsiderable influence with the Russian Empire and the USSR.

[Anonymous]

Sure, when they had empire on three continents:

And during the Soviet Union, they were the first in Space, and had great military.

But present-day Russia is not even a shadow of the past Russian states.

[RavVid]

Well Russia started as reliably a subservient state to the mongol horde. Peter the Great emulated France so I will take his vote on the matter.

[NicholasRedone]

I for one have an understanding that Nicholas II was a controversial tsar aka king. Hmm.

I could say that Russia was iconic when it had royalty.

[slatyb]

Russia has pretty much been a miserable place since the days of the Tsars.

[DrPepper12]

Of course! All regions have a rich exciting history! Says the history teacher...

[Ladsin2]

As the UK and France? Sure. They're all weak in comparison to US, but all of had incredible empires in the past along with a rich history.

[beefcakebradybatson]

It has a storied military history, but has rarely even feigned democracy.(The Czars, Communism, Putin).

[Dongie]

Well England isn't sharing top spot with France. I'd say France 2nd then Russia.

[blackeagle007]

If Russia is powerful, then why are they having trouble with Ukraine? 🧐

[jjj101010]

Depends what you consider as a great history, the UK has been far more influential on the world than either France or Russia

[Anonymous]

Both Russia and England caused a famine to their neighbour.

[Dongie]

Potatoe potahto.

[Dargil]

***Trying to care*** ***failing***

[MikeTheGreek1979]

Yes I mean French and German learn the hard way.

[Bklynbadboy12]

Who says there great and powerful

[Agape93]

Nope

[Pohjolan]

Not really.

[ehatsham_hussain]

Soviet union?