Russian Geography

The land mass of the former Soviet Union incorporated a total of 8 1/2 million square miles (more than all of Latin America), which equaled nearly 1/6 of the entire land surface of the world; it rests over two continents, Asia and Europe, and much of the development and styles of the country are determined by the mixture (or by the two sides fighting each other for control).
The majority of the territory is plains, extending to Siberia; the few mountain ranges, most significantly the Urals, which separate European Russia from Asian Russia, are too low to be of any real consequence (primarily in terms of invasion). The plains are dominated by lakes and rivers; the rivers are slow moving and many of them are frozen for large parts of the year, while the lakes link many of the rivers and provide Russia with an effective system of water communication and transportation, although in many places it was (and in some cases still is) done on skates rather than by boat.

However, these riverways only allow for internal movement; Russia is basically landlocked, as its ports are primarily in the north (and frozen) or allow for access only by passing through narrow straits or other geographical features which can be easily defended by others.

The climate is quite cold, as the latitude of Russia corresponds with Canada and up. Even the southern parts, and great Black Soil areas of Russia, are closer in climate to southern Canada than to the grain areas of the United States.

Much of the land remains frozen 8 months out of the year, and only about 1/8 of the land is suitable for agriculture; however, heat waves also occur, and the climate in the summer months is humid and hot.

The northern parts of Russia, like Alaska, go through "white nights", where the sun only sets for a few minutes, and this extends south; even cities like Moscow have periods during the summer when night is only four or five hours.

The northern part of Russia is covered with tundra, which is basically a permafrost frozen wasteland which makes up nearly 15% of the total land area of Russia.

The regions south of the tundra are forest; this area, known as the taiga, is a stretch of evergreens, and then mixed forest below that. The next area is the steppe, which is prairie land, which dominates southern Russia, followed by the desert or near desert south of that (which takes up a smaller portion than the rest).

The geography of Russia served as both a positive and a negative in terms of invasion; while there are few natural barriers, making it an easy territory to invade, the sheer vastness of the land made it difficult to conquer.

The First Invasions in Russia

One of the earlist invasions, if not the earliest, was by the Cimmerians, who ruled from 1000-700 B.C.; linguistically they are usually regarded as Thracian or Iranian. They entered Anatolia (now known as Asia Minor, or modtern Turkey) some time toward the end of the 8th century B.C. What little we do know of them comes from the Greek historian Herodotus.

The Cimmerians were followed by the Scythians, who spoke an Indo European language, most likely an ancient form of Iranian/Persian. They were typical nomads in terms of their living arrangements and military style (quick strikes, no permanent settlements, etc), and they ruled until the end of the 3rd century B. C.. They were then replaced by the Sarmatians, who were Iranian speaking like the Scythians, but were more adept at fitting into the southern Russian society and culture (they were more permanent dwellers, rather than nomadic warriors), and they ruled until the beginning of the 3rd century A.D.

During this period, the influence of Greek culture first began to be felt, as both the Scythians and the Sarmatians allowed Greek colonies to develop in southern Russia and attempted to maintain trade with them. This will be particularly important for the development of Russia, which will lean, until the seventeenth century, firmly toward the direction of the Greeks.

The Sarmatians were defeated by the Goths, who divided into two groups; the Ostrogoths remained primarily in the east, establishing a colony from the Black Sea to the Baltic, while the Visigoths travelled west, sacking Rome and eventually settling Spain, where they remained until the Muslim invasions of the 8th century. The Goths were primarily interested in warfare, not in culture, and they contributed little to the development of Southern Russia.

The Gothic period ended with the invasion of the Huns in 370 A.D. The Huns were a Turkic speaking people with a variety of other elements mixed in; they moved through Russia to invade Central and Western Europe. They almost sacked Rome but stopped because of their leader Attila's respect for Pope Leo I. After Attila's death in 453, the Hun empire disintegrated, with the survivors scattered throughout the eastern parts of Europe and Russia.

Some time about 558, the invasion of the Avars took place. The state that the Avars created lasted in Russia for nearly 250 years, but they are most known for providing huge amounts of gold to Charlemagne following their defeat at his hands. The Avars were exposed to Christianity, but converted primarily to Islam (which they continue to practice to this day, primarily in the Dagestan Republic). They were defeated by the Khazars, who were also Turkic speaking but opposed Islam and served as a barrier against Arab invasions into Europe. The ruler and upper classes of Khazars were Jewish, and they allowed for religious tolerance through the lands that they controlled; they also had red hair, which made them very distinctive. The Khazars introduced a standing paid army, and were both commercial and cosmopolitan in their outlook, which also made them highly unusual compared to the previously peoples who had invaded and conquered the lands of Russia.