Russia's Wars: 500 Years of Uninterrupted Aggression

Scale

From the conquest of Novgorod (1478) to the invasion of Ukraine (2022), Russia waged at least 120+ wars and armed conflicts. This means Russia started a new war on average every 4–5 years over 500 years.

Russia is the world’s largest country (17.1 million km²). This territory did not come to it “peacefully.”

15th–16th centuries: building the Muscovite state

Year	War/conflict	Motive	Result
1478	Conquest of Novgorod	Destroying a rival, seizing trade routes	Novgorod Republic destroyed, mass executions and deportations
1485	Conquest of Tver	Eliminating Moscow’s last rival	Tver principality absorbed
1487–1494	War with Lithuania	Seizing “Rus” lands	Moscow gained part of Smolensk region
1500–1503	Second war with Lithuania	Westward expansion	Chernihiv, Starodub captured
1512–1522	Fourth war with Lithuania	Taking Smolensk	Smolensk captured
1552	Conquest of Kazan Khanate	Destroying a Muslim state	Kazan taken by storm, mass killing of population
1556	Conquest of Astrakhan Khanate	Control of the Volga	Khanate destroyed
1558–1583	Livonian War	Access to the Baltic	Russia defeated, but 25 years of war
1580s	Conquest of Siberian Khanate	Colonial expansion	Beginning of Siberian conquest

Motive: The Muscovite principality was transforming into an empire — absorbing neighbors one by one. Those who resisted (Novgorod, Kazan) suffered mass executions and deportations.

17th century: wars on all fronts

Year	War/conflict	Motive	Result
1604–1618	Time of Troubles / War with Poland	Power struggle and territory	Loss of Smolensk
1632–1634	Smolensk War	Retaking Smolensk	Defeat
1654–1667	War with Poland	Seizure of Ukraine (Pereyaslav Council)	Left-Bank Ukraine and Kyiv under Moscow’s rule
1656–1658	War with Sweden	Baltic access	Failure
1670–1671	Suppression of Razin’s uprising	Internal war	Razin executed
1676–1681	War with Ottoman Empire	Control of Right-Bank Ukraine	Armistice
1686–1700	Wars with Crimean Khanate	Black Sea access	Failure

17th-century motive: Russia tried to seize Ukraine, gain access to the Baltic and the Black Sea. The Pereyaslav Council of 1654 was the key event: under the pretext of “protecting Orthodox Christians,” Moscow gained control over Left-Bank Ukraine.

18th century: Peter I and imperial expansion

Year	War/conflict	Motive	Result
1700–1721	Great Northern War	Baltic access	Estonia, Latvia, part of Finland seized
1708–1709	Suppression of Mazepa	Destroying Ukraine’s autonomy	Battle of Poltava, Baturyn destroyed
1710–1713	War with Ottoman Empire	Southern expansion	Failure
1722–1723	Persian campaign	Seizure of the Caucasus	Temporary gains
1735–1739	War with Ottomans	Crimea, Black Sea	Partial gains
1741–1743	War with Sweden	Finland	Part of Finland
1756–1763	Seven Years’ War	Participation in European war	Temporary occupation of Berlin
1768–1774	War with Ottomans	Crimea, Black Sea	Crimea became “independent” (under Russian control)
1773–1775	Suppression of Pugachev’s rebellion	Internal war	Pugachev executed
1775	Destruction of the Zaporizhian Sich	Eliminating Cossack autonomy	Sich destroyed by order of Catherine II
1783	Annexation of Crimea	Black Sea control	Crimea absorbed
1787–1792	War with Ottomans	Consolidating Black Sea position	Russia entrenched on the Black Sea
1788–1790	War with Sweden	Finland	No change
1793–1795	Partitions of Poland	Seizure of Right-Bank Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania	Polish state destroyed

18th-century motive: Peter I and Catherine II turned Russia into an empire. The Zaporizhian Sich was destroyed, Crimea annexed, Poland partitioned, the Baltic seized.

19th century: “gendarme of Europe”

Year	War/conflict	Motive	Result
1804–1813	War with Persia	Seizure of the Caucasus	Georgia, Azerbaijan under Russia
1806–1812	War with Ottomans	Moldova, Wallachia	Bessarabia annexed
1808–1809	War with Sweden	Finland	Finland seized
1812	Patriotic War	Defence against Napoleon	The only genuinely defensive war
1817–1864	Caucasian War	Conquest of the Caucasus	47 years of war! Genocide of the Circassians
1826–1828	War with Persia	Transcaucasia	Armenia under Russia
1828–1829	War with Ottomans	Balkans, straits	Territorial gains
1830–1831	Suppression of Polish uprising	Maintaining control	Poles crushed
1849	Suppression of Hungarian revolution	”Helping” Austria	Hungarian revolution crushed
1853–1856	Crimean War	Control of the straits, “protecting Orthodox Christians”	Defeat by Britain and France
1860s–1880s	Conquest of Central Asia	Colonialism	Seizure of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan
1863	Suppression of Polish uprising	Maintaining control	Mass repression
1877–1878	War with Ottomans	”Liberating” Balkan Slavs	Bulgaria created as satellite

19th-century motive: Russia as “gendarme of Europe”: suppressing uprisings, conquering the Caucasus (47 years!), absorbing Central Asia. The only defensive war was 1812.

The Caucasian War: a separate crime

47 years (1817–1864) Russia conquered the Caucasus:

• Genocide of the Circassians (Adyghe people) — an estimated 400,000–1,500,000 people killed
• Over 1 million Circassians deported to the Ottoman Empire
• Dozens of peoples and cultures destroyed
• Imam Shamil resisted for 25 years

20th century: world wars and colonial wars

Year	War/conflict	Motive	Result
1904–1905	War with Japan	Manchuria, Korea	Humiliating defeat
1914–1918	World War I	Balkans, straits, “Pan-Slavism”	Revolution, collapse of the empire
1917–1922	Civil War	Bolshevik power	Bolsheviks won
1918–1921	War against Ukraine (UNR)	Destroying Ukrainian independence	Ukraine absorbed into USSR
1918–1920	War against Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan	Retaking Transcaucasia	Republics absorbed into USSR
1919–1921	War against Poland	Exporting revolution to Europe	Defeat near Warsaw
1920s	Conquest of Central Asia (Basmachi)	Suppressing resistance	Final subjugation
1939	Invasion of Poland	Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact	Western Ukraine and Belarus seized
1939–1940	Winter War with Finland	Territorial seizure	Partial victory, shameful losses
1940	Occupation of the Baltic states	Absorbing Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia	Annexation
1940	Occupation of Bessarabia	Seizing Moldova	Annexation
1941–1945	Second World War	Defence against Nazism	Victory, but 27 million dead
1945	War with Japan	Manchuria, Kurils	Kurils and Sakhalin seized
1953	Suppression of uprising in East Germany	Maintaining control	Tanks in Berlin
1956	Suppression of uprising in Hungary	Maintaining control	2,500+ Hungarians killed
1968	Invasion of Czechoslovakia	Crushing the “Prague Spring”	Tanks in Prague
1979–1989	War in Afghanistan	”Internationalist duty”	10 years, 15,000+ Soviet dead, 1–2 million Afghans

After the USSR’s collapse: “peaceful” Russia

Year	War/conflict	Official motive	Real motive
1992	War in Transnistria	”Protecting Russian-speakers”	Creating a satellite in Moldova
1992–1993	War in Abkhazia	”Peacekeeping”	Separating Abkhazia from Georgia
1992–1993	War in South Ossetia	”Peacekeeping”	Separating South Ossetia from Georgia
1994–1996	First Chechen War	”Constitutional order”	Retaining control over the Caucasus
1999–2009	Second Chechen War	”Fighting terrorism”	Putin’s rise to power, destruction of Grozny
2008	War with Georgia	”Protecting South Ossetia”	Annexing 20% of Georgian territory
2014	Annexation of Crimea	”Will of the people”	Seizing a strategic peninsula
2014–2022	War in Donbas	”Internal conflict”	Destabilizing Ukraine
2015–present	War in Syria	”Fighting terrorism”	Supporting Assad, military bases
2022–present	Full-scale invasion of Ukraine	”Denazification,” “demilitarization”	Destroying independent Ukraine

Analysis of motives

Typical “reasons” for Russia’s wars

Over 500 years, Russia has used the same justifications again and again:

1. “Protecting Orthodox Christians / compatriots / Russian-speakers”

• 18th century: “protecting Orthodox Christians” in the Ottoman Empire
• 19th century: “protecting Balkan Slavs”
• 1992: “protecting Russian-speakers” in Transnistria
• 2008: “protecting Ossetians” in Georgia
• 2014–2022: “protecting Russian-speakers” in Ukraine

2. “Fighting terrorism / extremism”

• 19th century: “fighting banditry” in the Caucasus
• 1999: “counter-terrorist operation” in Chechnya
• 2015: “fighting ISIS” in Syria
• 2022: “denazification” of Ukraine

3. “Restoring order / preventing chaos”

• 1956: “helping the Hungarian people” (tanks in Budapest)
• 1968: “fraternal assistance” (tanks in Prague)
• 1979: “internationalist duty” (Afghanistan)

4. “Restoring historical justice”

• Throughout: “gathering of Rus lands”
• 2014: “Crimea was always Russian”
• 2022: “Ukraine is not a real state”

Real motives

Behind all the “noble” pretexts, the same real motives always hide:

1. Territorial expansion — seizing land, resources, ports
2. Control of neighbors — preventing independent policy in border states
3. Domestic legitimization — a “short victorious war” to boost ratings
4. Destroying the alternative — any successful democracy near Russia is a threat to the regime

Death toll

Estimated casualties in wars initiated by Russia (excluding World Wars I and II):

Conflict	Casualties
Conquest of Kazan (1552)	Tens of thousands
Caucasian War (1817–1864)	400,000–1,500,000
Conquest of Central Asia	Hundreds of thousands
Suppression of uprisings (Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968)	Thousands
Afghanistan (1979–1989)	1–2 million Afghans
Chechen wars (1994–2009)	50,000–200,000
War in Georgia (2008)	~850
Syria (2015–present)	Tens of thousands of civilians
Invasion of Ukraine (2022–present)	Hundreds of thousands (both sides + civilians)

Conclusion

Over 500 years, Russia waged more than 120 wars. Of these, only a few were defensive (1812, 1941–1945). The rest were wars of conquest, punitive, or colonial.

A country that has waged wars continuously throughout its entire history, conquered one-sixth of the Earth’s landmass, and destroyed dozens of peoples — has no moral right to call itself “peace-loving” or accuse others of “aggression.”

The 2022 invasion of Ukraine is not an “anomaly.” It is war number 121 in an endless sequence. The only thing that changed is the pretext. Before it was “protecting Orthodox Christians,” now it is “denazification.” The essence is the same: seizing a neighbor’s territory.