History:

Russia is an old nation, and her history could be very, very, long, so I’m going to be vague in some of the places I touch upon. If there are any comments please ask!

Russia’s history starts early, sometime in the 800s when the Varingian Rus reached Kiev. However, the “Russ” state at Novgorod is when Russia’s people and lands truly started forming and that is not till around 862. The people were simply a loose conglomerate and not really nation material just yet, and for these earliest parts of her life, Russia and her two brothers basically wandered the lands. They were still very small in form and had nothing to do with any loose governments that had formed around Novgorod and other places. The capital move to Kiev in 882 drew them closer to their people enough so that they built themselves a small little house on the outskirts of town. They still didn’t really interact with the rulers of Kieven Rus, but up through the next few centuries until the Golden Horde invades in 1237 they are drawn closer and accept parts of their nation business. For Russia, this happens more when in 1169 the capital moves to Vladimir, which is by Moscow.

As stated before, the Golden Horde invades and devastates Kieven Rus from 1237-1240, and from this point onwards through 1380 Russian land is under the Tartars’ rule. This means that in essence Russia was with the Golden Horde and kept like a little pet until the other nation got tired of her and foisted her off to her own people. This is, ultimately, part of the Golden Horde’s undoing as it led to Rus being able to grow up a bit with her own people and while she was not exactly out of a child’s body by this point, she had grown some. It was enough for her people to rise up and throw out the Golden Horde and form the Grand Duchy of Moscow. They were still a tributary to the Golden Horde until 1480, however, so Russia was still not completely her own yet.

Now, the Grand Duchy of Moscow lasted up until 1547 when Ivan IV (Hint: There are a lot of Ivans.) takes the throne and becomes the first official Tsar of the Tsardom of Russia. So we have about 200 hundred years, where Russia’s people conquer and annex surrounding lands such as the Novgorod Republic and the Grand Duchy of Tver. Ivan III adopted the title tsar, and also claimed “Ruler of all Rus” as his title. For 43 years Russia was ruled by Ivan III and it lead to her territory tripling in size and the ability to successfully campaign again the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which was a major rival power at this time. In addition, Russia became known as the “Third Rome” through her ruler’s marriage to the niece of Byzantium’s last emperor. In 1500, Russia is actually able to defeat Lithuania and take lands away from her; something the next ruler also succeeds in doing and gains lands all the way to the Dniepr River. This river just so happens to be one of the major rivers in Europe and it allowed Russia to open up trade down the line.

So basically, Muscovy was a period of strengthening and growth for Russia. Speaking in age, she was in about her preteens at this time. She manages to grow a bit more during the Tsardom, enough to hit that awkward teenage stage, which she only manages to grow out of during her time as an empire.

Being stuck as a teenager for centuries is just one of the reasons why we do not envy nations.

Moving on, the Tsardom was declared and led by Ivan IV, who is perhaps better known as Ivan the Terrible. Ivan IV expanded Russia’s lands even further and begun the task of annexing Siberia. We could explain more on Ivan the Terrible, but really all you need to know is he created a treaty with England, added more lands, created a new set of laws and a rural government, oh and there was a reign of terror somewhere in there.

Around 1589 the Russian Orthodox Church becomes independent and kicks the other orthodox churches to the curb, this is significant only in the fact that the Orthodox shaped Russian culture from the Keiven Rus conversion for a millennium. It’s not until the Soviet Union goes Atheist that the Orthodoxy has to go underground. The majority of Rus’ people practices underground, and switch holidays and traditions around to be able to keep practicing their faith. Though Russia has lost a lot of faith in any deities out there, she does follow the people’s example in this.
Going back to the topic, however! After a few Tartar raids on Moscow, and several years go by the Time of Troubles rears its head. This period can basically be explained away by a lot of fake Dmitri’s and also a lot of dead Dmitri’s. Simply put, the heirs to the throne have all either been killed, plague’d, famine or died long since. When things turn almost impossibly cliché and the cold weather led to famine, famine led to economic collapse, disorganization and depopulation led to banditry, the Cossacks grew restless, starvation and plagues broke out in the cities everyone blamed the not very popular ruler.

So, Russia is in a panic trying to find the new heir when all out of the blue, Poland comes trotting up on her pony and declares she has Dmitri, an heir, back home. Which is great and all, but really, Russia was pretty sure this guy had died a while back. Through shenanigans, and a dead Dmitri and the current ruler of Russia later, Poland invades and it’s with the help of Sweden that Russia manages to drive away Poland, and a second Dmitri she’d dug up out of the woodwork. The guy who’d got put on the throne, a highly unpopular member of the National Assembly, was forced to abdicate. The second Dmitri didn’t take the throne however, because Poland had a brilliant plan.

Said plan was for her prince to rule Russia.

Now, Sweden had some beef with Poland around that time, and this was not cool in her boat. So what does she do? She turns around and declares that Dmitri was with her all along.

So they go to war.

But Poland isn’t done just yet. She decides that hey, it would totally be cool if her prince didn’t become Tsar, but her king became the king of Russia instead. Okay, so we’ve got Catholic Poles controlling Moscow and Smolensk. Protestant Swedes occupying Novgorod. The throne is still empty, the National Assembly is feuding amongst themselves, and two rival imposters, a prince, and a king are all vying for the tsardom. Elsewhere in Russia, banditry and starvation has brought the country to her knees.

Sounds like a pretty hopeless situation, doesn’t it? How on earth does a nation bring themselves out of this?

Basically? A huge surge in patriotism. No, seriously. The dismal state of the nation basically convinced everyone that they really needed to band together as Russians and throw these guys out.

So they did.

Once the Russian resistance had ganked themselves an efficient leader, the sheer ferocity of the resistance shocked the occupiers and Russian cities were quickly reclaimed with only a few land losses to end the war. These lands would be gained back over the next centuries however. This whole thing led up to the start of Romanov rule, and they would be Russia’s ruling family to the death of their line in 1917 with the end of the Empire.

But we have yet to truly reach the empire yet. See, it doesn’t start till Peter I takes the throne in 1689. Peter the Great, as he’s more commonly known, was one of the most influential leaders of Russia. He developed it from a still medieval state that had yet to go through the renaissance the rest of Europe went through, and opens up Russia to Western culture. He develops the nation into a then modern power, and creates a new Capital that will be called the “Window to the West” and later on Leninsburg.

This capital is St. Petersburg.

This growth and modernization is enough to send Russia through a growth spurt, and through Peter, and Catherine’s rule she grows until she reaches the extent of her growth a bit before Napoleon’s invasion.

Peter did a lot for the nation, including starting Russia's first newspaper and editing the first issue himself, raising woman's status by having them attend social gatherings, ordered the nobles to give up their traditional clothes for Western fashions and also requiring they shave off their beards. He advanced Russian education by opening a school of navigation and introducing schools for the arts and sciences while also reorganizing and reforming the Russian armed forces and created a modern navy modeled on European practices.

Also, he introduced potatoes. Yay, Potatoes.

Peter’s death in 1725 does not spell the end for the growth of the nation, but it does provide a running start for Russia to grow and prosper. During this time is when Russia is able to interact the most with the rest of the world for the first time in her life, but she finds herself increasingly different from the others and not as easy to integrate into modern society in other countries. She’s sort of that country bumpkin trying to make it big in a capital city. It doesn’t really work out too well. Also during this time there are a lot of pretty constant wars with Turkey, Prussia, Poland, France and Britain, and though Russia has actually grown enough at this time to be able to join the war front if she was a man, she’s instead kept at home. Occasionally, however, her stubborn streak shines and she slips away to join as a nurse. She still manages to sharpen her capacity for strategy in this situation and grows in her strength as nation and person. This basically dominates her life for the next several decades off and on.

Catherine II’s rule is really the next big milestone, as she turns Russian into one of the strongest powers in Continental Europe, but more so, she’s important to Anya because of the strength of a female ruler who in turn strengthens Anya’s resolve and her abilities with in her court. It’s during Catherine’s rule that Anya actually flourishes the most a person, but it also had the bad habit of fostering her stubbornness. There’s more I could expand upon here, but it would simply come back to the sheer amount of renovation Russia undergoes during Catherine’s rule and the fact that Russia herself rises up and becomes stronger in her own self. But I’ll stop here and move on to more interesting things.


Because in 1812, Napoleon invades, and Russia follows the scorched earth strategy by burning down Moscow to force him back. With General Winter’s help, and the Russian peasants’ guerrilla warfare, thousands of French soldiers are taken down and driven out.

Badass, am I right?

So we have Russia, burning down her capitol to drive back France, who had been something of a mentor to her a century or so ago. Ultimately, this just strengthens her distrust of the other nations.

Even with Napoleon out of the picture, however, Russia is not done with war. For the next several decades various wars and campaigns sweep Europe and Russia continues to gather land and power until WWI rears its ugly head and drags Europe down with it.

WWI is essentially not very successful for Russia to put it lightly. In the beginning, it starts out with devastating military loses at Masurian Lakes and Tannenburg and greatly weakens the Russian army in the very first stages of the war. Lending more damage to the moral of the people was Rasputin’s growing influence over the royal family. Russia spent WWI split between the battlefields and at home, but she too, like the vast majority of her people did not trust Rasputin and his influence over the tsarina. The stirrings of rebellion were getting louder, and Russia was split between both sides. On one hand, her royals had been there since day one, she’d seen them grown up, and been there all their lives, but the people are intrinsically tied to her and her psyche. So in the end, she caves in and follows the revolution.

In January of 1905 protestors gathered at the gates of the palace. They were peaceful striking workers, however the palace guards and Russian troops stationed there fired on the workers, wounding and killing hundreds. This event, “Bloody Sunday”, cracked Russia’s mentality because of the strain her people killing their kin caused.

After 1905, Russia is never quite the same. She’s able to keep himself together for the most part and go to war like a good little nurse, but often she’s unsure in her stance and the hold of her royals upon her people. In addition, she worries over the state she’s in and the corruption and poverty that is rampant. Eventually, she finds herself being dragged out of a world war and into a revolution. It is her hope that this will stabilize her and help her people. But it becomes increasingly apparent that this is not the case and she simply withdraws within herself. Her distrust of nation and people comes to the forefront here and she’s increasingly jaded.

The 1917 overthrow of the monarchy and their following execution is possibly a furthering cause of this, but while she was there for the Romanov’s deaths, she did not personally kill them. The death of the monarchy doesn’t exactly stop the problems in Russia at this time. There’s still civil war going on, even though the nation is under Lenin’s control and stability is not something that seems on the horizon. With the Red Terror pushed forward by Stalin, and the communist party itself getting purged for three years and five million dying of famine nothing seems secure. The formation of the USSR in 1922 seems as if it will lend more stability but Stalin taking power and collectivizing agriculture and starting up industrialization doesn’t help and famine strikes once more. For almost twenty years after this, Stalin’s Great Purge kills millions. This and the upcoming WWII means that Russia is a very sick nation. Famine strikes hard, and not even a nation can escape that.