1100 Years of Russian History in 20 Minutes

Welcome to Howl History, where thousands of years of history are told in minutes. In this video, we cover 1100 years of Russian history in just 20 minutes, from the Viking princes of Kievan Rus to the Russia of today. In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the United States for about two cents an acre. So how did the biggest country on Earth end up selling a piece of itself, and then spend the next 150 years pushing its borders back out? To answer that, we follow one simple idea: Russia sits on a huge flat plain with nothing to hide behind. Along the way, you'll meet Mongol tax collectors, Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. You'll watch Napoleon's army retreat through the snow, and see how the fall of the Romanovs led to the Soviet Union. Some stories in this video, like Rurik's invitation, Oleg's ships on wheels, Olga's birds and the Potemkin villages, come from old chronicles and legends. We flag them as legends in the narration. If you enjoy the history of Russia explained with maps and animation, subscribe to Howl History for a new country every two weeks. Timeline: 0:00 Intro: Russia sold Alaska 0:59 Vikings build the Rus 3:31 The Mongols 5:39 Ivan the Terrible & Siberia 7:46 The Time of Troubles 8:58 Peter the Great 10:58 Catherine the Great & Napoleon 13:11 Serfs freed, Alaska sold 14:55 The fall of the Romanovs 16:59 The Soviet Union 19:35 Russia today 20:12 The flat plain #russianhistory #historyofrussia #