A brief history of Russian invasions

[jw5]

Red Army invasion of Georgia - 1921​

After losing much of the territory that once made up the Russian Empire at the end of World War I, Bolshevik Russia made many efforts to regain their lost territories: first the Baltic States, then Armenia, and then Georgia.

 

[jw5]

Red Army invasion of Georgia - 1921​

Russia had recognized Georgia as an independent nation just one year before, but Bolshevik officials within Russia, including a young Joseph Stalin, convinced Russian leadership to retake the territory, citing a worker's rebellion taking place within Georgia. By February 1921, the Georgian Soviet Republic had been established.

 

[jw5]

First Soviet-Finnish War - 1939-1940​

Soviet Russia invaded Finland in the winter of 1939, just a few short months after World War II broke out. Russia's motives were purely expansionist, looking to add territory to the USSR, specifically to add a safety buffer around the important border city of Leningrad.

 

[jw5]

First Soviet-Finnish War - 1939-1940​

After months of fighting through the brutal Finnish winter, the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed in March 1940, granting Russia 9% of previously-Finnish territory. More than 100,000 lives were lost during the conflict.

 

[JohnTan]

View attachment 146857

Russo-Persian Wars - 1826-1828​

The Russo-Persian Wars raged intermittently for hundreds of years, with the first conflict beginning in 1651 and the last concluding in 1828, with the signing of the Treaty of Turkmenchay. These wars were fought primarily over each empire's claims to the territories along the Caucasus mountains, namely modern-day Georgia and Armenia.

Where's the wars against the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania and Russo-Ottoman wars? How about the Russian wars that annexed the various khanates of Central Asia and Siberia?

 

[jw5]

Occupation of the Baltic states: Estonia - 1940​

In 1939, Estonia had signed a mutual-assistance pact with the Soviet Union. A year later, the much larger and more powerful USSR forced Estonia to conclude this pact, so that the USSR would be legally within their rights to build military bases in the small Baltic country.

 

[jw5]

Occupation of the Baltic states: Estonia - 1940​

Once established in the country, the USSR ousted the Estonian government and sent the president, Konstantin Päts, to Siberia. A Soviet puppet government was established. This invasion was just the first of many tragedies Estonia and the rest of the Baltic States would endure during World War II.

 

[jw5]

Occupation of the Baltic states: Latvia - 1940​

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed by the Nazis and the Soviet Union in 1939, had a little-known additional "secret protocol," not made public until the end of the war, which divided the Baltic States into German and Russian spheres of influence.

 

[jw5]

Occupation of the Baltic states: Latvia - 1940​

The USSR promptly proceed to invade Latvia to claim their "stake" in the independent nation shortly after the pact was finalized. Latvia remained part of the Soviet Bloc until it began to fight for its independence in 1989.

 

[jw5]

Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran - 1941​

Operation Countenance was a joint invasion campaign into Iran carried out by the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. The Imperial State of Iran was grossly outnumbered, and after losing about 800 troops between August 25 and August 30, 1941, signed a ceasefire agreement with the invading Allied forces.

 

[jw5]

Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran - 1941​

The purpose of the invasion was to take over Iranian oil reserves and to establish secure Allied supply lines between the West and the USSR through what came to be known as the Persian Corridor.

 

[jw5]

Soviet–Afghan War - 1979-1989​

One of the largest proxy wars fought during the Cold War was the Soviet-Afghan War that began in 1979 and ended in 1989 after an accord was signed between the four primary parties: the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, the United States, and Pakistan.

 

[jw5]

Soviet–Afghan War - 1979-1989​

There were many opposing factions who fought in the Soviet-Afghan War, including the US-backed Mujahideen, and the established government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, backed by the Soviets. The war was catastrophic for Afghanistan, and it is estimated that between 6.5% and 11.5% of the country's total population died during the conflict.

 

[jw5]

First Chechen War - 1994-1996​

A few years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the newly-formed Russian Federation sought to regain some of its lost territory. One such campaign became known as the Battle of Grozny, which kicked off the First Chechen War.

 

[jw5]

First Chechen War - 1994-1996​

Russian operatives, whose involvement was initially denied by the Russian government, infiltrated the capital of Grozny and fortified the Chechen Provisional Council with armored vehicles and arms. The devastating conflict, which saw the deaths of at least 30,000 civilians, lasted until a treaty was signed in 1997 and all Russian troops retreated.

 

[ginfreely]

Looks like Russia always strike when others are small or weak or being attacked. And never follow agreement will attack to take back what’s no longer theirs.

 

[jw5]

Second Chechen War - 1999-2009​

Two years later, however, a group of Chechen militants invaded Russia's Dagestan region and attempted to declare it an independent state. Russia retaliated with a second full-on invasion of Chechnya, including a siege on the capital city of Grozny, which was still weakened from the First Chechen War.

 

[jw5]

Second Chechen War - 1999-2009​

Russia's siege was successful, and the Federation assumed practical control of the region until 2009. Widespread conflict raged on during this decade, as Chechen and Russian forces fought against the extremists until the insurgency was sufficiently stamped out.

 

[jw5]

Russo-Georgian War - 2008​

Considered the first international European war of the 21st century, the Russo-Georgian War was caused by increasingly uneasy tensions between the two formerly-Soviet nations. After Georgia had declared independence from a weakened Soviet Union in 1991, two separatist movements emerged and declared themselves de facto sovereign states.

 

[jw5]

Russo-Georgian War - 2008​

Violence broke out in 2008 after South Ossetian separatists fired artillery into Georgian villages on their border, and Georgia promptly asserted control over the Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. Russia, who had for years backed the Ossetian separatists, proceeded to launch a full-scale invasion into Georgia. Both Russia and South Ossetia have been accused of war crimes during this conflict, including the ethnic cleansing of Georgians.