The Russian nation belongs to East Slavic branch of Slavic nation. On Eurasian continent, Russia can be seen as a nation with distinct personalities. The Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said: “A truly great people will never disdain to play a secondary role among humanity, or even play a primary role, but must play a uniquestrong> role.” That's right, Russian nation plays such a role among nations of world.

Why Russian nation is so special, we need to start with Eastern Roman Empire. In 395, Roman Empire split into two parts, becoming Eastern Rome and Western Rome, Western Rome soon perished, and Eastern Rome lasted more than 1000 years. With division of Roman Empire, Christianity also split into Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The state of Eastern Rome is Orthodox Church. What is special about Orthodox Church is cosmopolitanism of Messiah. People who believe in Orthodox Church consider themselves God's chosen people, who have come into world not to save themselves or peoples around them, but to save whole world. Roughly speaking, this is conquest of world.

Despite fact that Orthodox Church and Catholic Church belong to Christianity, contradiction between them is very great, and both sides consider each other enemies. During Crusades, Catholic "crusaders" also sacked Constantinople in Eastern Rome. After this, Eastern Rome fell into disrepair and was taken over by Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1453. However, Catholic world did not announce victory, and Orthodox Church did not decline, because Russia inherited mantle of Eastern Rome.

The double-headed eagle Guohui inherited from Eastern Rome

In 862, Slavs founded first dynasty in Russia on East European Plain - Rurik dynasty, which was founded in Kyiv in 882 and went down in history as "Kievan Rus". We call them today Russia, which is a mistranslation, it should be called "Rus". After founding of Ross, he often traveled to Byzantium on business, eventually yearning for developed economy and culture of Byzantium. They gradually introduced Byzantine political system, legal system, economic system and cultural beliefs into Kievan Rus.

In 988, Vladimir, Grand Duke of Russia, forced Eastern Rome to marry princess to him, which established a blood connection between Russia and Rome. In past, princesses of Eastern Rome never married outsiders. Since then, Vladimir declared Orthodoxy state religion. In addition to introduction of Orthodox Church in Ross, despotism of Eastern Rome also spread to Ross. The despotism of Eastern Rome is a fusion of despotism of Eastern Egypt and Persia and has a strong oriental flavor. Therefore, in inheriting mantle of Eastern Rome, Ross also displayed a strong oriental flavor.

Onion Church in Moscow

The second major event that changed history of Russia was Western campaign against Mongolia. After 1125, Kievan Rus broke up into large principalities and fell into decay. In 1235, Mongolia undertook a second Western expedition, and by 1240 conquered principalities of Rus' and founded Golden Horde. Since then, Rus people have been enslaved by Mongols for more than 100 years. The power of Mongols once again strengthened oriental flavor of Rus'. First, during Mongol invasion, Bishop Ross once turned to Catholic country and church for help. The Catholic Church not only refused, but treated Slavs and Mongols equally as mortal enemies, which created a gulf between Russia and Western Europe; secondly, domination of Mongols stimulated establishment of Russian centralization and formation of despotism, while this established Mongolians were also brought from China to east. Thirdly, Russia began to develop towards Asia in fight against Mongolia. Over time, it became a great empire spanning Eurasian continent.

After fall of Eastern Roman Empire, Russia called itself "Third Rome" and began to openly inherit Roman heritage. In exchanges between Russia and Western countries, Russian envoys often think highly of themselves, which surprises Western countries. After merging of eastern elements of Eastern Rome and Mongolia, Russia and West found themselves too far apart.

Of course, after West began to actively enter into modern civilization, Russia also tried to carry out large-scale reforms in order to catch up with Westerners. However, it was not possible to catch up with Russia, because Russia is already an eastern country to marrow of its bones. During period of Peter Great, he studied advanced production in Netherlands, opened mouth of Baltic Sea and moved capital to St. Petersburg. But his reforms were stopped by his death, and Russia had to return to Moscow again.

Peter Great

When Great Britain and France completed industrial revolution, Russia again felt crisis and began to reform serfdom. However, these reforms did not change Russia's eastern attributes. Russians in middle of 19th century were confused, did not know which way to go. The great writer Tolstoy visited European countries, but he saw contradictions in European industrial countries, so he believed that Western path would not pass. After all, Russia chose socialism at beginning of 20th century, which is another amazing example of how Russia is a unique country in world. Moreover, he opened a new path for many Eastern countries.

Now when we look at Russia, we see that it spans Eurasian continent not only in terms of territory, but also in terms of ideology, culture and system. It is a product of fusion of Western and Eastern civilizations. , and even oriental factors More. However, Russia cannot integrate not only into countries of West, but also cannot integrate into countries of East, it is always a country of Slavic peoples. The Rise of Great Powers said: “That is, Russia is a unique country, and Russia can also be called a bridge connecting two civilizations of Europe and Asia. This is also reflected in Russia's national ideology and its unique role. Understanding this is very important.”