Quote Originally Posted by Shinseikhaan View Post
Further, Russia's absence from the colonial game was undoubtedly a big factor.
actually, at the time the spanish conquistadors were overrunning the two continents of the americas with small, modernized armies, the russians were doing the same thing on their eastern border. conquering vast swathes of land with cossack dominated forces. the geographically massive russia that we see today on the maps took only about 2 centuries in the roughly 1000 year history of the state. the russians had some advantages compared to the spaniards though. they didn't have to cross an ocean to get to thier new colonies, and they didn't face any strong native factions comparable to the incas or aztecs during the russian drive to the pacific, until they reached china.