Russians

The largest nation in Europe by area and population, Russia in 1500 was relatively backward and far from the Renaissance that was blossoming to its west. It was striving to expand and having success mainly to the east, toward Siberia. Under Peter the Great, a particularly able Romanov Tsar, they began an effort to import western technology and knowledge, but progress was very slow. They fought both the Swedes to the north and the Ottomans to the south with some success. They were able to field large armies from the great mass of serfs (near-slaves bound for life to the estates of aristocracy). They fought stubbornly and rigidly, but that could be effective, especially in defense of their homeland. When Russia reached the eastern edge of Siberia, explorers were sent into the Pacific seeking the west coast of North America. Vitus Bering, a Dane with a long career in the Russian Navy, found the Bering Strait, the Bering Sea and southern Alaska in the middle 1700s. By the late 1700s they had established a small outpost in Alaskan waters and were hunting fur animals, especially the sea otter. Their small settlements and outposts eventually stretched down the American Pacific coast to northern California, but they were never very successful. In 1867 they sold Alaska to the United States. By 1800 they had perhaps the largest army in Europe and had entered the Napoleonic Wars, switching sides as it suited them. Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 with a huge army, but the campaign was a disaster. The Russians retreated into their limitless land and even abandoned Moscow, while letting the Russian winter do its worst. The Russians followed the retreating French and helped bring about Napoleon's first abdication and exile in 1814.

From the game's History encyclopedia.