Do Russians want wars? All wars of the USSR - a chronology of “peaceful life.

Wars are as old as humanity itself. The earliest documented evidence of war comes from a Mesolithic battle in Egypt (cemetery 117) about 14,000 years ago. Wars have been fought across most of the globe, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of millions of people. In our review of the most bloody wars in the history of mankind, which should not be forgotten in any case, so as not to repeat this.

1. Biafran War of Independence

1 million dead dead
The conflict, also known as the Nigerian Civil War (July 1967 - January 1970), was caused by an attempted secession of the self-proclaimed state of Biafra (Nigeria's eastern provinces). The conflict resulted from the political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions that preceded the formal decolonization of Nigeria in 1960-1963. Most of the people during the war died of starvation and various diseases.

2. Japanese invasions of Korea

1 million dead
The Japanese invasions of Korea (or the Imdin War) took place between 1592 and 1598, with the initial invasion taking place in 1592 and a second invasion in 1597, after a brief truce. The conflict ended in 1598 with the withdrawal of Japanese troops. Approximately 1 million Koreans were killed, and Japanese casualties are unknown.

3. Iran-Iraq War

1 million dead
The Iran-Iraq War is an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from 1980 to 1988, making it the longest war of the 20th century. The war began when Iraq invaded Iran on September 22, 1980 and ended in a stalemate on August 20, 1988. In terms of tactics, the conflict was comparable to World War I as it featured large-scale trench warfare, machine gun emplacements, bayonet charges, psychological pressure, and extensive use of chemical weapons.

4. Siege of Jerusalem

1.1 million dead
The oldest conflict on this list (it occurred in 73 AD) was the decisive event of the First Jewish War. The Roman army besieged and captured the city of Jerusalem, which was defended by the Jews. The siege ended with the sack of the city and the destruction of its famous Second Temple. According to historian Josephus, 1.1 million civilians died during the blockade, mostly as a result of violence and starvation.

5. Korean War

1.2 million dead
Lasting from June 1950 to July 1953, the Korean War was an armed conflict that began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, led by the US, came to the aid of South Korea while China and the Soviet Union supported North Korea. The war ended after a truce was signed, a demilitarized zone was established, and an exchange of prisoners of war took place. However, no peace treaty has been signed and the two Koreas are technically still at war.

6. Mexican Revolution

2 million dead
The Mexican Revolution, which lasted from 1910 to 1920, radically changed the entire Mexican culture. Considering that the country's population was then only 15 million, the losses were appallingly high, but numerical estimates vary widely. Most historians agree that 1.5 million people died and nearly 200,000 refugees fled abroad. The Mexican Revolution is often categorized as one of the most important socio-political events in Mexico and one of the biggest social upheavals of the 20th century.

7 Chuck's Conquests

2 million dead
The Chaka Conquests is a term used for a series of massive and brutal conquests in South Africa led by Chaka, the famous monarch of the Zulu Kingdom. In the first half of the 19th century Chaka at the head of a large army invaded and plundered a number of regions in South Africa. It is estimated that up to 2 million indigenous people died in the process.

8. Goguryeo-Suu Wars

2 million dead
Another violent conflict in Korea was the Goguryeo-Sui Wars, a series of military campaigns waged by the Sui dynasty of China against Goguryeo, one of the three kingdoms of Korea in 598-614. These wars (which were ultimately won by the Koreans) resulted in 2 million deaths, and the total death toll is likely much higher because Korean civilian casualties were not taken into account.

9. Wars of Religion in France

4 million dead
Also known as the Huguenot Wars, the French Wars of Religion, fought between 1562 and 1598, are a period of civil strife and military confrontation between French Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots). The exact number of wars and their respective dates are still debated by historians, but up to 4 million people are estimated to have died.

10. Second Congo War

5.4 million dead
Also known by several other names such as the Great African War or the African World War, the Second Congo War was the deadliest in modern African history. Nine African countries directly participated in it, as well as about 20 separate armed groups.

The war was fought for five years (from 1998 to 2003) and resulted in 5.4 million deaths, mainly due to disease and starvation. This makes the Congo War the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II.

11. Napoleonic Wars

6 million dead
The Napoleonic Wars, which lasted between 1803 and 1815, were a series of major conflicts waged by the French empire, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, against a multitude of European powers formed into various coalitions. During his military career, Napoleon fought about 60 battles and lost only seven, mostly towards the end of his reign. Approximately 5 million people died in Europe, including due to diseases.

12. Thirty Years' War

11.5 million million dead
The Thirty Years' War, which was fought between 1618 and 1648, was a series of conflicts for hegemony in Central Europe. This war became one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, and it originally began as a conflict between Protestant and Catholic states in the divided Holy Roman Empire. The war gradually developed into a much larger conflict involving most of the great powers of Europe. Estimates of the death toll vary considerably, but the most likely tally is that around 8 million people died, including civilians.

13. Chinese Civil War

8 million dead
The Chinese Civil War was fought between forces loyal to the Kuomintang (a political party of the Republic of China) and forces loyal to the Communist Party of China. The war began in 1927, and ended in essence only in 1950, when the main active battles ceased. The conflict eventually led to the de facto formation of two states: the Republic of China (now known as Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (mainland China). The war is remembered for its atrocities on both sides: millions of civilians were deliberately killed.

14. Russian Civil War

12 million dead
The civil war in Russia, which lasted from 1917 to 1922, broke out as a result of the October Revolution of 1917, when many factions began to fight for power. The two largest groups were the Bolshevik Red Army and the allied forces known as the White Army. During the 5 years of the war, from 7 to 12 million victims were recorded in the country, which were mostly civilians. The Russian Civil War has even been described as the greatest national catastrophe Europe has ever faced.

15. Tamerlane's conquests

20 million dead
Also known as Timur, Tamerlane was a famous Turkic-Mongolian conqueror and general. In the second half of the 14th century he waged brutal military campaigns in Western, Southern and Central Asia, the Caucasus and southern Russia. Tamerlane became the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after victories over the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire and the crushing defeat of the Delhi Sultanate. Scholars have calculated that his military campaigns resulted in the deaths of 17 million people, about 5% of the then world population.

16. Dungan uprising

20.8 million dead
The Dungan Rebellion was primarily an ethnic and religious war fought between the Han (a Chinese ethnic group native to East Asia) and the Huizu (Chinese Muslims) in 19th century China. The riot arose because of a price dispute (when the buyer of the Huizu did not pay the required amount for the bamboo sticks to the Hancu merchant). In the end, more than 20 million people died during the uprising, mostly due to natural disasters and war-induced conditions such as drought and famine.

17. Conquest of the Americas

138 million dead
European colonization of the Americas technically began as early as the 10th century, when Norwegian seafarers briefly settled on the coast of what is now Canada. However, it mostly refers to the period between 1492 and 1691. During those 200 years, tens of millions of people were killed in combat between the colonizers and Native Americans, but estimates of the total death toll vary widely due to a lack of consensus on the demographic size of the pre-Columbian indigenous population.

18. An Lushan Rebellion

36 million dead
During the reign of the Tang Dynasty, another devastating war took place in China - the An Lushan rebellion, which lasted from 755 to 763. There is no doubt that the rebellion resulted in a huge number of deaths and significantly reduced the population of the Tang Empire, but the exact number of deaths is difficult to estimate even in approximate terms. Some scholars suggest that up to 36 million people died during the uprising, about two-thirds of the empire's population and about 1/6 of the world's population.

19. World War I

18 million dead
The First World War (July 1914 - November 1918) was a global conflict that arose in Europe and which gradually involved all the economically developed powers of the world, which united in two opposing alliances: the Entente and the Central Powers. The total death toll was about 11 million military personnel and about 7 million civilians. About two-thirds of the deaths during World War I occurred directly during battles, in contrast to the conflicts that took place in the 19th century, when most deaths were due to disease.

20. Taiping Rebellion

30 million dead
This rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War, continued in China from 1850 to 1864. The war was fought between the ruling Manchu Qing Dynasty and the Christian movement "Heavenly Kingdom of Peace". Although no census was kept at the time, the most reliable estimates put the total death toll during the uprising at around 20 to 30 million civilians and soldiers. Most of the deaths were attributed to plague and famine.

21. Qing Dynasty Conquest of the Ming Dynasty

25 million dead
The Manchu conquest of China is a period of conflict between the Qing Dynasty (the Manchu dynasty ruling northeast China) and the Ming Dynasty (Chinese dynasty ruling the south of the country). The war that ultimately led to the fall of the Ming caused about 25 million deaths.

22. Second Sino-Japanese War

30 million dead
The war fought between 1937 and 1945 was an armed conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor (1941), this war actually merged into World War II. It became the largest Asian war in the 20th century, with up to 25 million Chinese dead and over 4 million Chinese and Japanese military personnel.

23. Wars of the Three Kingdoms

40 million dead
Wars of the Three Kingdoms - a series of armed conflicts in ancient China (220-280). During these wars, three states - Wei, Shu and Wu vied for power in the country, trying to unite the peoples and take them under their control. One of the bloodiest periods in Chinese history was marked by a series of brutal battles that could have resulted in the deaths of up to 40 million people.

24. Mongol conquests

70 million dead
The Mongol conquests progressed throughout the 13th century, resulting in the vast Mongol Empire conquering much of Asia and Eastern Europe. Historians consider the period of Mongol raids and invasions to be one of the deadliest conflicts in human history. In addition, bubonic plague spread throughout most of Asia and Europe at this time. The total number of deaths during the conquests is estimated at 40 - 70 million people.

25. World War II

85 million dead
The Second World War (1939 - 1945) was global: the vast majority of the world's countries, including all the great powers, took part in it. It was the most massive war in history, with more than 100 million people from more than 30 countries of the world directly participating in it.

It was marked by massive civilian deaths, including due to the Holocaust and strategic bombing of industrial and populated areas, which led (according to various estimates) to the deaths of 60 million to 85 million people. As a result, World War II became the deadliest conflict in human history.

However, as history shows, a person harms himself all the time of his existence. What are they worth.

Russian wars, as well as battles, battles, riots and uprisings

About the wars of Russia in brief (abbreviated)

If we consider the wars of Russia briefly, then a large discrepancy will be found in the number of wars in which she took a direct part. Some sources say that Russia fought no more than 70 times. Others give completely different figures for 200 wars and conflicts. The Russian people have always been peaceful, but they often had to fight. A particularly large number of Russian wars, briefly outlined, fell on the period from the 13th to the 15th centuries.

Wars, battles, riots, and battles of Russia

Smolensk war

North War

Russian Turkish wars

Russo-Swedish War

War of 1812

Caucasian war

Crimean War

Russo-Japanese War

World War I

The beginning of the first world
Stages of the first world

The results of the first world

The beginning of the Great Patriotic
Stages of the Great Patriotic War
Causes of the Great Patriotic War

cold war

Afghan war

Chechen War

Battle of Kulikovo

- Russian Civil War

Mongol-Tatar invasion

Battle on the Ice

Neva battle

Seven Years' War

Livonian War

Battle on the Kalka River

The Second World War

The beginning of the second world

Stages of the second world

Causes of World War II

The results of the second world

Battle of Borodino

Decembrist revolt

Pugachev's uprising

Razin's uprising

Copper Riot Briefly

salt riot

Streltsy rebellion

battle of austerlitz

Poltava battle

Battle of Shengraben

Smolensk battle

Battle of Jutland

Tsushima battle

Battle of Kursk

I must say that among the wars of Russia, in which she participated, there were also aggressive ones. This is especially true of the time of the formation of the Old Russian state. But in general, Russia most often had to defend itself against those who wanted to encroach on its territory and wealth.
All the wars in which the Russian state took part can be divided into the following large periods.

1. Old Russian state (IX - XXI centuries)

In this period, 5 of the largest wars in Russia can be distinguished. First of all, these are long wars with Byzantium, which lasted from the 9th to the 11th centuries. For the Russian state, these were aggressive campaigns, during which the princes tried to capture and plunder Constantinople. In addition, the goal was to control the Danube for trade.
From the 10th to the 11th centuries, Russia fought stubbornly with the Pechenegs. They did not threaten to seize territories. They were only interested in spoils of war. But the nomads inflicted such damage on the border lands that they greatly weakened the state. The struggle against the Pechenegs was interspersed with temporary alliances with them. But they were very unreliable allies.
From the 11th to the 13th centuries, the Russian state fought with another enemy - the Polovtsians who replaced the Pechenegs. They acted in exactly the same way as their predecessors - they did not set the tasks of seizing land, limiting themselves to raids.

2. The period of feudal fragmentation (XXI - XVI centuries)

This time is one of the most difficult moments in the history of the Russian state. This period is the time of the conquests of the Livonian Order and the invasion of the Tatar-Mongolian troops.
In 1223, the first battle took place between the Russian army and a huge detachment of Genghis Khan's troops. This battle was called the Battle of Kalka. It was lost by the Russian princes and gave an idea of ​​the power of the army of the Golden Horde. In 1237, the conquest of Russia by the troops of Batu Khan began. By 1241, the territory of the Russian state was subject to the Tatar-Mongols. This is a time of real catastrophe for the people and the country. The new conquerors, unlike the Polovtsians and Pechenegs, were interested not only in mining, but also in new lands. The north-eastern part of Russia, where the influence of the Tatar-Mongol was the strongest, was especially hard hit by the invasion. Only a few centuries later the Russian people managed to throw off the yoke of the Golden Horde.
During these same difficult years for the Russian state, there were also wars with the German-Swedish invaders. The wars of Russia, briefly outlined, tell the story of the struggle of the Novgorod land with the Livonian Order and Sweden for control over the Gulf of Finland. The most striking events of this period were the Battle of the Neva and the Battle of the Ice. Both battles ended in the complete defeat of the German-Swedish invaders by the Russian army under the leadership of the Novgorod prince Alexander Nevsky.

3. "Troubled" time and period of formation of the centralized Russian state (XVI - XVIII centuries)

During this period of time, Russia participated in 6 wars, but very difficult and bloody for the country. Among them are the war with Sweden, with the Livonian Order and the famous Northern War. All of them were fought for control of the Baltic coast. It was vital for the young Russian state to win back the opportunity to trade with Western countries not through the dangerous northern trade route, but through the Baltic Sea.
Heavy Russian-Turkish wars belong to the same period.

4. The period of the Napoleonic wars (XVIII - XIX centuries)

1812 - the invasion of Napoleon's army on Russia and the beginning of the Patriotic War. In the same year, the defeated army of invaders leaves the borders of the Russian state, but the war is not over for the Russian Empire itself. Then the foreign campaign of the Russian army begins with the aim of liberating Europe and completely destroying the threat from the French emperor. In the same period, Russia again had to fight on two fronts. As soon as the war with Napoleon ended, a new conflict with the Ottoman Empire began. Also during this period are the infamous Crimean War and the Russo-Japanese War. Both of them were lost by Russia.

5. XX - XXI centuries.

In these two centuries, one thing can be briefly said about the wars of Russia - they were the most terrible and heavy in terms of the number of casualties suffered. This is the First World War, the Great Patriotic War and the military conflict in Chechnya

The topic of the section is the wars in the history of Russia and their results. The dates of the wars in which our state participated and their main results are presented to your attention. We will talk about both famous wars and those that are practically unknown to a wide range of history buffs.

1605 - 1618 - Russian-Polish war. One of the most difficult wars in our history, since there was a time of troubles in Russia then. The impostor False Dmitry I came to the Russian throne by deceit, but a year later, during the uprising, he was killed. But the turmoil did not end, many robber mines formed on the territory of Russia, which acted independently and to the detriment of Moscow, the Cossacks also acted, over whom at that time there was no control. In 1610 the Poles entered Moscow, in 1611 the Poles stormed Smolensk. In 1612, the Russian people's militia of Minin and Pozharsky defeated the Polish-Lithuanian army and drove them out of Moscow. After that, the Russians were already willing to recapture Smolensk, but this enterprise ended in failure. In 1617, the Poles moved to Moscow, but also failed.
In 1618, a truce was signed between the Russians and the Poles, according to which Russia lost Smolensk.

XVII - XX centuries. - During this interval, they often flared up Russian-Turkish wars. The last of which took place in the framework of the First World War, which will be described below. .

1632 - 1634 - Smolensk war. Russia tried to recapture Smolensk from Poland, but it failed. Smolensk remained with the Poles.

1654 - 1667 - Russian-Polish war. For Russia, this confrontation, on the one hand, was a logical continuation of previous wars with the Poles, but the uprising of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks led by Bogdan Khmelnitsky in 1648 played a very important role here. The Russians supported the fraternal people, who were under the rule of the Polish king. The confrontation went on with varying success, but still the Russians and the Cossacks eventually won a victory over the Poles. The result of the war - Smolensk and all the lands lost in troubled times, Left-Bank Ukraine and Kyiv, went to Russia. The Commonwealth suffered a very serious defeat from Moscow Russia and was very weakened and subsequently could not recover.

1700 - 1721 - North War. The fighting went between Russia and Sweden. Our state won and annexed part of Finland, the Baltic States and gained access to the Baltic Sea.

1722 - 1723 - Russo-Persian War. The victory in the confrontation between Persia and Russia was won by the latter. Thanks to this, our state received in its possession the Caspian lands with the cities of Derbent, Baku, Rasht. Later, the government of the Russian Empire returned this territory to the Persians due to the difficult foreign policy situation in the south of the country.

1757 - 1762 - Seven Years' War. Almost all European states took part in it. For Russia, this war was, by and large, like a war with Prussia, whose emperor was Frederick II. Russian troops achieved great success in this confrontation. They occupied East Prussia, temporarily occupied Berlin and were very close to the complete defeat of the Prussian army, but in 1762 Elizabeth died, and Peter III, whom Frederick II considered his idol, ascended the throne. In 1762, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Prussia, and all the conquests of Russia were returned to Friedrich.

1796 - Russo-Persian War. The Russians won, captured Derbent, Cuba and Baku. However, after the death of Catherine II, Paul ascended the throne. After that, the war was stopped, and the occupied territories were returned to the Persians.

1804 - 1813 - Russo-Persian War. The result of a long war was the victory of Russia. According to the Gulistan peace treaty, Persia recognized the inclusion of Eastern Georgia, Northern Azerbaijan, Imeretia, Guria, Mengrelia and Abkhazia into the Russian Empire.

1805 - 1807 - 3rd and 4th coalitions. During this period of the Napoleonic Wars, 4 major battles took place between Russia and France. 2 of which ended in a draw, and 2 in the defeat of the Russian army. After the defeat of Russia from France near Friedland in 1807, the Treaty of Tilsit was signed between these two powers.

1808 - 1809 - Finnish war. The confrontation between the Russian Empire and Sweden, in which the latter suffered a crushing defeat. The result of the war was the accession of Finland to Russia.

1812 - Patriotic War. Russia fought in this confrontation France. Almost all of Europe fought in the ranks of the latter, as it was captured by the French emperor Napoleon. The war ended with the retreat of the French from Russian possessions.

1813 - 1814 - Foreign campaigns of the Russian army. These campaigns took place as part of the war with France, which ended in 1814 with the capture of Paris by Russian and allied troops. As a result, France lost all the lands in Europe that she had captured. Russia annexed part of Poland along with Warsaw.

1826 - 1828 - Russo-Persian War. Old enemies fought for dominance in the Transcaucasus and the Caspian. Once again, the Russian Empire won this confrontation and eventually included the Erivan and Nakhichevan khanates in its composition under the Turkmanchay peace treaty.

1914 - 1918 - World War I. The Russian Empire fought against Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Our allies were the French and the British. In 1917, two revolutions took place in Russia. With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks in October 1917, Russia actually withdrew from the war, and in February 1918 did so officially.

1941 - 1945 - The Great Patriotic War. The USSR and Germany fought in this confrontation and it took place within the framework of the Second World War. The Great Patriotic War ended with the victory of the Soviet army and the capture of Berlin. As a result, Germany was split into the GDR and the FRG. Germany lost East Prussia, part of which went to the USSR (Koenigsberg and its environs), and part to Poland. The Soviet state also secured Galicia.

To be continued! The section is filling up.

12.04.2014

We often hear that the West is waging almost aggressive wars all over the planet, imposing its ideology on other countries. While we, the Russians, are a peaceful nation, which, perhaps, enters into conflicts, but only exclusively defending our homeland. And that - in order to fight off the aggressors.

Let's leave the lyrics and face the facts. This data was not taken from anywhere, from the Appendix to the federal law "On Veterans" No. 5-FZ. Of course, the state does not just distribute benefits, so this is a list of real wars in which the USSR participated, and then Russia. My role is reduced only to numbering - in order to assess the scale.

There will be no comment at the end of the list. And so everyone will understand when they attacked us, and when, in reality, our country climbed somewhere and to someone. It seems to me that the answer to the question that Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk asked the Russian delegation during the UN meeting

Do Russians want wars?

for many thinking people, even after a cursory review of this list and without any comments, it will be obvious.

2. Soviet-Polish war: March - October 1920

3. Fighting in Spain: 1936 - 1939

7. Combat operations to eliminate the Basmachi: from October 1922 to June 1931

10. Combat operations during the reunification of the USSR, Western Ukraine and Western Belarus: from September 17 to September 28, 1939

11. Fighting in China: from August 1924 to July 1927;

12. Fighting in China: October - November 1929;

13. Fighting in China: from July 1937 to September 1944;

14. Fighting in China: July - September 1945;

15. Fighting in China: from March 1946 to April 1949;

16. Combat operations in China: March - May 1950 (for the personnel of the Air Defense Forces Group);

17. Fighting in China: from June 1950 to July 1953 (for the personnel of military units that took part in the fighting in North Korea from the territory of China)

18. Fighting in Hungary: 1956

19. Fighting near Damansky Island: March 1969

20. Fighting near Lake Zhalanashkol: August 1969

21. Fighting in Algiers: 1962 - 1964

22. Fighting in Egypt (United Arab Republic):

from October 1962 to March 1963;

23. Fighting in Egypt (United Arab Republic): June 1967;

24. Fighting in Egypt (United Arab Republic): 1968;

25. Fighting in Egypt (United Arab Republic): March 1969 to July 1972;

26. Fighting in Egypt (United Arab Republic): October 1973 to March 1974;

27. Combat operations in Egypt (United Arab Republic): from June 1974 to February 1975 (for the personnel of the minesweepers of the Black Sea and Pacific Fleets participating in the demining of the Suez Canal zone);

28. Fighting in the Yemen Arab Republic: October 1962 to March 1963;

29. Fighting in the Yemen Arab Republic: November 1967 to December 1969;

30. Combat operations in Vietnam: from January 1961 to December 1974, including for the personnel of reconnaissance ships of the Pacific Fleet, solving the tasks of combat service in the South China Sea;

31. Fighting in Syria: June 1967;

32. Fighting in Syria: March - July 1970;

33. Fighting in Syria: September - November 1972;

34. Fighting in Syria: October 1973;

35. Fighting in Angola: November 1975 to November 1992;

36. Fighting in Mozambique: 1967 - 1969;

37. Fighting in Mozambique: from November 1975 to November 1979;

38. Fighting in Mozambique: March 1984 to August 1988;

39. Fighting in Ethiopia: from December 1977 to November 1990;

40. Fighting in Ethiopia: May 2000 to December 2000

42. Fighting in Cambodia: April - December 1970;

43. Combat operations in Bangladesh: 1972 - 1973 (for the personnel of ships and auxiliary vessels of the Navy of the USSR)

44. Fighting in Laos: from January 1960 to December 1963;

45. Fighting in Laos: from August 1964 to November 1968;

46. ​​Fighting in Laos: from November 1969 to December 1970

47. Fighting in Syria and Lebanon: June 1982

48. Fulfillment of tasks in the conditions of the armed conflict in the Chechen Republic and in the adjacent territories of the Russian Federation, classified as an armed conflict zone: from December 1994 to December 1996

49. Fulfillment of tasks in the course of counter-terrorist operations on the territory of the North Caucasus region: since August 1999

50. Fulfillment of tasks to ensure the security and protection of citizens of the Russian Federation living in the territories of the Republic of South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia: from August 8 to August 22, 2008

Russia is a state whose history is an almost continuous series of numerous wars, armed conflicts, violent confrontations and special operations. And although both sides are always to blame for any fight, it is customary to call the one who first uses force against the opponent the aggressor. So what specific wars were unleashed by Russia? And how many of them were counted by domestic and foreign historians?

There were many

Only a very naive person, having looked at the world map and found Russia on it, might think that all these vast territories were annexed to our country by peaceful means. Of course, any empire is called that because it owns colonies. And official propaganda claims that the neighboring states were not captured, but voluntarily joined, rejoicing in unison at the liberation from the tyranny of some other aggressors and thanks to the Russian troops.
To believe in it or not - each person decides for himself. But as historians have calculated, from the middle of the 16th century to the present day, Russia has participated in more than 75 wars and armed conflicts. As a result, the average Muscovy by European standards turned into the largest empire in the world, spreading its influence from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean. If in 1547 the total area of ​​our country was 3 million km², then in 1914 it reached 21.8 million km².
The inhabitants of Russia remembered the year 1913 because it was peaceful. For almost the rest of the time, the country fought without ceasing, sometimes waging several campaigns at once in different parts of the world. The capture of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, the annexation of lands occupied by representatives of the Finno-Ugric peoples of the Volga region, expansion beyond the Urals, the conquest of Siberia, the Far East, Kamchatka, Central Asia ...
One can think, believing official propaganda, that all these lands were inhabited by small groups of good aborigines who did not know statehood. Allegedly, they were all happy to start paying taxes to the Russian crown. Meanwhile, even the peoples of the Arctic tried to defend their independence, although few people know about the Russian-Chukotka wars of the 17th-18th centuries.
Of course, someone can say that it was the Chukchi who attacked the Russians, who came to settle peacefully near the Anadyr River. Of course, no one blames anyone for this, such are the objective historical processes. As you know, empires arise, grow, reach their peak, and then gradually give way to their positions, disappearing without a trace from the world map.
And in Russia, it so happened from ancient times that the military has always been respected more than any peaceful merchants, for example.

Wars unleashed by Russia

According to foreign historians, out of more than 75 wars experienced by Russia since the middle of the 16th century, 53 armed conflicts were unleashed by the leadership of our country. That is, in the eyes of the world community and our closest neighbors, we are an aggressor state that prefers to resolve all issues by force.
However, domestic experts do not agree with such a one-sided interpretation of the history of Russia. But even they agree that our country has begun:
1. Livonian War (1558-1583);
2. Russian-Swedish war (1590-1595);
3. Persian campaign (1722-1723);
4. Caucasian war (1817-1884);
5. Khiva campaign (1839-1840);
6. Crimean War (1853-1856);
7. Russian-Turkish war (1877-1878);
8. Turkestan campaigns (1853-1881);
9. Soviet-Finnish war (1939-1940)
According to the most disloyal expert estimates for our country, Russia unleashed 53 armed conflicts. And for the most loyal - only 9. To them we can add the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989), but there was a formal reason for the intervention of our troops in this Asian state - an invitation from the legitimate government with a request to assist in restoring the constitutional order. And the Soviet guys went to fulfill their "international duty", and in fact, to fight the Mujahideen.
However, in the twentieth century, the leadership of the USSR provided "fraternal assistance" to many states, thereby provoking and inciting bloody conflicts around the world. Some historians personally blame Generalissimo Joseph Stalin for the Korean War (1950-1953), which ended with the division of the once unified state. This armed conflict still remains a powder keg in international politics.
In addition, the Soviet government is blamed for the forced annexation of the Baltic states that happened before World War II, the participation of our specialists in military operations in Vietnam (1957-1975), Angola (1975-2002), Ethiopia (1977-1978) and a number of other countries.

But not everything is so clear

Of course, in any confrontation, both sides are always to blame. Some wars were deliberately provoked, for example, by the British Empire, which was actively fighting Russia for influence in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Many of those 53 armed conflicts that foreign experts blame Russia and the USSR for unleashing were initiated by our country in order to return the territories captured by the opponents during previous hostilities. For example, the Smolensk War (1632-1634) was initiated by the Russian crown in order to take away from the Commonwealth the lands occupied by the Polish-Lithuanian troops during the Time of Troubles.
The specifics of international conflicts are sometimes such that it is not so easy to identify the culprit of the war. Sometimes the gain from military operations on another continent is a certain third party that did not directly participate in the confrontation or nominally supported one of the parties. After all, it's no secret that many American firms managed to get rich as a result of World War II. They deftly took advantage of the ruin of European competitors.
In addition, a large number of conflicts are not called wars, but are called “peacekeeping operations”, “restoration of the constitutional order”, “fight against illegal armed groups”, etc.

As you know from psychology, the best defense is an attack. And many countries, not only Russia, adhere to such tactics with varying success in their international politics.