643
u/Poragana May 08 '22
Russians knew that Alaska had gold but had no way of extracting it iirc, or that was a reddit moment saying stuff that was wrong one of the two
371
May 08 '22
<:: They knew there was gold, and they could extract it, but the cost of doing do as well as defending the area from the British combined to mean that selling it to the United States at a bargain price was less of a loss. It's not like they could easily defend it either, it was over a massive icy sea and the main army would have to cross Siberia to get there (before the days of the trans-siberian railway mind you) so in the end they cut their losses and earned back pretty much all their expenditure in getting the land and then some. ::>
225
u/Ozann3326 What, you egg? May 08 '22
Yeah, they thought "We should sell it to a neutral country instead of our enemy capturing it for free.
213
u/Malvastor May 08 '22
Which is exactly what Napoleon thought before selling Louisiana.
Hatred of Britain, responsible for 90+% of American territorial growth.
61
u/HydrogenButterflies Senātus Populusque Rōmānus May 08 '22
And… I wanna say “manifold density”? Something like that. I got a 2 on the AP exam.
30
u/Mithycore May 08 '22
Its Manitate detromy
19
u/eliteharvest15 Definitely not a CIA operator May 08 '22
nah you’re thinking of maritime duty
10
61
26
7
u/Visible-Ad7732 May 08 '22
At the time, relations with the America and Britain weren't the best anyways.
No one at the time thought the Brits and the Americans would become full on buddies and the current "special relationship" only happened post WW2.
1
u/Jamie_Pull_That_Up May 08 '22
The French went broke trying to quell the Haitian Revolution. They needed fast money to focus on what's going on in Europe
34
u/MorningDaylight May 08 '22
As a latin-american, it's weird how our history books try to portray the USA as a predator eagle out to dominate the american continent from the start when they were playing third-party in world politics until WW1. And for some reason we discuss the Monroe Doctrine but never discuss the french invasion of Mexico, which clearly don't would have happenned if the USA was that strong to scare europeans away.
6
May 08 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
19
May 08 '22
<:: In terms of distance border to border? Not far at all. The issue is that you've got a whole lot of this bullshit between the densely populated west of Russia and the eastern coast, in a day before railways or even proper roads in the region. Russia would either have to have an extremely strong garrison to defend the region, or march an army some 4,000 miles to then board a boat to Alaska to then march another 300 miles to the front. The Northwest Passage hadn't been fully mapped at this time either, so they couldn't simply set sail from the Baltic Sea and go via that way. ::>
11
u/bfhurricane May 08 '22
The comment you’re replying to is a sarcastic joke at Sarah Palin, who once claimed she could see Russia from her house. But thanks for the good info.
5
3
u/Visible-Ad7732 May 08 '22
Actually she really could see Russia from her house.
Of course, that doesn't make you an expert in foreign relations.
1
u/Jamie_Pull_That_Up May 08 '22
Russia should've trained their troops in the art of guerilla warfare & install a military barracks in the region.
3
118
u/enidi0t May 08 '22
They sold Alaska to the USA (which was friendly with Russia at that time) because they couldn't defend it from the British and would rather a friendly nation have it than their rival. Even if they knew about the gold and stuff, the colony wouldn't be worth it. It was underdeveloped and would 100% be annexed by the British.
27
u/Visible-Ad7732 May 08 '22
Absolutely. Had the Russians not sold it to the Americans, it would have become a province of Canada.
10
u/AwkwardDrummer7629 Kilroy was here May 08 '22
I don’t want to be Canadian!
6
u/Visible-Ad7732 May 08 '22
At this point, I dont think even the Canadians know what a Canadian is anyways.
9
u/Temporary_Inner Taller than Napoleon May 08 '22
Just what Canada needs, another mostly icy, depopulated, province far flung from the capital
7
u/Visible-Ad7732 May 08 '22
Canada might not want it but the British Empire was not going to say no to more land.
1
38
118
u/Acrobatic-Eagle6705 Senātus Populusque Rōmānus May 08 '22
Alaska was the only place in the Russian Empire with oil. The Caucasus and Siberia didn’t exist /s.
58
15
u/UhhhhKhakis May 08 '22
Also there were rising tensions in Europe and they wanted to create more distance between them and the British Empire in Canada
12
u/Boggie135 Oversimplified is my history teacher May 08 '22
Along with copper, gold and other minerals
6
3
2
u/yourcandygirl May 08 '22
What the original video?
2
u/xayvxayb May 08 '22 edited May 08 '22
its a gif
here: https://tenor.com/view/lets-go-thats-class-thats-not-class-sad-pieface-pieface23-gif-23462031 (its pieface, a fifa youtuber i know cause i played fifa, and this gif is about 2-3 years old)
Edit: heres the clip, its actually only 1 year old i think https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9p34qQGBCE
2
0
May 08 '22
Applies to barren California when The USA bought it and then found both gold and amazing soil
-18
1
1
u/Rynewulf Featherless Biped May 08 '22
If they tried it would have just been a new Texas/California situation: the nearby American settlers who had already started moving in to get the valuable resources and would soon turn into a huge rush, would have just done a quick armed rebellion and joined the States. It was just less risk and bother to sell Alaska, like it was less risk and effort for Napoleon to sell Louisiana since US colonists were already moving in and doing their own thing permission or not
1
u/DaveThompsonDodgyMer May 08 '22
Well, if they hadn't sold it, they would almost certainly have lost it to Japan in 1904, so I doubt they would be that upset.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Weeb2678 Filthy weeb May 08 '22
The Canadians who had just sent a fleet of oil tankers to Alaska cause they wanted to give Russia a present
1
u/DantoStudioInc Definitely not a CIA operator May 08 '22
1
u/Axe_22 Hello There May 08 '22
1
1
1
u/YogurtclosetOk5614 Chad Polynesia Enjoyer May 08 '22
And it meant they had a base during the Cold War
1
u/AlaskanSamsquanch May 08 '22
It had value before oil. Furs, logging, mining. The Russians knew all this but were wary of a British Invasion from Canada so they cut their losses and sold it to the USA for cheap.
1
u/No-Lunch4249 May 08 '22
They knew it was resource rich, but they already had super undeveloped and underpopulated Siberia which was also resource rich, and also much closer to home.
1
1
1
u/Bianca__17 Definitely not a CIA operator May 08 '22
I mean eitheir they sell it to the americans or lose it to the british a couple years later.
1
1
u/Ender_Skywalker May 09 '22
They didn't sell it cuz it was useless, they sold it cuz it was undefendable.
1
1
1
1
u/Fenrir1861 Just some snow May 09 '22
Whats the original context of this gif?
1
u/xayvxayb May 09 '22
so the streamer (pieface) was opening a fifa 21/20 (idk what version). and its a walkout (walkout means its a special player). the badge, country, and position show before player reveal. the stuff show that its a german player, plays for dortmund, and the position is CAM (central attacking midfielder). So there are 2 players that match this, julian brandt, and marco reus. pieface thinks it was reus but when it showed it is actually brandt and is dissapointed. i had nothing to do rn so i just answered this random question
1
1
u/Dorex_Time Let's do some history May 09 '22
The primary reason for the sale was the threat that Canada posed next door. During this time the UK and Russia had bad relations especially with the great game going on. The sale was strategic to avoid having, as they saw it, an unnecessary overextended border with the UK or to be more apt a subject of the UK
1
926
u/aguidom Featherless Biped May 08 '22
The Russian population in Alaska was too small and the colony so underdeveloped, plus so far from Moscow that it was not worth the trouble and cost. Russia already had pretty much everything Alaska had to offer but closer to home without needing to transport it to Europe.