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The West has invaded Russia five times — no wonder Putin is angry
Russia’s troop build-up in the context of history
January 29th 2022. The last few months have reignited fears of a new land war in Europe; a continent that has broadly enjoyed peace since the end of the Second World War. For a lot of Europeans, wars are something studied in history class or watched on the news in a far-flung country across the world pitting an insurgency against an unwanted government, but suddenly things are starting to feel a lot closer to home.
Right now there are about 100,000 combat-ready Russian soldiers parked on three sides of the Ukrainian border. The US, UK and a number of other countries have started to draw down on their diplomatic presence in Kyiv and Russia’s demands to halt NATO expansion have been flat out rejected. The soft muddy ground across Northern Ukraine is close to its peak winter freezing point; ideal conditions for Russian armour, motorised infantry and logistics support to move quickly across the country’s vast agricultural plains. Europe feels poised on the brink of a war between nation-states for the first time in decades, and no one really knows what is going to happen.
A huge question underlying this whole thing is why? Why might Russia invade and what are they hoping to get out of it? Understanding the story of the last 200 years…
