What stops them from being a tutorial-mode country?

In the Middle Ages, they had literally everything:
>unlimited resources
>veche system
>Scandinavian rule of law
>varangian warriors to protect their trade routes
>close contact with the most powerful Christian kingdom (Roman Empire)
>access to multiple seas (Baltic, Black, White, and later the Caspian and Pacific Ocean)
What went wrong for them?

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mongols

>What went wrong for them?
Communism + Slave mentality because feudal slavery was abolished very late

Why couldn't you niggas just build stone fortifications and invest in heavy knights?

Unironically oriental despotism.

In every other country in Europe, there was some kind of societal force to balance the power of the state. The barons in England, the parliament in France, the Cortes in Spain, republics in Italy, and so on. Russia is the only country in Europe where there was never any limit on the power of the state. This meant that there were never any real property rights, and things would periodically collapse due to corruption and abuse of authority from the absolute monarchy.

This is, of course, because the Mongols came in and imposed a totalitarian, centralized system of government on them. Novgorod was a republic and could easily have turned out at least as well as the Italians or Germans.

Serfdom was introduced during the Time of Troubles (i.e. the early 17th century) IIRC

Could it perhaps be the Russian people holding them back?

In Middle Ages we were smaller than Poland. We've got own iron only in XVII.

just one more invasion, and vill be fyurst wurld

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And we stoped being literally land locked only a century later. Not to mention Pacifics become useable only after the railroad was built in mid XIX.

Look into Yaroslav's Law and the veche system. Their government could have been liberal today if they simply followed the same trajectory the Scandis did.
>This is, of course, because the Mongols came in and imposed a totalitarian, centralized system of government on them.
As far as I know, the Mongols only took tirbute from the people, but left the princes of the Rus to their own devices. Yeah, taking a census would require some sort of centralization to be put in place, but I don't think it would be anything like an absolute monarchy.

What prevented the Russians from simply building settlements along the Pacific Coast and then expanding their influence from that point?

The issue was that whenever Russian nobles actually defied the central government, the central government would BTFO them. For example, France had the estates general (leading to the French revolution eventually), England had repeated confrontations between the nobles and the king, even Germany had nobles and city-states that rejected central administration.

Something like Ivan the Terrible simply would not be possible in Western Europe, because any monarch who pissed off the noble class that badly would be overthrown.

Also, the Catholic church was constantly competing with the authority of the state in most Western Euro countries, whereas the Orthodox Church was caesaropapist.

during this whole invasion thing i learned that russia actually started in kiev ukraine. what the fuck russia, YOU'RE the take country all along

Heavy knights and fixed fortresses was what allowed the Mongols to thrive

>What went wrong for them?
mentality

historic trauma from getting mongoled left them with constant paranoia about getting invaded and subjugated easily exploitable by autocratic rulers who create corrupt regimes to plunder the population

It took half a year to travel from Moscow to Pacific coast. It was like another world, no one wanted to live that far except for a pelt hunters.

I think caesaropapism is the unspoken culprit of Russia's ills. The trouble is that in the year 988, those who travelled to Aachen to meet the King of the Franks would be welcomed in pic related whilst those who wished to meet the Roman Emperor would get to see the Hagia Sophia. I'm glad to see more people are going for Caesaropapism as an explanation instead of repeatedly blaming the Mongols for everything

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Wut? I thought the Mongols would of gotten btfo'd in France because of all the fixed fortresses and heavy knights there

Being gommunist during the industrial revolution and being too close Germany really did them in

I think it's a combination of both and also flat geography.

Western Europe is covered in defensible terrain that local nobles can use to resist the central government. Hence, every time an empire would collapse, castles would begin multiplying.

On the steppe, a cavalry army can maintain order everywhere. Decentralization of authority becomes much harder to sustain.

it does if your country isn't filled with idiots

orthodoxy.

Except the Russian core isn't located in the Pontic-Caspian steppes. Yes, Moscow and Novgorod are part of the Great European Plain, but so are the Netherlands, Northern Germany, and Poland as well as the Baltics. The Mongols managed to successfully subdue Iran - a very mountainous region.