Comparing Spanish and Russian Empire Building

Russia was having a particularly hard time because the Mongols had just left their lands. For the Spanish they had members of the Hapsburg family ruling their lands. Both the Spanish and the Russian empires were different in their empire building in that they wanted to expand beyond their former boundaries, and Russia wanted to Westernize while Spain was already Western. The two empires were similar in that they were both trying to improve their economies.

The Spanish felt that their expansion over land was complete because they had reached both physical boundaries, and other nations that would not be easily conquered. The Russians thought differently because they were not connected to the Sea so they had to expand over land. The Spanish found they could move out farther and improve their economy by looking for a way to India. This didn’t work the first few times they tried this because they either ended up in Africa or in the New World. This did however turn to be a plus because they were able to establish colonies in these different parts of the world that added to their total land value, and it helped their over all economy. When the Russians expanded over land they encompassed many different varieties of people. This didn’t go well for them because this had people of different religions, and Russia was a Christian empire, and they were unsuccessful at converting them. This also turned to being a plus because the Russians gained a large military force from the people they conquered. These changes most likely happened because the Russians and Spanish needed to expand to increase their empire’s overall land values.

When Peter the Great ascended the throne he found it necessary to westernize his empire, however Spain didn’t need to do this because they were already considered at westernized country. Peter the Great spent much of his youth with the immigrants from other European nations and he found out about those nations cultures. He figured that these nations were very successful so he wanted his empire to be the same, so when he ascended his throne that was what he spent his time and Tsar doing. He tried to drive his people away from the Asian cultures they were used to. Also with his modernization of Russia he felt that their future would have to include maritime exploration, so he secured a warm water port so that he could make a navy. These changes most likely happened because Peter saw that western nations and empires were extremely successful and they had thriving economies, and he wanted his empire to be just as successful.

Apart from these differences Russia and Spain had some similarities in their empire building, they both had a need to improve their economies by expanding their territories. When Spain established its colonies around the world, they sent back the natural resources they found there. Some of these resources were gold and silver and being that the economic theory at the time was mercantilism, this boded well for the Spanish because it made them a very wealthy nation. The Russians were able to improve their economy by taking over people and incorporating their economies into Russia’s own. Some of the people the Russians took over were fierce fighters that could be used to protect territories and take over new territories. This probably happened because as empires expand, they need to add to their economies to support the new territories.

The Russian and Spanish built their empires in different ways by expanding by sea for the Spanish and land for the Russians, also the Russians attempted to become westernized while the Spanish were already westernized, however they were similar in that they needed to improve their economies. Still to this day these countries are continuing to improve their economies much like back during this time period.