Welcome to Russian History Retold, Episode 281, Russian conflicts after 1991, Part 1.

Last time we finished up our two part series on the turning points of Russian and Soviet

history. While we ended in 1991, there were many conflicts that the newly formed Russian

Federation got themselves into. In this episode, we will talk about the first nine of the total

of 19 of them. There are quite a few more, but these are the most important. While researching

this topic, I came across a number of sites that broke down the conflicts based on geography,

the most common were those wars in the North Caucasus, South Caucasus, and Eastern Europe.

Instead, I will use a timeline method to show how steady the stream of fights

that now dismantle Soviet Union was facing, especially between Russia and its former partners.

After the breakup of the USSR, there was a naive belief in the West that the former Soviet

States would evolve a new democratic system, hoping to shed the repressive communist ideals.

In hindsight, it seems kind of like a ridiculous thought, but having lived through it, I also

hoped and believed it. That was a significant mistake, something that would haunt us to this

very day with the conflict in Ukraine being prime example. While there were wars in central Asia,

there were all internal conflicts that did not involve Russia.

The first war began before the breakup, but continued for years after. It occurred in the South

Caucasus and is known as the first Nagorno-Karabakh war. Obviously, with a name like that, there

is a second one, but we'll only get to that next episode as it begins in 2020. As the Soviet

Union began showing signs of collapse in the late 1880s, several separatist movements flourished.

The separatist conflict leads to the de facto independence of the Republic of Artsakh,

also known as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. On one side, we have the opposition led by the Soviet

Union, Azerbaijan, Israel, Turkey, and for a short time Russia. On the side of the Artsakh people,

...