Why did Russia sell Alaska to the USA? What would be the situation if Russia still owned Alaska today?
To understand their decision you have to remember two key things.1. Russia’s top rival, Britain, was in competition with Russia for empire. The so-called “Great Game” mostly took place in Central Asia, however the British were in Canada, which bordered Russian Alaska.2. Russia had just lost the Crimean War (1853–1856). Before this Russia was largely ignorant about how it stood internationally. Then in the war the British and French fought Russia and had a hugely one-sided victory - on Russian soil.Czar Alexander II then went about attempts to modernize, and moreover industrialize Russia. To do this the czar issued the Emancipation Manifesto, which liberated the serfs of Russia. The nobles would be compensated for their loss. However this and the war debt, among other things added to Russia’s debt.So in the meantime British settlers had moved into British Columbia in larger numbers. Britain might try to take Alaska, and is in an increasingly better position to try it. The longer you wait, the greater this risk goes.So what do you do with Alaska, a distant colony that doesn’t give you much money, is sparsely settled, and you’ll likely lose in the coming decades? Remember Britain defeated Russia in the heart of the empire. If you couldn’t win there, why would you be able to on the other side of the world?The USA had looked at buying Alaska before, but the US Civil War stopped that. Now the USA has ended the war, and is still looking at expanding across North America. It offers to buy Alaska, which would limit the British expansion into the North Pacific. Who knows, the Americans might even be able to remove the British from British Columbia like they hoped.So what do you do - keep ahold of Alaska, make no money from it and likely have Britain or the USA take it later, or sell it now and make some money to pay off the debt for more important stuff? Obviously Russia went with the second choice.