I can't speak for anyone else, but where I was raised in the Midwest of the United States, it was common knowledge that the British held the record when it comes to this. Those conquering maniacs must have invaded over 90% of the countries on the planet during some period in history, where honestly Russia never even entered the conversation when discussing these things. I just pictured Russia as being cold as hell...with robust men who liked chugging vodka...and some dam good hockey players.