By the year 1550 which european country has established the largest empire in the new world

Spain

Explanation:

The expansion of European trade from the fifteenth century onwards impelled several European nations to pursue policies aimed at expanding the flow of trade as a means of strengthening the economic state of nascent national monarchies. In this context, Spain has taken a huge step in announcing the existence of a new continent to the west. At this moment, the New World arouses the curiosity and ambition that would materialize the colonization of these new lands. Many countries were influential in the new world, such as England and Portugal, but it is undeniable that by 1550 Spain had established the largest empire in this region.

Question- Why did the Soviet Union desire "defensible" borders and "friendly" regimes in Eastern Europe ?

Answer#1- So among the primary foreign policy objectives pursued by Joseph Stalin after the war was to secure the western border of the Soviet Union. In his mind, the most effective way to do this was one consistent with communist ideology--to establish communist governments in Eastern Europe.

Answer#2- To answer this question, we must look to the Russian/Soviet experiences in the First and Second World Wars. In both conflicts, German troops (as well as those of Austria and Hungary in WWI and Romania in WWII) had invaded the homeland, causing unthinkable destruction. In World War II, for example, the Nazi invasion that began in 1941 led to an estimated 27 million Soviet deaths, almost 90 times the amount suffered by the United States in the war. The war hit home for the Soviets, in other words, in a way unimaginable in the United States. So among the primary foreign policy objectives pursued by Joseph Stalin after the war was to secure the western border of the Soviet Union. In his mind, the most effective way to do this was one consistent with communist ideology--to establish communist governments in Eastern Europe. The United States and Great Britain, of course, saw these efforts as Soviet expansionism, just as Stalin saw American spending on rebuilding in Western Europe as American imperialism. In this disagreement, born out of Stalin's obsession with creating a sort of "buffer zone" between the Soviets and the rest of Europe (admittedly, he was also not averse to spreading communism beyond Eastern Europe) lay the origins of the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union.

(Also by the way, both answers are correct. The second answer is just more in dept than the first one)

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