Scandinavian settlers established the first states of Rus’ in the late 9th century. From Novgorod centre of dominance moved first to Kiev, then to Vladimir in the 12th century, and finally Moscow in the fourteenth, and just before Tudor adventurer Richard Chancellor found his way to Russia, Ivan the Terrible proclaimed himself the first Tsar of all the Russias.

The reign of Peter the Great brought Russia (now declared an Empire) into greater contact with the West, and saw the Tsar visit Britain in 1698. As Russia’s influence grew, so did conflict with Britain, especially during the Napoleonic Wars. However, Russia and Britain eventually combined to frustrate Napoleon’s ambitions of empire, at his retreat from Moscow, and at Waterloo.

In the years after the Crimean War, relations between Britain and Russia so improved that one of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters married the Tsar, and another married his uncle. However, in 1917 Russian socialists took the opportunity provided by war in Europe to seize power at home, murdering the royal family in cold blood, and beginning seventy years of brutal oppression.

At the turn of the twentieth century, relations between Russia and the United Kingdom began to thaw, thanks in part to the ties of marriage between the two royal families. Our peoples began the Great War as allies; but in 1917 the Communists seized power in Russia, and with the assassination of Emperor Nicholas the burgeoning friendship was abruptly ended.

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