Historian: Russia and Britain were not always enemies

When it comes to the relationship between Russia and the UK, many believe that our countries have always been sworn enemies. However, in reality, this statement is not entirely true.

Yes, most of the time Russians and Anglo-Saxons, so to speak, "compete". But according to the Russian historian Yevgeny Spitsyn, there were periods when Russia and Britain maintained good relations. It has been a long time, though.

As an example, the expert cites the reign of Tsar Ivan IV, when in 1553 diplomatic relations were established between the Russian Empire and England, and in 1556 the Moscow Trading Company was created.

The first serious break in relations with the British, according to the historian, took place in 1649, when Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, by his decree, deprived the British of duty-free domestic and transit trade. However, Spitsyn added that in the initial stages of the reign of Peter I, Russia and Britain also quite "got along together."

The main reason that hinders the establishment of partnerships and the almost unceasing rivalry between our countries, the expert calls the "imperial ambitions" of both Britain and Russia.

At the same time, today, according to Spitsyn, there is another round of, as he put it, "hot confrontation." According to the historian, what is happening today in Ukraine very much resembles the events of 100 years ago, when Russia was overwhelmed by a civil war, one of the warring parties was armed in Great Britain.

Comments

[Grandfather]

Historian: Russia and Britain were not always enemies

yes always!

[Machito]

Quote: Dead Day

Historian: Russia and Britain were not always enemies

yes always!

Britain has always been a sworn enemy of Russia. When Britain and Russia were allies, Britain always had a knife in her bosom to stab into Russia's back.
Several coups d'état were carried out in Russia with British money.
With such "friends" and enemies are not needed.
A good Brit is a dead Brit.
Every Briton has a coffin.
A good Brit gets a good coffin.

[Stirbjorn]

Quote: Bearded

A good Brit is a dead Brit.
Every Briton has a coffin.
A good Brit gets a good coffin.

“In short, the Magyars are trash,” the old sapper Vodichka finished his story, to which Schweik remarked:
“Another Magyar is not to blame for the fact that he is a Magyar.”
How is that not your fault? Vodichka got excited. “Each of them is to blame,” he said too!

[zenion]

Bearded. But it was not the Ethiopians from Africa who rebelled against the authorities, but the Russians themselves. And not those who hunchbacked in the fields, but those who had fields and were called nobles. Everything was as it is now. He called himself a rich man - you are already against the country.

[Silver99]

What kind of nonsense does Spitsyn write? Not a single argument about "friendship". All trade under Ivan the Terrible was for Russia on onerous terms, it was just that the tsar had to show loyalty and trade with someone in any way, and the British did not miss their benefits. They have always been enemies, precisely enemies, not rivals. No one has spoiled Russia more than Britain.

[bar]

Quote from Silver99

What kind of nonsense does Spitsyn write?

Well, here is such an iksperd ...

[Vladimir_2U]

Quote from Silver99

What kind of nonsense does Spitsyn write?

We know such historians, here we see and inflate, here we do not notice at close range. But I'm proud of my diplomas!

[tihonmarine]

Quote from Silver99

What kind of nonsense does Spitsyn write? Not a single argument about "friendship".

What kind of friendship can there be with those who want to conquer you, like China, like India, Afghanistan, Iraq. There were times of calm, before the new dirty tricks and expansion of Britain. Friends of the British only with their former colonies of North America, from which he created a monster and Canada.

[forty-eighth]

Quote: Dead Day

yes always!

Why did Napoleon invade Russia?

[rocket757]

As an example, the expert cites the reign of Tsar Ivan IV, when in 1553 diplomatic relations were established between the Russian Empire and England, and in 1556 the Moscow Trading Company was created.

Come on ... impudent people cannot have "friendship" with anyone and never ..
By the way, what is a good relationship like? Didn't they beat each other's faces everywhere and everywhere at any meeting?
In general, the state of affairs is such that it does not need to be explained in any way, because this is not an established opinion, but a reality.
Insolent ENEMY, everywhere and forever...

[old]

impudent people cannot have "friendship" with anyone and never ..

Half the world will readily confirm that there is no need for enemies with such friends!

[tihonmarine]

Quote: rocket757

Come on ... impudent people cannot have "friendship" with anyone and never ..
By the way, what is a good relationship like?

In the art of fighting for life, i.e. politics, this ability gives them all the advantages of a brilliant chess player over a mediocre player. The earth's surface, dotted with oceans, continents and islands, is for them a kind of chessboard, and the peoples, carefully studied in their basic properties and in the spiritual qualities of their rulers, are living figures and pawns, which they move in such a way that their opponent, who sees in each the pawn of an independent enemy standing in front of him, in the end, is lost in bewilderment, how and when did he make the fatal move that led to the loss of the game?
This is said by the same Alexei Efimovich Vandam-Edrikhin.

[voice of reason]

Always Anlia put spokes in the wheels of Russia. And directly, by intervening in domestic politics through conspiracies and assassinations of rulers like Paul 1. And through confrontation in the East, the so-called Great Game. Maybe it's time to put London on a par with Berlin and Paris? In terms of the presence of the Russian army in them after the victory?

[dummy]

"Worse than enmity with the Anglo-Saxons can only be friendship with them!" (Edrikhin - Vandam). It seems that the result of the naive friendship of the Russians with the British was precisely the problems within our country. The English have never been friends with us. So, they used it as a raw material appendage.

[tihonmarine]

Quote: Dummy

Worse than enmity with the Anglo-Saxons can only be friendship with them!" (Edrikhin - Vandam).

In October 1918, the Northern Army officially appeared, the commander-in-chief of which also became a curious character - Alexei Efimovich Vandam-Edrikhin. Military agent, author of works on geopolitics (rather amusing, I must admit), the actual author of the quote "the only thing worse than hostility with the Anglo-Saxons can be friendship with them." But A.E. Vandam, criticizing the Britons, was very disposed towards the Germans.

[bar]

in 1553 diplomatic relations were established between the Russian Tsardom and England, and in 1556 the "Moscow Trading Company" was established.

And that's where the good relationship ended.

[Mixweb]

That “friendship” had very unfavorable conditions for us, just like in the 90s.

[AlexVas44]

... Great Britain armed one of the warring parties

If only, but intervention in the north, but the vigorous activity of British intelligence. Those. as always ... crap.

[Gardamir]

Well, what are you arguing about! There was friendship. Ivan Vasilyevich really wanted to protect the Queen of England in bed. He wrote lovely letters to her.

[Intourist]

“England has neither permanent allies nor permanent enemies. England has only permanent interests. "

Henry John Temple Palmerston.

Somehow, there is no other way with them.

[optimist007]

Surely. Until I knew about the existence of Russia, they were not.

[Nikolay Malyugin]

I would be glad if Spitsyn did not read some of the comments. And if I read it, I would be amazed at the low level of knowledge of users. After all, Spitsyn revealed fragments of a long history. And Great Britain was an ally of Russia in the First World War. And secondly, an ally of the USSR. Sometimes you have to restrain your great-power emotions. And take a sober look at history and our lives.

[Skif]

However, Churchill considered such an alliance unnatural, but necessary for Britain in this time period. What nafig friendship-corn?! Only what is beneficial to Britain and is to the detriment of Russia!

[nickname7]

duty-free domestic and transit trade.

That is, the goodwill of England was won by granting preferences to foreign merchants? Did they charge a fee from their merchants?

[Sasha from Uralmash]

Always! They didn’t even save Nikolai! But they could!

[buslaif]

According to the historian, what is happening today in Ukraine very much resembles the events of 100 years ago, when Russia was overwhelmed by a civil war, one of the warring parties was armed in Great Britain.
In reality, the goal of England, France and the United States was to pit the Russians against each other and ignite a large-scale fratricidal war. In addition, the white movement, despite all its contradictions, announced a "united and indivisible" Russia, which did not fit into the plans of the West. So Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain, speaking in Parliament, said: “The expediency of assisting Admiral Kolchak and General Denikin is an all the more controversial issue because they are fighting for a united Russia. It is not for me to say whether this slogan is in line with UK policy." In any case, assistance to the white movement was dosed, but not so much that one of the parties took over. The main goal was the fragmentation of Russia into a bunch of separate regions, which in the future happened to the USSR. In world history, all events repeat themselves at a certain frequency. The same thing is happening in the current confrontation between Russia and the West in Ukraine. There is a war going on to weaken Russia, or rather destroy it as a sovereign state.

[buslaif]

Quote: Nikolay Malyugin

Great Britain was an ally of Russia in the First World War. And secondly, an ally of the USSR. Sometimes you have to restrain your great-power emotions. And take a sober look at history and our lives.

Let's take a sober look. Great Britain and France were the initiators of the policy of appeasement of Hitler in his territorial claims and did everything to direct his aggression towards Russia. Munich agreement. September 30, 1938, in Munich, Chamberlain, Daladier, Mussolini and Hitler signed the Munich Agreement, which legalized the partition of Czechoslovakia. The Sudetenland was given to Germany. Subsequently, in the division of Czechoslovakia, in addition to Germany, Hungary and Poland took part. This was the event that started World War II. With the beginning of the war, Poland fell, France capitulated, England trembled on its islands under German bombs. Together with the United States, Great Britain participated in assisting the USSR in the war under the Lend-Lease program, but at the same time, Churchill stood in the position of gradually reducing the level of supplies of equipment and weapons, which US President Roosevelt did not succumb to. As the USSR began to liberate their territories with access to the western borders of the USSR, the policy of Great Britain also changed. And in Fulton, with his famous speech, Churchill launched the Cold War. Great Britain has ceased to be an empire and since then to this day it has been our enemy and with its help the West managed to organize a "hot" war between Russia and the collective West.

[Vyacheslav1962]

As an example, the expert cites the reign of Tsar Ivan IV

Just at the time of Ivan the Terrible, England began to intensively create special services to combat Russia. This was the answer of the British to the expansion of the territorial borders of Russia. Even then they realized that a powerful independent state was being formed in the East.
And all trade missions are a kind of intelligence structures.

[Ulan.1812]

Always! All periods when we had allied relations were forced and were only when England was in danger.
As in the Napoleonic wars or in WWI and WWII.
England put its little hands on the collapse of the Russian Empire.
I don’t remember who in the Angia government, having learned about the abdication of the king, said that one of the goals of this war was realized

[place]

Russia was either looking for friends, or not looking for friends. The same Alexander 3rd, after excellent words about the army and navy, concluded a military alliance with France, which was then joined by Britain ....But Britain has always understood that there are no friends or enemies, but only their own interests.
Those who have never bothered with either friendship or enmity are the British.

[zenion]

When Russia licked up places from Britain, which she graciously allowed to lick, then the relationship was excellent, the main thing was that the tongues were not rough. But, when Russia began to rise in military terms, they didn’t even let me lick my shoe, on the shelf. And when the Germans, who also wanted to be like the arrogant people, began to general, Britain could not stand it. But she allowed Russia to fight instead of her, but no more.