Russia

The History of Chess, Part II:

Lionel Kochan describes how ‘the game of kings’ found its apotheosis in the Soviet Union; the country of the proletariat.

The Conquest of Siberia

Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, writes J.H. Shennan, Russian merchants and explorers settled the eastern lands between the Urals and the Pacific.

The Princess Dashkova, Part II

A. Lentin profiles the lively, meddlesome friend of Catherine the Great, who returned to Russia from her western travels in the year 1782.

The Princess Dashkova, Part I

A. Lentin introduces Princess Dashkova. During the reigns of Peter III and Catherine II, the Russian Princess was a tireless intellectual and a seasoned western traveller.

The Serbian Mission to Russia, 1804

In the year of Napoleon’s coronation, writes Ann Kindersley, three patriotic Serbs officially asked for the help of the Tsar in their revolt against the Turks.

Voltaire and Peter the Great

‘The story of Charles XII,’ wrote Voltaire, ‘was entertaining; that of Peter instructive.’ A. Lentin describes a unique example of early modern Franco-Russian relations.

A Scot in the Service of the Tsars

Ian Grey profiles General Patrick Gordon, Scotsman of such standing in Imperial Russia that he received a state funeral upon his death, in which the Tsar himself marched on foot.

The Paris Peace Conference, Part II

Norman Bentwich analyses the diplomatic battle between the Soviet Union and the Western Powers that gradually came into the open in Paris in 1946, and foreshadowed the Cold War.

Portrait of Ivan IV by Viktor Vasnetsov, 1897 (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow)

Many events in Ivan's reign, writes Ian Grey, seem merely the first stages of developments that have been continued in the twentieth century. Today his greatness is generally recognized by historians.