Russia

Ian Grey profiles Boris Godunov; Chief Minister after the death of Ivan the Terrible, and then himself Tsar, Boris served Russia during a most troubled period.

W. Bruce Lincoln describes how Enlightenment figures and themes drifted gradually westward, to the Russia of Peter the Great.

Throughout his long life, including his years in Russia, Ribeiro Sanches kept in touch with ‘Men of Reason’ in many European countries.

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

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

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

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.

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.

‘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.

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.