We are pleased to invite you to the launch of Barbara Emerson’s new book, The First Cold War: Anglo-Russian Relations in the 19th Century, which she will discuss with Dame Deborah Bronnert, former British Ambassador to Russia. A comprehensive history of Russo-British relations at the height of the imperial age, The First Cold War chronicles the clash of ambitions, diplomacy and tension, and the ensuing consequences. This discussion is particularly relevant in the context of today’s geopolitics, as issues and attitudes from the imperial era have echoed long into the future.

Relations between Russia and England began in the mid-1500s, after an English merchant ship landed in the Russian Far North. Over the following two centuries, trade relations strengthened, Russians and English settled in each others’ countries, and even Russia’s growing military and naval power was not perceived as a threat. The relationship was peaceful, although not without miscomprehension – but it was not to last.

For a few years after Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, Britain and Russia maintained a frosty civility. But their relations deteriorated as Nicholas I ascended the throne in 1825. Coming to power in the wake of the Decembrist uprising, his domestic and foreign policies were governed by the mantra of Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationality (which was echoed by Putin nearly two centuries years later). The ensuing decades saw constant acrimonious rivalry over Persia, Central Asia, the Ottoman Empire and, towards the end of the century, East Asia. Not until Britain and Russia recognised that they had more to fear from Wilhelmine Germany did they largely set aside their rivalries in the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, which also had major repercussions for the balance of power in Europe.

The 19th century was marked by distrust, diplomatic intrigue and regional conflicts, and Barbara Emerson presents the Russian perspective on this “game”, drawing on the archives of the Tsars’ Imperial Ministry. Both powers became convinced of the expansionist aims of the other, and considered these to be at its own expense. When one was successful, the other upped the ante, out of a perceived need to assert prestige and strength on the international stage. There was recurrent talk of war interspersed with periods of fragile accord, and long-lasting consequences – not just for Britain and Russia, but for the populations caught in the colonial ambitions of the two great powers through trade, military campaigns, and “civilising missions”.

Although London and St Petersburg were at war only once in the 1850s, the Crimean War, Russophobia and Anglophobia became ingrained on each side, and these two colonial empires hovered on the brink of hostilities for nearly 100 years. 

Barbara Emerson studied at Oxford University and was later an associate at the Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, and a visiting fellow at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. She is the author of three historical biographies and lived in Moscow for several years. She has given a number of talks at Pushkin House since 2014, and regularly attends events as a Friend of Pushkin House.

DCMG was the UK’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation from January 2020 to November 2023.

Previously, Deborah Bronnert was Director General, Economic and Consular, at the FCO from 2017–2019, including responsibility for Europe and Asia. Prior to that, she was the FCO’s Chief Operating Officer, from 2014–2016, responsible for delivering the staff, estate, tools, services and the events the Foreign and Commonwealth Office requires to achieve its Foreign Policy Priorities. Deborah was also a Trustee of the British Council (2015–2019).

Before joining the FCO Board as COO, Deborah spent three years in Zimbabwe as UK Ambassador (2011–14). She has also previously served in Moscow (2002–05), been a member of a European Commissioner’s Cabinet (1995–99) and served at the UK Representation to the EU in Brussels (1991–93). In London, Deborah has been Director Global and Economic Issues, then Prosperity, the UK’s G8 Foreign Affairs Sous Sherpa, as well as Head, Deputy Head and Desk Officer in various Departments. She started her career in the Department of the Environment. She was a non-Executive Director for the charity Merlin from 2010–13.

Her first degree is in Mathematics (Bristol University); she also has a Masters in the Political Economy of Russia and Eastern Europe (UCL).

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