The ‘alliance’ to which the title of this book refers was a sometimes formal, but more often an informal arrangement; it began during the reign of Peter the Great (r.1682–1725) and continued until the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1853. Admittedly, during the final decades of this alliance it was in a somewhat weakened state, the potential for conflict between the two an ever-present prospect. Some might even question the use of the term ‘alliance’, given that over the period to which I refer, there were times of open hostility, but such breaches were quickly repaired. As such, the term is being used in a very loose sense, a union or association formed for mutual benefit. It was a partnership that secured for Great Britain unlimited supplies of raw materials, especially naval stores, the essential commodities for the upkeep of Britain’s naval and mercantile fleets. Russia, in turn, gained a considerable income from an exceedingly favourable balance of trade, alongside access to Britain’s advanced naval technology, skilled personnel and at times the use of British naval facilities. Throughout much of the eighteenth century, the quantity and value of trade transmitted between Russia and Great Britain was so immense that it totally eclipsed all trade and commerce conducted with any competitor, with Britain, during the 1730s, gaining from Russia the status of ‘most favoured nation’.

Naval stores, primarily fir, flax, tar, hemp and bar iron, as mainly imported from the Russian Empire, represented the life-blood upon which Britain’s ascendancy into world domination was founded. Without those basic commodities, Britain would have had a much-diminished maritime global presence, resulting in a limited ability to trade overseas, her powerful fleet of warships equally constrained. It was upon the navy and Britain’s merchant marine, that the prosperity of the nation hinged. The Royal Navy, through an ability to extend Britain’s reach across the oceans of the world, was responsible for creating a fabulous empire with a wealth that could only be fully exploited through trade.

Here, Britain’s merchant fleet, under the protection of the Royal Navy, came into its own, bringing into British ports from these colonies raw materials to be turned into manufactured products that were then profitably exported abroad, carried into foreign ports on board British registered vessels.