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Riddle, Mystery, and Enigma: Two Hundred Years of British–Russian Relations
A history of relations between Britain and Russia from the nineteenth century to the present.
With Riddle, Mystery, and Enigma , statesman and author David Owen tells the story of Britain’s relationship with Russia, which has been surprisingly underexplored. Through his characteristic insight and expertise, he depicts a relationship governed by principle as often as by suspicion, expediency, and necessity.
When the two nations formed a pragmatic alliance and fought together at the Battle of Navarino in Greece in 1827, it was overwhelmingly the work of the British prime minister, George Canning. His death brought about a drastic shift that would see the countries fighting on opposite sides in the Crimean War and jostling for power during the Great Game. It was not until the Russian Revolution of 1917 that another statesman had a defining impact on relations between Britain and Winston Churchill, who opposed Bolshevism yet never stopped advocating for diplomatic and military engagement with Russia. In the Second World War, he recognized early on the necessity of allying with the Soviets against the menace of Nazi Germany. Bringing us into the twenty-first century, Owen chronicles how both countries have responded to their geopolitical decline. Drawing on both imperial and Soviet history, he explains the unique nature of Putin’s autocracy and addresses Britain’s return to “blue water” diplomacy. Newly revised, this paperback edition features extended chapters on Putin’s Russia and the future of British–Russian relations after the Russo-Ukrainian War.
With Riddle, Mystery, and Enigma , statesman and author David Owen tells the story of Britain’s relationship with Russia, which has been surprisingly underexplored. Through his characteristic insight and expertise, he depicts a relationship governed by principle as often as by suspicion, expediency, and necessity.
When the two nations formed a pragmatic alliance and fought together at the Battle of Navarino in Greece in 1827, it was overwhelmingly the work of the British prime minister, George Canning. His death brought about a drastic shift that would see the countries fighting on opposite sides in the Crimean War and jostling for power during the Great Game. It was not until the Russian Revolution of 1917 that another statesman had a defining impact on relations between Britain and Winston Churchill, who opposed Bolshevism yet never stopped advocating for diplomatic and military engagement with Russia. In the Second World War, he recognized early on the necessity of allying with the Soviets against the menace of Nazi Germany. Bringing us into the twenty-first century, Owen chronicles how both countries have responded to their geopolitical decline. Drawing on both imperial and Soviet history, he explains the unique nature of Putin’s autocracy and addresses Britain’s return to “blue water” diplomacy. Newly revised, this paperback edition features extended chapters on Putin’s Russia and the future of British–Russian relations after the Russo-Ukrainian War.
360 pages, Paperback
Published February 21, 2023
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About the author
David Owen
579 books9 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 10, 2023
If you want to read about the history of Anglo-Russian relations, don’t read this book.
You’d think, considering the title, that this book would actually delve into the past two hundred years of Anglo-Russian relations with some depth considering the over 400 pages. Unfortunately this is absolutely not the case. The author says at one point “I have not set out to provide a comprehensive history of relations between Britain and Russia”- well then why is that your title?
Most of this book is entirely pointless, it misses out core moments of history that have impacted said relations and the ones it does speak about often feel like an afterthought. Why are you linking to Afghanistan in 2021 when talking about Canning or Crimea?? It is simply not relevant. Why are you telling me your thoughts on House of Lords reform, the bureaucratic nightmare of the EU and the Covid vaccine rollout? I don’t care, and this isn’t what I came to read about.
I appreciate that, as a former foreign secretary, the author has incredible personal insight into Anglo-Russian relations however even when he is talking about his own experiences in this regard, it feels totally pointless- there is no teeth to this book. I simply cannot get over how absolutely lacking in depth this book is and how incredibly boring and plain it is considering the subject matter. Furthermore, the editing in this book is just plain bad. Why have you written virtually the exact same sentence twice on the same page/in the same paragraph?! I read it the first time, I don’t need to read it again.
I rarely give books I read this low of a rating and I’m incredible surprised and disappointed I’ve had to go this low with what should’ve been an interesting and informative work but someone uniquely qualified to talk about it.
1.5/5.
You’d think, considering the title, that this book would actually delve into the past two hundred years of Anglo-Russian relations with some depth considering the over 400 pages. Unfortunately this is absolutely not the case. The author says at one point “I have not set out to provide a comprehensive history of relations between Britain and Russia”- well then why is that your title?
Most of this book is entirely pointless, it misses out core moments of history that have impacted said relations and the ones it does speak about often feel like an afterthought. Why are you linking to Afghanistan in 2021 when talking about Canning or Crimea?? It is simply not relevant. Why are you telling me your thoughts on House of Lords reform, the bureaucratic nightmare of the EU and the Covid vaccine rollout? I don’t care, and this isn’t what I came to read about.
I appreciate that, as a former foreign secretary, the author has incredible personal insight into Anglo-Russian relations however even when he is talking about his own experiences in this regard, it feels totally pointless- there is no teeth to this book. I simply cannot get over how absolutely lacking in depth this book is and how incredibly boring and plain it is considering the subject matter. Furthermore, the editing in this book is just plain bad. Why have you written virtually the exact same sentence twice on the same page/in the same paragraph?! I read it the first time, I don’t need to read it again.
I rarely give books I read this low of a rating and I’m incredible surprised and disappointed I’ve had to go this low with what should’ve been an interesting and informative work but someone uniquely qualified to talk about it.
1.5/5.
March 6, 2022
3.75 stars. This is a thought provoking and helpful review of the history between Britain and Russia. That history is important to consider as we now face the gravest European crisis of our generation. And of course sadly some of the commentary in the final chapter has been overtaken by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I wonder what sort of conclusion Dr Owen would write now in March 2022. And I wonder what the conclusion will be in five year's time ...
January 8, 2025
'Two Hundred Years of British-Russian relations'. Readers of this soapbox cleverly disguised as a history book could be forgiven for thinking that during those two hundred years, not a great deal of excitement occurred. In the occasions that the author focuses on the title of the book, the insignificant is magnified and the genuinely seismic, watershed moments between the UK and Russia are hurried over, if included at all.
Starting around 1800, we move (in this edition) up until October 2022. As the years advance, the content becomes less informative and more pontificating. We are frequently reminded how certain things the author predicted eventually happened in some shape or form. Unfortuante also, is the frequent use of historic events for extensive, exhaustive, contemporary commentary; there is a line between the comparison of past events to those of our own times, and the use of such events to tee up pages of digressive sermoning. It often feels like looking for a recipe online, and having to scroll through a run-down of the authors' life so far before actually getting to the content you came to read in the first place. You probably didn't pick up this book to read about the authors' musings and predictions from several decades ago.You probably picked it up because you wanted to read about 200 years of British and Russian relations. The constant departure from what should have been the core narrative of this book becomes distracting to the point that a normally dispassionate reader feels the compulsion to actually write a review.
There are a vast swathe of historical topics absent that really deserved proper coverage. Little, if anything at all, is said about the near war during the Congress of Vienna, Russian fear of the Royal Navy in the Pacific and the subsequent sale of Alaska to the USA, British decolonisation, Falklands War, The Troubles, Blair and Berlusconi competing for influence over Putin, to name a few. Treatment of the Great Game is particularly lacking, given the significance to both states.
The summary of the 'Riddle, Mystery and Enigma' claims that the history of British-Russian relations have been "...surprisingly underexplored". This book does very little to remedy this claim.
Starting around 1800, we move (in this edition) up until October 2022. As the years advance, the content becomes less informative and more pontificating. We are frequently reminded how certain things the author predicted eventually happened in some shape or form. Unfortuante also, is the frequent use of historic events for extensive, exhaustive, contemporary commentary; there is a line between the comparison of past events to those of our own times, and the use of such events to tee up pages of digressive sermoning. It often feels like looking for a recipe online, and having to scroll through a run-down of the authors' life so far before actually getting to the content you came to read in the first place. You probably didn't pick up this book to read about the authors' musings and predictions from several decades ago.You probably picked it up because you wanted to read about 200 years of British and Russian relations. The constant departure from what should have been the core narrative of this book becomes distracting to the point that a normally dispassionate reader feels the compulsion to actually write a review.
There are a vast swathe of historical topics absent that really deserved proper coverage. Little, if anything at all, is said about the near war during the Congress of Vienna, Russian fear of the Royal Navy in the Pacific and the subsequent sale of Alaska to the USA, British decolonisation, Falklands War, The Troubles, Blair and Berlusconi competing for influence over Putin, to name a few. Treatment of the Great Game is particularly lacking, given the significance to both states.
The summary of the 'Riddle, Mystery and Enigma' claims that the history of British-Russian relations have been "...surprisingly underexplored". This book does very little to remedy this claim.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews