# Why do the Russians hate the British so much? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 19, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908 "2011-02-19T13:10:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/21 "2011-02-20T03:43:15Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > We harboured not only Marx, but — during the Second Party Congress — Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin amongst others. > Don’t wonder the Russians are pissed at us. This is true, Marx is buried in Highgate, Engels died in London and had his ashes tossed off Beachy Head. Lenin and Trotsky both spent some time in London. I was going to post “Stalin?!”, but yes he was in London for a bit too. Add to this the connections between the Tsar and our royal family, and the current sheltering of oligarchs, and well, sorry, Russians. ☹ Not that this demonstrates “hate”, though ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/22 "2011-02-20T03:52:25Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Honestly, purely because I think Great Britain sounds better than United Kingdom. The difference is Ulster if I remember correctly? I agree that Great Britain sounds better than United Kingdom. But UK sounds better than GB, plus when I see GB I automatically read it as George Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/23 "2011-02-20T05:38:52Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Not all of Ulster. The 6 counties of Ulster that make up Northern Ireland (Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry & Tyrone) are part of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). Ulster itself contains 9 counties - 3 of them (Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan) became part of Eire. If we’re being nitpicky, let it be said that the country that occupies the main part of Ireland can only be called Éire in the Irish language. In English, it is called the Republic of Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/24 "2011-02-20T05:45:03Z")
Funny story, vaguely remembered from a couple decades ago: When FDR died, the Soviet ambassador discreetly inquired whether his government could conduct its own autopsy on the body. Eleanor, of course, refused. The ambassador persisted, saying his government strongly suspected the president had been murdered. By whom? “The Churchill Gang!” ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/25 "2011-02-20T06:58:48Z")
Hmm… thinking back to my history, I can also say that the British have been utter dicks to Russia for quite some time. Almost as soon as the RUssians came onto the world scene, they wound up being opposed to the British a series of minor diplomatic feuds. And now that I think of it, most of these were the British kneecapping the Russians from accomplishing something. They did the same to the Germans, who had a _huge_ chip on their shoulder even before WW2 about it. Who knows? World history might have been a lot nicer had the Brits not been such finely-mannered jerks. 😃 Interestingly, before the Communist Revolution, the Russians were remarkably close to the United States, even thought we didn’t have strong ties in any sense. Britain sent in troops on the White side to fight for a certain world political order, but America sent some partly out of friendship. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/26 "2011-02-20T08:07:52Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > If we’re being nitpicky, let it be said that the country that occupies the main part of Ireland can only be called Éire in the Irish language. In English, it is called the Republic of Ireland. In English it is indeed the Republic of Ireland. But if I am speaking English, and I refer to Hamburg as being in Bundesrepublik Deutschland, I have not made a mistake. Ulster is not part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland is. If we are being nitpicky and all. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/27 "2011-02-20T20:08:46Z")
> [@Ryan\_Liam](#): > > Why do the Russians hate the British so much? Because your method of drinking tea is _nyekulturniy!_ ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/28 "2011-02-20T20:39:27Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Because your method of drinking tea is _nyekulturniy!_ I lol’d ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/29 "2011-02-20T20:56:40Z")
Maybe this is the basis of a New World Order - an alliance of tea drinking (and therefore civilized) nations of the world. Led by the British of course, because we drink it right, but spanning Russia, the Far East, the Indian Subcontinent, and some good bits of Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/30 "2011-02-20T21:49:52Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Maybe this is the basis of a New World Order - an alliance of tea drinking (and therefore civilized) nations of the world. Led by the British of course, because we drink it right, but spanning Russia, the Far East, the Indian Subcontinent, and some good bits of Africa. Will someone step in to save heterosexuality? ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/31 "2011-02-20T21:54:14Z")
Not sure why, but if the fiction of E. Phillips Oppenheim\* is to be believed, then the Russian animosity predates the peoples revolution and even WW1. He treats it as a given without trying to explain it. - Project Gutenburg has a number of his works available for free. Be warned that he is typical of his day with regard to racial and anti-semitic slurs. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/32 "2011-02-20T22:33:26Z")
Oppenheim is a rather painful writer… Worse even than Buchan. However, in addition to banging about the awfulness of rival Germany and the wicked frivolity of France, Russia was a prime favorite bogeyman of such Edwardian writers since it was at that period an imperial autocracy of sorts and thus opposed to comfortable liberal institutions that ran the entirely benevolent British Empah. Also they would have been born only a few decades or less after the Crimean War. I think it was another of the kind, the still more awful William Le Queux, who began by scaring people silly over the prospects of Invasion from France to seamlessly switching to drumming up the threat of Invasion from Germany. Had, say, the Bismarckian Reinsurance Treaty continued, and Russia taken Germany’s side, then no doubt he’d have streamed propaganda about the wickedness of Russian intentions with remarkable ease. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/33 "2011-02-20T23:33:37Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Will someone step in to save heterosexuality? I have to say, when I think of cafe au lait and a croissant, defending heterosexuality is hardly the first thing that springs to mind. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/34 "2011-02-22T11:48:59Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I agree that Great Britain sounds better than United Kingdom. But UK sounds better than GB, plus when I see GB I automatically read it as George Bush. It may sound better, but it is incorrect. Great Britain is the geographical name of the island, on which the soverign nations of England, Scotland and Wales reside. Those countries as well as Northern Ireland (on a separate island) being part of the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/35 "2011-02-22T12:15:33Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > Interestingly, before the Communist Revolution, the Russians were remarkably close to the United States, even thought we didn’t have strong ties in any sense. Britain sent in troops on the White side to fight for a certain world political order, but America sent some partly out of friendship. That was very noble of the United States! What’s the evidence that the US sent troops purely out of friendship? Friendship to whom? The people of Archangel? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/36 "2011-02-22T16:17:16Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It may sound better, but it is incorrect. Great Britain is the geographical name of the island, on which the soverign nations of England, Scotland and Wales reside. Those countries as well as Northern Ireland (on a separate island) being part of the UK. This is getting confusing. So is the country Great Britain or the United Kingdom? And if it’s not the United Kingdom, why is UK always used for the country in the media and never GB? ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/37 "2011-02-22T16:23:12Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > This is getting confusing. So is the country Great Britain or the United Kingdom? And if it’s not the United Kingdom, why is UK always used for the country in the media and never GB? The sovereign state is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is a geographical entity constituting the area occupied by the countries of England, Scotland and Wales, predominately the mainland, but also including the sundry islands that accompany them, such as the Orkneys, Hebredies, Anglesey, the Isle of Wight, the Scilly Isles etc. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/38 "2011-02-22T16:28:26Z")
Then since I meant the sovereign state, I was correct in saying the UK after all? But people commonly taking the British from being from that same state are not necessarily being accurate? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/39 "2011-02-22T17:13:47Z")
> [@Damfino](#): > > Could this be anything to do with the fact that Britain sent an army to Russia in 1919 to fight the bolsheviks? Obviously. And Germany and France are on good terms because they both had the good sense never to invade Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908/40 "2011-02-22T17:52:00Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > This is getting confusing. So is the country Great Britain or the United Kingdom? Most people here say Britain or British [Briton or Brit is rarely used except for simplicity over the internet: before people just called themselves English or Scottish or Welsh or Irish or Ulstermen, depending where they were born; and still do in private]. The _Great_ is a geographic descriptive merely to differentiate from _Little_ Bretagne _aka_ Brittany, not a self-compliment. No-one is going to say they are a UK citizen, or a UKite, or United Kingdomer. The British Isles is another strictly geographic term that includes all the islands in that archipelago including Ireland ( which over-excites the more pointlessly excited Irish nationalist ). Actually in the 19th century, England could be used could be used for the whole in those careless days, even by Scots or Welsh; as more simple when travelling abroad to express nationality to people who had never even heard of Wales or Cornwall. > [@](#): > > And if it’s not the United Kingdom, why is UK always used for the country in the media and never GB? Just seems to be recent fashion, plus it’s the preferred usage of modern government. Although it’s no more specific than ‘United States’ or ‘United Provinces’. Since the UK was decreed by the hanoverian parliament of George III, some of us ignore it completely. Then again, I prefer ‘The Three Kingdoms’ as was right in the 17th century. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-russians-hate-the-british-so-much/571908.md?page=3)