The Story of Russia

“I wanted to do a relatively short, accessible and enjoyable volume of history from the earliest times, and I thought it was important to do it in a way that exposed the driving ideas and ideologies of Russian history. Because certainly after 2014, it struck me increasingly that the way the Russians understood their history was very different from the way we would understand their history, especially those bits of history that connect with ours, like the Cold War. That disconnect needs to be understood because if we’re going to deal with the Russians now, we need to understand where they’re coming from.

I wanted to say something about Russian historiography and the myths that they have woven around their own story. There are some recurring themes. There’s the Tsar or ruler as a sacred figure, a god on Earth whose authority is sacralized and who is a national savior. That’s the story of Alexander Nevsky, of Alexander I, of Stalin in World War II. These are stories of the sacred, godlike leader who saves the country from hostile forces abroad. It’s only when you begin to look at it from that point of view that you can understand the strength of autocratic modes of thought, and why propaganda of an authoritarian, nationalist, anti-Western persuasion can make sense or get a grip on the national consciousness.

That’s all about the narratives of history. It’s historical. It’s not about a mindset, or psyche, or DNA, or any of the rather cliched stereotypes people use to try and explain why the Russians are like the Russians. You have to unpack it historically which does, as you say, involve looking at those moments when it could have gone another way. Why it is that certain ideas recur and get mobilized in certain situations to reinforce an autocratic state system? And why it is that those same ideas can become subversive and revolutionary? So that was the idea for the book, though I didn’t think it was going to be quite so timely.”

Orlando Figes, Five Books interview on the best Russian novels