Germany–Russia relations display cyclical patterns, moving back and forth from cooperation and alliance to strain and to total warfare. Historian John Wheeler-Bennett says that since the 1740s: Relations between Russia and Germany have been a series of alienations, distinguished for their bitterness, and of rapprochements, remarkable for their warmth. A cardinal factor in the relationship has been the existence of an independent Poland. When separated by a buffer state, the two great Powers of eastern Europe have been friendly, whereas a contiguity of frontiers has bred hostility.John W. Wheeler-Bennett, "Twenty Years of Russo-German Relations: 1919-1939" Foreign Affairs 25#1 (1946), pp. 23-43. online
Otto von Bismarck established the League of the Three Emperors in 1873 with the Russian Empire, German Empire, and Austria-Hungary. But after Bismarck's dismissal in 1890, his successors chose to support Austria against Russia over competing influence in the Balkans. Germany fought against Russia in World War I (1914–1918). Relations were warm in the 1920s, very cold throughout the 1930s, cooperative and friendly in 1939–41,Chubarov refers to "friendly relations" 1939-41; and hostile in 1941–45. In the 1920s both countries co-operated with each other in trade and (secretly) in military affairs. Hostilities escalated in the 1930s as the fascists sponsored by Berlin and the communists sponsored by Moscow fought each other across the world, most famously in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). In a stunning turnabout in August 1939, both countries came to an agreement, and divided up the previously independent nations of Eastern Europe. That détente collapsed in 1941 when Germany invaded the USSR. The Soviets survived however and formed an alliance with Britain and the U.S., and pushed the Germans back, capturing Berlin in May 1945.
During the Cold War 1947–1991, Germany was divided, with East Germany under Communist control and under the close watch of Moscow, which stationed a large military force there and repressed an uprising in 1953.
Germany has been consistently among the countries with the most negative views of Russia. In 2014 only 19% of Germans viewed Russia positively while 79% had a negative opinion and 81% disapproved of the Russian Leadership, making Germany one of the 10 countries with the highest disapproval in the world. In 2021 73% disapproved, still one of the highest numbers in the world. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine German distrust of Russia reached a record of 90% and as of 2024, 95% disapprove of Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Relations turned highly negative in 2014 in response to Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine and support for insurgents in Ukraine. Germany was a leader between NATO Quint in imposing round after round of increasingly harsh European Union sanctions against the Russian oil and banking industries and top allies of President Vladimir Putin. Russia responded by cutting food imports from the EU.
The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine led to a near complete reversal of German-Russian relations with the new German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, "ordering" the immediate transfer of thousands of missiles to the Ukrainian military to aid in its fight against the invading Russian forces. Germany has also participated in severe economic banking sanctions against Russia since the start of the war. However, Germany is very dependent on Russia for natural gas and has been less willing to sanction this sector, aside from halting the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and the attack on September 26 temporarily shutting the pipes down. The pipeline made up a significant portion of Germany's petroleum imports from Russia. In response to sanctions imposed by Germany and the West, Russia gradually plunged flows of gas, which came to a complete halt in September 2022.
History
Early history
The earliest contact between Germans and East Slavs is unknown, though evidence of East Germanic loan-words suggest Slavic interactions with the Goths. Substantive historically recorded contact goes back to the times of the Teutonic Knights' campaigns in the Baltic region, where the Knights took control of the land in the 13th century CE. Prince Alexander Nevsky defeated the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of the Ice in 1242.
Russia before the mid-18th century stood largely aloof from German affairs, while Germany, until the Napoleonic period, remained divided into numerous small states under the nominal leadership of the Holy Roman Emperor.
After Russia's Great Northern War of 1700–1721 against Sweden, however, Russia's influence spread definitively into the Baltic area.
German migrations eastward Over the centuries, from the Middle Ages onwards, German settlers steadily moved eastward, often into mostly Slavic areas and areas near to or controlled by Russia. Flegel points out that German farmers, traders and entrepreneurs moved into East and West Prussia, the Baltic states, the Danzig and Vistula River region, Galicia, Slovenia, the Banat, the Bachka, Bukovina, Transylvania, the Volga River district of Russia, Posen, the Duchy of Warsaw, Polish and Ukrainian Volhynia, Bessarabia, and the Mount Ararat region between the 17th and the 20th centuries. Often they came at the invitation of Russian governments. The Germans typically became the dominant factors in land-owning and in business enterprise. Some groups, such as part of the Mennonites, migrated to North America in 1860–1914. The Germans in the Baltic states returned home voluntarily in 1940. Some 12 to 14 million were brutally expelled from Poland, Czechoslovakia and other countries in Eastern Europe in 1944–46, with the death of 500,000 or more.R. M. Douglas, Orderly and Humane: The Expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War (2013), the title is ironicHenry Wend. "Review of MacDonogh, Giles, After the Reich: The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation" on H-German, H-Net Reviews. January, 2010. online When the Cold War ended Germany funded the return of hundreds of thousands of people of German descent, whether or not they spoke German.Arthur E. Flegel, "A Summary of German Migrations Eastward into Poland, Austria, Hungary, Romania, and Russia," Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (1991) 14#4 pp 35-38.
A number of Baltic Germans served as ranking generals in the Russian Imperial Army and Navy, including Michael Barclay de Tolly, Adam von Krusenstern, Fabian von Bellingshausen, Friedrich von Buxhoeveden, Paul von Rennenkampf, Ivan Ivanovich Michelson and Eduard Totleben.
Many Baltic Germans (such as Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Yevgeny Miller, and Anatoly Lieven) sided with the Whites and related anti-Bolshevik forces (like the Baltische Landeswehr and the Freikorps movement) during the Russian Civil War.
Prussia and Russia With the creation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701 and the proclamation of the Russian Empire in 1721, two powerful new states emerged that began to interact.
They fought on opposite sides during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740 – 1748), but the war saw both grow in power. Russia defeated Sweden and Prussia defeated Austria. Russia and Prussia again were at odds during the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) and fought the battles of Gross-Jägersdorf, Zorndorf, Kay and Kunersdorf. However, when Russian Tsar Peter III came to power, he made peace with Prussia by signing the Treaty of Saint Petersburg, allowing Prussian King Frederick the Great to concentrate on his other enemies.
Prussia and Russia in agreement with Austria then cooperated to carve up Poland-Lithuania between them in 1772, 1793, and 1795. Poland disappeared from the map.
Both Russia and Prussia had absolute monarchies that reacted sharply when the French Revolution executed the king. They at first were part of the coalition against the new French regime during the French Revolutionary Wars and later the Napoleonic Wars. During the Napoleonic era (1799 to 1815) Austria, Prussia, and Russia were at one time or another in coalition with Napoleon against his arch-enemy Great Britain. In the end, the two German states of Austria and Prussia united with Russia and Britain in opposing Napoleon. That coalition was primarily a matter of convenience for each nation. The key matchmaker was the Austrian Chancellor Klemens von Metternich, who forged a united front that proved decisive in overthrowing Napoleon, 1813–1814.Philip G. Dwyer, "Self-Interest versus the Common Cause: Austria, Prussia and Russia against Napoleon," Journal of Strategic Studies (2008) 31#4 pp 605-632.
Russia was one of the most powerful forces on the continent after 1815 and played a major role in the Concert of Europe which included France, Russia, Austria and Britain, but not Prussia.Hugh Seton-Watson, The Russian Empire 1801-1917 (Oxford History of Modern Europe) (1967), ch 9 In 1815, the Holy Alliance consisting of Prussia, Russia and Austria was completed in Paris. For forty years (1816–56) Russian-German diplomat Karl Nesselrode as foreign minister guided Russian foreign policy. The revolutions of 1848 did not reach Russia, but its political and economic system was inadequate to maintain a modern army. It did poorly in the Crimean War. As Fuller notes, "Russia had been beaten on the Crimean peninsula, and the military feared that it would inevitably be beaten again unless steps were taken to surmount its military weakness." The Crimean War marked the end of the Concert of Europe. Prussia was shaken by the Revolutions of 1848 but was able to withstand the revolutionaries' call to war against Russia. Prussia did go to war with Denmark, however, and was only stopped by British and Russian pressure. Prussia remained neutral in the Crimean War.
Prussia's successes in the Wars of German Unification in the 1860s were facilitated by Russia's lack of involvement. The creation of the German Empire under Prussian dominance in 1871, however, greatly changed the relations between the two countries.
The German and Russian Empires
Initially, it seemed as if the two great empires would be strong allies. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck formed the League of the Three Emperors in 1872 binding together Russia, Austria, and Germany. The League stated that republicanism and socialism were common enemies, and that the three powers would discuss any matters concerning foreign policy. Bismarck needed good relations with Russia in order to keep France isolated.Erich Brandenburg, From Bismarck to the World War: A History of German Foreign Policy 1870-1914 (1927) online . In 1877–1878, Russia fought a victorious war with the Ottoman Empire and attempted to impose the Treaty of San Stefano on it. This upset the British in particular, as they were long concerned with preserving the Ottoman Empire and preventing a Russian takeover of the Bosphorus. Germany hosted the Congress of Berlin (1878), whereby a more moderate peace settlement was agreed to. Germany had no direct interest in the Balkans, however, which was largely an Austrian and Russian sphere of influence.E. Malcolm Carroll, Germany and the great powers, 1866-1914: A study in public opinion and foreign policy (1938)
In 1879, Bismarck formed a Dual Alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary, with the aim of mutual military assistance in the case of an attack from Russia, which was not satisfied with the agreement reached at the Congress of Berlin. The establishment of the Dual Alliance led Russia to take a more conciliatory stance, and in 1887, the so-called Reinsurance Treaty was signed between Germany and Russia: in it, the two powers agreed on mutual military support in the case that France attacked Germany, or in case of an Austrian attack on Russia. Russia turned its attention eastward to Asia and remained largely inactive in European politics for the next 25 years.