ABSTRACT
Nicholas, indeed, went out of his way to reassure the British government in the 1840s about his objectives in Asia and at the Straits, and to create a lasting atmosphere of trust between leaders in both countries. The crisis of 1839-40 had proved it was possible for the Russians and the British to cooperate over the Ottoman Empire to the exclusion of the French. Nicholas was striving to understand what other governments saw as their vital interests in the hope that they would in turn appreciate the Russian government’s need to close the Black Sea to potential invaders. On the Russian side, Nicholas I remained unperturbed by evidence that British power in Asia was growing on a scale which could well have been seen as lending support to the theory of a British threat to Russia. There was an underlying agreement between British and Russian leaders about the Ottoman Empire, but it was narrower in scope than Nicholas believed.
