Defeat in the Crimean war in 1856 had humiliated the Russians and sharpened their desire for revenge.
Tensions between the governments of Russia and Britain grew during the mid-century period.
Since 1815 there had been an ideological cold war between reactionary Russia and liberal Britain.
The Russians helped Austria brutally suppress the liberal Hungarian revolt in 1849 to the dismay of the British.
Russian leaders felt their nation's leniency in the 1820s allowed liberalism to spread in the West.
They deplored the liberal revolutions of the 1830s in France, Belgium, central Europe; worst of all was the anti-Russian revolt that had to be crushed in Poland.
New strategic and economic competition heightened tensions in the late 1850s, as the British moved into Asian markets.
Russia's suppression of tribal revolts in the Caucasian region release troops for campaigns to expand Russian influence in central Asia, which the British interpreted as a long-term threat to the British Empire in India.
There was strong elite and popular hostility to the repeated Russian threats to the Ottoman Empire with the goal of controlling the straits connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

At midcentury British observers and travellers presented a negative view of Russia as a barbaric and backward nation.
The English media depicted the Russians as superstitious, passive, and deserving of their autocratic tsar.
In this view, "barbarism" stood in contrast to "civilised" Britain.
In 1874, tension lessened as Queen Victoria's second son married the only daughter of Tsar Alexander II, followed by a cordial state visit by the tsar.
The goodwill lasted no more than three years, when structural forces again pushed the two nations to the verge of war.
Defeat in the Crimean war in 1856 had humiliated the Russians and sharpened their desire for revenge. Tensions between the governments of Russia and Britain grew during the mid-century period. Since 1815 there had been an ideological cold war between reactionary Russia and liberal Britain. The Russians helped Austria brutally suppress the liberal Hungarian revolt in 1849 to the dismay of the British. Russian leaders felt their nation's leniency in the 1820s allowed liberalism to spread in the West. They deplored the liberal revolutions of the 1830s in France, Belgium, central Europe; worst of all was the anti-Russian revolt that had to be crushed in Poland. New strategic and economic competition heightened tensions in the late 1850s, as the British moved into Asian markets. Russia's suppression of tribal revolts in the Caucasian region release troops for campaigns to expand Russian influence in central Asia, which the British interpreted as a long-term threat to the British Empire in India. There was strong elite and popular hostility to the repeated Russian threats to the Ottoman Empire with the goal of controlling the straits connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
At midcentury British observers and travellers presented a negative view of Russia as a barbaric and backward nation. The English media depicted the Russians as superstitious, passive, and deserving of their autocratic tsar. In this view, "barbarism" stood in contrast to "civilised" Britain. In 1874, tension lessened as Queen Victoria's second son married the only daughter of Tsar Alexander II, followed by a cordial state visit by the tsar. The goodwill lasted no more than three years, when structural forces again pushed the two nations to the verge of war.
Russia–United Kingdom relations