The article outlines the basic periods and events in the interaction between Russian and German ethnii/nations/states from the beginnings to the present, with the recent monograph by the distinguished Russian scholar, Nikolai Pavlov, serving as a useful focal point. Various controversial issues in common Russian-German history, such as the emergence of both proto-nations, Hanseatic and Polish factors in the bilateral relations, the role of German diaspora in Russia, Russian monarchs and German unification under Bismark, Rapallo policy, Soviet-German treaty of 1939, the alternatives of the post-war developement, the crises of the cold war vs. detente, the path toward the German unification, etc. are critically explored. In the authors' view, the historical experience of two nations shows the more complex pattern than Pavlovs' thesis on the “failed alliance” implies.