Posts
Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Secret Exploration of Tibet, 1982 by Peter Hopkirk -I am definitely earmarking this book to read
Definition
The Great Game (Russian: Большая игра, Bol'sháya igrá) is a term used for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia. The classic Great Game period is generally regarded as running approximately from the Russo-Persian Treaty of 1813 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. A second, less intensive phase followed the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The Great Game dwindled after the United Kingdom and Russia became Allies of World War II.
The term "The Great Game" is usually attributed to Arthur Conolly (1807–1842), an intelligence officer of the British East India Company's Sixth Bengal Light Cavalry.[1] It was introduced into mainstream consciousness by British novelist Rudyard Kipling in his novel Kim (1901).
A RECURRING THEME OF WESTERN ORDERED AND LIMITED CONSCIOUSNESS; THE APOTHEOSIS OF ORDERED CIVILIZATION AS VERSUS A BARBARIC WORLDVIEW OF DISORDERED AND IRRATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS -A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS AS WELL AS BID FOR HEGEMONYThe term "The Great Game" is usually attributed to Arthur Conolly (1807–1842), an intelligence officer of the British East India Company's Sixth Bengal Light Cavalry.[1] It was introduced into mainstream consciousness by British novelist Rudyard Kipling in his novel Kim (1901).
Contents[hide]
1 British-Russian rivalry in Afghanistan
2 Great Game moves eastward
3 Anglo-Russian Alliance
4 Criticism
5 British-Soviet rivalry in Afghanistan
6 The New Great Game
7 In popular culture
8 See also
9 References
9.1 Notes
9.2 Bibliography
British-Russian rivalry in Afghanistan
Main article: European influence in Afghanistan
Disraeli and Queen Victoria, during the latter's visit to Hughenden Manor.
From the British perspective, the Russian Empire's expansion into Central Asia threatened to destroy the "jewel in the crown" of the British Empire, India. As the Tsar's troops began to subdue one khanate after another, the British feared that Afghanistan would become a staging post for a Russian invasion of India.
It was with these thoughts in mind that in 1838 the British launched the First Anglo-Afghan War and attempted to impose a puppet regime under Shuja Shah. The regime was short lived, and unsustainable without British military support. By 1842, mobs were attacking the British on the streets of Kabul and the British garrison was forced to abandon Kabul due to constant civilian attacks.
The retreating British army consisted of approximately 4,500 troops (of which 690 were European) and 12,000 camp followers. During a series of attacks by Afghan warriors, all but one, Dr. William Brydon, were killed on the march back to India.[2]
The British curbed their ambitions in Afghanistan following the humiliating retreat from Kabul. After the Indian rebellion of 1857, successive British governments saw Afghanistan as a buffer state. The Russians, led by Konstantin Kaufman, Mikhail Skobelev, and Mikhail Chernyayev, continued to advance steadily southward toward Afghanistan and by 1865 Tashkent had been formally annexed.
Samarkand became part of the Russian Empire three years later and the independence of Bukhara was virtually stripped away in a peace treaty the same year. Russian control now extended as far as the northern bank of the Amu Darya river.
In a letter to Queen Victoria, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli proposed "to clear Central Asia of Muscovites and drive them into the Caspian".[3] He introduced the Royal Titles Act, which added to Victoria's titles that of Empress of India, putting her at the same level as the Russian Emperor.
Political cartoon depicting the Afghan Emir Sher Ali with his "friends" the Russian Bear and British Lion (1878)
After the Great Eastern Crisis broke out and the Russians sent an uninvited diplomatic mission to Kabul in 1878, Britain demanded that the ruler of Afghanistan (Sher Ali) accept a British diplomatic mission. The mission was turned back and in retaliation a force of 40,000 men was sent across the border, launching the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
The war's conclusion left Abdur Rahman Khan on the throne, and he agreed to let the British maintain Afghanistan's foreign policy while he consolidated his position on the throne. He managed to suppress internal rebellions with ruthless efficiency and brought much of the country under central control.
Russian expansion brought about another crisis — the Panjdeh Incident — when they seized the oasis of Merv in 1884. The Russians claimed all of the former ruler's territory and fought with Afghan troops over the oasis of Panjdeh. On the brink of war between the two great powers, the British decided to accept the Russian possession of territory north of the Amu Darya as a fait accompli.
Without any Afghan say in the matter, between 1885 and 1888 the Joint Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission agreed the Russians would relinquish the farthest territory captured in their advance, but retain Panjdeh. The agreement delineated a permanent northern Afghan frontier at the Amu Darya, with the loss of a large amount of territory, especially around Panjdeh.[4]
This left the border east of Zorkul lake in the Wakhan. Territory in this area was claimed by Russia, Afghanistan and China. In the 1880s the Afghans advanced north of the lake to the Alichur Pamir.[5] In 1891 Russia sent a military force to the Wakhan, and provoked a diplomatic incident when the British Captain Francis Younghusband was ordered out at Bozai Gumbaz in the Little Pamir. This incident, and the report of an incursion by Russian Cossacks south of the Hindu Kush, led the British to suspect Russian involvement "with the Rulers of the petty States on the northern boundary of Jammu and Kashmir".[6] This was the reason for the Hunza-Nagar Campaign in 1891, after which the British established control over Hunza and Nagar. In 1892 the British sent the Earl of Dunmore to the Pamirs to investigate. Britain was concerned that Russia would take advantage of Chinese weakness in policing the area to gain territory, and in 1893 reached agreement with Russia to demarcate the rest of the border, a process completed in 1895.[5]
Main article: European influence in Afghanistan
Disraeli and Queen Victoria, during the latter's visit to Hughenden Manor.
From the British perspective, the Russian Empire's expansion into Central Asia threatened to destroy the "jewel in the crown" of the British Empire, India. As the Tsar's troops began to subdue one khanate after another, the British feared that Afghanistan would become a staging post for a Russian invasion of India.
It was with these thoughts in mind that in 1838 the British launched the First Anglo-Afghan War and attempted to impose a puppet regime under Shuja Shah. The regime was short lived, and unsustainable without British military support. By 1842, mobs were attacking the British on the streets of Kabul and the British garrison was forced to abandon Kabul due to constant civilian attacks.
The retreating British army consisted of approximately 4,500 troops (of which 690 were European) and 12,000 camp followers. During a series of attacks by Afghan warriors, all but one, Dr. William Brydon, were killed on the march back to India.[2]
The British curbed their ambitions in Afghanistan following the humiliating retreat from Kabul. After the Indian rebellion of 1857, successive British governments saw Afghanistan as a buffer state. The Russians, led by Konstantin Kaufman, Mikhail Skobelev, and Mikhail Chernyayev, continued to advance steadily southward toward Afghanistan and by 1865 Tashkent had been formally annexed.
Samarkand became part of the Russian Empire three years later and the independence of Bukhara was virtually stripped away in a peace treaty the same year. Russian control now extended as far as the northern bank of the Amu Darya river.
In a letter to Queen Victoria, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli proposed "to clear Central Asia of Muscovites and drive them into the Caspian".[3] He introduced the Royal Titles Act, which added to Victoria's titles that of Empress of India, putting her at the same level as the Russian Emperor.
Political cartoon depicting the Afghan Emir Sher Ali with his "friends" the Russian Bear and British Lion (1878)
After the Great Eastern Crisis broke out and the Russians sent an uninvited diplomatic mission to Kabul in 1878, Britain demanded that the ruler of Afghanistan (Sher Ali) accept a British diplomatic mission. The mission was turned back and in retaliation a force of 40,000 men was sent across the border, launching the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
The war's conclusion left Abdur Rahman Khan on the throne, and he agreed to let the British maintain Afghanistan's foreign policy while he consolidated his position on the throne. He managed to suppress internal rebellions with ruthless efficiency and brought much of the country under central control.
Russian expansion brought about another crisis — the Panjdeh Incident — when they seized the oasis of Merv in 1884. The Russians claimed all of the former ruler's territory and fought with Afghan troops over the oasis of Panjdeh. On the brink of war between the two great powers, the British decided to accept the Russian possession of territory north of the Amu Darya as a fait accompli.
Without any Afghan say in the matter, between 1885 and 1888 the Joint Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission agreed the Russians would relinquish the farthest territory captured in their advance, but retain Panjdeh. The agreement delineated a permanent northern Afghan frontier at the Amu Darya, with the loss of a large amount of territory, especially around Panjdeh.[4]
This left the border east of Zorkul lake in the Wakhan. Territory in this area was claimed by Russia, Afghanistan and China. In the 1880s the Afghans advanced north of the lake to the Alichur Pamir.[5] In 1891 Russia sent a military force to the Wakhan, and provoked a diplomatic incident when the British Captain Francis Younghusband was ordered out at Bozai Gumbaz in the Little Pamir. This incident, and the report of an incursion by Russian Cossacks south of the Hindu Kush, led the British to suspect Russian involvement "with the Rulers of the petty States on the northern boundary of Jammu and Kashmir".[6] This was the reason for the Hunza-Nagar Campaign in 1891, after which the British established control over Hunza and Nagar. In 1892 the British sent the Earl of Dunmore to the Pamirs to investigate. Britain was concerned that Russia would take advantage of Chinese weakness in policing the area to gain territory, and in 1893 reached agreement with Russia to demarcate the rest of the border, a process completed in 1895.[5]
Great Game moves eastward
By the 1890s, the Central Asian khanates of Khiva, Bukhara and Kokand had fallen, becoming Russian vassals. With Central Asia in the Tsar's grip, the Great Game now shifted eastward to China, Mongolia and Tibet. In 1904, the British invaded Lhasa, a preemptive strike against Russian intrigues and secret meetings between the 13th Dalai Lama's envoy and Tsar Nicholas II. The Dalai Lama fled into exile to China and Mongolia. The British were petrified at the idea of a Russian invasion of their crown colony of India, though Russia – badly defeated by Japan and weakened by internal rebellion – could not realistically afford a showdown against Britain there. China, however, was another matter.[7]
The Middle Kingdom had badly atrophied under the Manchus, the ruling ethnic caste of the Qing Dynasty. Two-and-a-half centuries of decadent living, internecine feuds and imperviousness to a changing world had weakened the Empire. China’s weaponry and military tactics were outdated, even medieval. Modern factories, steel bridges, railways and telegraphs were almost nonexistent in most regions. Natural disasters, famine and internal rebellions had further enfeebled China. In the late 19th century, Japan and the Great Powers easily carved out trade and territorial concessions. These were humiliating submissions for the once all-powerful Manchus. Still, the central lesson of the war with Japan was not lost on the Russian General Staff: an Asian country using Western technology and industrial production methods could defeat a great European power.[7]
In 1906, Tsar Nicholas II sent a secret agent to China to collect intelligence on the reform and modernization of the Qing Dynasty. The task was given to Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, at the time a colonel in the Russian army, who travelled to China with French sinologist Paul Pelliot. Mannerheim disguised as an ethnographic collector, using a Finnish passport.[7][8] For two years, Mannerheim proceeded through Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia to Beijing. At the sacred Buddhist mountain of Wutai Shan he even met the 13th Dalai Lama.[9] However, while Mannerheim was in China in 1907, Russia and Britain brokered the Anglo-Russian Agreement, ending the Great Game.
Anglo-Russian Alliance
Main article: Anglo-Russian Entente
In the run-up to World War I, both empires were alarmed by Germany's increasing activity in the Middle East, notably the German project of the Baghdad Railway, which would open up Mesopotamia and Persia to German trade and technology. The ministers Alexander Izvolsky and Edward Grey agreed to resolve their long-standing conflicts in Asia in order to make an effective stand against the German advance into the region. The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 brought a close to the classic period of the Great Game.
The Russians accepted that the politics of Afghanistan were solely under British control as long as the British guaranteed not to change the regime. Russia agreed to conduct all political relations with Afghanistan through the British. The British agreed that they would maintain the current borders and actively discourage any attempt by Afghanistan to encroach on Russian territory. Persia was divided into three zones: a British zone in the south, a Russian zone in the north, and a narrow neutral zone serving as buffer in between.
In regards to Tibet, both powers agreed to maintain territorial integrity of this buffer state and "to deal with Lhasa only through China, the suzerain power".[10]
Gerald Morgan’s Myth and Reality in the Great Game approached the subject by examining various departments of the Raj to determine if there ever existed a British intelligence network in Central Asia. Morgan wrote that evidence of such a network did not exist. At best, efforts to obtain information on Russian moves in Central Asia were rare, ad hoc adventures. At worst, intrigues resembling the adventures in Kim were baseless rumours and Morgan writes such rumours “were always common currency in Central Asia and they applied as much to Russia as to Britain.”[11]
The borders of the Russian imperial territories of Kiva, Bukhara and Kokand in the time period of 1902-1903
In his lecture “The Legend of the Great Game”, Malcolm Yapp said that Britons had used the term “The Great Game” in the late 19th century to describe several different things in relation to its interests in Asia. Yapp believes that the primary concern of British authorities in India was control of the indigenous population, not preventing a Russian invasion.[12]
According to Yapp, “reading the history of the British Empire in India and the Middle East one is struck by both the prominence and the unreality of strategic debates.”[12]
British-Soviet rivalry in Afghanistan
Caption from a 1911 English satirical magazine reads: "If we hadn't a thorough understanding, I (British lion) might almost be tempted to ask what you (Russian bear) are doing there with our little playfellow (Persian cat)."
The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 nullified existing treaties and a second phase of the Great Game began. The Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919 was precipitated by the assassination of the then ruler Habibullah Khan. His son and successor Amanullah declared full independence and attacked British India's northern frontier. Although little was gained militarily, the stalemate was resolved with the Rawalpindi Agreement of 1919. Afghanistan re-established its self-determination in foreign affairs.
In May 1921, Afghanistan and the Russian Soviet Republic signed a Treaty of Friendship. The Soviets provided Amanullah with aid in the form of cash, technology, and military equipment. British influence in Afghanistan waned, but relations between Afghanistan and the Russians remained equivocal, with many Afghans desiring to regain control of Merv and Panjdeh. The Soviets, for their part, desired to extract more from the friendship treaty than Amanullah was willing to give.
The United Kingdom imposed minor sanctions and diplomatic slights as a response to the treaty, fearing that Amanullah was slipping out of their sphere of influence and realising that the policy of the Afghanistan government was to have control of all of the Pashtun speaking groups on both sides of the Durand Line. In 1923, Amanullah responded by taking the title padshah – "king" – and by offering refuge for Muslims who fled the Soviet Union, and Indian nationalists in exile from the Raj.
Amanullah's program of reform was, however, insufficient to strengthen the army quickly enough; in 1928 he abdicated under pressure. The individual who most benefited from the crisis was Mohammed Nadir Shah, who reigned from 1929 to 1933. Both the Soviets and the British played the circumstances to their advantage: the Soviets getting aid in dealing with Uzbek rebellion in 1930 and 1931, while the British aided Afghanistan in creating a 40,000 man professional army.
With the advent of World War II came the temporary alignment of British and Soviet interests: in 1940, both governments pressured Afghanistan for the expulsion of a large German non-diplomatic contingent, which both governments believed to be engaging in espionage. Afghanistan complied in 1941. With this period of cooperation between the USSR and the UK, the Great Game between the two powers came to an end.
See also
Anglo-Russian relations
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
Geostrategy in Central Asia
Iran-Britain relations
Russian explorers
The Great Game (book)
Imperialism in Asia
References
Notes
^ Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia, Kodansha International, 1992, ISBN 4-7700-1703-0, p. 1
^ http://www.britishbattles.com/first-afghan-war/kabul-gandamak.htm
^ Quoted from Disraeli's letter to the Queen in: Mahajan, Sneh. British Foreign Policy, 1874-1914. Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0415260108. Page 53.
^ International Boundary Study of the Afghanistan-USSR Boundary (1983) by the US Bureau of Intelligence and Research
^ a b Robert Middleton (2005) The Earl of Dunmore 1892-93
^ Forty-one years in India - From Subaltern To Commander-In-Chief, Lord Roberts of Kandahar - The Hunza-Naga Campaign
^ a b c Tamm, Eric Enno. "The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China," (2010) p. 3, http://horsethatleaps.com/
^ Even though Finland was, at the time, a Grand Duchy
^ Tamm, Eric Enno. "The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China," (2010) p. 353, http://horsethatleaps.com/
^ Quoted from: Hopkirk, Peter. The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. ISBN 1568360223. Page 520.
^ * Morgan, Gerald, “Myth and Reality in the Great Game”, Asian Affairs, vol. 60, (February 1973) 64.
^ a b Yapp, Malcolm, “The Legend of the Great Game”, Proceedings of the British Academy, no. 111, 2001, 179–198
^ Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya (December 3 2007). "The "Great Game": Eurasia and the History of War". Global Research. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7064.
^ Melik Kaylan (August 13 2008). "Welcome Back To the Great Game". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121858681748935101.html.
^ Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya (April 21, 2009). "The "New Great Game" in Eurasia is being fought in its "Buffer Zones"". Global Research. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13140.
^ "CANDID DISCUSSION WITH PRINCE ANDREW ON THE KYRGYZ ECONOMY AND THE "GREAT GAME"". Wikileaks. 2008-10-29. http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/10/08BISHKEK1095.html.
^ DocsOnline Docsonline.tv
Bibliography
Johnson, Robert, Spying for Empire: The Great Game in Central and South Asia, 1757-1947, (London: Greenhill, 2006) ISBN 1-85367-670-5 [1]
Meyer, Karl and Brysac, Shareen,'Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Asia', Counterpoint, 1999 reprinted with new introduction on the Middle East by Basic Books, 2006 ISBN 0-349-11366-1
Naik, J.A., Soviet Policy Towards India, from Stalin to Brezhnev, (Delhi: Vikas Publications, 1970) 3–4.
Tamm, Eric Enno. "The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China". Vancouver, Douglas & Mcintyre, 2010. ISBN 978-1553652694. http://horsethatleaps.com/
Vogelsang, Willem. The Afghans, pp. 245–272. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, 2002. ISBN 0-631-19841-5
von Tunzelmann, Alex, Indian Summer. Henry Holt and Company, LLC, New York, 2007. ISBN 078-0-8050-8073-5, ISBN 0-8050-8073-2
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16528/16528-h/16528-h.htm#534
LORD ROBERTS PICTURED ABOVE
Title: Forty-one years in India From Subaltern To Commander-In-ChiefAuthor: Frederick Sleigh RobertsRelease Date: August 14, 2005 [EBook #16528]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FORTY-ONE YEARS IN INDIA ***Produced by Michael Ciesielski, Lesley Halamek and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
_____________________________________________________________
The few who have carefully and steadily watched the course of events, entertained no doubt from the first as to the soundness of these views; and their aim has always been, as mine is now, not to sound an alarm, but to give a warning, and to show the danger of shutting our eyes to plain facts and their probable conseq
Main article: Anglo-Russian Entente
In the run-up to World War I, both empires were alarmed by Germany's increasing activity in the Middle East, notably the German project of the Baghdad Railway, which would open up Mesopotamia and Persia to German trade and technology. The ministers Alexander Izvolsky and Edward Grey agreed to resolve their long-standing conflicts in Asia in order to make an effective stand against the German advance into the region. The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 brought a close to the classic period of the Great Game.
The Russians accepted that the politics of Afghanistan were solely under British control as long as the British guaranteed not to change the regime. Russia agreed to conduct all political relations with Afghanistan through the British. The British agreed that they would maintain the current borders and actively discourage any attempt by Afghanistan to encroach on Russian territory. Persia was divided into three zones: a British zone in the south, a Russian zone in the north, and a narrow neutral zone serving as buffer in between.
In regards to Tibet, both powers agreed to maintain territorial integrity of this buffer state and "to deal with Lhasa only through China, the suzerain power".[10]
Criticism
Gerald Morgan’s Myth and Reality in the Great Game approached the subject by examining various departments of the Raj to determine if there ever existed a British intelligence network in Central Asia. Morgan wrote that evidence of such a network did not exist. At best, efforts to obtain information on Russian moves in Central Asia were rare, ad hoc adventures. At worst, intrigues resembling the adventures in Kim were baseless rumours and Morgan writes such rumours “were always common currency in Central Asia and they applied as much to Russia as to Britain.”[11]
The borders of the Russian imperial territories of Kiva, Bukhara and Kokand in the time period of 1902-1903
In his lecture “The Legend of the Great Game”, Malcolm Yapp said that Britons had used the term “The Great Game” in the late 19th century to describe several different things in relation to its interests in Asia. Yapp believes that the primary concern of British authorities in India was control of the indigenous population, not preventing a Russian invasion.[12]
According to Yapp, “reading the history of the British Empire in India and the Middle East one is struck by both the prominence and the unreality of strategic debates.”[12]
British-Soviet rivalry in Afghanistan
Caption from a 1911 English satirical magazine reads: "If we hadn't a thorough understanding, I (British lion) might almost be tempted to ask what you (Russian bear) are doing there with our little playfellow (Persian cat)."
The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 nullified existing treaties and a second phase of the Great Game began. The Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919 was precipitated by the assassination of the then ruler Habibullah Khan. His son and successor Amanullah declared full independence and attacked British India's northern frontier. Although little was gained militarily, the stalemate was resolved with the Rawalpindi Agreement of 1919. Afghanistan re-established its self-determination in foreign affairs.
In May 1921, Afghanistan and the Russian Soviet Republic signed a Treaty of Friendship. The Soviets provided Amanullah with aid in the form of cash, technology, and military equipment. British influence in Afghanistan waned, but relations between Afghanistan and the Russians remained equivocal, with many Afghans desiring to regain control of Merv and Panjdeh. The Soviets, for their part, desired to extract more from the friendship treaty than Amanullah was willing to give.
The United Kingdom imposed minor sanctions and diplomatic slights as a response to the treaty, fearing that Amanullah was slipping out of their sphere of influence and realising that the policy of the Afghanistan government was to have control of all of the Pashtun speaking groups on both sides of the Durand Line. In 1923, Amanullah responded by taking the title padshah – "king" – and by offering refuge for Muslims who fled the Soviet Union, and Indian nationalists in exile from the Raj.
Amanullah's program of reform was, however, insufficient to strengthen the army quickly enough; in 1928 he abdicated under pressure. The individual who most benefited from the crisis was Mohammed Nadir Shah, who reigned from 1929 to 1933. Both the Soviets and the British played the circumstances to their advantage: the Soviets getting aid in dealing with Uzbek rebellion in 1930 and 1931, while the British aided Afghanistan in creating a 40,000 man professional army.
With the advent of World War II came the temporary alignment of British and Soviet interests: in 1940, both governments pressured Afghanistan for the expulsion of a large German non-diplomatic contingent, which both governments believed to be engaging in espionage. Afghanistan complied in 1941. With this period of cooperation between the USSR and the UK, the Great Game between the two powers came to an end.
The New Great Game
Main article: The New Great Game
Recently there has been some use of the expression "the Great Game" to describe conflict between the United States, the United Kingdom and other NATO countries on the one hand; and Russia, the People's Republic of China and other Shanghai Cooperation Organisation countries on the other, over Central Asian natural resources.[13][14][15][16]
In popular culture
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
The Lotus and the Wind by John Masters
Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser
Flashman at the Charge by George MacDonald Fraser
Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser (1999) ISBN 0-00-651299-2
The Game by Laurie R. King (2004), a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, one of the Mary Russell series. ISBN 0-553-80194-5
The song "Pink India" from musician Stephen Malkmus' self-titled album.
The documentary The Devil's Wind by Iqbal Malhotra.[17]
Afuganisu-tan a Webcomic by Japanese mangaka, Timaking
Main article: The New Great Game
Recently there has been some use of the expression "the Great Game" to describe conflict between the United States, the United Kingdom and other NATO countries on the one hand; and Russia, the People's Republic of China and other Shanghai Cooperation Organisation countries on the other, over Central Asian natural resources.[13][14][15][16]
In popular culture
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
The Lotus and the Wind by John Masters
Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser
Flashman at the Charge by George MacDonald Fraser
Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser (1999) ISBN 0-00-651299-2
The Game by Laurie R. King (2004), a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, one of the Mary Russell series. ISBN 0-553-80194-5
The song "Pink India" from musician Stephen Malkmus' self-titled album.
The documentary The Devil's Wind by Iqbal Malhotra.[17]
Afuganisu-tan a Webcomic by Japanese mangaka, Timaking
See also
Anglo-Russian relations
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
Geostrategy in Central Asia
Iran-Britain relations
Russian explorers
The Great Game (book)
Imperialism in Asia
References
Notes
^ Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia, Kodansha International, 1992, ISBN 4-7700-1703-0, p. 1
^ http://www.britishbattles.com/first-afghan-war/kabul-gandamak.htm
^ Quoted from Disraeli's letter to the Queen in: Mahajan, Sneh. British Foreign Policy, 1874-1914. Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0415260108. Page 53.
^ International Boundary Study of the Afghanistan-USSR Boundary (1983) by the US Bureau of Intelligence and Research
^ a b Robert Middleton (2005) The Earl of Dunmore 1892-93
^ Forty-one years in India - From Subaltern To Commander-In-Chief, Lord Roberts of Kandahar - The Hunza-Naga Campaign
^ a b c Tamm, Eric Enno. "The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China," (2010) p. 3, http://horsethatleaps.com/
^ Even though Finland was, at the time, a Grand Duchy
^ Tamm, Eric Enno. "The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China," (2010) p. 353, http://horsethatleaps.com/
^ Quoted from: Hopkirk, Peter. The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. ISBN 1568360223. Page 520.
^ * Morgan, Gerald, “Myth and Reality in the Great Game”, Asian Affairs, vol. 60, (February 1973) 64.
^ a b Yapp, Malcolm, “The Legend of the Great Game”, Proceedings of the British Academy, no. 111, 2001, 179–198
^ Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya (December 3 2007). "The "Great Game": Eurasia and the History of War". Global Research. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7064.
^ Melik Kaylan (August 13 2008). "Welcome Back To the Great Game". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121858681748935101.html.
^ Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya (April 21, 2009). "The "New Great Game" in Eurasia is being fought in its "Buffer Zones"". Global Research. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13140.
^ "CANDID DISCUSSION WITH PRINCE ANDREW ON THE KYRGYZ ECONOMY AND THE "GREAT GAME"". Wikileaks. 2008-10-29. http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/10/08BISHKEK1095.html.
^ DocsOnline Docsonline.tv
Bibliography
Johnson, Robert, Spying for Empire: The Great Game in Central and South Asia, 1757-1947, (London: Greenhill, 2006) ISBN 1-85367-670-5 [1]
Meyer, Karl and Brysac, Shareen,'Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Asia', Counterpoint, 1999 reprinted with new introduction on the Middle East by Basic Books, 2006 ISBN 0-349-11366-1
Naik, J.A., Soviet Policy Towards India, from Stalin to Brezhnev, (Delhi: Vikas Publications, 1970) 3–4.
Tamm, Eric Enno. "The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds: A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road and the Rise of Modern China". Vancouver, Douglas & Mcintyre, 2010. ISBN 978-1553652694. http://horsethatleaps.com/
Vogelsang, Willem. The Afghans, pp. 245–272. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, 2002. ISBN 0-631-19841-5
von Tunzelmann, Alex, Indian Summer. Henry Holt and Company, LLC, New York, 2007. ISBN 078-0-8050-8073-5, ISBN 0-8050-8073-2
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16528/16528-h/16528-h.htm#534
LORD ROBERTS PICTURED ABOVE
Title: Forty-one years in India From Subaltern To Commander-In-ChiefAuthor: Frederick Sleigh RobertsRelease Date: August 14, 2005 [EBook #16528]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FORTY-ONE YEARS IN INDIA ***Produced by Michael Ciesielski, Lesley Halamek and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
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The Natives of India are particularly observant of character, and intelligent in gauging the capabilities of those who govern them; and it is because the English Government is trusted that a mere handful of Englishmen are able to direct the administration of a country with nearly three hundred millions of inhabitants, differing in race, religion, and manners of life. Throughout all the changes which India has [page viii] undergone, political and social, during the present century, this feeling has been maintained, and it will last so long as the services are filled by honourable men who sympathize with the Natives, respect their prejudices, and do not interfere unnecessarily with their habits and customs.
My father and I spent between us nearly ninety years in India. The most wonderful of the many changes that took place during that time may be said to date from the Mutiny. I have endeavoured in the following pages to explain the causes which, I believe, brought about that terrible event—an event which for a while produced a much-to-be-regretted feeling of racial antagonism. Happily, this feeling did not last long; even when things looked blackest for us, it was softened by acts of kindness shown to Europeans in distress, and by the knowledge that, but for the assistance afforded by the Natives themselves, the restoration of order, and the suppression of a fierce military insurrection, would have been a far more arduous task. Delhi could not have been taken without Sikhs and Gurkhas; Lucknow could not have been defended without the Hindustani soldiers who so nobly responded to Sir Henry Lawrence's call; and nothing that Sir John Lawrence might have done could have prevented our losing, for a time, the whole of the country north of Calcutta, had not the men of the Punjab and the Derajat* remained true to our cause.
My father and I spent between us nearly ninety years in India. The most wonderful of the many changes that took place during that time may be said to date from the Mutiny. I have endeavoured in the following pages to explain the causes which, I believe, brought about that terrible event—an event which for a while produced a much-to-be-regretted feeling of racial antagonism. Happily, this feeling did not last long; even when things looked blackest for us, it was softened by acts of kindness shown to Europeans in distress, and by the knowledge that, but for the assistance afforded by the Natives themselves, the restoration of order, and the suppression of a fierce military insurrection, would have been a far more arduous task. Delhi could not have been taken without Sikhs and Gurkhas; Lucknow could not have been defended without the Hindustani soldiers who so nobly responded to Sir Henry Lawrence's call; and nothing that Sir John Lawrence might have done could have prevented our losing, for a time, the whole of the country north of Calcutta, had not the men of the Punjab and the Derajat* remained true to our cause.
Before returning to Simla for really the last time, my wife and I made another trip to Burma as far as Mandalay, and after this was over we paid a most interesting visit to Nepal, having received the very unusual honour of an invitation to Khatmandu from Maharaja Bir Shumsher Jung Rana Bahadur.
Khatmandu is about a hundred miles from our frontier station of Segowli, by a very rough road over a succession of steep, high hills and along deep, narrow valleys, which would have been quite impossible for a lady to travel by but for the excellent arrangements made by the Nepalese officials; the last descent was the worst of all; we literally dropped from one rock to the next in some places. But on reaching the base of the mountain all was changed. A beautifully cultivated valley spread itself out before us; comfortable tents were prepared for our reception, where we were met by some of the State officials; and a perfectly appointed carriage-and-four was waiting to carry us on to Khatmandu, where we were received by the Resident, Lieutenant-Colonel Wylie, and his wife, old friends of ours. That afternoon the Maharaja paid me a private visit.
The next morning the official call was made, which I returned soon afterwards; and in the evening the Maharaja, accompanied by his eldest son and eight of his brothers, all high officers of state, were present at Mrs. Wylie's reception, wearing military frock-coats and forage-caps. They all spoke English fluently; their manners were those of well-bred gentlemen, easy and quiet, as free from awkwardness as from forwardness; each, coming up in turn, talked very pleasantly to Lady Roberts for a time, and then made way for someone else. The Maharaja is extremely musical, and has several well-trained bands, taught by an English bandmaster; three of them were in attendance, and were directed to play selections from our favourite operas, and then a number of the beautiful plaintive Nepalese airs. Altogether, we passed a most agreeable evening.
In the account I have given of our relations with Afghanistan and the border tribes, I have endeavoured to bring before my readers the change of our position in India that has been the inevitable consequence of the propinquity upon our North-West Frontier of a first-class European Power. The change has come about so gradually, and has been so repeatedly pronounced to be chimerical by authorities in whom the people of Great Britain had every reason to feel confidence, that until recently it had attracted little public attention, and even now a great majority of my countrymen may scarcely have realized the probability of England and Russia ever being near enough to each other in Asia to come into actual conflict. I impute no blame to the Russians for their advance towards India. The force of circumstances—the inevitable result of the contact of civilization with barbarism—impelled them to cross the Jaxartes and extend their territories to the Khanates of Turkestan and the banks of the Oxus, just as the same uncontrollable force carried us across the Sutlej and extended our territories to the valley of the Indus. The object I have at heart is to make my fellow-subjects recognize that, under these altered conditions, Great Britain now occupies in Asia the position of a Continental Power, and that her[page x] interests in that part of the globe must be protected by Continental means of defence.Khatmandu is about a hundred miles from our frontier station of Segowli, by a very rough road over a succession of steep, high hills and along deep, narrow valleys, which would have been quite impossible for a lady to travel by but for the excellent arrangements made by the Nepalese officials; the last descent was the worst of all; we literally dropped from one rock to the next in some places. But on reaching the base of the mountain all was changed. A beautifully cultivated valley spread itself out before us; comfortable tents were prepared for our reception, where we were met by some of the State officials; and a perfectly appointed carriage-and-four was waiting to carry us on to Khatmandu, where we were received by the Resident, Lieutenant-Colonel Wylie, and his wife, old friends of ours. That afternoon the Maharaja paid me a private visit.
The next morning the official call was made, which I returned soon afterwards; and in the evening the Maharaja, accompanied by his eldest son and eight of his brothers, all high officers of state, were present at Mrs. Wylie's reception, wearing military frock-coats and forage-caps. They all spoke English fluently; their manners were those of well-bred gentlemen, easy and quiet, as free from awkwardness as from forwardness; each, coming up in turn, talked very pleasantly to Lady Roberts for a time, and then made way for someone else. The Maharaja is extremely musical, and has several well-trained bands, taught by an English bandmaster; three of them were in attendance, and were directed to play selections from our favourite operas, and then a number of the beautiful plaintive Nepalese airs. Altogether, we passed a most agreeable evening.
The few who have carefully and steadily watched the course of events, entertained no doubt from the first as to the soundness of these views; and their aim has always been, as mine is now, not to sound an alarm, but to give a warning, and to show the danger of shutting our eyes to plain facts and their probable conseq
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