13th July

13^th July

I finished The Great Game today, and was asked to summarise it, so here it is! It covered 200 years of Empire building by the Russians and British, featuring the Central Asian Khanates, Persia, Afghanistan and Western China.

To put it simply, the Russians extended south, to protect their borders from a perceived threat of the British pushing up from India. This involved taking permanent control (until 1991) over what is now Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, as well as sporadic influence in Kashgar and Yarkand. And until the fall of the USSR, they remained the ruler of these former proud and important areas, which feature heavily in the history of the Silk Road, and Genghis Khan.

Meanwhile, the British were doing everything they could to defend India from the Russians, which mainly involved trying to exert a greater influence over Afghanistan. This resulted in two very costly – both in money and lives- Afghan wars, but with the desired outcome of a friendly northern buffer zone.

And that is it, the “game” part of the name of this period of Empirical history is related to the spying, dealing and double-crossing that was done by both sides to ensure success. The “game” only ended in 1907, after the Russians massive and humiliating defeat at the hands of the Japanese, and the realisation that Russia and England needed to join together to counter the rising threat of increased German hostility in Europe.

Now, what non-fiction book should I read next, I have about 40 to choose from on my Kindle, so its not an easy decision.