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The Great Game was a political and diplomatic confrontation that
existed for most of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century between
the British Empire and the Russian Empire over Afghanistan and neighboring
territories in Central and South Asia, and having direct consequences in Persia
and British India. Britain feared that Russia planned to invade India and that
this was the goal of Russia's expansion in Central Asia, while Russia feared
the expansion of British interests in Central Asia. As a result, there was a
deep atmosphere of distrust and talk of war between two of the major European
empires. Britain made it a high priority to protect all the approaches to
India, while Russia continued its conquest of Central Asia. Some historians of
Russia have concluded that after 1801, Russia had minimal intentions or plans
involving India and that it was mostly a matter of British suspicions. although
multiple 19th-century invasion plans are attested, including the Duhamel and
Khrulev plans of the Crimean War (1853–1856), among later plans that never
materialized.
The Great Game began on 12 January 1830, when Lord Ellenborough, the president
of the Board of Control for India, tasked Lord William Bentinck, the
governor-general, with establishing a new trade route to the Emirate of
Bukhara. Britain intended to gain control over the Emirate of Afghanistan and
make it a protectorate, and to use the Ottoman Empire, the Persian Empire, the
Khanate of Khiva, and the Emirate of Bukhara as buffer states blocking Russian
expansion. This would protect India and also key British sea trade routes by
stopping Russia from gaining a port on the Persian Gulf or the Indian Ocean.
Russia proposed Afghanistan as the neutral zone. The results included the
failed First Anglo-Afghan War of 1838, the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1845, the
Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848, the Second Anglo-Afghan War of 1878, and the
annexation of Kokand by Russia. Some historians consider the end of the Great
Game to be the 10 September 1895 signing of the Pamir Boundary Commission
protocols, when the border between Afghanistan and the Russian Empire was
defined. Others see it concluding with the signing of the Anglo-Russian
Convention on 31 August 1907. The term Great Game was coined by British
diplomat Arthur Conolly in 1840, but the 1901 novel Kim by Rudyard Kipling made
the term popular and introduced a new implication of great power rivalry. It
became even more popular after the 1979 advent of the Soviet–Afghan War.
The term "the Great Game" was used well before the 19th century and
was associated with games of risk, such as cards and dice. The French
equivalent Le grand jeu dates back to at least 1585 and is associated with
meanings of risk, chance and deception. In the historical sense the term dated
from the mid-19th century. "The Great Game" is attributed to British
Captain Arthur Conolly (1807–42) who had been appointed as a political
officer. In July 1840, in correspondence to Major Henry Rawlinson who had been
recently appointed as the new political agent in Kandahar, Conolly wrote,
"You've a great game, a noble game, before you." Conolly believed
that Rawlinson's new post gave him the opportunity to advance humanitarianism
in Afghanistan, and summed up his hopes: If the British Government would only
play the grand game – help Russia cordially to all that she has a right to
expect – shake hands with Persia – get her all possible amends from
Oosbegs – force the Bukhara Amir to be just to us, the Afghans, and other
Oosbeg states, and his own kingdom – but why go on; you know my, at any
rate in one sense, enlarged views. InshAllah! The expediency, nay the necessity
of them will be seen, and we shall play the noble part that the first Christian
nation of the world ought to fill. It was introduced into the mainstream by the
British novelist Rudyard Kipling in his novel Kim (1901). It was first used
academically by Professor H.W.C. Davis in a presentation titled The Great Game
in Asia (1800–1844) on 10 November 1926. The use of the term "The
Great Game" to describe Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia became
common only after the Second World War.
India invasion fears 1909 map of the British Indian Empire, showing British
India in two shades of pink and the princely states in yellow.
At the start of the 19th century, the Indian subcontinent was ruled in part by
independent princely states and in part by the company rule of the British East
India Company. During the 19th century a political and diplomatic confrontation
developed between Britain and Russia over Afghanistan which later became known
as "The Great Game". Russia was fearful of British commercial and
military inroads into Central Asia, and Britain was fearful of Russia adding
the "jewel in the crown", India, to the vast empire that Russia was
building in Asia. This resulted in an atmosphere of distrust and the constant
threat of war between the two empires. If Russia were to gain control of the
Emirate of Afghanistan, it might then be used as a staging post for a Russian
invasion of India. Napoleon had proposed a joint Franco-Russian invasion of
India to his Imperial Majesty Paul I of Russia. In 1801 Paul, fearing a future
action by the British against Russia and her allies in Europe, decided to make
the first move towards where he believed the British Empire was weakest. He
wrote to the Ataman of the Don Cossacks Troops, Cavalry General Vasily
Petrovich Orlov, directing him to march to Orenburg, conquer the Central Asian
Khanates, and from there invade India. Paul was assassinated in the same year
and the invasion was terminated. Napoleon tried to persuade Paul's son, Tsar
Alexander I of Russia, to invade India; however Alexander resisted. In 1807,
Napoleon dispatched General Claude Matthieu, Count Gardane on a French military
mission to Persia, with the intention of persuading Russia to invade India. In
response, Britain sent its own diplomatic missions in 1808, with military
advisers, to Persia and Afghanistan under the capable Mountstuart Elphinstone,
averting the French and possible Russian threat. However, Britain was left with
concerns about being able to defend India. In 1810, Lieutenant Henry Pottinger
and Captain Charles Christie undertook an expedition from Nushki (Balochistan)
to Isfahan (Central Persia) disguised as Muslims. The expedition was funded by
the East India Company and was to map and research the regions of
"Beloochistan" (Balochistan) and Persia because of concerns about
India being invaded by French forces from that direction. After the disastrous
French invasion of Russia in 1812 and the collapse of the French army, the
threat of a French invasion through Persia was removed.
Britain's view:
Map of the Indus River basin today. Britain's intended strategy was to use its
steam power and the river as a trade route into Central Asia. The Great Game is
said to have begun on 12 January 1830 when Lord Ellenborough, the president of
the Board of Control for India tasked Lord William Bentinck, the
Governor-General of India, to establish a new trade route to Bukhara. Following
the Treaty of Turkmenchay 1828 and the Treaty of Adrianople (1829), Britain
feared that Persia and the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey, etc.) would become
protectorates of Russia. This would change Britain's perception of the world,
and its response was The Great Game. Britain had no intention of getting
involved in the Middle East, but it did envision a series of buffer states
between the British and Russian Empires that included Turkey, Persia, plus the
Khanate of Khiva and the Khanate of Bukhara that would grow from future trade.
Behind these buffer states would be their protected states stretching from the
Persian Gulf to India and up into the Emirate of Afghanistan, with British
sea-power protecting trade sea-lanes. Access to Afghanistan was to be through
developing trade routes along the Indus and Sutlej rivers using steam-powered
boats, and therefore access through the Sind and Punjab regions would be
required. Persia would have to give up its claim on Herat in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan would need to be transformed from a group of warring principalities
into one state ruled by an ally whose foreign relations would be conducted on
his behalf by the Governor-General and the Foreign Office. The Great Game meant
closer ties between Britain and the states along her northwest frontier.
Britain believed that it was the world's first free society and the most
industrially advanced country, and therefore that it had a duty to use its
iron, steam power, and cotton goods to take over Central Asia and develop it.
British goods were to be followed by British values and the respect for private
property. With pay for work and security in place, nomads would settle and
become tribal herdsman surrounding oasis cities. These were to develop into
modern states with agreed borders, as in the European model. Therefore, lines
needed to be agreed and drawn on maps. Morgan says that two proud and expanding
empires approached each other, without any agreed frontier, from opposite
directions over a "backward, uncivilized and undeveloped region."
Russia's view:
Further information: Kazakh Khanate Siberian Cossack of the Russian army, c.
1890s:
In 1557, Bokhara and Khiva sent ambassadors to Ivan IV seeking permission to
trade in Russia. Russia had an interest in establishing a trade route from
Moscow to India. From then until the mid-19th century, Russian ambassadors to
the region spent much of their time trying to free Russians who had been taken
as slaves by the khanates. Russia would later expand across Siberia to the Far
East, where it reached the Pacific port that would become known as Vladivostok
by 1859. This eastward expansion was of no concern to the British Foreign
Office because this area did not lie across any British trade routes or
destinations, and therefore was of no interest to Britain. Beginning in the
1820s, Russian troops would begin to advance southward from Siberia in search
of secure boundaries and reliable neighbors. This advance would not cease until
Russia's frontiers and her sphere of influence were firm in the Central Asia,
and this would include Bokhara and Khiva. Between 1824 and 1854, Russia
occupied the entire Kazakh Khanate (modern-day Kazakhstan). This raised
Russo-Khivan tensions in addition to Khiva's legal discrimination of Russian
merchants who were just beginning to penetrate Central Asia, and the ongoing
issue of Russian slaves. Russia launched an attack in 1839–40 but it
failed to reach Khiva because of the tough terrain and weather. However, the
khan of Khiva feared a further Russian assault and released a number of Russian
slaves. During the 1840s and 1850s, Russia's aims in Central Asia were for
Bukhara and Khiva to refrain from hostile actions against Russia, cease
possession of Russian slaves and the granting of asylum to Kazakhs fleeing from
Russian justice. Khiva must cease her attacks on caravans along the Syr Darya.
Russian merchants must be allowed to trade on the same terms as native
merchants in Bukhara and Khiva. The khanates must guarantee the safety of the
persons and property of Russian merchants, levy no excessive duties, permit
unhampered transit of goods and caravans across Central Asia into neighboring
states and allow Russian commercial agents to reside in Bukhara and Khiva, and
free navigation on the Amu Darya river for Russian ships. None of these aims
was realised. Russia's borders remained insecure and in addition there was
growing British influence in the region. In 1869, when Clarendon proposed the
Amu Darya river as the basis for a neutral zone between British and Russian
spheres of influence, Alexander Gorchakov proposed Afghanistan as the neutral
zone. 1855.Russia feared the influence that a Muslim power with British support
might have on the other khanates in the region. The Russian Empire sought to
expand its access to strategic coastlines such as the Black Sea, Persian Gulf,
and the Pacific. Russian war plans against British India were developed during
the Crimean War, presented to the Tsar in 1854 and 1855. These were the Duhamel
plan and Khrulev plan. According to historian Evgeny Sergeev, the Great Game
represented a great power competition that did not initiate only with Russia's
defeat in the Crimean War in 1856, but was already well underway and was only
intensified thereafter. Expansion into Central Asia was closely connected with
ambitions in India. Historian Alexandre Andreyev argued that the rapid advance
of the Russian Empire in Central Asia, while mainly serving to extend the
southern frontier, was aimed to keep British eyes off of the January Uprising
in Poland. Andreyev states that, as late as 1909, strategists of the Russian
Empire sought to use Afghanistan to "threaten India... to exert influence
on Britain", quoting Andrei Snesarev. According to diplomatic historian
Barbara Jelavich, it was logistically not possible for the Russian Empire to
invade India and was not seriously considered, however the Tsars understood
that making invasion plans threatening the "jewel" of Britain's
empire was a way to extract more favorable outcomes in Europe. Similarly to the
British Empire, the Russian Empire saw themselves as a "civilizing
power" expanding into what they perceived a "semi-barbarous"
region, reflecting the ideology of the time.
Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia:
Under the East India Company Early explorations and accounts Afghan tribesmen
(in British service) in 1841:
In 1782 George Forster, a civil servant of the East India Company, undertook a
journey that began in Calcutta, Bengal and passed through Kashmir, Afghanistan,
Herat, Khorassan, Mazanderan, crossed the Caspian Sea by ship, and then
travelled to Baku, Astrakhan, Moscow, St Petersburg and then by ship to London.
Forster's detailed description of the journey was published in 1798. William
Moorcroft was an explorer, doctor, veterinary surgeon, and Superintendent of
the East India Company's horse stud. He had an interest in expanding trade in
Central Asia, where he thought the Russian traders were already active. In
1820, Moorcroft, George Trebeck and George Guthrie left India for Bukhara to
buy Turkoman horses and reached Bukhara in 1825. However, all three died of
fever on the return journey. His travels were published in 1841. Charles
Masson, formerly of the East India Company, resided in Baluchistan, Afghanistan
and the Punjab between 1826 and 1838 and published his travels. In September
1829, Lieutenant Arthur Conolly of the East India Company travelled from St.
Petersburg, Russia to the Caspian desert, to Kir (northern Iran), was detained
in Astrabad (northern Iran) as a Russian spy, then travelled with a caravan of
pilgrims to Meshed, marched with the Afghan army from there to Herat, then
traveled to Kandahar, to Quetta, then across the Indian desert to the British
frontier in January 1831. He published his travels in 1834. However, after
1830, Britain's commercial and diplomatic interest to the north-west would
eventually become formidable. In 1831, Captain Alexander Burnes and Colonel
Henry Pottinger's surveys of the Indus river would prepare the way for a future
assault on the Sind to clear a path towards Central Asia. Burnes embarked on a
dangerous 12-month journey beginning in 1831 into Afghanistan and through the
Hindu Kush to Bukhara, returning in 1832. Burnes, a Christian travelling
through a Muslim country was one of the first to study Afghanistan for British
Intelligence and upon his return, he published his book, Travels To Bukhara,
which became an overnight success in 1834. Between 1832 and 1834, Britain
attempted to negotiate trade agreements with Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sikh
empire, and the Amirs of Sindh. However, these attempts were unsuccessful.
Afghanistan and Central Asia:
In 1835, Lord Auckland was appointed Governor-General, and replaced Bentinck
who had pursued a non-intervention policy. The India Board instructed Auckland:
to watch more closely than has hitherto been attempted the progress of events
in Afghanistan, and to counteract the progress of Russian influence...The mode
of dealing with this very important question, whether by dispatching a
confidential agent to Dost Mohammed of Kabul merely to watch the progress of
events, or to enter into relations with this Chief, either of a political or
merely in the first instance of a commercial character, we confide in your
discretion as well as the adoption of any other measures that may appear to you
desirable to counteract Russian influence in that quarter, should you be
satisfied...that the time has arrived at which it would be right for you to
interfere decidedly in the affairs of Afghanistan. Such an interference would
doubtless be requisite, either to prevent the extension of Persian dominion in
that quarter or to raise a timely barrier against the impending encroachments
of Russian influence. In that year, Lieutenant John Wood of the Indian Navy
commanded the first steamboat to paddle up the Indus River and surveyed the
river as he went. In 1838, he led an expedition that found one of the River
Oxus' sources in central Asia. He published his travels in 1872.
In 1837, the Russian envoy Captain Jan Vitkevitch visited Kabul, and the
British believed that it was to facilitate some form of diplomatic or military
presence in Afghanistan. While in Kabul, he dined with the British envoy,
Captain Alexander Burnes, who reported negatively on Russia's intentions.
Russia feared British inroads on their commerce in Central Asia, as well as the
influence that a Muslim power with British support might have on the other
khanates. In 1837, Russian troops occupied the island of Ashuradeh in the
Gorgan Bay of the southern Caspian Sea. However, from 1837-1857 the Russian
Empire lent their support to the Shah. In 1838, Colonel Charles Stoddart of the
East India Company arrived in the Khanate of Bukhara to arrange an alliance
with Nasrullah Khan. Nasrullah Khan had Stoddart imprisoned in a
vermin-infested dungeon because he had not bowed nor brought gifts. In 1841,
Captain Arthur Conolly arrived to try to secure Stoddart's release. He was also
imprisoned and on 17 June 1842 both men were beheaded.
On hearing of the execution of the two British officers, Emperor Nicholas I of
Russia would no longer receive Bukhara's gifts or emissaries, and its
ambassador was turned back at Orenburg with a message that the Emperor would no
longer have anything to do with the Emir of Bukhara. After its two
representatives were executed in Bukhara, Britain actively discouraged officers
from traveling in Turkestan. During 1838, there were rumors in London of a
coming Russian move towards Khiva. Additionally, Persia intended to annex Herat
to make up for territory it had lost in the Russo-Persian War (1826–28),
however the allegiance of Herat to Afghanistan was crucial to the British
strategy. The Siege of Herat began in November 1837 when the new Shah of
Persia, Mohammed Mirza, arrived before Herat. His intention was to take Herat
then move on to Kandahar. With him was the Russian Envoy Count Simonich,
seconded Russian officers and a regiment of Russian deserters under the Polish
general Berowski. Eldred Pottinger, an officer of the Bengal Artillery, who had
earlier entered Herat in disguise, stiffened the defences and despite the
presence of Russian advisers the siege lasted eight months. Britain threatened
to take military action and Persia withdrew in September. In October 1838
Auckland issued the Simla Manifesto, a piece of propaganda designed to blacken
the reputation of Dost Mohammad Khan (Emir of Afghanistan) and which claimed
that Dost Mohammad:
First Anglo-Afghan War:
Further information: First Anglo-Afghan War :
British influence was to be extended into Afghanistan and it was to become a
buffer state. The intention to invade was clear, and when a copy of the
Manifesto reached London there was no objection. In December, the British
marched into Afghanistan and arrested Dost Mohammad, sent him into exile in
India and replaced him with the previous ruler, Shah Shuja, who shared their
more progressive vision for the people of the region. Shah Shuja ul-Mulk had
ascended the throne in 1803 and had signed a mutual defence agreement with the
British in 1809 against a possible Franco-Russian invasion of India via
Afghanistan. In the same year he was deposed and imprisoned by his
half-brother. There were a number of Amirs of Afghanistan until Dost Mohammad
Khan gained power in 1836. Shah Shuja was not popular with the Afghans and
tensions grew, leading to the killing of the British envoy, Captain Alexander
Burnes, in 1841. By January 1842, the Afghans were in full revolt. With a
weakening of military discipline, the British decided to withdraw from Kabul.
The Kabul garrison of 4,500 troops and 12,000 camp followers left Kabul for
Jalalabad that was 80 miles and 5 days march away. They were attacked by 30,000
Afghans. Six British officers escaped on horseback but only one, the wounded
Dr. William Brydon riding on a wounded horse, made it to Jalalabad. Over one
hundred of the British and 2,000 sepoys and camp followers were taken hostage
and the rest killed. So perished the "Army of the Indus". In April, a
punitive expedition was dispatched and recaptured Kabul and freed the captives
in September. The new Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough, decided to withdraw
all British garrisons from Afghanistan and Dost Mohammad Khan was freed in
India to return to the throne. Dost Mohammad is reported to have said:
Mission to Khiva Russian Empire acquisitions by year in Central Asia up to
1885:
In 1839, acting Captain James Abbott of the Bengal Artillery undertook a
mission to the Khanate of Khiva in an attempt to negotiate the release of
Russian slaves that would deny the Russians a pretext for invading Khiva. If
war had already broken out, Abbot was instructed to attempt to negotiate a
settlement. The attempted Russian assault on Khiva may have been in response to
Britain's "forward policy" on Afghanistan, however it failed to reach
Khiva due to the severe winter conditions. Of the 5,000 men who had left
Orenburg, only 4,000 returned. Abbott was hampered by a lack of understanding
of Khivan language and culture, and the attempt to release Russian slaves was
unsuccessful. He did agree with the Khivan ruler, Allah Quli Khan, to
establishing a British agent to Khiva and to mediate between Khiva and Russia.
Abbott set off from Khiva in 1840 towards Russia to commence negotiations,
which he did on his own initiative and it was not authorised by his superiors.
His caravan was attacked by Khazakhs and he was wounded in the hand and taken
hostage, however he and his party were released because they feared
retribution. He reached Saint Petersburg but the attempt at mediation failed.
His bravery was recognized through promotion to full Captain. In the same year,
Lieutenant Richmond Shakespear of the Bengal Artillery was successful in
negotiating the release of 416 Russian captives, whom he escorted into Russia.
He was knighted for this undertaking. Anglo-Sikh Wars Further information:
First Anglo-Sikh War and Second Anglo-Sikh War In 1843, Britain annexed the
Sind. The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the East
India Company in 1845–1846, resulting in the partial subjugation of the
Sikh kingdom. The Second Anglo-Sikh War was fought in 1848–1849, resulting
in subjugation of the remainder of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the
Punjab Province and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province.
Anglo-Persian War.. In 1856, Persia commenced an assault on Herat and the
British Home Government declared war on Persia. The Anglo-Persian War was
conducted under Major General Sir James Outram until 1857, when Persia and
Britain both withdrew and Persia signed a treaty renouncing its claim on Herat.
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