India as a major factor in "The Great Game"

[third eye]

A history on the history of rivalry between the Russian and British empires for dominance in Asia in the nineteenth - early twentieth century, which has been called "The Great Game."

In the second half of the XIX century, India occupied the center stage in the geopolitics of two great empires - the Russian and the British. It was around India that a kaleidoscope of events unfolded, from large-scale wars in Central Asia to the secret exploratory raids of the Russian and British intelligence services. And these things went on for half a century in the vast expanses of Asia from Persia to Tibet. In London, this was called the "Great Game." In St. Petersburg, the "Tournament of Shadows".

For the British, India was the most important part of their empire. Indeed, it was precisely because of India that Britain became an empire. Beginning in 1876 Queen Victoria officially assumed the title “Her Majesty Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India”.

The value of India as a colony of Britain was determined, above all, by the wealth of its natural resources, turning the Asian country into a source of financial flows needed for the industrialization of the cities and the welfare of the subjects of the British Crown. In addition, India was an unlimited market for British goods, especially textiles. Not to mention the fact that it was a strategic base for further advancement into Asia.

In his work "India as a major factor in the Central Asia issue", Andrei Snesarev, the brilliant Russian spy and scientist, whom contemporaries call the greatest geopolitician at the turn of XX century, describes the facts of historical analysis. After the conquest of India, which began victory at Plassey in 1757, when Colonel Robert Clive defeated troops of the Nawab of Bengal, "wealth flowed from India to England."

"Up to this moment” - notes Snesarev – “England was a poor country, without working capital, with a primitive industry, with small towns, buried in the mud and dimly lit by oil lamps. England was not only inferior to many European countries, such as France, the Netherlands in wealth and industry, it was certainly inferior to India itself .... The industrial revolution that took place in England in the middle of the XVIII century, thanks to the influx of goods from India, clearly demonstrates the extent to which England owes its revival in the distant past to India. The well-being of England after the 1760s also, albeit more covertly, was fed and is being fed mostly by the same India "

The British themselves were well aware of the value of their colony in India, giving it the exalted epithet "Jewel in the Crown". It is not surprising that any threat to India, hypothetical or real, by outside powers would inevitably become a nightmare for the British establishment. And the protection of the Indian subcontinent from the potential aggressor acquired the character of an obsession in the minds of the elite of British empire.

Therefore, the advances of Russia in Central Asia were a cause of great concern for the British.

"The UK is watching with great jealousy and apprehension, not only the advance of Russia from Black Sea to Turkey and the Mediterranean,” - wrote in 1869 the American newspaper The New York Times, - “but also similar actions by Russia along the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea deep into Turkestan towards Bukhara, considering the regions in terms of the threat of approaches to the north-western borders of its Indian Empire. That is why the Hindu Kush line, the great natural boundary on this border, is being so carefully guarded "

India, being the most important part of the British Empire, was at the same time the most vulnerable, says Tatiana Zagorodnikova, a leading researcher at the Centre of Indian Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences:

“Russia was full of all sorts of contradictions with the British everywhere, in Turkey and in the Far East. But for some reason, these contradictions were not called the Great Game. This term was limited to events in Central Asia. After all, it is through the deserts and steppes, through the mountain passes that you could reach out to the British domain in South Asia. In addition, this bogey of "Russian threat" to India was very beneficial to certain circles in London and Calcutta. This allowed them to receive huge sums for defence, for arms, for troops. "

Documents stored in the Russian archives, show that up to the middle of the XIX century the Russian imperial strategists virtually ignored the Indian line right until the Crimean War. All criticism of Britain in the elite circles of the Russian nobility was limited to Russia’s resentment over London’s support for the Turkish sultan or intrigue in Tehran at the expense of Russia.

But the campaign of 1853-56, when a coalition of Britain, France and Turkey invaded Russia, changed the situation dramatically. In the early 1880s, Russian Foreign Minister Nikolay Gears admitted in an interview with the Russian ambassador in London Arthur Mohrenheim: "The Crimean War marked a decisive change in our relations with England." Russia was forced to seek a foreign policy weapon against London.

In 1863 Count Nikolai Ignatiev, Director of the Asiatic Department of Russia’s Foreign Ministry and one of the grand masters of the "Great Game", wrote:

"In case of a break in relations with England, Russia will find itself in a painful situation because the main thing that we are doomed to is passive defence, we must immediately put our troops on a war footing, and arm all the fortified coastal settlements, spend millions even before the war, and our maritime trade can be destroyed immediately without considerable effort. The British have a full opportunity to threaten us all along our shores, harass us with impunity and finally choose any weak point for a decisive attack "

Already in 1854, the Russian military strategists began to develop plans to attack the British position in India through Central Asia. The great Indian mutiny of 1857 helped to adjust the strategy of the offensive. Now the Russian General Staff began to consider a possible invasion of India not just as a diversion to distract the British forces and means from the European theater, but as a catalyst for domestic social explosion aimed at the liberation of India from the colonizers and the destruction of the British Empire.

1857 is considered the official date of the beginning of the "Great Game." Russia began a systematic advance to the south, including in the Central Asian states of the empire. And England began to build defences on the outer reaches of India, drawing into its orbit of influence, by power or by cunning, the rulers of Afghanistan, the Pamir and the Himalayan kingdoms. And infesting the Central Asian khanates with agents whose mission included, among other things, inciting the khans, emirs and lords to war with Russia.

 

[Spring Onion]

Third Eye good read sir.

are there more parts to be posted or its the final one

 

[third eye]

There are more but on diff subjects .

Did not realise people would appreciate this, shall locate & share.

 

[third eye]

Here you go..@spring onion

“Grandmaster of the Great Game”

They say that if a person presumed dead survives and turns up alive, then he will live long. Count Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev, the report of whose death at the end of 1858 was sent to the imperial capital of St. Petersburg, lived for another 50 years. This man was a talented diplomat and an intelligence officer, and later became a great statesman of Russia. His life can be the subject of many ripping detective stories and adventure novels. Today Count Nikolai Ignatiev is called the "Grandmaster of the Great Game".

The talents of Nikolai Ignatiev were revealed quite early. He was awarded the large silver medal for successfully completing his higher military education at the Academy of the General Staff. He was declared as one of the top graduates and his name is engraved on the marble plaque of the Academy.

Already at the age of 24, Ignatiev was sent to London as a military agent (attache). Emperor Alexander II personally assigned the young military diplomat his task: "to study all the latest achievements of artillery and engineering work in England and to determine the possibility of their applicability in Russia, and also to clarify the military and political intentions of our enemies in Europe and Asia".

Russia and England were passing through a "cold" war in the second half of the XIX century. The British, seeking to prevent the strengthening of Russia, were extending their full support to the Ottoman Empire in its anti-Russian policy, supporting operations of separatists within the Russian Empire, financing and arming fighters in the Caucasian mountains and Central Asian khans who raided the Russian land. In response to the British expansion, Russian stepped up its advance in Central Asia and the Far East.

Immediately after arrival in London, captain Ignatiev began methodically gathering information about the armed forces of the United Kingdom. He created an extensive team of residency workers in Vienna, Belgrade, Athens, Constantinople and Jerusalem, collecting information about the actions of the British in the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia and China. Ignatiev managed to do the seemingly impossible: to get to a top-secret modern English cartridge for the Russian military. It was a major blow for England. Although British authorities were not able to charge Ignatiev with any offence, this operation made it impossible for him to continue his stay in London.

In 1858, Nikolai Ignatiev led a diplomatic and scientific expedition to Khiva and Bukhara. Before him was a very difficult task: to conclude with two khanates trade agreements and free thousands of Russian slaves captured by slave traders during the numerous attacks on Russian territory. He had to do it in spite of the intrigues of British agents.

With an escort of 50 people, Ignatiev departed in May 1858 from Orenburg and arrived in Khiva in July. After long and difficult negotiations, Ignatiev signed a trade agreement with the Khan of Khiva. After this, he went to Bukhara. His squad was attacked several times by nomads. Word of this reached Orenburg. And, since there was no information from Ignatiev himself, he was presumed dead. The corresponding report was sent to the capital.

Count Ignatiev, meanwhile, luckily escaped death and arrived in Bukhara, where in the course of negotiations with the Emir he displayed his brilliant diplomatic skills. The result of discussions was the decision by the Emir to expel from the country a number of British intelligence agents, about whom Ignatiev knew from his work in London. A trade agreement was concluded with Bukhara. The Emir of Bukhara ordered the release of several thousand Russian captives, and Russian ships were allowed free navigation on the largest river in Central Asia - the Amu Darya (Oxus).

In December 1858 Ignatiev surprised everyone when, accompanied by the envoys of Bukhara, he suddenly appeared in Orenburg where he had been presumed dead. Early next year, Ignatiev, who was then only 27 years old, was promoted to the rank of general. Mikhail Ryzhenkov, director of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, narrates about another, purely intelligence-oriented, mission of Ignatiev to Bukhara:



"During the ambassadorship of Ignatiev, the awe of the Bukhara Khan’s power was still too high. But the scouts found that the military power of the khanates, including Bukhara, was ephemeral. And in the 1860s, it was confirmed in the course of military conflicts that the strengths of military forces are entirely unequal. And the Russians were not frightened by the large number of Bukhara troops. General Chernyaev with quite small forces easily captured the cities of Shymkent and Tashkent in the end."



Even more significant successes in the "Great Game" with Britain were achieved by Count Ignatiev when he became the head of the Asian Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry.



From the memoirs of Russian Defence Minister Dmitry Milutin:



"The appointment in 1861 of adjutant-general Ignatiev as Director of the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs greatly facilitated the work. He was a young enterprising man, adventurous, ambitious, familiar with Asia and was already famous for his successful missions to Khiva and China. As an officer of the General Staff, he was with me on the best of terms, almost friendly, although he was younger than me. Thanks to these personal relationships, we entered into private agreements on Asian affairs."



The main instrument of the anti-Russian policy in London at the time was the Ottoman Empire, an ally of Great Britain. The British planned to establish a Union of Central Asian Islamic countries headed by Turkey to counter the Russian advance into Asia. The British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli urged parliamentarians to grant a special status to Turkey, pointing out that the "key" to India was the Turkish Constantinople, and not Egypt and Suez.

In August 1864, Count Nikolai Ignatiev was sent to Turkey as a Russian envoy. To be in Constantinople even as a diplomat was considered a dangerous thing at that time. After all, the Sultan of Turkey did not recognize the status of "immunity" for all "infidels", i.e., those belonging to other religions. Surprisingly, in a country where the elite focused its attention on England, the Russian envoy Ignatiev managed to achieve a lot. He managed to beat the British agents in winning influence at the court of the Sultan. And above all, in achieving a favourable decision on the Balkan issue, which was important for Russia.

Russia had always considered it their moral duty to secure the release of fellow Orthodox Slavic peoples of the Balkans from the Turkish yoke. This was opposed not only by Turkey, which occupied the Balkans, but also Britain, fearing strengthening of Russia's positions in the south of Europe.

The activities of Ignatiev irritated Britain. When, in 1867, with the active participation of Ignatiev and under pressure from Russia Turkey withdrew its garrisons from Serb strongholds, the news was received in London with regret. And in 1876, the Russian troops came to the aid of the insurgent Bulgarian people against the Turkish yoke. During the Russian -Turkish War, the Russian army came to the capital of the Ottoman Empire - Constantinople. The British openly interfered in the Russian - Turkish war, and put forward an ultimatum to St. Petersburg: Either Russia halts the offensive, or Britain declares war on her. In support of threats, London sent warships to the Sea of Marmara. After all, the Russian occupation of the Turkish straits would give Russia, in the words of Prime Minister Disraeli, "the key to India".

The peace treaty ended the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, was signed in the town of San Stefano. This was an important episode of the "Great Game" and a significant victory for Russian diplomacy. According to the agreement, the text of which was almost completely drafted by Count Nikolai Ignatiev, Turkey relinquished most of its European territories. The San Stefano treaty recognized the independence of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania. Bosnia and Herzegovina were to form an autonomous region. A new independent Slavic principality in the Balkans – Bulgaria was to be created.

Count Nikolai Ignatiev was not forgotten by Bulgaria, where he is still considered a national hero. One of the main streets of the Bulgarian capital Sofia is named after him. The city of Varna has a monument to him. In almost every town and village in Bulgaria there is a street or a monument, or a school associated with his name.

This episode of the "Great Game" had a great resonance in the British Empire. In the second half of the XIX century in India, many looked with hope to Russia. And waited for the Russian troops to help the Indians to end British colonial rule.

 

[Spring Onion]

There are more but on diff subjects .

Did not realise people would appreciate this, shall locate & share.

Its detailed and indeed must be appreciated for it provides an insight into the PAST alliances.

I asked for more to know if the past still have some remains for the future ?

 

[third eye]

Its detailed and indeed must be appreciated for it provides an insight into the PAST alliances.

I asked for more to know if the past still have some remains for the future ?

Just posted this..


https://defence.pk/threads/the-great-game.285332/

 

[IND151]

Interesting thread

 

[neehar]

indeed its not an exaggeration to say that ruling india or rather looting india made them the most powerful of those times.it is elaborated in dadabhai naoroji's "drain of wealth" and now british "citizens" are whining about their "taxes" being given as "aid" to india.

 

[third eye]

Its detailed and indeed must be appreciated for it provides an insight into the PAST alliances.

I asked for more to know if the past still have some remains for the future ?

Let me put it like this ..The future always has links to the past.

Its for us who are in the ' future' to look back and identify the links. Unfortunately we end up being wiser but sadder men because by the time we realise its too late.

What you see on your Western borders is nothing new and not something that will ever end

 

[Spring Onion]

Let me put it like this ..The future always has links to the past.

Its for us who are in the ' future' to look back and identify the links. Unfortunately we end up being wiser but sadder men because by the time we realise its too late.

What you see on your Western borders is nothing new and not something that will ever end

Being a Pakistani from KPK I know what is goingon on my western border is NOT new.

The biggest difference is that in the past Brits were the one who were in the game and there was NO India and Pakistan but subcontinent.

Now Brits are out, Russians are still there but they are failed to find a sound BLOCK or to say failed to find a firm ally or for that matter merely an ally.

There is NO India factor anymore. The future has a lot of weak alliances until the regional countries come to equal footing viz a viz protecting each other's interests.

 

[third eye]

Being a Pakistani from KPK I know what is goingon on my western border is NOT new.

The biggest difference is that in the past Brits were the one who were in the game and there was NO India and Pakistan but subcontinent.

Now Brits are out, Russians are still there but they are failed to find a sound BLOCK or to say failed to find a firm ally or for that matter merely an ally.

There is NO India factor anymore. The future has a lot of weak alliances until the regional countries come to equal footing viz a viz protecting each other's interests.

Like I said, the game goes on with new players each time.

The common thread is that each player feels he has the answer and hold / held all the cards.

Weak alliances makes things worse.

 

[Spring Onion]

Like I said, the game goes on with new players each time.

The common thread is that each player feels he has the answer and hold / held all the cards.

Weak alliances makes things worse.

Each player phrase has India nowhere near.

Indeed weak alliances are worst.

Russia is standing alone. Lost all clout.

 

[third eye]

Each player phrase has India nowhere near.

Indeed weak alliances are worst.

Russia is standing alone. Lost all clout.

I cannot fathom why you keep bringing India into the conversation. No where have I mentioned it.

Players will remain and so shall their interests.

The bottom line is that so long as a door remains open - others will enter.

As of the last 3 decades, the door is wide open and one cannot see it being shut in the years ahead.

 

[scorpionx]

The very first indication of a fierce rivalry which later would be termed as The Great Game can be traced back to the Tilsit peace treaty between the French and the Russians in July'1807. Napoleon,before his naval prowess completely battered by Admiral Nelson in the battle of the Nile in 1798,wrote about his plan to invade India through Egypt with the grand alliance with Tipu Sultan in Mysore. After the defeat in the Nile,he was forced to change his route and planned the invasion through the path previously adopted by Alexander III two thousand years ago.

After intercepting the secret clauses of the Treaty of Tilsit the British went remarkably cynical and British secret service indulged themselves in a massive intelligence operation to find out links of a joint Franco-Russian attack on the Empire's richest possession,India.When the Napoleonic threat was over during his epic failed campaign of Russia in the winter of 1812,it was the Russians who kept the Company's secret agents lamps burning all over the night. With Lord Wellesley's move towards north west and the Russian move towards south east Modern Iran,Pakistan and Afghanistan became the battle ground of the Great game which would not show any chance of being over even in the next two hundreds year.
In 1813,only a year after Napoleon's defeat,the Russians showed extraordinary aggressiveness in terms of dealing with the Ottoman Turkey and Qajar Persia. It annexed great chunks of Armenia and Azerbizan which was under the Persian rule in the Caucasus.The British failed to aid their Persian alliances during the Russo Persian war in 1826-27. The relentless Russian advance southwards conducting punitive genocidal expeditions in Chechnya and Daghestan mixed with the intelligence reports of St.Peterberg's intention to recreate the old Byzantine empire on the ruins of the Ottoman empire was a colossal shock to the politicians in London and created an aura of Russophobia which would change the history of Afghanistan in the coming years.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

I cannot fathom why you keep bringing India into the conversation. No where have I mentioned it.

Players will remain and so shall their interests.

The bottom line is that so long as a door remains open - others will enter.

As of the last 3 decades, the door is wide open and one cannot see it being shut in the years ahead.

HaHa, Spring Chicken is only providing the usual Pavlovian "knee-jerk reaction", just not worth a second glance.
The issue is that there cannot be a replay of the "Great Game" that History has recorded. Instead there will be many "Small Games" that will get played out in the region. The earlier Game was an entirely Imperial one. The ones in the future while seemingly Imperial in nature will be more Cultural in character. And it will continue in that fashion. This Cultural thingy will be predicated mainly on Sectarian considerations with Economic overtones upto a certain point. But it will be an area of untramelled turmoil even into the future. All the players will concentrate on creating "fire-walls" while raking up the embers now and again.