History Literature / TheGreatGame

This is a classic history by Peter Hopkirk of the rivalry between UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia and UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire for interests in Asia. It begins during UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars when Britain had recently conquered a large part of India and was becoming nervous about its newly acquired possessions. In the meantime, the newly victorious Czarist regime was looking to extend its power conquering and settling lands to the eastward and probing at the Ottoman Empire. Central Asia was a gigantic blank space, a place of danger and mystery and sometimes of [[JungleOpera romantic tales]].

* PapaWolf: One Muslim city made a habit of enslaving Russians. When an agent got inside the slaves told him to give news of their plight to the outside world. As this was a splendid pretext the Czar was quite eager to amass an army to conquer that city. The British thereupon persuaded the local Sultan to just release the slaves rather than annoy [[MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong Mother Russia]].

* RightHandVersusLeftHand: UsefulNotes/TheRaj and Britain were almost more like an alliance between two states than like one state and had different interests. This often caused diplomatic problems; a classic one being that Britain's policy toward UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia in Europe might be incompatible at a given time with the policy of UsefulNotes/TheRaj, which confused local princes no end.

->''"The British heroes of the Great Game have no such memorial, precarious or otherwise. There is little or nothing to show on the map for all their efforts and sacrifices. Today they live on only in unread memoirs, the occasional place name, and in the yellowing intelligence reports of that long forgotten adventure."''

Both Britain and Russia sent a series of explorer-spies into this vast territory to find out what was there. As well as intriguing with, or pressuring local princes. This became a generations long SecretWar which was to end in an anticlimax when both powers decided that there were more important matters elsewhere.

In retrospect it seems like much ado about nothing at first glance. For Russia to invade India, it would have to get past the nastiest deserts in the world, then the nastiest mountains in the world. Then the British and Indian armies. In other words Russia trying to conquer India would have been an even worse disaster than anyone else trying to conquer Russia. But there was no way to know that for sure at the time. In any case, much of our knowledge of the geography of the region comes from those days.

Other books in the series are ''Like Hidden Fire'' or alternatively ''On Secret Service East of Constantinople'' (about German intrigues in Central Asia in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI) and ''Setting the East Ablaze'' (about the Russian Civil War in Central Asia) and ''Tresspassers on the Roof of the World'' (about the great game as played in Tibet). Other books from Hopkirk, which deal with the area but not precisely about the great game are ''Foreign Devils on the Silk Road'' (about early archeological expeditions [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin on]] UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad) and ''The Quest for Kim'' (about tracing the possible inspirations for the classic Creator/RudyardKipling story ''Literature/{{Kim}}''). All of these are now available in Amazon Kindle format.

%%* CloakAndDagger
%%* CrossingTheDesert
%%* ForeverWar
%%* LandOfOneCity: several

* {{Precursors}} : This was an area full of ruins of Ancient Civilizations. However there were no secrets that ManWasNotMeantToKnow.

* RecycledInSpace: Some aspects of ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' are rather like this. Specifically the Frontier Wars between the Zhodani and the Imperium can be compared to the relation between Russia and Britain at this time.
* RightHandVersusLeftHand: UsefulNotes/TheRaj and Britain were almost more like an alliance between two states then like one state and had different interests. This often caused diplomatic problems; a classic one being that Britain's policy toward UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia in Europe might be incompatible at a given time with the policy of UsefulNotes/TheRaj, which confused local princes no end.
** At one time, UsefulNotes/TheRaj was supplying assistance to the Persians against the Russians. However in Europe, an [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Obscure Corsican family chieftain]] ordered a massive invasion of Russia which made Britain an ally of UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia in Europe. The Shah was confused, and apparently his intell wasn't widespread enough to tell him what was happening.

%%* SpyVersusSpy
* WorthyOpponent: The author thinks of the Russian agents as this.

This is a classic history by Peter Hopkirk of the rivalry between TsaristRussia and UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire for interests in Asia. It begins during UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars when Britain had recently conquered a large part of India and was becoming nervous about its newly acquired possessions. In the meantime, the newly victorious Czarist regime was looking to extend its power conquering and settling lands to the eastward and probing at the Ottoman Empire. Central Asia was a gigantic blank space, a place of danger and mystery and sometimes of [[JungleOpera romantic tales]].

* RightHandVersusLeftHand: UsefulNotes/TheRaj and Britain were almost more like an alliance between two states then like one state and had different interests. This often caused diplomatic problems; a classic one being that Britain's policy toward TsaristRussia in Europe might be incompatible at a given time with the policy of UsefulNotes/TheRaj, which confused local princes no end.
** At one time, UsefulNotes/TheRaj was supplying assistance to the Persians against the Russians. However in Europe, an [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Obscure Corsican family chieftain]] ordered a massive invasion of Russia which made Britain an ally of TsaristRussia in Europe. The Shah was confused, and apparently his intell wasn't widespread enough to tell him what was happening.

%%* {{Badass}} : Tons.

Other books in the series are ''Like Hidden Fire'' or alternatively ''On Secret Service East of Constantinople'' (about German intrigues in Central Asia in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI) and ''Setting the East Ablaze'' (about the Russian Civil War in Central Asia) and ''Tresspassers on the Roof of the World'' (about the great game as played in Tibet). Other books which deal with the area but not precisely about the great game are ''Foreign Devils on the Silk Road'' (about early archeological expeditions [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin on]] UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad) and ''The Quest for Kim'' (about tracing the possible inspirations for the classic Creator/RudyardKipling story ''Literature/{{Kim}}''). All of these are now available in Amazon Kindle format.

%%* AdventurerArchaeologist s

%%* SecretWar

* AdventurerArchaeologist s
* {{Badass}} : Tons.
* CloakAndDagger
* CrossingTheDesert
* ForeverWar
* LandOfOneCity: several

* {{Qurac}}

* SecretWar
* TheShangriLa
* UsefulNotes/TheSilkRoad
* SpyVersusSpy

* RightHandVersusLeftHand: TheRaj and Britain were almost more like an alliance between two states then like one state and had different interests. This often caused diplomatic problems; a classic one being that Britain's policy toward TsaristRussia in Europe might be incompatible at a given time with the policy of TheRaj, which confused local princes no end.
** At one time, TheRaj was supplying assistance to the Persians against the Russians. However in Europe, an [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte Obscure Corsican family chieftain]] ordered a massive invasion of Russia which made Britain an ally of TsaristRussia in Europe. The Shah was confused, and apparently his intell wasn't widespread enough to tell him what was happening.

Other books in the series are ''Like Hidden Fire'' or alternatively ''On Secret Service East of Constantinople'' (about German intrigues in Central Asia in WorldWarI) and ''Setting the East Ablaze'' (about the Russian Civil War in Central Asia) and ''Tresspassers on the Roof of the World'' (about the great game as played in Tibet). Other books which deal with the area but not precisely about the great game are ''Foreign Devils on the Silk Road'' (about early archeological expeditions [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin on the]] SilkRoad) and ''The Quest for Kim'' (about tracing the possible inspirations for the classic story {{Kim}} by Creator/RudyardKipling). All of these are now available in Amazon Kindle format.

* RecycledInSpace: Some aspects of {{Traveller}} are rather like this. Specifically the Frontier Wars between the Zhodani and the Imperium can be compared to the relation between Russia and Britain at this time.

* SilkRoad

This is a classic history by Peter Hopkirk of the rivalry between TsaristRussia and UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire for interests in Asia. It begins during the NapoleonicWars when Britain had recently conquered a large part of India and was becoming nervous about its newly acquired possessions. In the meantime, the newly victorious Czarist regime was looking to extend its power conquering and settling lands to the eastward and probing at the Ottoman Empire. Central Asia was a gigantic blank space, a place of danger and mystery and sometimes of [[JungleOpera romantic tales]].

** At one time, TheRaj was supplying assistance to the Persians against the Russians. However in Europe, an [[NapoleonBonaparte Obscure Corsican family chieftain]] ordered a massive invasion of Russia which made Britain an ally of TsaristRussia in Europe. The Shah was confused, and apparently his intell wasn't widespread enough to tell him what was happening.

* UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire

* UsefulNotes/IndianPoliticalService

* TheRaj

* TsaristRussia

This is a classic history by Peter Hopkirk of the rivalry between TsaristRussia and TheBritishEmpire for interests in Asia. It begins during the NapoleonicWars when Britain had recently conquered a large part of India and was becoming nervous about its newly acquired possessions. In the meantime, the newly victorious Czarist regime was looking to extend its power conquering and settling lands to the eastward and probing at the Ottoman Empire. Central Asia was a gigantic blank space, a place of danger and mystery and sometimes of [[JungleOpera romantic tales]].

* TheBritishEmpire

->''The British heroes of the Great Game have no such memorial, precarious or otherwise. There is little or nothing to show on the map for all their efforts and sacrifices. Today they live on only in unread memoirs, the occasional place name, and in the yellowing intelligence reports of that long forgotten adventure.''

* {{Badass}} : tons

* IndianPoliticalService

* WorthyOpponent: The author thinks of the Russian agents as this.

In retrospect it seems like much ado about nothing at first glance. For Russia to invade India, it would have to get past the nastiest deserts in the world, then the nastiest mountains in the world. Then the British and Indian armies. In other words Russia trying to conquer India would have been an even worse disaster then anyone else trying to conquer Russia. But there was no way to know that for sure at the time. In any case, much of our knowledge of the geography of the region comes from those days.

* PapaWolf: One Muslim city made a habit of enslaving Russians. When an agent got inside the slaves told him to give news of their plight to the outside world. As this was a splendid pretext the Czar was quite eager to amass an army to conquer that city. The British thereupon persuaded the local Sultan to just release the slaves rather then annoy [[MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong Mother Russia]].

* ShamgriLa

-->''The British heroes of the Great Game have no such memorial, precarious or otherwise. There is little or nothing to show on the map for all their efforts and sacrifices. Today they live on only in unread memoirs, the occasional place name, and in the yellowing intelligence reports of that long forgotten adventure.''
-->Peter Hopkirk