The Great Game The Great Game was the struggle for power in

ok

They was a tribe in Afghanistan who would execute people by having women piss in their mouths.

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>>1537763
Uncharted Territory

With few of these vital lands on the maps, the British felt vulnerable. Throughout the Great Game explorers were sent from British India to chart out these lands. But exploration was dangerous, and many of these areas were either fiercly independent or practically lawless.
The first of these British explorers were Captain Charles Christie and Lieutenant Henry Pottinger, and like many of their future counterparts, they would stay in disguise throughout their journeys. They were tasked with exploring the area of Baluchistan. They introduced themselves to their Afghan bodyguards as workers for a Hindu master looking to buy horses. One would go towards Herat and the other to South Persia. As they made their way towards their respective destinations, they secretly gathered information. If they were found out, it would mean immediate death, as the areas they explored were wary of British rule.

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>>1537799
Pottinger was tasked with exploring the deserts on journeys. It was hoped that armies would be unable to successfully sustain themselves in it. Trouble arrived immediately, as they were told by a friend that people from Sindh were looking to arrest them. Pottinger hastily left westward, any wasted time might let his pursuers catch up to him.

Christie faced his own issues. As he approached Afghanistan, he was told by a passerby that men were looking to rob and kill him. He avoided this, but in hopes to prevent any future attacks he changed his guise from that of a horse-dealer to instead a Muslim going on the hajj. This however led to other issues. In one instance he entered a theological discussion with a local priest. To avoid giving away his identity, he claimed he was a Shia, not a Sunni. This excuse let him leave, though not without a few suspicious looks. In the end Henry and Pottinger accomplished their goals, though not without more bumps on their road. Continue?

>>1537763
Oh man this is by far my favorite historical period and it's so underrated. Tribals nomads and oriental despots luving on the ruins of ancient Persia getting caught in the middle of a struggle of two European great powers, it's a shame there's almost no movies or vidya about this period.

Please continue OP.

Persian and Afghanistan that's it. Britain attacks Afghanistan thrice and Afghanistan repels every attack. The Russians encouraged Persia to invade Herat and there was a stalemate. That is what happens in regards to foreign policy in Central Asia during the 19th century. Persia and Afghanistan would wind up being influenced by Britain even if the Anglos couldnt conquer them.

>>1537799
>That disgustingly incorrect map

>>1538083
You forgot about Russia slowly annexing half of central Asia.

>>1537861
Yeah, this is interesting.

>>1537763
When the Great Game stopped in 1895, the panslavic movements in eastern Europe were starting to pick up steam. Could those two events be linked? Russia gets cockblocked form warm water ports in central Asia and now wants to get them in the Mediterranean.

Please continue op, it's a quality thread.

>>1538927
Those are not only related, panslavism is a direct consequence of Russia getting cucked out of India. Before that they didn't give a fuck about Slavs, see how they helped the Austrians in 49.

Little known fact; Napoleon almost convinced Russia to go to war with Britain by invading India.

>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_March_of_Paul

>>1537861
Alright, I will continue now. This story is a very long one the way I'm telling it though. There are tons of explorations, wars, and other accounts on the ground, and I intend on going through many of them. Some parts of this might get boring, but I assure you it will never stay that way for long. I will now be talking more about what the Russians are doing, but if any of you want more clarification into the journey of Christie and Pottinger, I'd be happy to give you more information on their travels. What they go through is absolutely crazy, though to save time and give all parts of this story some of the spotlight, I've decided to omit them unless people explicitly request more about them.

>>1538083
I'll admit that I'm not entirely informed about the ethnography of Great Game areas. I might make future mistakes when showing other maps, so sorry in advance for that.

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>>1539488
It was at this time that the Russians drove Napoleon out of their lands. As they campaigned, the Russians were observed by a British General, Sir Robert Wilson. He was sent only to look at and report all that was going on in the Russian army. Despite being a non-combatant, he earned great trust in Tsar Alexander by actively participating in various offenses. However, upon return to London he reported an account nobody expected.

His book was shocking to the British public. He claimed the Russians participated in multiple atrocities against the French prisoners, including burying them alive, and leaving them naked in the frigid Russian winter. He also claimed they were inactive against the French, and said "Had I commanded 10,000 or might I say 5000 men, Bonaparte would never again have sat upon the throne of France."

>>1539488
I'm guessing you've read Tournament of Shadows? What did you think of it? Good history, or mostly superficial? I enjoyed it, although I thought it lost focus towards the end.

>>1539551
However, Wilson was not done yet. Four years later he anonymously published another book, 'A Sketch of the Military and Political power of Russia'. The book, in which he claimed that the Russians were intent on taking the Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire in addition to British India, was a bestseller. He supported his claim by pointing out that the Russians owned a huge army and were still building it up. The book brought immediate controversy. Some called Wilson a fear-monger, while others welcomed his timely remarks.

>>1539565
I've read a few different books on the Great Game as the topic has fascinated me ever since I read Kim. I am mostly basing this off of 'Tournament of Shadows' and 'The Great Game'. The only reason I made this thread is that I am heavily interested in this topic. I love threads like these where people can learn cool information. I just wish they happened more often on this board. Seems like /his/ has become a cesspool for the past few weeks.

>>1539593
Persians and Turks had been in conflict with the Russians for a while. At one point they even set aside their differences to fight Russia together. However, as Russia moved its forces away from the South, it made peace with Turkey, giving back all the land they had gained. This now left only Persia to fight against. With only one enemy the Russian forces could concentrate their power.

At one night in 1812, a Russian force of 29 people crossed the Aras river. They attacked a much larger, but unsuspecting Persian camp. In the camp were two British officers who were helping out the Persians against their Russian enemies. Captain Christie, the same man who journeyed with Pottinger, and Lieutenant Henry Lindsay. As the Russians attacked them, both commanded the Persian forces. The son of the Shah, Abbas Mirza, was also present in the fighting. Suffering heavy casualties, the Persians retreated. They left behind Captain Christie, who died by a bullet to the head.

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>>1539593
>>1539676
Just realized I fucked something up with the flow of these paragraphs. Oh well. Also it was not a force of 29, the general himself, Kotliarevsky, was 29 years old.

>>1539676
The brief encounter left near huge numbers of Persians dead. The Russians on the other hand lost only 127 men. Kotliarevsky now marched his troops East to the Caspian Sea. It was here that the Persian stronghold of Lenkoran stood. After 5 days of intense fighting, the Russians one. Casualties on both sides were large. The Persians at Lenkoran were killed to a man. Not a single man out of the 4000 who lived their survived. Russians lost almost two-thirds of their men as well. Kotliarevsky was found semi-conscious, with bullet wounds in his head. He would earn one of the highest honors a Russian general could ever receive, but his head injuries would prevent him from being able to take control of the entire Russian army at the Caspian area. Should I continue, or have people lost interest in it?

>>1539741
Continue man.
And boy was Wilson a dick.

>>1539741
Please continue

>>1539741
pls go on

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>>1537763
>>1537799
>>1537861
>>1539488
>>1539551

>It's a anon educates you on something you didn't know about kinda episode

thanks anon, people like you are what makes /his/ still worth visiting

>>1539741
Alright, finally have some free time so I will continue on.

The treaty between Russia and Persia would make the Russian border almost 250 miles closer to that of British India. This would not be the end for British worries either. It was at this time that the final bits of the information gathered by Christie and Pottinger were being compiled and analyzed. The report summed up that while an invasion by sea was near impossible, an invasion by land would have multiple routes of entrance. Even this was not the end of it though, as now was the time for the first true Russian players of the game.

Captain Nikolai Muraviev was tasked with one mission, to reach the Central Asian city of Khiva. Almost 100 years earlier, Russians had tried and failed to conquer the city. The Khan of Khiva was wary of the Russians, he knew their eyes has been set on their city for years. The plan was to try and woo him over with promises of trade, and then at the right moment, conquer them.

thank you for an excellent thread OP

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>>1542364
Muraviev set out from Tiflis, in modern day Georgia. In order to get to Khiva, he would have to cross the deadly Karakum desert. Here lay violent tribes of Turkmen who made their livings off of enslaving Persians and Russians. He first sailed across the Caspian, and onto its desolate eastern shore. He got off from there, and then decided to join up with a Caravan for protection. Muraviev disguised himself as a fellow Turkmen, though members of the Caravan all knew his secret. The journey was mostly uneventful, but five days before reaching Khiva a member of the town they went through called him out through his disguise. Some of his fellow Caravan men came to the rescue though, by claiming that he was their slave that they had just captured.

Once he left the Karakum and entered the fertile lands near the Oxus river, he sent out some men to go and tell the Khan of his arrival. He would later be escorted towards the great mud-brick walls of Khiva.

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>>1542417
Trouble arrived almost immediately. Muraviev was quickly led to a fort, and it didn't take him long to figure out that he was essentially a prisoner of the Khan. The Khan himself was furious at the Turkmen traders who aided Muraviev on his journey. It was quite clear to him that the Russian was a spy, and that if they let him go, they would next see him leading the army that would be his own ultimate downfall.

The Khan struggled back and forth with his advisers about what to do with the nuisance on their hands. One adviser suggested burying him alive, though the Khan rightly countered that idea by claiming that it gave the Russians a Casus Belli. After seven weeks they decided to hear out what the foreigner had to say. Muraviev finally had his chance.

Nice thread op bump

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>>1542479
Muraviev was given a one day notice of his about the plans made to meet him. The message was timely, as he was already in the midst of planning out a daring escape by horseback. The next day he was led into walls of Khiva, where his arrival created an uproar among the natives. Many clamored to try and see him in person. As he rode through the streets, Muraviev noticed the many Russian slaves. A few of them would whisper in his ear to set him free.

Upon reaching the central yurt where the Khan lay, the Captain was pushed down and dragged inside. He struggled fiercely, fearing that the meeting was actually an execution. He was finally calmed upon hearing that this was simply a way of showing submission. Muraviev soon explained his reason for entering Khiva. He claimed that the Russians, who now owned most of the Caspian, wished to trade with Khiva through a new port town under construction.

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In the early 1890s Chitral was an independent area to the North West of Kashmir. Chitral’s northern border ran with Russian Tajikistan in the area of the Pamirs known as the ‘Roof of the World’, separated from Russia by a thin tongue of Afghanistan. The whole of Chitral comprised mountains and fast flowing rivers. The few inhabitants, estimated at that time to be around 55,000, lived on the limited areas of soil alongside the rivers. In places where the rivers ran between steep cliffs the paths were made by inserting short wooden beams into crevices in the rock and covering them with flat stones and wood. Such paths might be only 2 or 3 feet wide and be above a drop of some distance into the torrent beneath.

On 30th August 1892 a long period of relative stability in Chitral came to an end with the death of Aman-ul-Mulk. His death unleashed a period of extreme violence and intrigue between the most prominent of his sons and his brother to secure the Mehtarship

On 1st February 1895 Surgeon Major Robertson arrived in Chitral with detachments from 14th Sikhs and 4th Kashmir Rifles. Robertson brought in his group another candidate for the Mehtarship, Shuja-ul-Mulk(nicknamed by the British troops ‘Sugar and Milk’), a younger son of the Great Mehtar.

there should be more storyteller threads like this on /his/

>>1542615
The Khan found the expected problem quickly. A caravan sent towards this port town would have to venture through Persian lands, where it could be easily plundered. It was this that the Russian Captain used to his advantage. Muraviev then said "If thou wilt but ally thyself to us, thy enemies shall also be our enemies." He suggested that the Khan send a Khivan official to visit Tiflis as the Tsar's guest.

With a successful mission under his belt, Muraviev now set out back home. But before he left, a single message was slipped to him in the barrel of a gun he sent for repair. It read "We venture to inform Your Honor that there are over 3,000 Russian Slaves in this country who have to endure unheard of suffering from hunger, cold, and overwork, as well as every kind of insult. Take pity on our plight and lay it before His Majesty the Emperor. In gratitude we poor prisoners pray to God for your welfare." As per his own inquiries into the subject, Muraviev discovered that if the slaves were not soon freed, they would revolt somewhere within the next 2 years.

>>1542636
For those wondering, this is not me, the OP. Though the story is connected to the Great Game, and It's one of the stories that I don't know all of the details about, so I welcome it. I might put on a trip if it becomes confusing for people.

>>1542659
Upon returning, Muraviev told his report to his superiors. He gave important information about Khiva and its ability to defend a Russian attack. Muraviev claimed that Khiva's conquering would take "3,000 brave soldiers." He based this number on the various things he observed at his time at Khiva, including army size and defenses. He also took into account the great number of slaves(3,000 Russians and almost 30,000 Persians and Kurds). He thought that they might prove valuable in the conquering of the city, as they had nothing to lose.

Later on Muraviev would set up a meeting with Tsar, and carry out the wishes of the slaves in Khiva by informing him of their plight. The Tsar kept this information handy, so that it may serve as a Casus Belli for later.

Well, I'm done for the night. I'll go into the rather tragic story of Moorcroft tomorrow.

>>1537776
I shall hasten to /b/ to notify them
lol

My impression is that the Great Game was just British fearmongering, encouraged by the Navy and colonization lobbies to get more funding/support. Russia was actually never able to pose even an indirect threat to India. Such an undertaking was beyond 19th century's logistical capabilities. Surprisingly, Russia was never seriously interested in advance towards Central Asia. The expansion in that direction was rather undertaken opportunistically, without any master plan. Also, Russia saw Britain as her rival/enemy, but mostly because Britain wanted to contain Russia in Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus.

>>1544380
To be fair it is easier to say such things in hindsight. I have no doubt in my mind that to many people, the fear was real. Remember, India was the "Jewell in the Crown", being concerned for its safety was natural. I also do think that Russia could have posed a big threat to India, but at that point we tread close to what-if scenarios.

>>1538969
>Russia getting cucked out of India
but it didn't

>>1539551
>>1539593
Looks like this Wilson was a retard

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>>1537763
>yfw Russia purposely tricked Britain into invading Afghanistan

Bump. Where are you, OP

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>>1545611
Thank you for keeping the thread alive, my day was particularly busy, so sorry for not posting.

>>1542729
If one were to today travel along the banks of the Amu Darya/Oxus river, he might find himself upon a small, lonely, unmarked grave. It was here, that the British explorer William Moorcroft was buried. It would be nothing but a wooden cross, most likely rotting by now, if not gone entirely. Moorcroft was famed for being among some of the first people to set foot on Mount Kailash, in Tibet. So then how did his body end up in a such a desolate, barren area?

Moorcroft would find an obsession on his journey through Mount Kailash. He was simply there to acquire horses for the East India Company. However while staying at the house of a Tibetan Official, he found something that piqued his interest. He learned that the official owned two dogs, a terrier and a pug. The problem was that both of these dogs were European breeds. He asked the official about this and learned that he got them from Russian traders, but his own inquires led him to believe that these were actually military dogs. The finding would haunt him for the rest of his life, for now he was sure that Russians were up to something in Asia. Despite the popularity of Wilson's books, many were not entirely convinced of Russian plots. Moorcroft hounded his superiors in Calcutta about his fears of St. Petersburg, but they brushed them off.

Moorcroft was, as it turns out, obsessed with something else. It was his dream to see the Central Asian city of Bokhara. He was convinced that he would find great and strong horses there that the East India Company could use for its army. Moorcraft also had his own ulterior motive that tied back with his Russophobia: Opening up the markets of Central Asia to British trade. His wish was granted, in the Spring of 1819 he was given the go ahead to lead a 2000 mile expedition to Bokhara. On March 16, 1820, Moorcroft would set out on his journey across the Oxus.

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>>1545894
Moorcroft decided to get to Bokhara by way of Chinese Turkestan. The easiest way into this would be to start from Leh, the capital of Ladakh in Northern India. After travelling across the Punjab for more than a year, he finally arrived, being the first Englishman to set foot there. Upon entering Leh, Moorcroft would attempt to establish contact with Chinese Authorities in Yarkand so that he may enter their territory. This was easier said than done, for the powerful merchant class was reluctant to anybody they feared might disrupt their monopoly on trade. Some merchants even told Chinese officials that Moorcroft was going to lead an army through the mountain passes and into their territory.

While Moorcroft stayed in Leh, his worst nightmare came alive. He found himself a Russian rival. The man, Mehkti Rafailov, claimed that he was simply a native trader who operated through the passes. Moorcroft refused to believe him, and through his own agents learned that he was Russian spy of Persian origin.

Aga Mehdi started out as a small-time peddler of cheap goods. As time went on though, he started selling more and more expensive items. He eventually found himself a business in Kashmiri Shawls. The shawls he sold were of great quality, and his fame as a merchant of them grew exponentially. The Tsar himself soon knew of his name, and Aga was ordered to come and meet him. The Tsar asked Aga to go and make commercial contacts with Ladakh and Kashmir for Russia. Aga succeeded in this mission, and for this he was rewarded. Aga was given a new, Russian name: Mehkti Rafailov, and he was now sent out on a more ambitious mission.

He was to go more South than he had ever gone before, to go meet the powerful king of the Sikh Empire, Ranjit Singh. He bore a letter with him that claimed that the Russian Empire wished to trade with the Ranjit Singh's merchants. Mehkti was staying in Leh while on his mission towards the Punjab. It was here that Moorcroft would learn of him.

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>>1537893

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>>1537893

Go read Otoyomegatari

>>1546083
great movie

How different would Russia be today if it had a warm port like Constantinople, Port Arthur or one in Persia/Pakistan?

>>1546083
Yeah I've seen it, it's awesome, but still just one movie. I can imagine a Witcher 3 type RPG where you play as a British / Russian officer.

>>1546039
keep going OP

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>>1546039
If there was ever a doubt in Moorcroft's mind about Russia, it was all washed away now. He was wholly convinced, and it was here that his obsession caused him to overstep his authority. First, Moorcroft sent back his findings on Mehkti back to Calcutta, almost 1,100 miles away. Next he would set up a trade deal with British merchants in Ladakh, despite not owning the authority to do so. This was especially damning, for Ranjit Singh claimed that Ladakh was in his sphere of influence. Though worst of all would be Moorcroft's letter to the emperor himself. In his letter to Ranjit Singh, Moorcroft warned him that Ladakh was an independent state, and that incursions into it would not be tolerated. He did this too without proper authority. The emperor was enraged, and so too was the Company. Ranjit Singh boasted a powerful army that was modernized to the European standard of the day. The last thing the East India Company needed was to sour good relations with its powerful neighbor. The statement was immediately retracted, and Moorcroft sent an apology, though the damage was done.

The fury of the Emperor was unleashed now, for multiple attempts on Moorcroft's life were taken. One came from an unidentified gunman in the night. Another two attempts came from nocturnal invaders, one of which was shot dead. Soon Moorcraft and the rest his group started getting extremely sick. They found out it was poisoned tea, which they quickly disposed of.

It was quite clear to Moorcroft that he had made a misstep. His salary was cut, and he was ordered to return. However he and the group had longed to see Bokhara, and they would not stop now. So instead of going through Chinese Turkestan, they would go through the more dangerous route. Lawless Afghanistan, on the brink of civil war was the only way to go, and so Moorcraft and his small group of Gurkhas would travel through it.

As for Mehkti, he would be found dead of a mysterious affliction, high up in the mountain passes...

>>1546222
Please continue m8

>>1546179
I can see it now.

* Bring 5 Pashtun pelts to the Ambassador
* Find Mufti Zavar's lucky gourd

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>>1546222
By all accounts, the chances of getting through Afghanistan were slim to none. But this would not stop Moorcroft and his team who set out for it in the spring of 1824. Wild stories preceded there arrival into Afghanistan. Some people claimed that Moorcroft was just the beginning of a huge force that would take over Afghanistan. Moorcroft himself advocated for this, if only so that the Russians may not get the country first. The Afghan summer was intense on the group. Despite Moorcroft being a veterinarian, two dogs had died from the heat. Moorcroft's group would also be the first Europeans to ever see the great Buddhist statues at Bamian(The same ones destroyed by the Taliban). If they had not been destroyed, you might be see Moorcroft's signature on its walls today.

After eight months since they crossed the Khyber Pass, Moorcraft and his group found themselves on the bank of the Oxus river. He would be the first Englishman to set foot there. After even more travelling through intense terrain, Moorcroft would make it to Bokhara. However when he entered the city, he was greeted by great numbers of curious children who called him a Russian. Moorcroft knew now that he had been beaten in his race towards Bokhara. His disappointment only grew as he learned that the the Central Asian horses he had hoped for were now long gone. His failure devastated him, and he now decided to turn back to India. In one final attempt to buy horses, Moorcroft would split up with his group and travel to another area. Here he would fall ill of fever and die, his body carried back and buried along the Oxus. Mysteriously, three other Europeans on the mission would quickly die in succession as well.

Moorcroft would not be remembered well immediately after his death. However many later players of the game would use his maps and descriptions to help them out in their own journeys through Central Asia.

>it's the 'I just read Peter Hopkirk' thread

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In 1918 Russian Turkestan was in chaos. The Bolshevik Tashkent Soviet was under attack from various groups, including cossacks, who had claimed independence for their respective regions.

Concerned about the Bolsheviks and German and Turkish activity, the British Government decided to send a force to the area from India.

The first military action occurred when a machine gun detachment was sent across the Indian border to aid the Transcaspian forces against the Bolsheviks. The detachment of Indian gunners, led by a British officer, assisted some local units in a battle against the Tashkent Soviet Bolsheviks. The local units were outnumbered, disorganised and nearly defeated. However, the two Indian machine gun crews inflicted 350 casualties and prevented a total rout of the Transcaspians.

At this point, Malleson, against the wishes of the Indian Government, decided to push further into Transcaspia and attack the Bolsheviks. The combined force completed a double night march, and engaged and defeated the Bolsheviks at the Battle of Dushak.[6] The British/Transcapsian force suffering 60 killed & 180 wounded while inflicting 1,000 casualties on the Bolsheviks. The Anglo-Indian forces did most of the fighting, with the Transcaspian forces largely unreliable. A bayonet charge by the Punjabi infantry, as well as an attack by the 28th Cavalry, eventually drove off the Bolshevik forces.

>>1537763
The thing about the Great Game is that even though it "ended" in Central Asia, it had really just moved East. Russia and Britain started gobbling up and influencing as much Chinese territory as they could. The semi-ironic thing is that Russia was so focused on Britain in China that it allowed the Russo-Japanese War to happen the way it did.

>>1547042
Keep going OP this is great stuff

>>1546866
While Peter Hopkirks book is one of my main sources, to say it is my only source would be disingenuous and unfair.

>>1547377
That's not me, I won't be chronologically deviating from the story.

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The British colonies in India in the early 19th Century were held by the Honourable East India Company, a powerful trading corporation based in London, answerable to its shareholders including powerful members of the British Parliament.

In the first half of the century France as the British bogeyman gave way to Russia, leading finally to the Crimean War in 1854. In 1839 the obsession in British India was that the Russians, extending the Tsar’s empire east into Asia, would invade India through Afghanistan.

In 1838 a joint Persian/Russian force laid siege to Herat, the important north western Afghan city. The British Viceroy in India, Lord Auckland, and his advisers planned an invasion of Afghanistan to combat the siege of Herat and to place an Ameer favourable to Britain on the throne in Kabul, the Afghan capital, in place of the existing incumbent, Dost Mohammed.

A force of two divisions from the Bengal Army under the commander in chief, Sir Harry Fane, assembled in Ferozepore on the border of the Punjab, as the Army of the Indus. The quickest route to Kabul was to march across the Punjab and enter Afghanistan by way of Peshawar and the Khyber Pass, but Ranjit Singh would never consent to such a large force crossing the Punjab. The invasion was route had to be through the southern passes, with the approach to Kabul via Kandahar and Ghuznee; a journey three times the distance of the direct route.

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>>1547767
Before the march could begin news reached India that the Persians and Russians had abandoned the siege of Herat. The view of many British officials was that the reason for the invasion of Afghanistan had gone. Lord Auckland resolved to continue with his plan, although the size of the force was scaled down with the second Bengal division remaining as a reserve at Ferozepore. The nominated commander in chief of the army, Sir Harry Fane, refused to take further part in the venture, leaving the command to Sir John Keane.

A severe shortage of draft horses forced Keane to leave his siege train in Kandahar. On 21st July 1839 the army arrived before Ghuznee, an important town on the road to Kabul. Reconnaissance showed Ghuznee to be occupied in force and strongly fortified with a 70 foot wall and a flooded moat. The lack of a siege train was now severely felt. The town had to be taken before the final advance to Kabul and the only way was by storm, promising heavy losses.

The Army’s chief engineer, Colonel Thompson, reconnoitred the town and interviewed captured Afghans. This intelligence revealed that the garrison had sealed all the gates by piling stones and debris behind them; that is except the Kabul Gate to the North. Thompson observed this gate and saw an Afghan courier admitted to the town. The gate appeared to be clear and inadequately defended. This was the only possible point of assault. The Army marched around Ghuznee and camped on the north side to prepare for the attack.

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>>1547811
At 3am on 23rd July 1839 a party of engineers commanded by Captain Peat of the Bombay Sappers and Miners moved to the gate. Lieutenant Durand commanded the explosion party.

Peat’s party rushed forward to the wall and Durand’s men placed powder bags and unrolled a length of quick match. The explosion blew in the gate.

The signal to attack was to be given by Peat’s bugler, but he was killed. Durand hurried back and brought forward the storming party. Dennie’s four light companies rushed through the shattered gate and met the Afghan defenders in a savage hand to hand fight in the semi-dark of the gate tunnel.

An Afghan counterattack cut Dennie’s party off from the supporting column. Sale was severely wounded by an Afghan swordsman as his men fought through. Finally the column cut its way through the gate into the streets beyond. The citadel was found to be undefended and the town was in British hands by dawn.

Keane left a garrison in Ghuznee and the Army marched on towards Kabul on 30th July 1839. When Dost Mohammed heard of the fall of Ghuznee, he sent to the British asking what terms he was offered. The answer was “honourable asylum in India”. This was not acceptable but his army would not fight. Dost Mohammed fled his capital, leaving it to the invading British and their puppet ruler, Shah Shujah.

10/10 thread

bump desu

bumpity bump

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>>1546505
The truce between Russian and Persia was at this point beginning to fail. Persia was angry at its loss and it was slowly building up its forces. Hostilities broke out over an unclearly worded part of the last peace treaty. Persia claimed the area between Lake Sevan and Erivan. After talks broke down and Russia occupied the region, the Shah rallied up his forces and sneakily attacked. Russia was not ready for war, and so initial efforts to try and slow down the 30,000 troops pouring into their southern borders were futile. Key towns and forts like Lenkoram were recaptured by the Shah, and his troops even got close to Tiflis.

The new Tsar, Nicholas I quickly replaced the widely loved Russian general with another man, Count Paskievich. With new reinforcements on the way, Paskievich turned the tide of the war, and forced the Persians back, culminating in his capture of Erivan. Persia called on its ally, Great Britain, to help, for they had earlier signed a defense pact. The now embarrassed British got out of the situation by using a loophole in the wording of the pact. Britain would not have to come to Persia's aid if they were the aggressor in the situation. Britain later asked Persia to waive away the defense pact for a sum of money.

The situation would evaporate British influence in the Persian court. As Persia sued for peace, Russia would become the next nation to hold power over the Shah. Russian diplomats would now find themselves in Tehran. An ambassador by the name of Alexander Griboyedov would be sent to the Shah's court to ensure that all payments for the war would be on time. He was the same man who negotiated the humiliating peace treaty for the Persians.

Griboyedov would enter Tehran during the holy month of Muharram. Anti-Russian sentiment were running high, and the stage was set for a spark to light the powder keg.

If I wanted shit like this I'd read a book desu. Where's the discussion

Bumpo

>>1551047
>Griboyedov

His surname was literally "mushroom eater"? Jesus Christ.

>>1537763
bump this great thread again

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Don't die on us...

>>1555603
Sorry that this thread keeps going so low, its just that it takes quite a bit of time to make more parts. I appreciate that people are bumping it though. Hopefully this won't be an issue tomorrow, I will try to add the occasional response to make sure that it doesn't go low and that the thread isn't filled with more bumps than actual posts.

>>1552601
>His surname was literally "mushroom eater"?
Griboyedov was also a renowned playwright and poet outside of his ambassador work

love your thread man seems like /his/ is getting on the right track again.

i have some thing to give, first a glossary of words used on the north west frontier of India, a biography of captain James abbot known as Kaka(uncle) abbot in Pakistan as well as the founded of the Pakistani city Abbottdad, who helped started the game(in english minds) with his book Narrative of a Journey from Herat to Khiva. lastly some personal stories from the first afghan war

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>>1551047
Griboyedov's peace allowed for the return of Armenians in Persia to their homeland. While this may not seem important, the acts of three Armenians wishing to do just this would prove devastating. One was a eunuch of the Shah's harem, the other two were girls from the harem of the shah's son-in-law. They escaped and entered the Russian embassy where Griboyedov gave them temporary refuge while he tried to make sense of the situation. Soon the Shah asked for all three of them back, but Griboyedov, knowing the punishments that they would be given, refused. They claimed that exceptions to the treaty could only be made by Russia's foreign minister.

Word of the event and response spread quickly throughout Tehran. The Anti-Russian feelings now exploded. The Persian people refused to take this insult to their Shah peacefully. Mobs gathered quickly with the help of mosques that commanded the Persians to siege and kill the Russian legation. A group of several thousand people surrounded the embassy demanding the three Armenians. At this point the legation gave up, and decided to try and hand them over. But now it was too late, and the mob began to attack. Griboyedov's own small security force could do nothing but try and make a last stand.

The Cossacks held up for an hour, but soon it became too much. Among the first to die were the Armenians, the eunuch being literally torn to pieces. Next would be Griboyedov and his now smaller group of Cossacks. Griboyedov would die sword in hand against the mob. His body would be tossed to the street, where a kebab vendor would cut off his head and pass it around among the crowd. The rest of his body would be so mutilated that it would be almost unrecognizable.

Russia would end up not punishing Persia for the incident. It was at war with Turkey, and having another war to deal with would add cause unneeded distress. But pressure was now building up, for Russian troops were now beginning to close in on Constantinople.

Glossary of words on the north west frontier.

the great game was the something violent clashing together of three civilizations, protestant England, orthodox Russia and Muslim greater khorasan. as a result a certain lingo started to develop among the various spies and servicemen.

Akhund-a religious teacher or saint.
Ayah-child's nurse
Angol-indian- a white born in india, note that in some text they are simpily called indians the people we call indians today are always called either natives,hindus or musslemans.
Badal-revenge
Badragga-tribal escort
Bagh-garden
Banya-banker/hindu money lender
Burka-to russian's winter clothing to Muslims what women wear.
Cantonment-standing camp or military area of a station.
Civilian- An administrator for the EIC
Civil lines- the area of the station were civilians lived.
Cold weather-October to March.
Duffardar-commander of small group of cavalry.
Darrah-mountain pass.
Deskshi-cooking pot.
Eid-a Muslim festival
Ghar-mountain
Ghazi-mujaheddin
Hookah-known to the English as hubble bubble
Hot weather-April to September
Hurjra-village guest house or community center
Insaf-justice
Jagir- a fief
Jihad-holy war
Jemadar-native officer or police
Jirga-Paktun tribal assembly
Kaflia-carvan
Kaka-uncle
Khalsa-pure
Khalsa dal-the European/american trained Sikh army
Khan-chief
Khassedar tribal police man
Kotal-summit or pass
Kutcherry/cuthcherry-administrators office or court house.
Lashkar-tribal army
Lungi-waist-cloth or to the English an allowance to local maliks by the government.
Malik-king or village head man
Maqbara-tomb
Masjid-mosque
Maulvi-muslim scholar
Melmastia-protection or hospitality
Misl-sikh regiment
Mohuram-muslim month of morning(in iraq,perisa and india)
Mujaddid-holy warrior/reformer
Muallh-one who shows the path or religious teacher
Munshi-language teacher,translator or scribe
Musasahib-aide
Mussulman-muslim
Nizam-governor
Pashtu-language of the pakhtuns
Paktunkhwa-afghan code of honor
Pagri-turban

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>>1555821
>Russia would end up not punishing Persia for the incident
Persia apologised for the incident and gave them picrelated

>>1555928
Rains-monsoon
Rawaji-Afghan tribal law not the same as sharia
Risala- a troop of irregular horse recruited by a risaldar
Risaldar-native subaltern of horse
Saheb- European or master
Sanad-grant
Sangar-stone breastwork
Sarai-inn
Sepoy-footman or an army, to the English a native footman
Shah-king
Sher- a title meaning lion/tiger
Shikar-hunting
Shikari-hunter
Silladar-bearer of arms or self equipped sowar man
Sardar-commander/sikh regiment leader.
Sowar-native cavalry/horsemen
Subedar-chief native officer of a Sepoy unit
Station-were European officials live
Taliban-searcher after knowledge
Tulwar-sabre
Ulema-learned man/muslim scholar
wazir/vizier-minister
zai-son of(ibn.fizts)
Zamin-land
Zamindar- land owner
Zan-women
Zanana-were women live
Zar-gold

i will get to the other parts tomorrow inshaallah.

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>>1555928
>>1555796
>>1555991
Thanks, this will be pretty helpful to anyone reading, especially since I have and will use quite a few of these words.

>>1555990
Not militarily punished would be the better term I guess; sorry that it was unclear.

>>1555796
Count Paskievich had managed to drive back the Ottomans from the Southern Caucasus and attack them in the west. By the summer of 1829, The garrison at Erzerum would fall into Russian hands. Now Russia would be able to fight through modern-day Romania and Bulgaria. Two months later Edirne would fall. Russian troops were closing in; they could attack the ailing Ottoman Empire on command. But Russia knew better than to provoke the European powers. Despite its cavalry being a mere 40 miles from the Ottoman capital, Russia would end its campaign. Had they continued and attempted to take the city, a new European war would not be out of question.

Victories against both Persia and the Ottoman Empire had boosted Russian confidence and there were fears that it now looked towards India. One man, Colonel George de Lacy Evans, who could almost be called the Wilson of his day claimed that this was exactly the case in his book: 'On the Practicality of an Invasion of British India'. Evans believed that while Russia would not necessarily invade India, they would in fact incite rebellion there. He believed that should Russia get too close, they would urge the natives of India to shake off British rule. This thought terrified the East India Company, for they were heavily outnumbered should it happen. His book would have a profound effect on British policy regarding the Game.

Lord Ellenborough, President of the Board of Control for India was terrified by the things outlined in the book. As he inquired more into the subject, he found the deficiency of proper maps and information. Ellenborough would now set off a host of new explorers and spies to chart out Central Asia, for now the Great Game had come into full swing.

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>>1556052
Knowledge on the Indus River was limited to Europeans at the time. Any attempts to try and go through it would be heavily rejected by both the Sindh and Punjab, who viewed its secrecy as vital to their protection. But the defense of India was important and the Indus was one of its keys. With this in mind, Lord Ellenborough hatched a devious plot to try and scout out the river and see if it was navigable.

The old ruler of the Sikh Empire, Ranjit Singh, had recently given the gift of Kashmiri Shawls to the King of England, William IV. The emperor now expected something in return, and it was this that Ellenborough used to his advantage. The plan was to give Ranjit Singh five huge English draft horses and a gilded stage coach. The gift would hopefully impress the ruler, as horses like this were not often seen on the subcontinent. However, the British reasoned that travelling these huge horses 700 miles by land would exhaust them. So, in order to give the king his gifts, the British would have to sail up the Indus River. As they sailed, the British would secretly survey the river. The officer chosen for this mission would be a young subaltern named Alexander Burnes.

Approval of the mission was not universal. A man named Sir Charles Matcalfe was particularly against this. He said "The scheme of surveying the Indus, under the pretense of sending a present to Rajah Ranjit Singh is a trick... unworthy of our government." He also pointed out that this was exactly the kind of deviousness that people claimed the British empire partook in.

As a new Whig government(which Ellenborough feared would be against the mission) took power, the mission along the Indus began. Alexander Burnes would set out from Kutch in 1831. A holy man who saw the vessel along the Indus is reported to have said "Alas, Sind is now gone."

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>>1556203
Nobody was fooled by the expedition's true purpose, and at first, many emirs strongly objected to the passage of the boat. However fears that Ranjit Singh would retaliate for holding up his gifts would cause the Emirs to reluctantly allow the boat to go through. Five months after entering the Indus, Burnes and his crew would reach Lahore. He had proven that the Indus was navigable for flat bottomed craft up to this point. Now the British, with the permission of Ranjit Singh, might be able to unload and carry their high-quality goods throughout Central Asia. This they hoped, would rival with Russian goods and reduce the influence Russia had.

The five draft horses which survived the blazing Punjabi sun created a sensation among the locals and court officials. The animal would be inspected head-to-toe with the most precise measurements. Nothing but perfection could be given to the king. Upon seeing the coach driven by the horses, locals dubbed them "little elephants."

Burnes was received with great celebration in Lahore. Singh wanted cordial relations with the Company just as much as they wanted it with him. No side wished to put their equally strong armies on the test. However, what was of interest to the Company was his age. Ranjit Singh was now old, and had already lost an eye to small-pox. If he were to die, then a power struggle in his empire would take place.

As Burnes walked through the streets, he was greeted with lines of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, all of which saluted him. Upon entering the royal palace, a small man walked up to him and hugged him. This was Ranjit Singh himself, who had come to Burnes to meet and discuss with him. After their greetings were over, Singh would be led over to see his horses. He would jump up and yell with glee as each one walked by him.

Burnes would end up staying at Lahore for two months full of parties and gifts. In August of 1831, Burnes would return. In his mind, he bore a new, more dangerous plan.

oh man i love this thread

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>>1557166
yo, i was just reading about this guy also i will post the stuff about kaka abbot after you get to the first Afghan war as it fits in best there and maybe a profile of the paladins of Punjab who were vital in the great game.pic related the most famous of the paladins

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boomp

bimpity bamp

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kaka abbot, yes he was great man and good muslim-many older Pakistanis

The great game has left many enduring legacy, its a terrible tale of deceit and paranoia of military and social blunders, the players themselves could heroic or base depraves. one of the most heroic and impactful individuals in the game was James abbot.

sir kaye descibed abbot as 'one of those men who lot in life it is never to be belived,never to be appreciated,never to be rewarded,of the true salt of the earth,but an unrecognized savoir,chivalrous,heroic,but some how never emerging from the shade. born in 1807 to an old india hand and at sixteen shipped off to India with three brothers, were abbot's brothers made a name for themselves as excellent artillery men,solders and administrators. Abbot himself first came notice with his book Narrative of a journey from Heraut to Khiva,Moscow and ST. Petersburgh,during the late Russian invasion of Khiva. the whole business costed Abbot two figures off his right hand. After returning to India via England and spent the next 3 or 4 years in quite obscurity the clam only shattered by the death of his wife during pregnancy. unable to bear the sorrow abbot left his daughter with friends and took up various assignments on very frontier of India the small province of Hazara here began the difficult task of governing by collecting taxes,settling disputes and surving the land among a people who had a proverd told to all youths and still more today "first comes one English man,as a traveler or for shikar,then come two to make a map,then comes the army to conquer the land, therefore kill the first one." Hazara is a wedge of land like a tent peg between swat on the west and khasmir to the east, the whole place is filled with mountains which open ever so slightly to revel lush valleys. the population consist of some twenty Muslim tribes a small smattering of sikhs.

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>>1558257
Abbot entered into Hazara with a small Sikh escort, who abbot had to almost force to march with him the reason as Abbot recites his famous book Hazara and its place in the second Sikh war was "The governor held unlimited power to plunder,slay or dishonor any muslim" as such the Muslim population has risen in revolt dozens of times and the whole place had received a reputation much like we have of Vietnam. the Sikhs held forty castles and only fed themselves by plunder, the rest of the district remained free of the dread Sikhs rule which has today become a by-word for bad governance in the region. Abbot wriets "on my march in i waas mucgh intrested with the country that was to become home for six years. on my right rose Mt.Serrah some 1500ft atop was a gran statue of Buddha. on my left was the long mountain ridge of Gundgurh the terror of the Sikhs still in open defiance. in front mountain after mountain rose, I found still smoking ruins of the village of Monti burned by the chief of Gundgrurh. here i was met by a delegation of village maliks armed to the teeth who had come to implore the British government to accept their bayah(oath) rather than be ruled by Sikhs and swore if they were to be ruled by them to fight to the last drop of blood. Hearing their pleads Abbot made arrangements and the district was removed from sihk rule, With this move Abbot gain the that most vital of afghan currency Iqbal(honor) and with this he wasted no time in setting up an government with help of two Muslims who had forced off their land by sikhs. in the past the sikhs had slain any muslim who dared prayer and attcked the mosque but as Abbot records one morning i heard the Bahng(adan)the muslim call to prayer, cautiously and timidly, near my tent. And as my presence prevented any violence on behalf the sikhs it was repeated again and again. Abbot was instantly transformed into a hero with even greater Iqbal. He then began to personally inspect land disputes.

>>1537776
My dick demands source.

>>1558356
As Abbot records "at every step i met returning exiles,thousands who had been banished for defending their rights or to enrich by their disinheritance the governors cronies" as it turned out many of these had been forced into bantiry as result of the loss land many having been nobles who knew no other craft besides ruling and war. A few of these errant nobles found themselves more comfortable as bandits and Abbot took military actions in what was to be the first of hundreds of expeditions launched between 1847 to 1947 on the NWF. one of these tribes were Dhund they refused to pay taxes to Abbot and soon fought Abbot in several brisk engagements only when Abbot apon inspecting the land realized that Sikhs had set the taxes to high for the land to ever bear and when he fix this the fighting stop. Abbots popularity with Muslims alienated the sihks who soon rose in revolt killing two British officers at first a local mutiny turned into the second sihk war. Abbot was forced out into the mountains as the sikhs in hazara gathered to march to the aid of their brother at main front. The second war was just as fierce and brutal as the first, the sikh army was modern, trained by European and american officers and with state of the art weaponry every English victory in the first war had been pyrrhic only the poor performance of the unmodernized Sikh cavalry had saved the English from defeat. there was no doute in any mind that the second war would be equally if not more bloody than the first. Abbot doing his part for the war gathered a small army the first to respond to the call were the maliks of the mashwani "a rugged looking race,ugly and not to gracfully built,whose clothing is of cotton,dyed black but they are among the truest ans stances defenders of the hillside that the world can boast and are good shots with their clumsy matchlocks,when ever there was an attack they flocked to my stranded. two hundred Suttri regular infantry also heeded the call 1800inall

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Sikh European trained infantry

comming back tommorow inshaallah dont die on me thread

>>1558571
Pretty interesting, I really only know about Abbot due to his work in Khiva. I knew that he did stuff in the Sikh wars, but I didn't know the details.

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>>1557166
His plan was daring due to its danger and complexity. Burnes, now 26 years old, wished to first travel to Kabul and make friendly relations with the Afghan ruler and rival of Ranjit Singh, Dost Mohammed. Then, going through the deadly passes of the Hindu Kush, he would arrive at the Oxus, and later, enter Bokhara. Most people would settle for either Kabul or Bokhara, not both. He expected his plan to be turned down by the Whig government in London, but to his surprise, it was green-lighted. As it turns out, the Whigs were now getting just as scared as the Tories about Russian influence seeping through Central Asia.

Burnes would choose three men to go on his journey with him. One was an Englishman, a doctor by the name of James Gerard who had experience exploring in the Himalayas. The other two were Indians whose names were Mohan Lai and Mohammed Ali. Lai was a well educated Kashmiri who would help in translating languages and guiding the group through the various niceties of diplomacy in Central Asia. Ali was an experienced Company surveyor who had joined Burnes on his journey up the Indus.

On March 17, 1832, the group would cross the Indus at Attock, and leave the Punjab where they enjoyed Ranjit Singh's protection. They would end up not using the Khyber Pass due to the danger of robbery there. Instead they would go through a longer route in the mountains. Once they entered Afghanistan, they would change their clothes, leave behind many luxuries, and put on turbans. However, Burnes and Gerard did not hide the fact that they were Europeans. They claimed that they were Englishman looking to go back home by land. Their goal was to stay in the shadows and melt into the crowd. Burnes claimed that cheap disguises would do just the opposite, attract attention.

Once they passed through Jalalabad, Burnes and his group got onto the main road to Kabul. All around them stood huge snowy mountains. Burnes still had a long path to travel on in order to reach Bokhara.

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>>1560448
Things on the road had so far gone well. Burnes plan of blending in had worked. One night, despite the presence of Christians in the group, they were all allowed to stay in a mosque. Burnes and Gerard did nothing to try and hide their religions, though they did lie about their consumption of pork. Burnes wrote in his journal: "When they ask me if I eat pork, I of course shudder and say it is only outcasts who commit such outrages. God forgive me! For I am very fond of bacon and my mouth waters when I write the word." The group would reach Bokhara safely on March 1.

When Dost Mohammed and Burnes met, they would become immediate friends. Unlike his Sikh rival, Mohammed stayed modest. He and Burnes sat across from each other, both cross-legged in a simple, almost empty room. Burnes viewed Mohammed as strict, wise, and overall benevolent, though Mohan Lai felt differently.

There were many claimants to the throne of Afghanistan, and the British had to decide which to back. Burnes of course backed his new friend, though others in the company thought that Mohammed's rivalry with Ranjit Singh was too problematic. Burnes wished to stay in Kabul and prove the company wrong, but time was limited and they now had to leave for Bokhara.

As they traveled, Burnes' group decided to try and find the graves of Moorcroft's expedition. They would end up finding the graves of all members who died in the journey, including Moorcroft's. They wished to try and add headstones to them, but they needed to reach Bokhara quickly, and so they silently left.

The group now crossed the Oxus and headed into a ten-day stretch of desert. There was a real danger of being captured by Turkmen slavers, but they avoided it all. After a grueling journey, they had reached Bokhara.

Sorry if this one seemed a bit more compact than others, I had to squeeze a lot of stuff in 2000 characters.

>>1555928
>Hookah-known to the English as hubble bubble
never change, poms

>>1539593
Try with "Declare"
Even if its more a cold war era book, you will enjoy all the links with the great game.
Based Tim Powers

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Alongside the Great Game was the later Durand policy, which was to maintain the tribal areas along the Afghan-India border as a buffer zone (now this area is in Pakistan).

The British used the 'poacher-turned-gamekeeper' approach by raising small militias from the trans- and cis- Frontier tribes. It didn't always work, but it was a fascinating time and place in history.

"The Frontier Scouts" by Charles Chenevix-Trench is out of print, but well worth digging up.

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>>1561786

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>>1561788

>That one time where a British lord was convinced the Russians were going to invade Tibet and kept on badgering parliment until they let him invade first
>Killed thousands of Tibetans and then signed an agreement with China that no other powers would be able to influence Tibet
>Russians didn't even have any plans to invade

>>1561769
I've been looking for more fiction books to read, thanks.

I knew the region was a fuckfest, but now I get why they hate the west so much.
Thanks Brits!

>>1563601
It wouldn't be fair to pin it all on the Brits though.

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>>1558571
The second sihk war raged on Abbot with the help of the famous John Nicholson who is the origin of the phase "in a nick of time" who was described by his friends as the very type of the conquering(english) race and to this day is worshiped as god of war by some hindus and sihks for his actions in this war. These two men leading their own Risala's launched a bushwhackers war that tied up several sihk regiments from the main actions before engaging them in the famous battle near fort salamkhand . Abbot had recived intel that the sihk regiments in the arena were moving to reinforce the main fight as it turned out the governors son was one of the leaders of the war against the English and his father who had before dieter now marshaled his troops, the last stop before he could leave Hazara was the aforementioned fort. Abbot therefore placed it under siege and placed 800 men atop a small mountain called red intending the sihk army to walk into a killing field. Abbot writes as day broke i saw the sikh camp already brilliant with fires they marched out as my spies informed me in two columns, the left approaching the fort up a ravine while the right marched around the base of the mountain to flank.At eight hundred meters the sihk guns opened up their aim was but the shot generally fell short of my feet. Abbot him self had found a large rock so as to be seen by all and set himself up with his lawn chair,umbrella,table and of course a cup of tea. the sihk artillery impressed by this spared his life. now the left column marched up the ravine were many of Abbots men lay in ambush, yet as the marched not a single shot was fired even as they were packed three regiments 3000 men in ravine a few meters across. The right sihk column made it to Abbots line unscratched and proceeded to take each dug in position in quick manner fighting their way to Abbot just as Abbot prepared himself to fight to the death two hundred afghans apparited seemingly out of air

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>>1564948
The afghans went in with a sprited attack with muskets and swords and just then the fort of salamkhand exploded sending forth flames and smoke that licked the sky and vast jets of dirt that soon came streaming down to earth. the sihks dishearted retreated back to their camp. holding for two days before striking camp and retreating home, the battle had cost them 150 men for 20 of Abbots own. The second sihk war continued unabated southwards here the battles were fierce involving near 100,000 men on both sides, it wasn't helped that the prefered English tactic was launch what amounts to banzai charge into the center of the enemy. Abbot mean while solidified his hold on Hazara by summoning a council of maliks and crowing a native friend of his king or chief of the tribes. soon after Abbot received a letter from a local imam who had a dream that the sihk main army would attempt to attack the main English army in rear during their upcoming battle taking the advice Abbot sent messengers to HQ as it turned out this was excatly what the sihks had planned but the letter reached to late. The battle of gujrat proceeded the four hour battle saw neither side take captives each knew that this battle decided the future of the sihk empire. Six days later Abbot received news tha the sihks had outwitted the English all he could do was laugh, the game is up he said a few days later however he was informed that the sihk army was defeated to add to the imagery the scout took a patch of dirt to his mouth and blew. With the commemoration,medals and awards being handed out Abbot happily received governorship of Hazara and in happinese he founded the city of abbot-dad which still stands today under the same name. he was to rule as master for six years, he began to wear native dress, write poetry in urdu(as well as what is called the worst poem in the English language) the natives swore that he never missed a prayer at the local mosques and dressed in princely clothing.

https://blackheathbugle.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/narrative_of_a_journey_from_heraut_to_kh.pdf

A pdf copy of Abbots book about the kihva mission

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Before reaching the it, Burnes would write a letter to Bokhara's Grand Vizier. Burnes wrote that his group wished to see the holy city. In order to convince the man, named Koosh Begee, he used flowery language and called him "the Tower of Islam" and "the Gem of the Faith." The approach seemed to work, as they were allowed into the Bokhara. That same day, Burnes would be escorted to Bokhara's "Ark" where he would be interrogated. Despite his status as an officer in the East India Company, the Vizier was more concerned with Burnes' religion. Burnes emphasized that he was a Christian, but he claimed that he didn't eat pork or engage in any iconoclasm.

As it turns out, Burnes would become a friend of the Vizier too. Begee would be gifted one of Burnes' only two compasses. In return, Begee would make arrangements to allow Burnes and his group to freely walk around the city. Begee would also play an important task keeping the group safe. The Emir of Bokhara was a wicked and cruel man, and so Begee kept the group away from him. Burnes would end up not meeting the Emir at all inside the entirety of his trip in Bokhara. As you shall later see, Begee's decision might have saved Burnes and his group's lives.

After a month in Bokhara, Burnes decided that he would leave. He wished now to see Khiva as well, but Begee advised against this. The land between the two cities was dangerous, and should the group go through they very well may not make it out alive. It was instead decided that the group would go through Persia instead. Upon reaching the Persian Gulf, the group would sail to Bombay and report back their findings. As Koosh Begee bade the group farewell, he is recorded asking Burnes to bring with him some "fine English spectacles" should he ever return.

Upon landing at Bombay, the group would be astounded by the news they heard. In the thirteen months that they had been away, a single event had greatly reduced British and Russian relations.

>>1560719
>>1565677
It was once again another issue with Russia and the Ottoman Empire, though this time it was quite different. As they unloaded at Bombay, Russian ships anchored near Constantinople, causing great dismay in both Britain and India.

It all started with a revolt in Egypt against the rule of the Sultan. The revolt was at first small, though it grew like a rapidly. Soon the problem could no longer be kept to local forces. The leaders of the revolt had seized Damascaus and Aleppo. They now turned to Anatolia and Constantinople. The Sultan appealed to the British for help. The British, however, hesitated to act without another power helping them. Russia now saw its chance. They too were not happy about the revolt, the last thing they wanted was an even more aggressive neighbor.

Tsar Nicholas sent Muraviev, now a general, out to offer help to the Sultan, who, still counting on the British, refused. The fights inched closer and closer to Constantinople, but the British still stayed hesitant. At last the Sultan gave up, and asked Russia for help in crushing the rebellion. The British now offered their services, but it was too little too late now.

This event would once again scare the British. The idea that Russian troops had landed in Constantinople was unsettling. Some claimed that the books of Evans and Wilson had prophesied this moment, and it was only a short time until Russia would take Constantinople for itself.

With the government up in arms about the incident, the arrival of Burnes in London would prove timely. He was treated as a hero, and his account 'Travels into Bokhara' would become and immediate hit. Russia did not stay idol as they learned about Burnes' story. They had been keeping a close eye on British explorers for some time now. British competition had led to losses in revenue, and fears about meddling in Circassia were emerging. Russia claimed the Caucasus as theirs, and they wouldn't allow any British to stop them from taking it.

This is terrific.

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The British expedition to Tibet, also known as the British invasion of Tibet or the Younghusband expedition to Tibet began in December 1903 and lasted until September 1904.

The expedition was intended to counter Russia's perceived ambitions in the East and was initiated largely by Lord Curzon, the head of the British India government.

The expedition fought its way to Gyantse and eventually reached Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in August 1904. The Dalai Lama had fled to safety, first in Mongolia and later in China, but thousands of Tibetans armed with antiquated muzzle-loaders and swords had been mown down by modern rifles and Maxim machine guns while attempting to block the British advance.

In Doctor Austine Waddell's account, "they poured a withering fire into the enemy, which, with the quick firing Maxims, mowed down the Tibetans in a few minutes with a terrific slaughter."[17] Second-hand accounts from the Tibetan side have asserted both that the British tricked the Tibetans into extinguishing the fuses for their matchlocks, and that the British opened fire without warning.

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You're a credit to the board, OP, thank you.

banzai thread may the thread live for 10,000 days banzai

>>1537799
The Pashtuns are cute! CUTE!

My parents are from Kashmir, and every time I went there on holiday, I can tell you, Pashtun clothes, the way they look, and the way they speak Urdu is all cute!

It's too bad I can't actually speak Urdu, just understand it, or I'd marry an Urdu speaking Pashtun!

In the words of Charles de Gaul following the Algerian cease-fire, "Mr Bump, I presume."

>>1572030
What did he really say?

>>1572415
Op sucks dick

>>1572415
"Glaaaaaad that's over! Am I right??
HONHONHONHONHON!!"

Thread soundtrack: https://youtu.be/M4k_to0O490

>>1573770
I always imagined Great Game having a soundtrack like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOli-9w8tDM

>>1541549
Agreed

>>1573770
>>1573777
I change my mind, instead I think this is better https://youtu.be/E4vlAsnvinA

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>>1565951
I haven't been able to post for the last two days, hopefully that will change tomorrow. I can only do one for today, due to pure exhaustion among other things.

----------

David Urquhart had gained an admiration for Turks during his years in the Greek War of Independence. He and eighty others had gone to Greece to rid it of its Turkish rulers, but he came back with a passion and love for them. This came in turn with a hate for Russia, the ancient enemy of the Ottomans. Urquhart became one of the leading Russophobes in Britain during this time. This, in addition to his ties with the politicians and even the king led him to serve the government on various missions. In one such mission in Constantinople, Urquhart would end up becoming an advocate for Circassian independence.

At the same time, important news was being leaked by British spies in Constantinople. The deal regarding the ending of the Egyptian insurrection by Russia had been expensive for the Turks. This was widely known, however new information regarding a secret clause in the treaty was just now being revealed. The clause stated that in the event of war, Russia may send its entire Black Sea fleet through the Dardanelles, and that Russia would be the only one with this privilege. This treaty incensed the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston. His protests were answered by the Russians who claimed that had Britain helped the Ottomans first, it would have done the same. Perhaps this remark was a bit too close to the truth, for Palmerston stopped his protests(though he called Russia's excuse "flippant and impertinent"). This event had been just another in the slow but steady series that corroded British and Russian ties.

So Urquhart, who felt that he now had another reason to hate Russia, set out from Constantinople to Circassia in an unapproved and technically unofficial visit into, as one Russian general called it, "The Greatest Fortress in the World."

>>1575467
Bampo

Bamboo

Ravioli Ravioli give me the bumparoni

>>1578333
Meatball meatball spaghetti underneath bumparoni bumparoni great barrier reef

>>1578373
Bumparoo

Bumping a fantastic thread

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the
Harry flashman fiction books.

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This has been a very fun and fascinating read. Thank you OP.
I think I shall pick up a few books on this subject.

>>1579674
I'm OP, the main books I use for this are "Tournament of Shadows" and "The Great Game", along with a few books about the explorers themselves. "The Great Game" is pretty much the classic book regarding the subject, however its a bit outdated in some regards(For example, new evidence shows that Russia was just as fearful of Britain encroaching on their lands). Regardless, if you're interested in the subject, Hopkirk's book is definitely something you should check out. Its also what I use to pace the story and get some nice but unknown quotes from(Like that "Fortress of the world" one).

I also suggest reading Kim by Rudyard Kipling. Its the book that made the Great Game popular and more widely known. It can be a bit slow at times, and if you know little Hindi/Urdu you might be lost, but its well worth the read. If you do decide to read Kim, it might be best to get an annotated version that explains some of the words Kipling uses. I suspect it would be near impossible to fully understand the story without some things being defined.

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>>1575467
Urquhart would first make contact with the Circassians in 1834. He would meet the leaders of many tribes in their mountain fortresses. The Circassian chiefs quickly found themselves impressed by Urquhart, who came from such a strong country. Urquhart promised to help the Circassians, but not on the actual front. He instead decided that he would have more influence at home, where he could stir the minds of Parliament in to helping him. He returned and held his promise to the chiefs. Urquhart released huge amounts of journals and pamphlets to try and sway the minds of government and people alike. A year later, he would release a book entitled "England and Russia" in which he claimed that Russia would soon overtake the Ottoman Empire, and then convince Persia to attack India.

Around this time, Urquhart also gained a position as ambassador to Constantinople. Despite his high-authority and high-stakes position, he continued in his outward Russophobia. And it was he that would provoke Russia by orchestrating the Vixen Incident. Russia claimed Circassia as its own, and they cited the treaty with the Turks for this claim. Britian of course denied this claim, but it did not feel particularly strong about the subject. So Russia, who assumed that no backlash would come, decided to isolate the region under pretense of a plague. They set up a blockade on the coast of the Black Sea, as they feared that British arms were leaking into the region. Urquhart though, would have none of this. He persuaded a British shipping company to send out a ship called the Vixen into this hostile area. The ship was filled with salt and weapons for Circassian tribesman. Urquhart hoped that he would provoke Russia into action. The Vixen left Constantinople in November of 1836. Its departure was highly publicized in Constantinople, so there was no doubt that the Russians new about it before it even left. Tensions rose by the minute, as it slowly approached the Russian fleet.

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>>1580549
Russia would quickly seize the Vixen and its goods, causing an uproar back in London. The newspapers had a field day with the event. The Times called the on British Government to act or be labeled as cowards. Other newspapers claimed that should Russia fully seize the Caucasus, its border would move that much closer to India. Lord Palmerston was angry at both Russia, and Urquhart who he knew was behind the whole incident. The event would almost lead Britain and Russia to war, though it was avoided in the end. Britain did not wish to engage such a large enemy without an ally, and so negotiations regarding the Vixen were discussed by Palmerston and his counterpart in Russia.

Russia around this time began to claim that British agents lay in the Caucasus. Orders were given to the Circassians to hand over their supposed British advisers, though nothing came of it in the end. Two Englishmen in particular helped out the Circassians. One named John Longworth, a correspondent of The Times, and another named James Bell. Both helped the Circassians in their efforts, but never directly participated in any battles. Eventually, as it became clear that no war would come of the Vixen incident, Longworth and Bell would withdraw, assuring their Circassian friends that they would help at home much like Urquhart. Urquhart himself was recalled as ambassador, though he quickly joined Parliament. He helped the Circassians by supplying guns and ammunition to them throughout their campaign.

The Circassians would fight ferociously for another 25 years. They would eventually be subdued, though it would be at the cost of lots of gold and many Russian lives. Some Circassians to this day still long for independence.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMcmDTX1JwQ

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>>1580730
In the remote area of Eastern Persia, a young British subaltern found himself came upon quite the scene. Henry Rawlinson, who had expected to find himself alone in this lonely part of the world instead saw a party of marching Cossacks. He rode up to the leader of the group and asked him what he was doing. The man claimed he was delivering gifts to the new Shah, though Rawlinson suspected something different. After smoking a few pipes with the group, Rawlinson rode off, towards the Shah's camp. He asked the Shah if what the Russians had said was true. The Shah flatly denied the claim, and instead told him that the Russians were heading for Afghanistan. Britain claimed Afghanistan as in its own sphere of influence, and so any encroachments on this were to be quickly reported. At that moment, the Russians rode into the camp. The leader addressed himself as Captain Yan Viktevich.

Time could not be wasted for Rawlinson though, and so he rode off quickly. He would reach Tehran on November 1. The news would scare the British higher-ups quickly, and it came on the heels of a Persian movement towards Herat, a city widely seen as the key to an invasion of India. Should Viktevich win over Dost Mohammed of Afghanistan, then all would be set for an attack. Luckily for the British, Viktevich would have to deal with a rival in Kabul, the ever working Alexander Burnes.

Dost Mohammed was at an impasse himself. The rich and fertile area of Peshawar had been quietly won by Ranjit Singh during the Afghan Civil War. Mohammed vied to try and reclaim this area, but the British would have none of it so long as the powerful Ranjit Singh stayed their friend. And so Mohammed looked to other powers, namely Russia. He was well aware of Viktevich approaching, but he kept it a secret from Burnes who stayed as an ambassador in Kabul. Though Burnes was not the only Englishman in Kabul, as he was about to find out.

Bumpie

who should have won? I think the anglo

imagine a clean unified state from the euphrates to the ganges

>>1582819
Russia.

>>1583140
Why? They are so backwards.

>>1583153
So they'd fit right in.

No but I really love how prone to edgy massacres Rusdians were during their imperialist period, Brits were absolute pussies in comparison.

>>1537763
Who cares if their ancestor was a marine or spec op operator. What difference does it make if your great grandfather went to some sandpit in the middle-east for a few months to clear IEDs for the people who placed them in the first place.
The mention of Sparta is pointless, their place in history is one which is remember for being good warriors. Athens by comparison is remembered for the cradle of democracy, philosophy and western culture.

>>1584783
wrong thread

Buamp

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>>1580879
Another European also stayed in Afghanistan, and his name was Charles Masson. He had gained a passion for Central Asian history, and he was often found collecting old coins. At times, people would find him out in the desert in nothing but rags. His knowledge of Central Asia was unmatched by anybody else at the time. He claimed to be an American from Kentucky, though further research into the subject proved this false. His real name was James Lewis, and he was an Indian army deserter. At the time, the East India Company used Hindu traders called "news-writers" to gather information. However, it was decided that Masson could be put to good use by giving the Company information. Masson was pardoned for desertion and from then on he was paid to send back any important information. Masson and Burnes both seemed to absolutely detest each other, though the reason for this hate has never been discovered.

Burnes and Dost Mohammed now started talks about Peshawar. Mohammed pleaded with his friend to have the area, but Burnes told him that the Company had just restrained Ranjit Singh from taking the Sindh. Should they now tell him to hand over Peshawar, a war would be sure to break out. They both went over various compromises, but each time these were sent to the Company's Governor General, Lord Auckland, they were shot down. Auckland soon hand-wrote a letter to the Emir, and told him to forget any desires for Peshawar. Burnes was forced to read the letter to Mohammed, who still stayed his friend even after the incident. The letter would however cause outrage all over Kabul once people found out its contents.

Auckland, who was now aware of Viktevich, also wrote that any alliance towards Russia would lead to Ranjit Singh's Khalsa pouring into Afghanistan. The Emir was instructed that if he wanted Peshawar so badly, he should try to make friends with the Sikh leader rather than stay his rival. Mohammed, though, was not going to surrender the only ace up his sleeve.

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>>1586389
Viktevich at first was kept in what amounts to house-arrest. Dost Mohammed consulted with Burnes if he could be trusted, and if the letter he carried was actually from the Tsar. The letter was sent to Burnes to see if it was the real thing. Burnes saw nothing in the letter, and claimed that it looked real enough. Masson however was not so convinced. He was sure that this was a forgery made by Viktevich or his superior in order to make the trip look more official. Burnes claimed that when he saw the letter, it had a seal of authenticity. Masson then sent a servant to go get a bag of Russian sugar from the bazaar. Sure enough, when they looked inside the bag, the same "symbol of authenticity" was there. Burnes had lost his only ammunition against Viktevich. Had he proven that the letter was fake, the Russian would be treated with great suspicion in Kabul. Instead, as time went on Viktevich gained more privelages, and he soon was received in the palace of the Emir, technically against Lord Auckland's orders.

Burnes treated the mission as a failure at this point. After saying good-bye to Mohammed, who - despite all that had gone on - was still his friend, he left Kabul. Mohammed was more mad at Britain itself rather than Burnes, though there was little he could do in his position.

Russia was not devoid of its own problems though. Herat, which Russia was helping Persia conquer, was not giving up. Count Simonich, Viktevich's superior, assured the Shah that all was going well despite the delay. In reality, the city should have fallen long ago. Simonich knew that something was wrong, though the problem was not obvious. What he had not guessed, was that is was just one Englishman.

Best thread we've ever had here

Great thread OP

thanks OP

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>>1537763
10/10 thread, learned a lot. Good shit, OP.

Thanks OP I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually learned something from /his/

Someone screencap this shit, I need to show it to other anons.
>>1589769
I've learned a lot of things from /his/. I love this board.

>>1589769
Indeed. Thank you Op.

Buummpp

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>>1537799
>Chris christie and harry potter

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>>1586506
We're now getting into another one of my favorite stories from the Great Game. The chain of events are crazy, which is why I love it so much.
___________________________

Eldred Pottinger, the nephew of the great Henry Pottinger, had slipped into Herat in the disguise of a Muslim holy man. He had not expected to be doing much in the city, just a routine reconnaissance mission. But nearly three days after he entered, troubling rumors started to fill the bazaars. People were claiming that Persia was coming to invade, and that they had Russian advisers to help them. Pottinger decided to stay and watch the city's siege. The king of the city, Kamran Shah, was called back from another campaign to help defend the city. Kamran was another man vying for the throne of Afghanistan. However, he was a drunk and a tyrant, and so the real political power lie in his vizier, Yar Mohammed.

The city immediately began work on its defenses, though it was quickly discovered that they had been allowed to fall into disrepair. All city exits were closed to prevent spies from escaping. Any people of questionable loyalty to the king were put in jail. Villagers were told to gather as many crops as they could and then enter the city with them. Anything that could not be easily removed was burned down. Nothing that could be of use to the enemy was to stay unbroken.

Up until this point, Pottinger had stayed hidden in his disguise. But, one day in the bazaar, a man whispered into his ear: "You are an Englishman!" The man was a Herati doctor, who had traveled to Calcutta. He was able to make out Pottinger's European features despite his skin being dyed. After learning of his background, the man advised Pottinger to go see Yar Mohammed. Herat needed as much help as it could get, and the knowledge of someone who knew about artillery, logistics, and other important military studies was indispensable. So Pottinger visited the vizier, as the Persian force inched closer by the minute.

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>>1590765
Fighting began on the 23rd of November. The Shah's forces attacked with a vicious barrage of artillery and infantry. The Heratis fought back just as hard, so little ground was lost on either side. The siege had now begun, and both sides participated in horrific acts. First, Yar Mohammed devised a new practice to try and scare the Persians. He proclaimed that anybody who could cut off the head of their enemies and bring it to him would be rewarded greatly. Many heads came through as suspected, and they were soon strung across the walls like lanterns. Their dead soulless eyes stared back at their Persian brethren, a solemn reminder of what would happen should they die. The practice worked great at first, but soon the soldiers became more interested in heads rather than the city's defense. The straw that broke the camel's back was someone bringing back the head of a Herati garrison. Heratis who found themselves in Persian hands were subject to similar fates, and among other things, disembowelment.

The siege dragged on for several weeks. Neither side had gained significant ground yet. The Persians had broken through the outer defenses, but they had continuously failed to surround the city. Inside Herat, things were looking worse and worse. The use of rockets had thoroughly scared all people within the city walls. People reportedly cried and prayed when one passed over their head. Mortars also devastated the city dwellers. They were able to level houses and buildings into nothing but rubble with disturbing accuracy. In one event close to Pottinger's own house, a mortar bomb with a faulty fuse crashed into the roof of a mother and child's home. The mother threw herself between the undetonated bomb and her child, and it just then exploded. Her body, now decapitated, was thrown onto her baby, which then suffocated to death.

The siege, which had only just begun, quickly turned Herat into a hell on Earth.

Bymp

>>1591740
Buomp

Ah, Persia (Safavids).

So much potential, stuck with (usually) shitty rulers and strong neighbours

Dont let this die

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don't die

I had a britbonger white cuck male professor when I studied in NYC my freshmen year of Uni. He actually had us read Kim, but I think I was the only one in the class to actually read it. It was quite fascinating.

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>>1590911
*I said city walls in that post. I'm pretty sure their were some walls in Herat at the time, but they were not all there before word of the invasion. Quite a few walls were built up in the time between word of the Persian army spread and the army's actual arrival.. Also the walls in the drawing are from Herat's Citadel.
_______________________________

Hysteria in the city was also building up from the prolonged siege. In one instance, there were fears that Russian soldiers were drilling a giant hole under the Herati defenses. Soldiers could see that the Russians were digging a hole for something, and many people in that area of the city reported a soft grinding sound. Attempts were made to find the hole that these men were making, only for it to be found out that the sound was just an old woman using a hand-mill to grind wheat.

Persia continued in their attempts to take Herat, but they failed each time to capitalize on any victories. Persia breached the defenses multiple times, but they were always beaten back by the Herati soldiers. Pottinger encouraged the defenders to fight on while also giving more military advice to Yar Mohammed. Pottinger always stayed near the defenses, observing and egging the defenders to fight on.

The Shah was just beginning to get tired of this seemingly endless siege. The Russians told him that this would be a quick and easy victory, though it was obvious that things had gone on longer than planned. New strategies were now tested. At one point, the Shah called for Yar Mohammed's brother, Shere Mohammed, to try and convince his brother to stop fighting. This plan failed though, Yar Mohammed disowned Shere as his brother, and told him that he would be glad to execute him should the time come. Other negotiations were attempted, but all failed. The battle for Herat began once again, to the dismay of the weary invaders and defenders.

>>1594730
Around this time, Count Simonich and the British minister to Tehran, Sir John McNeill both arrived. They were officially observers, though they had obvious biases. They immediately set out to undo each other's work by influencing the Shah. McNeill told the Shah that the siege was not worth it, while Simonich went about trying to help finish the siege quickly.

Both the Persian and the Herati troops were in dire need of help. The Persians, void of supplies, were forced to eat on the wild plants in the area. They were given no pay, insufficient clothes, and few rations, if any at all. The troops stayed in trenches they dug for most days, often times standing knee-deep in water/mud. The morale was beginning to fail as anywhere between ten to twenty troops started dying per day. The siege would have to be abandoned if no more supplies could be given to the invaders.

The situation within Herat was even worse. Food and fuel were in short supply, and the city was plagued with sickness and starvation. Buildings were use for firewood, horses slaughtered for food, and the dead lined the streets, filling Herat with the putrid stench of death. A few people, namely young children and the elderly decided to try and brave going outside the city. This would help ease the tension inside, and quite a few people thought that with constant bombings, the difference in danger between inside and out was minimal. 600 people were let out of the city, but with the siege going on, nobody could tell the Persians before-hand. The Persians started firing at the group, though they quickly figured out that they were civilians. Now, in order to drive them back, the Persians decided to beat them with sticks. The Herati soldiers could not allow the people to re-enter the city, so they began to fire on their own people. They ended up inflicting more casualties than the Persians did, but it eventually worked, the group was forced towards the Persian soldiers rather than the city.

Love you OP.... Post sum maps if you have

Bump, best thread in /his/

Bumpiti

>>1537763

is it just me or is this just such an easily forgotten part of history? not saying its a boring part, just that nobody thinks about it

>>1596655
A lot of it was under hard to find records for a while and that goes for both the British and the Russians. I think people are also just not interested in the history of the region. Not many Westerners know an in depth history of South Asia, and that's even more true for Central Asia(outside of modern history, like newer conflicts in Afghanistan). That means people gloss over the area and never really give it much thought. Even Westerners interested in history usually just look at the popular things: Rome, Greece, America and modern wars like WW2. There's nothing wrong with that, I just wish people got into more obscure things like the Great Game. I like learning about new stuff, especially when someone tells it to me like a story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXtm7THLZ5U

A pretty good Russian documentary on the topic; unfortunately I cant seem to find an English version.

>>1596297
Indeed

>>1597603
Are there any other uploads of this movie If they have Russian subtitles, it's possible to translate them to English in YouTube itself. It definitely wouldn't be perfect, but it would at least be better than nothing.

>>1594899
Count Simonich now stopped his neutrality in the issue, and decided to lead the troops himself. The defenders saw a wave of discipline and professionalism that had not been seen before from the exhausted invaders. The defender's morale quickly dropped, and many people considered surrender. Pottinger would have none of it, he continued to urge the troops to keep fighting and defend their city. Luckily for him, a rumor was soon spread throughout the city that the British were coming to help the Herati's fight off the Russians. The rumor would be ultimately false, though it didn't matter, for the time being the troops' morale was reinvigorated.

On June 24, 1838, the ultimate attack would take place. Simonich started with the use of heavy artillery bombarding into the city from all directions. Next, the infantry were to attack and attempt to breach the walls from five points. If even one of these points were able to be entered, then it could spell doom for the Heratis inside. The Herati soldiers fought bravely for their city, and four of the points could not be breached at all. In the fifth though, artillery was able to successfully break a hole in the ramparts, and infantry started to flood in. The original defenders were killed to man. The Heratis sent their reinforcements in the nick of time though, and the groups started to push into each other. The fight ebbed and flowed, sometimes the Persians were just inside the city, and sometimes the Heratis pushed them outside of the walls.

Pottinger and Mohammed rushed to the scene upon hearing of the conflict. Upon seeing how close the Persians were to rushing inside and taking the city, Yar Mohammed, the heavy-handed, brave man who struck fear into the hearts of his subject soon became fear stricken himself. The vizier slowly walked towards the hole where the Persians and Afghans fought, but he soon froze in his place and sat down on the ground in what seemed like utter defeat.

>>1598698
I said Afghans in the last paragraph but I meant Heratis. While Herat is technically in Afghanistan, Dost Mohammed did not control Herat at that time.
__________________

Both Pottinger and the defenders were dismayed at the sight. Morale plummeted once again, as it seemed to many as if their leader had given up. The Herati infantrymen in the back of the fight soon started sneaking away. Most claimed that they were simply carrying the wounded away, but this was just an obvious bluff to get out of a fight that the they were now deathly afraid of.

Pottinger knew that if a few men were getting away now, in a few minutes the entire army would be running off with the Persians hot on their heels. He taunted and begged at Yar Mohammed to get up and encourage his troops to fight back. He managed to get Yar Mohammed back on his feet and once again towards the wall. Disaster seemed gone now, the vizier ordered his men to fight in the name of Allah. But his screams seemed to fall on silent ears. The men had seen Yar Mohammed wavering, and they too now did the same. Yar Mohammed once again lost all hope, and he quietly muttered something about getting help, as if there were anymore reinforcements he could send at this point. This was the final hope to defend the city, if this failed, then everything was lost.

Pottinger became absolutely enraged this time. He screamed at Mohammed to go and command his troops with bravery rather than cowardice. He took Mohammed by the arm and dragged him forward to the fight. Mohammed once again yelled at his troops to attack, but many continued to flee from the back. Mohammed too now became enraged. He grabbed his scepter and started beating at the backs of his own troops. The men, finding themselves more scared of the vizier rather than the Persians pushed back hard. The onslaught of Heratis rushing forward was too much for the invaders, who now fled themselves. The day was won, but the siege continued on for another three months.

>>1598748
News of the British subaltern now spread quickly from the Persian troops who had seen him. London and Calcutta were quick to figure out who it was and what was going on. The Hero of Herat, as he was later called in Maud Diver's Romantic Novel, soon gained the same acclaim as Alexander Burnes upon returning from Bukhara. The Shah immediately ordered McNeill to withdraw Pottinger from the city. McNeill pointed out that Pottinger was technically not under his command, and that a request to Calcutta would need to be made. The Shah now asked Mohammed to get rid of Pottinger or continue to face the siege. The vizier claimed that the siege would simply resume once Pottinger was removed from the city, and so he refused to hand him over.

The stalemate soon came to an end though. The British, who alarmed at both Viktevich and Herat now sent out a naval task-force into the Persian Gulf. They seized various islands and then sent a man named Charles Stoddart to the Shah asking him what his next decision would be. If the siege in Herat continued, then the British would declare war and wreak havoc. The Shah decided to end the siege, not wanting to risk his lands.

The Russian Foreign Minister Count Nesselrode had claimed for a long time that there was no Russian involvement in the siege. This was clearly proven false though, and the Russian ambassador in Britain was told that Simonich and Viktevich were clearly against British interests in the region. Palmerston demanded their immediate removal from the area. Tsar Nicholas could do nothing but comply with British demands. Simonich was made the scapegoat for all the problems. Viktevich would at first be warmly welcomed, but things quickly turned sour. He was cold shouldered by Nesselrode who wished to isolate himself from the incident. Viktevich would eventually come to the room of the foreign ministry and burn all of his papers on Afghanistan. He would kill himself that same night with a pistol to the head.

Great thread I really need to read more about the great game.
At times like this I love /his/.

>>1599524
Yeah, it's great. I learned a lot ITT.

>>1597603
I found an English Documentary on the Game. It starts pretty late into the story though(With Alexander Burnes and his travels into Bokhara). If you don't mind that, then I think that its good enough from what I've seen(The first 30 or so minutes). Could not find a second part unfortunately.

>>1601646
>I found an English Documentary on the Game.

Name?

>>1602703
Somehow forgot to link it in my first post. I only watched a little bit but it's been somewhat accurate up to the point I got to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a7bP49ehKQ

>>1603834
Thanks

>>1605892
Bamp

>>1605892
Bump

>>1605892
Bomp

Bumping again

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>>1608189
It's ok dude, you only need to bump every few hours, board's one of the slower ones.

>>1608202
bump

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>>1598895
The question of which man could be entrusted the rule of Afghanistan was always in the back of the minds of the East India Company executives. There were quite a few men to choose from. Burnes, and now McNeill too, continued to promote Dost Mohammed, though Lords Auckland and Palmerston had decided from the moment they heard of the arrival of Viktevich that Mohammed was a friend of the Russians. Arthur Conolly, another important explorer(I'll get more into him later) promoted Kamran Shah, the man who headed Herat which was at this point still under siege. He was obviously an enemy of both the Tsar and the Shah of Persia, and Eldred Pottinger must have certainly wooed him over to the side of the British. In the end though, the preferences of none of these men mattered. There were people who held much more influence in the East India Company, and it is they who would ultimately decide who the British must support.

William Macnaghten was one of these men. He was a trusted adviser to Auckland, the Governor-General of India. Macnaghten promoted Shah Shujah, the now overweight and exiled one time owner of the throne of Afghanistan. Alexander Burnes had met him before on his way back from the Indus expedition. He called him a greedy slob who was unfit to rule anything. Macnaghten devised a plan by which the Sikhs under Ranjit Singh with the help of some of Shujah's supporters could lead an invasion force into Afghanistan and place Shujah on the throne. This plan was supported by Palmerston and Auckland who felt that it minimized the spilling of any Company soldier's blood. Ranjit Singh was at first up for the idea, but upon more thought he realized the faults inside it. He more than anyone in the Company knew of the problems one could face trying to march soldiers into Afghanistan. Fighting the Afghanis in their own terrain was always a gamble, and so he eventually declined any involvement. That meant only one way to secure Shujah's throne, British blood.

Bymp

Ballump

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>>1608670
Only one again today, hopefully I can do more tomorrow when I'll finally be a lot more free.
________________________

Warhawks had already been urging Auckland to go forth and declare their deal with Shah Shujah. Herat was still under siege at the time, and the city was located on a strategic route that led to India. The hawks felt that a preemptive action to take control of Afghanistan would prove vital in the defense of British India. Eventually Auckland gathered Ranjit Singh and Shah Shujah all together to sign the pact that would assert their "eternal" friendship to each other. However, before they could send troops marching into Afghanistan, some kind of Casus Belli was needed. For this, Auckland would produce his Simla Manifesto. It made Britain's intention of removing Dost Mohammed from the throne quite clear. It justified this by claiming that Mohammed was a tyrant, liar, traitor, and all-around evil person who had taken the throne from its rightful heir, Shujah.

Preparations were now being made for the new expected Emir. Macnaghten was knighted and made the envoy to the court of Shujah. Burnes, who although in private was devastated by his country's betrayal of his friend, was still ambitious and ready to for his new mission. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was also knighted. Eldred Pottinger, still defending Herat, was to become one of Macnaghten's four political assistants upon his return. Charles Stoddart was sent to Bokhara to assure its Emir that British movements near the Afghani border were not directed towards him.

The Army of The Indus was now ready to set out into Afghanistan. It consisted of 15,000 British and Indian soldiers. Behind it was a group of 30,000 men, women, and children. Some of these people were workers like cooks and servants. Others were the families of the soldiers.

The British now set out from the Bolan and Kojak Passes, ready to subdue the Afghans and place a new man on the Emir's throne.

>>1537799
Did this inspire the man who would be king

>>1613827
The Great Game was definitely a big influence on Kipling's story, but I don't think Pottinger and Christie's story was one of these influences.

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>>1612764
The invasion force quickly found itself in a number of problems. For one, anybody who got slightly behind or away from the main group was picked off by bandits in the passes. Feeding everybody also became an issue. It was at first assumed that soldiers and families alike would be able to live off the land, but blight had destroyed crops from the previous year. This left the area a barren wasteland and also slowed down the British approach. Time was not too much of a problem though. Dost Mohammed had expected the British to go through the more traveled and larger Khyber Pass, so he had posted many of his units there. This was indeed the British plan at first, but Ranjit Singh objected at the last minute and so the troops were sent through the Sindh and into the more southern Bolan Pass. Upon figuring out that the British were going through a different path, Mohammed was forced to try and quickly move all of his troops South, which would waste valuable time on the part of the Afghans.

With little food, morale in the army declined. Burnes quickly came through though, and he bought nearly 10,000 sheep for a huge sum from a Baluchi Khan. The Khan also warned the British that their plan was doomed to fail. No Afghan respected Shah Shujah, and the presence of foreign troops in this fiercely independent nation's land was to cause resentment. The British would ultimately not heed the Khan's warnings. It was much too late now, there was no turning back.

The first test of the Afghans resistance would be in Kandahar, the southern capital of the country. It was ruled by one of the Emir's brothers, but its leader had abandoned it now. The city was free for the taking, and so the British decided to let Shah Shujah's own small contingent march into the city first. The idea was to make it seem as though they were the one's doing the conquering. It was hoped that this would draw more support and respect for Shujah, and make the people to peacefully accept his rule.

Boooomp

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>>1616235
All had been going well so far. As Shujah and his men were paraded down the streets, people threw flowers onto the path and thanked him for freedom. Macnaghten was quite sure that he was right now, and that both Burnes and the Khan were wrong. It seemed obvious to him that the Afghans loved Shujah. He quickly devised a way to allow the Afghans to show support for their new ruler. He decided to hold a durbar outside of the city.

The military parade was extravagant. As Shujah rode through the extended lines of British and Indian troops, he was saluted. At the end, their was a 101 gun salute. There was only one problem with the event, and that was the attendance. Merely a few hundred Afghans showed up to this display of power. Macnaghten was disappointed, but he knew that where traditional diplomacy failed, he could always turn to the other option to gain support. Cold, hard, British gold.

The next city on the map was Ghazni. Outfitted with huge and thick walls, getting into the city would be extremely hard. Even worse, the British had left all heavy artillery back at Kandahar, being misled that Ghazni would have much weaker defenses. Food was once again low, and waiting for the artillery to reach the British camp could take weeks. This left only once option, entrance through one of the gate. It was unlikely that anyone from the inside would be able to open up the city, so it was decided to try and use explosives. The problem with this was that it would essentially be a suicide mission. The group led to plant these explosions would likely be killed to a man, and so someone of great bravery was needed. It was decided that Henry Durand of the Bengal Engineers would lead and carry out the task.

Another problem was choosing which gate to breach. Here, Mohan Lai, Burnes friend, came in handy. He knew someone in the city, and they informed him that all but one gate was bricked up. The plans were now set up, and the British readied themselves for the siege.

>>1537861
>To avoid giving away his identity, he claimed he was a Shia, not a Sunni. This excuse let him leave
How times have changed

>>1618472
yup

propane, propane...

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>>1619525
Frig off Lahey

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>>1617943
As General Keane, the man the mission, finished up his plans for Ghazni, a lookout saw a group of Afghanis upon the top of the hill. Their position overlooked the British encampment and they were armed. The cavalry and infantry were called, but the men all fled, save for a few who were captured.. Shujah asked for all of them to be paraded before him. As the captives marched, one broke free and attempted to attack Shujah. A huge brawl occurred, and one royal attendant was stabbed. Shujah, enraged by the act, ordered all captives to be executed before him. This was done without British permission.

A British officer walking by Shujah's tent heard a commotion inside and decided to take a peek. He saw a horrific scene. The seemingly giddy executioners hacking away at the fifty or so prisoners in the tent. Even by the standards of Afghanistan and the rest of Central Asia, this was a barbaric act.

News of Shujah's massacre spread quickly, and the British found themselves embarrassed by the fact that they were supporting a ruler who could steep to such lows. The reputations of both Shujah and the British were hurt by the incident.

The event did not slow down the British though, and plans for Ghazni were now set. The goal was to divert away all attention from the main "Kabul Gate", the one gate not bricked up. The explosives team would then set bags of gunpowder and Henry Durand would light the fuse. The siege started at 3 AM, with the British directing their Sepoys and light artillery on the side opposite to the Kabul Gate. In the darkness on the other side, the explosives team set down their gunpowder. With the charges then placed, Durand stayed as the others all moved away. He tried to light the fuse two times, with it failing on both. He feared that he might have to light the actual bag and sacrifice himself, but the fuse lit on the third try. He quickly ran and in an instant force of the explosions collapsed the gate

>>1546083
One of THE great movies

OP is a pretty cool guy. Anons like you are the reason why I like this board.

>>1622223
I have been meaning to check out this film ever since I learned of it on this thread. Is it good? Should I read the original story or is watching the movie good enough?

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>>1621633
British troops poured into the still smoking gate. Their bayonets came face-to-face with the swords of the Afghans. In the chaos of the battle, the bugler sounded the alarm to retreat. He thought that the men were still outside and the gate was blocked up by debris. This almost cost the British the battle. The mistake was quickly realized and rectified.

Now the entire assault force entered the fort. The Afghans bravely fought the British, but it was their first time seeing soldiers trained with the European military tactics of the time. The defense started to disintegrate, but the Afghans continued to fight for their lives. It was useless though, the British quickly won the city with few casualties.

It was an astounding victory, 17 dead, 165 wounded on the British side. Compared to the Afghans who had more than 500 dead. The victory awarded the British huge stores of grain, flour, and meat.

The loss of Ghazni was devastating. Mohammed had tried to send help to the fort with a 5,000 strong force, but upon hearing of the victory, the force turned back. Support for Mohammed started to shake. People started to support whichever side they thought was going to win. General Keane resumed the march, and in a week he reached Kabul. They found that Dost Mohammed had fled his capital. The city surrendered without a fight.

Shah Shujah once again marched in, but there would be no celebration on the part of the Afghans. John Kaye, a historian on the matter, claimed that "It was more like a funeral procession." Attempts were made to try and capture Dost Mohammed. All failed, but it mattered not, for Mohammed would come and turn himself in. General Keane, now Lord Keane, returned to India with a good portion of the troops. While Macnaghten was ecstatic with the victory, he was the opposite. "I cannot but congratulate you on quitting this country" he wrote to Durand. "For mark my words, it will not be long before their is here some signal of catastrophe."

Oh yeah, for anyone looking for the source for

>>1627586
>>1612764

I found a site which has a ton of them. These are lithographs, by a surgeon in the Army of the Indus named John Atkinson. They're all pretty high-quality, which is something you often don't get regarding the Great Game. If you're interested here's the link:

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1800_1899/northwest/firstafghanwar/firstafghanwar.html

Click on the links in brackets(for example "[*Atkinson 07*]" ), the other ones point you to a dead website.

I am enjoying this quality bread.

WHERE is the second episode? Someone should email someone to get it, or something.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jk6ch

>>1628313
I've looked everywhere but still haven't found it. Maybe there's a torrented version of it?

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>>1627586
Though the victory in Afghanistan was a huge gain for the British, they could not slack yet. Russia was still in the picture, and movements towards Khiva left the Company officials on their toes. Other news was also worrying. Charles Stoddart, who was sent to Bokhara to reassure the khan, had been thrown in a pit and was chained up at its bottom.

Khiva though, was more important. A Russian victory there would allow the borders to once again decrease in distance. It should be noted that Russia was not exactly too fond of the British victory in Afghanistan either. They too viewed the gains there as dangerous border growth, just in the opposite direction.

Russia set out for Khiva right after the invasion. It had been a long dream of theirs to take the city, with its vast bazaars and luxurious Central Asian goods. Their excuse was a good one, they wished to free the Russian slaves found there. Muraviev's findings proved extremely useful in this regard. Russia also had the ability to shoot down any British objections. Count Nesselrode, still the foreign minister, had wrote many times to the British about the "the indefatigable activity displayed by English travellers to spread disquiet among the peoples of Central Asia, and to carry agitation even into the heart of the countries bordering our frontier." Even after these letters, the British had decided to both place their navy in the Persian Gulf and invade Afghanistan. Russia could now easily claim that they had given their warnings, but that the British had failed to act on them.

The final push to invade Khiva came from a wild and false claim that the British had sent a group of officers their. Upon hearing of this, General Perovsky, the commander of the troops at Orenburg, decided to assemble his 5,000 strong force. The Russians wanted to keep their intentions secret, but if found out, they would claim that it was simply a "scientific mission." The group soon entered the cold and barren desert.

Vamo la teeeee

>>1633180
What?

>>1633180
Get out you fucking spic

>>1634520
Echame papu, si te dan los huevos...

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>>1630608
Warning of the invasion came not from the British to the Khivans, but rather the other way around. Khiva had its own effective spy network, and it used it well. One of these native spies came to the British stationed in Herat, asking for aid in defending the city. Captain James Abbott, was decided as the one to be sent out. He wore native Afghan dress, but he was still wary. The fate of Colonel Stoddart, still entrapped in that dark pit in Bokhara, was fresh in his mind. Missteps towards the Khan of Khiva when dealing with diplomacy could mean a similar fate.

There was one goal in mind, get to Khiva before the Russians. If Abbott could do that then he had the possibility of much more leverage. There was even the chance of convincing the Khivans to let of their Russian slaves. Then the Russians would lack a motive to go to war over, could possibly be sent back. Abbott was sent off alone in his Afghan dress, to get to Khiva. The city was 500 miles away and he set out on Christmas Eve of 1839.

Perovsky's own force now departed as well. The 5,000 men were followed by nearly 10,000 camels bearing their supplies. He knew the coming march would be grueling. Soldiers would have trek through steppe and desert, in the cold of the winter. Before leaving, Perovsky would read out a letter telling the troops where they would be marching to. Rumors had been flying about among the confused and uninformed soldiers, but now it was official.

Everything, at least at first, went according to plan. Winter had been chosen because of the burning sun that would exhaust the soldiers during Summer. The goal was to reach Khiva before February, when the true brunt of Winter would be revealed. The early winter was still quite cold though, and many soldiers were shocked by it. Men would cover themselves in sheepskin coats throughout the night. Their breath and sweat would often freeze their facial hair to these coats. Despite these setbacks, everything still looked fine.

>>1636179
Before long, the snow started to pick up. It was still only December, but the rate and amount falling was enormous. Even the locals had never seen anything like this so early into Winter. With the heavy precipitation, the tracks of soldiers in the front were lost. The only way for troops in the back to stay in position was the erection of snow pillars made by those in the front. Snow heaps meant places that marked night camps, though the many dead camel found in these areas were proof enough. The weather meant that food quickly became scarce. Soon enough, more and more camels began to die. The expedition was slowed down by the need to transfer important supplies from dead camels to living ones. One subaltern was sent to try and buy more camels, but the Khivans, with their smart and ever-present spy system, caught him.

Janurary marked the death of nearly half the camels in the journey. The other half, now crazed with hunger, started chew and gnaw through the wooden boxes carrying rations. Troops were now forced to unload supplies every night to prevent this, and so the journey was slowed down even more. Men were forced to sleep a measly 4 - 6 hours. They often got rest at 8 or 9 o'clock. They were awake by 2 or 3 so that they could pack up their supplies and continue their travels.

Snow was now waist-deep, and so work had to be cleared in order to allow the camels and artillery to pass through. The cold tested the limits of the men's morale. Temperatures were often too low to allow changing clothes without risking hypothermia or frostbite. Some men wore the same soiled linen clothes that they had left with. Scurvy also began to take hold of the men, who were by now severely deprived of any oranges or lime. January drew to a close, but the men were still less than half-way to Khiva. Perovsky now personally looked at the individual columns of men to see if they could bear another month, and reach Khiva. The answer was a resounding and unanimous no.

>>1636258
I'm feeling it for the russian slaves

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>>1637712

Oof yeah, it'd be horrible. This winter was probably the worst most locals had and would ever see in their entire lives. The slaves were the ones that would be shoveling the snow, many of them were in complete rags. Luckily(If you can even call it that) the owners would be sure to keep them alive. Male Russians were sold for the highest cost, as they were thought to be the best for manual labor and were also much harder to capture. Slave owners would definitely not want to over-work their most expensive piece of property. Male Persians were a dime a dozen though, and I presume many would probably die out there. It'd be opposite for females though, as Persian women were thought to be more beautiful and therefore better sex slaves. Any captured Russian women would be sold for much lower prices.

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>>1636258
It was humiliating to both the men and Pervosky, but nothing else could be done. If they wanted any chance of surviving, then turning back was the only option. It was not military defeat, they hadn't even seen a single enemy yet, it was simply bad luck. Had they maybe chosen to leave just a month earlier then maybe they would have made it. But they didn't, and so they now turned back to Orenburg from where they left. The return was just as grueling as the forward march.

In fact, it was worse. The dead camels left on the trail attracted hungry packs of wolves. In the night, they would ravage the camps, and some would end up killing men. Scurvy continued to ravage the men, but the cure was not known to most people at the time. Perovsky therefore tried to give the men fresh supplies of meat to stop the illness. This actually seemed to make the epidemic worse. Scurvy was then blamed on the poor hygiene of the men, many of whom had still not changed their soiled clothes.

The returning march lasted through February, the worst of the winter. March gave a much needed improvement in weather. The appearance of the sun was at first welcomed, but it quickly caused snow-blindness in the troops. Vitamin deficiencies had already weakened their eyes, so the reflection on the snow was especially bad. Glasses were made of horsehair, but they did little to stop the pain.

The men returned to Orenburg in May, nearly seven months after departure. Their conditions were horrid. Of the 5,200 men that left, nearly 1000 died. Of the 10,000 Camels, only 1,500 returned. No Khivans had died, and the Tsar still did not preside over the city. The mission was a complete failure, and news of it spread around Britain. The London newspapers called the attempted invasion an evil and horrible idea. The St. Petersburg newspapers defended it by claiming that the British did the same with Afghanistan, but instead had dubious evidence that Dost Mohammed was doing anything bad at all.

Bimp

Bumo

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>>1537893
There's something for /tg/ atleast.

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Great thread OP. Do this again sometime with another subject. I'd love to see more in this style.

>>1645665
Honestly, while writing another thread sounds interesting, I doubt I'll ever do it. This entire thread is way over my head in terms of work and time. It can easily take me upwards of 25 minutes or more to make a single post. If that seems too long, then you don't understand how much stuff goes in beforehand. Reading an excerpt, looking up images and facts, making the summary, and a spell/grammar checking all takes time. Some of that stuff, the spelling and grammar especially, goes unfinished because I'm too tired(I usually do these anywhere from 12:00 to 3:00 AM). The rate I'm going at is absolutely abysmal. At the start of this thing 23 days ago, I thought I'd at least be 75% done by now, but I'm only just now getting into the 1840's and 50's. 1 - 2 posts a day is all I usually have time for.

That being said, I do still have fun writing this up, which is why I continue to do it. The other reason I can't do it again is knowledge and interest. I did this thread because I know a good bit about the Great Game because of how interested I am in it. It just wouldn't be the same if I did something similar on the crusades or hundred year's war or something like that. I wouldn't know that much, and I'd probably get a lot wrong, even while reading a book along with it. Hell, I've probably got at least 2 or 3 things wrong in this thread by now, and that's despite my own interest in the subject. If someone else wants to do something similar, then they can be my guest. It'd be nice to be a reader for a change.

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>>1641365
Abbot though, was unaware of all of this when he reached Khiva in January of 1840. He rode into the city in British uniform, changing from the Afghan clothes he departed with. Rumors, as always, had preceded his arrival. Some called him a Russian spy pretending to be English. Right before Abbot had arrived in the city, two Europeans suspected of being Russian, but claimed that they were English were tortured by the Khan. They had hot glowing skewers placed on their body until they confessed. Once they did, their throats were cut, and their bodies dumped outside the city. Abbot had to be careful in order to not end up like his mysterious predecessors.

Few Khivans had ever heard of Britain at all before the Herat incident involving Eldred Pottinger. Many thought them to be a small tribe, or a vassal state of the Russians. Some thought that the British and Russians were intent on working together to divide and conquer Central Asia among themselves. With tensions and suspicions running high, it was unlikely that Abbot could easily convince the Khivans to free the slaves, let alone have them believe he wasn't a Russian.

But, the Khan was desperate, and he knew that his own army stood know chance against the Russian one, which was rumored to be nearly 100,000 men strong. So he decided to meet Abbot, though only under special conditions that he not see the city's defenses. If he was indeed a spy, then depriving him of these views ensured that the information he could give back would be of minimal use.

On their first meeting, Abbot handed the Khan a letter from his superior at Herat. It was mostly a goodwill gesture that said that the British government supported Khiva to an extent. The Khan, hoping for military assistance, was quite disappointed by it. Abbot then explained that the only way to stop the Russians was the freeing of the slaves. If these could be freed, then the Russians would lose their important Casus Belli and would be forced to turn back.

>>1646206
Abbot even offered to go and lead the slaves out and meet the Russians who were advancing. This was denied by the Khan who was quite suspicious still. What, he asked, would stop him from colluding with the Russians? Why wouldn't the Russians just murder him. The answer to the latter question would open up a whole new world of inquires. Abbot claimed that Russia and Britain were technically not at war, to which the Khan asked why. Abbot claimed that the British and Russians were much to strong and much to close to each other. If they got into a war, then the deaths would be huge. It soon became clear to Abbot that the Khivan people, and the Khan himself had little idea about the size of the empires around them. He was quite proud of having 20 large guns, and was surprised to hear that some British ships often held five times as many as his entire nation owned.

After a while of negotiations, a deal was finally reached. Abbot, along with a small company of Russian slaves, was to make his way to St. Petersburg and somehow convince the Tsar to stop all military actions on Khiva in return for the freedom of the rest of the slaves. Abbot would hold a letter written by the Khan himself that he was to read to the Tsar. The slaves though were quickly retracted. The Khan was still wary of being double-crossed, and with nothing to hold hostage for Abbot, he decided to keep the Russians, in case Abbot really was a spy.

Abbot left Khiva with a small escort, hoping to reach Fort Alexandrovsk, 500 miles away. Major Todd, Abbot's superior had heard nothing from him ever since he left. It was hypothesized that he was in fact dead, but in reality, the Khan had been intercepting any letters sent back in hopes that it might keep him safe. It was decided that another man try and reach the city, and Lieutenant Richmond Shakespear was picked. With a group of hand picked Heratis, he too set out, ready to figure out what happened to Abbot and to hopefully finish the job.

>>1537763

>>1646117
thanks a lot for doing this, i hope this becomes a new trend on this board

>>1646206
>>1646310
That khan of Khiva was a huge bastard. Just like all of those central asians have always been.

I'm a better person for finding this thread OP. Please continue.

bump UUUU

>>1648655
I'd argue that he was just taking precautions. There was very little evidence for any of what Abbot said, and he easily could have been a spy.

File: Karakum_Desert_That_Shakespear_Passed_Through.jpg (929KB, 1000x750px) Image search: [Google]

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>>1646310
Four days into the journey, gossip about Abbott reached Shakespear. The rumor said that Abbot was alive and had already reached St. Petersburg. Not only had he succeeded in convincing the Tsar to call off the invasion, he had also forced him to tear down any and all forts East of the Caspian. Shakespear set aside these obviously wild stories and continued on. His suspiciouns were confirmed upon seeing a group of slave traders walking towards Khiva. Shakespear was appalled at the sight of them all, the Turkmen slavers, and the slaves themselves, 2 women and 8 children, all boys. Although he was not allowed to kill the slavers due to it jeopardizing his mission, he still lectured them. He told them that what their job was a plague on humanity. The Heratis also showered the slavers with curses and called them names.

After passing through the caravan town of Merv, they entered the desert stretch that would lead to the Oxus. The constant winds carrying sand led to tracks of past trains being covered. Luckily for Shakespear, his group had an adequate guide who was able to stay on the trail even during the worst of times. Shakespear wrote: "Had anything happened to the guide, or had he been less intelligent, the destruction of the party would have been inevitable." By June 12, they had crossed the Oxus and now entered Khiva.

Abbott had found himself in a whole mess of troubles while Shakespear was travelling. He set out to Alexandrovsk, but half-way through the journey, bandits attacked and captured him and his soldiers. He and his men were chained up and were just about to be sent for the slave market in some far off city. Luckily, a few letters from Major Todd and a letter from the Khan of Khiva to the Tsar were found. The bandits, who just now realized the importance of the men they had captured, released them for fear of retribution by either of the three powers. Abbot continued on to Alexandrovsk where he would be warmly welcomed by the Russian garrison.

>>1651428
Shakespear was summoned on the day of his arrival. By now, the Khan had learned of the fate of the Russians, and he was ecstatic about his "victory". However, Abbot had warned him that even if the Russians were to lose, they would simply attack again, in more numbers. The Khan was still quite anxious about the Russians coming back, so he decided to renew the talks about freeing the slaves. After much discussion, the Khan decided that it was necessary to free the Russian slaves.

Shakespear was set up in the garden outside of the capital. All slaves that could be found were rounded up by the Khivan guards and then sent here for documentation by Shakespear. At first, nearly 300 males, 18 females, and 11 children were found in the city. Most of them were peasant fisherman who were captured in the Caspian. Many slaves inside the city were still in bondage though, mostly due to the high cost. One male Russian cost the equivalent of nearly four camels. Many rich owners were reluctant to give away their slaves for which they had payed so much for. One case involving 2 children greatly loved by a woman in the Khan's court. After much deliberation, even to the point of almost calling off the entire event, the 2 children were set free and returned to their mother.

The group numbered 416, and they were all supposed to make the same journey that Abbot had made to Fort Alexandrovsk. The area was still filled with bandits, and so Shakespear and his soldiers had to move carefully. Getting even slightly off trail could mean the whole of the civilians being enslaved again. Ahead of the arrival, Shakespear would send a letter in English to the commander. The Russians feared some kind of trap, for the idea that all the slaves were freed was inconceivable. How could one man succeed where an army had failed?

>>1651524
By the way, you may notice that Shakespear only carried around 416 slaves with him, while in Muraviev's account, the Russian slaves claimed that there were nearly 3,000 of them. As I understand it, the note in the barrel of Muraviev's gun was talking about Russian slaves in the whole of Central Asia including Bokhara, Merv, ect., not just Khiva itself. Another quote by Muraviev clears this up a bit:

"A young Russian (up to 25 years of age) fetches from fifty to eighty tillas. The Persian slaves are much cheaper. Of the latter there may be 30 thousand in Khiva, but there are not more than 300 Russian slaves there. The Persians...come into the market in batches of five, ten, and even thirty at a time. Their captors do not trouble themselves about them on the road and if they get exhausted, leave them without compunction to die on the steppe. On arrival at Khiva the owner sets himself down with them in the market, and purchasers surround him, inspecting and examining the poor wretches and haggling about their price as if they were horses... masters have the power of putting their slaves to death, but seldom avail themselves of this right from economical considerations."

It's also a bit of my fault for not clearing that up a bit. I got my numbers mixed up a bit some of my previous posts about Muraviev, which is why I'm posting this now.

>>1651555
Kudos for clearing it up at all. Others wouldn't have bothered!

>>1558392

>>1537776
The afridis

>>1555928
>literally anglicized versions of indian words

Bjumpa

Bumpalo

Bumpin

>>1651524
After many talks, the former slaves were now let in to Alexandrovsk. The garrison was grateful for Shakespear's work and that night they had a great feast. The Russian peasants viewed Shakespear as a hero and savior above no other. In the fort, the Heratis that Shakespear brought with him would be shocked by the culture around them. Women whose knees could be seen, people feeding unclean animals like dogs, and some of them even claimed to find idol worship. The men decided to leave while the Lieutenant would continue on into Russia. As they left, Shakespear remarked: "never had a man better servants."

Various ships were readied for him, as he now journeyed to Orenburg from the Caspian Coast. After changing back into his traditional European clothing, he would meet General Perovsky himself. Perovsky thanked Shakespear for his great work on returning the Russian slaves, and he ordered for 600 Khivans that were being held in Orenburg and Astrakhan to be released immediately. Shakespear kept his eyes peeled for any new movements against Khiva, though he saw nothing of interest.

6 months after leaving Herat, Shakespear arrived at St. Petersburg, where he would meet Tsar Nicholas. The Tsar, like many of Shakespear's previous encounters, would profusely thank him for his work. In private circles though, the great leader of Russia would be enraged at the young Lieutenant's work in removing any pretext for war with Khiva. Whatever the case, at home Shakespear would receive wild appraise, not unlike Alexander Burnes eight years prior. As for the more modest Abbot, his work would in this affair would largely be overshadowed. His time would come during the approaching Sikh Wars, where he would play a key role.

Overall the British were feeling confident. They had won against Mohammed, defended Herat, and now won the race for Khiva too. However, this could not last long. Something was once again brewing in Afghanistan...

>>1655947
The British had received many warnings for the coming event, indeed it should have been obvious. Alexander Burnes, one of the most experienced and knowledgeable players of the Great Game, told them the dangers of overthrowing Dost Mohammed. That should have been their first hint. Ranjit Singh who led one of the strongest nations in the subcontinent had backed out on the invasion of Afghanistan for vague reasons involving previous attacks. That should have been their second hint. The lack of excitement or celebration for Shah Shujah upon conquering various cities should have been their third hint. Shujah's massacre also should have told the about the kind of person he was. Whatever the case, the British did not listen or heed these warnings.

Macnaghten and Burnes relationship had strained in the past few months, and so communication was failing. They had not seen what was going on ever the British arrived two years prior in Kabul. Burnes felt that he was a "paid idler" whose advice fell on deaf ears. Macnaghten was ready to just leave Afghanistan for good, as he had been gifted the Governorship of Bombay/Mumbai, a highly prestigious title. If he admitted to Lord Auckland that something was wrong, then his ability to enter this position would have been delayed. But the problem was that things were going south in Afghanistan.

The British saw Kabul as an exotic place to relax due to its nice climate. They played Cricket, drank tea, and did all the things they would do at home. The wives and children of British officers were brought to be raised their. The muslim leaders though, were enraged by what they saw as dangerous to their own culture. But while Macnaghten continued to persuade Auckland that everything was fine, officers on the ground reported to him that things were most certainly not.

Anyone complied these into a Pastebin yet?

Let's not forget to bump comrades.

bumpovsky

Bumperella

>>1656137
If a lot of people want it, then I might just do it myself. I have a lot of work though, so it'd be appreciated if someone else decides to take up the reins on that kind of project. Seems like something that could take a while, and between this and other stuff I have to do, the time I have is limited.

File: ArthurConolly.jpg (137KB, 569x624px)

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>>1656023
Not too far away from Afghanistan was Bokhara, which had changed greatly ever since Alexander Burnes left it. The old vizier was gone, and the son of the last Khan now ruled. This man was a tyrant, and the leaders of the other two Turkestan khanates, Khiva and Khokand, absolutely despised him. Even these Khans who ruled heavy-handedly thought that the new Bokharan leader was too strict and unforgiving. During the invasion of Afghanistan, Colonel Stoddart, had been sent to assure Bokhara that it would be safe and that no harm would come to them, was locked up and thrown down into a pit.

Charles Stoddart has been chained up in this pit for nearly two years now. Attempts by the British government to have him released had up to this point all failed. When Dost Mohammed finally turned himself in, the Khan took him out of the pit and instead put him in house arrest. Here Stoddart was able to smuggle out letters that he sent to England. In them, he claims that only the advance of a British army could stop Emir Nasrullah's jailing of him. However it soon became clear to him that their would be no British army coming. Nobody would be there to help him in his time of need.

At one point, his will failed him. A rope was slid down into the pit, and the executioner told Stoddart that he would be beheaded unless he converted to Islam. After much consideration, Stoddart agreed. It saved his life, but when he finally thought that he would be freed, the chief of the guards told him that because he was under much stress, his conversion was invalid. The Colonel was thrown back into the pit, though he was still allowed to live for longer.

Here enters Arthur Conolly. He was the archetype Great Game player, smart, brave, and wiling to take risks if it meant bettering his country. It may then be fitting that he would also be the first man to coin the term "the Great Game" referring to the ever-growing tensions he saw between Russia and Britain in Central Asia.

>>1658647
I'll see what I can do tomorrow after classes or the day after.

File: The_Bug_Pit.jpg (562KB, 1500x1125px)

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>>1660335
Conolly had made a big name for himself back in the beginning of the 1830's. He traveled from the British embassy in Moscow all the way to Herat, and his book on the journey made him quite famous among various reader circles. This fame gave him considerable power among members of the British parliament and East India Company alike.

Now in India, he had devised a plan to keep the Russians far away from the "jewel in the crown". His goal was to make a common alliance between the three Turkestani khanates of Khiva, Bokhara, and Khokand. His idea was a hit amongst members of Parliament. In India though, he would receive copious amounts of criticism for it. In the end, Conolly had more than enough influence, and he was able to get his plan approved by Macnaghten. Alexander Burnes' complaints about the matter once again fell on silent ears.

But immediate problems sprung up. In Khiva, he was accepted graciously, but attempts to work out an alliance between the other two khanates failed miserably. The same would happen in Khokand too. In fact, the Khan of Khokand was about to go to war with Bokhara. His mission was a disaster by now. However, Stoddart still lived in that pit in Bokhara. If Conolly could save him, then he might also save face.

The Khans of the other two nations warned Conolly of the dangers of going to Bokhara, but he failed to listen. There are many reason for why this might be. One hypothesis suggests that Conolly was in great despair and cared not whether he lived or died. A girl that he was infatuated with had flatly denied him by letter, and so he was now left with no choice but to try and move on. Another reason was that multiple letters had been sent to him by the Khan under the guise of Stoddart. These letters claimed that Bokhara was safe and that he'd be fine to enter it. Whatever the case, Conolly decided to enter Bokhara, and he was, perhaps unsurprisingly, thrown into the bug pit with his friend.

almost made it to 300 lads

Bump Britannia!

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Speaking of Central Asian exploration, have you heard about Sven Hedin, OP ?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Hedin

Bumpo

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>>1660425
Why he was imprisoned is still a bit vague, but the most commonly cited reason is that Emir Nasrullah got angry at the country of Britain, and in particular, Queen Victoria. He claimed to have sent a letter to the queen, and became enraged after waiting a long time for a hand-written message from her. The Emir, was perhaps confused about the size and power of Great Britain, much like his counterpart in Khiva was. Whatever the case, his mood towards Conolly turned sour. Conolly was also thrown into the Bug Pit, and they both lay chained up at the bottom, flies, rats, and all sorts of other vermin crawling over their skin. Letters were sent for their release, but nothing ever happened. One letter in particular even seemed to condemn Conolly and Stoddart to their ultimate demise. The letter described them not as officers and servants of the British government in India, but instead as "private travelers." Had either of the men read this letter, they would have understood that their government hand decided to abandon them.

They stayed in the bug pit for a good amount of time, but what would finally end their lives was breaking news from Kabul.

The first signs came from Mohan Lai, Alexander Burnes good friend and assistant. He informed Burnes that their was to be an attempt made on his life that night. Lai urged Burnes to move himself to the Cantonments in which all the British soldier and officers stayed. Burnes refused though, as he felt safe that he could quell any small problems with the locals. Burnes stayed inside a large walled house with a courtyard right in the city's center. Although, Burnes felt confident for the most part, he decided to reinforce his Sepoy guard just in case anything happened.

Not too far away, in the darkness, were the beginnings of a mob. It was led by personal enemies of Burnes, who felt that he was the reason for Dost Mohammed's removal. They were done with the rule of Shah Shujah, who they thought a puppet of the British.

File: Alexander_Burnes_Pleads_With_The_Mob.jpg (305KB, 446x594px) Image search: [Google]

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>>1666310
The group was small at first, but numbers swelled as knowledge that right next to Burnes' house was the gold storage the British used to pay the soldiers. The men were now outside Burnes house, chanting and shouting, but Burnes told his guards to hold their fire. As a precaution, he sent a man out to the cantonments to get the soldiers ready. The numbers continued to grow though, and in one final effort, Burnes decided to go out on his balcony and talk to the men in the streets. He tried to reason with them, but numbers were now too high and the men too angry.

Macnaghten quickly heard of the dangers surrounding Burnes, and he quickly called his advisers to figure out a plan of action. This quickly devolved into an argument between Macnaghten, and the general of the troops, William Elphinstone. The men continued to fight, but no action was done. Captain George Lawrence wanted to send a regiment to the city to help out Burnes, but even this could not be decided on. The situation was getting worse by the minute, but nothing was being done yet. General Elphinston was old and sick, and for the most part not fit to lead his troops. He was extremely indecisive and often switched sides. Macnaghten was also unwilling to come up with a clear opinion on the matter, and was more concerned with the political ramifications of using troops rather than the life of Burnes. Eventually, it was decided to sent a regiment under a brigadier to Shah Shujah whom they would consult with.

Shah Shujah, had already sent troops to the area, and considered them sufficient enough. He turned away the British troops and claimed that everything was under control.

The mob was almost out of control now, and it went from a small group of people fed up with Burnes to a huge gathering hungry for blood and gold. However, Burnes continued to hold fire, as he was under the belief that help would soon be there to calm the crowd. Burnes returned to his balcony one last time, but it was useless.

I've started compiling the posts, haven't got all that far (only to >>1546505 ) but I now is the best time to check if everyone likes the formatting and other things.

I've edited the posts a bit here and there where I thought things could be worded differently or there were errors in spelling or grammar. I've also added a few things in like a couple dates and the name of a battle where I thought there needed to be some more clarity. It remains mostly the same though.

Here is the Pastebin:
http://pastebin.com/t0Q9DE6V

Here is the PDF version:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Yep5wg9SS_dFM5VGoycy1mQTQ/view

>>1666834
Formatting is acceptable.

>>1666834
Thanks for doing this, the formatting seems fine so far. I also like the titles, they were originally something I was planning on doing. Unfortunately, 2000 characters is pretty small so it limits what I can put in one post. Nice to see them in though, helps with organization.

Bumper

>>1666834
Nicely done, also bumparino

>>1552601
>>1555641
There's a nightclub named after him now in St. Petersburg for some reason

>>1670273
Kek, why's it say on their website that Mike Huckaby is one of their friends?

>>1666834
Updated up to this post >>1560719


Here is the Pastebin:
http://pastebin.com/t0Q9DE6V (embed)

Here is the PDF version:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Yep5wg9SS_dFM5VGoycy1mQTQ/view

File: death-of-alexander-burnes.png (349KB, 829x548px) Image search: [Google]

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>>1666371
>>1670672
Thanks again m8.
_____________________

A single shot escaped from the crowd, and in a moment the man standing next to Burnes was dead. Burnes and his little brother Charles(who was also staying in the house) quickly dragged him inside, and once again returned to the balcony. At one point, Burnes told the crowd that he would give them all large sums of money, but it did nothing to help. Most people knew that the man and his brother were hugely outnumbered, so the British gold would be their's anyway. Some parts of the house were now in flames, and the crowd was only getting more violent. Burnes now gave up, and ordered his sepoys to fire at will. But by now it was much too late. The crowd was huge, and the small guard could do nothing to stop its onslaught.

It was evident that all had been lost, for Charles Burnes decided to descend into the crowd. Mohan Lai, who could only watch in horror from a distant rooftop, saw Charles killing 6 people before being cut down himself. He could not see Alexander Burnes' death though, as the some of the crowd now turned to his house, forcing him to flee. Lai's servants however, did see it, and they later informed him of what happened. After his little brother's end, Burnes appeared blindfolded out of his house, and decided to enter the frenzy of the crowd. He did this so as not to know where the blows came from, presumably because he knew many of the people in the rioting group. He was immediately cut to pieces in a scene not unlike Griboyedov's death.

One old Afghan friend of his would stay loyal to him. After the mob plundered and left the scene, a man named Naib Sherrif would take the remains of both Alexander and Charles and bury them together in the house's courtyard. The British troops that were sent to help Burnes were instead forced to save Shah Shujah's soldiers, who were utterly destroyed by the force of the crowd. And yet, despite all of this violence, things much much worse were about to occur.

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>>1671100
The news of Burnes' death horrified the British residents in Kabul, and many of them all gathered near the cantonments. 4,500 soldiers and nearly 12,000 civilians. The mob had moved on from Burnes' house, but it was still looting and pillaging from all people who were expected own British sympathies. But nothing was being done about it. Macnaghten and Elphinstone continued to argue back and forth about what to do. Every hour wasted meant more problems occurring. Eventually it turned from a mob into an entire movement to overthrow Shah Shujah and replace him with Dost Mohammed once again. This was headed by Mohammed's son, Akbar Khan.

Information was coming to Macnaghten about various defeats to the Afghans. In one instance, an entire Gurkha regiment and many of the officers heading it were killed. Eldred Pottinger, the "Hero of Herat" was wounded in this siege. Even worse, two heavy guns could now be seen on top of the hills overlooking the cantonments. They were eventually seized, and the British began firing into an Afghan village below. But an error in logistics meant that only one 9-grape shot gun was brought to the hill, not the two that were usual. At first, the gun wreaked havoc on the Afghani troops, but it started to overheat. With the gun out of action, the Afghans began to advance. Their long barreled jezails reached farther than the shorter muskets of the British soldiers. When the British and Sepoy infantrymen fired, their bullets reached the ground without hitting the enemy. The Afghanis on the other hand could reach the British from far away, and so the men started dropping like flies.

In a gully hidden from the view of the British soldiers and gunners, a group of Afghanis armed with knives sprung up and surrounded the British. The Afghani Cavalry now also entered the fray, rushing towards the various infantry squares. Fighting would be long and intense, but the melee would end when a Sepoy cavalry reinforcement arrived.

Bumpo

In this thread, OP wasn't a faggot.


Am surprised /his/torians don't know about the 'Great Game' between the Empire and Russia though. How did you guys think the Middle East originally got fucked up?

Will post about the topic akin to OP's style if anyone is interested- including about the U.S. gradually getting sucked in around the 1950s.

>>1539194
Today I discovered yet another historical event that makes me sad not because it happened, but because it didn't happen. It would've been interesting even if it failed to defeat the brits.

>>1673693
>Am surprised /his/torians don't know about the 'Great Game' between the Empire and Russia though

I'm pretty sure most if not all the anons knew something about it, at least the ones who had read about the british empire and the 19th century. But central asia, in general, is not an area that gets a lot of atention be it in media or (to a lesser extent) the academia.

What is the bump limit?

>>1579771
>I also suggest reading Kim by Rudyard Kipling. [...] If you do decide to read Kim, it might be best to get an annotated version that explains some of the words Kipling uses.

Excellent advice (and excellent book).

>>1537763

Excellent thread OP. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

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Could someone more well-read on the subject explain what's the deal with Khiva, Bokhara and the other central asian khanates? I know nothing about them apart from the most basic information due to having read some russian and persian history.

Were they actual states or more close to territory held by rogue warlords? How "civilized" were they compared to their non-european neighbours? What was the ethno-linguistic composition? Do some modern central asian nations or peoples feel identified with some specific khanate or khanates?

>>1675197
From what I understand, they were akin to city-states. Most of the central power was surrounded in the one city, be that Khokand, Bokhara, or Khiva. It's not a perfect example, but describing what they really were is kind of hard.

>>1674573
>>1674576
Editing that must have been a huge pain, thanks for making it though.

No new post today unfortunately. I will make an entirely new thread tomorrow that contains links to the two pictures and the pastebin made by the other anons. Other than that, the story will continue from where I left off yesterday.

>>1546152
Good question, I would also like to know

Bumping to keep thread alive

Thank you OP for not being a foggo

>>1676224
bumperino

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>>1546133
noice

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>>1546133
>tfw you'll never be a nomad in central asia in mid 19th century

>>1671100
>>1671285
The worst thing is that things are going to get worse than this.

Somebody bump this thread in a few hours just to be sure, but dont overdo it as we're already pretty close to the bump limit