Britain and Russia in Central Asia 1880–1907

Britain and Russia in Central Asia, 1880–1907 is the third in a series of collections of books and documents on the relationship between Britain and Russia in Central Asia during the nineteenth century. The previous sets have covered the periods 1800–42 (The Great Game: Britain and Russia in Central Asia), and 1842–80 (Great Power Rivalry in Central Asia).

The period covered by the present collection is notable for a major crisis centred on the northern frontier of Afghanistan, which in 1885 brought the two empires to the verge of war. During the 1890s, attention switched to the Pamirs and Tibet. Early in the twentieth century, however, both powers found themselves seriously overextended, both militarily and financially, Britain primarily on account of the Boer War and Russia by the war with Japan. The outcome was a convention covering Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet, concluded in 1907. While this did not remove tension in the region altogether, no significant confrontation subsequently occurred.

The principal events and themes covered in this new Major Work include:

• the Russian assault on Denghil-Tepe and the defeat of the Tekke Turkmen in 1880
• the Russian railway construction programme in Transcaspia and its implications
• the Russian occupation of Merv, 1884
• the Pandjeh crisis and the British ultimatum over Herat, April 1885
• the Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission and Agreement of 1887
• the growth of Russian influence in Persia, 1880s onwards
• the Lockhart survey of the Pamirs, 1885
• the Ney Elias and Younghusband missions to the Pamirs, 1889–91
• Durand’s missions to Gilgit and Hunza, and the relief of Chitral, 1891–5
• the Pamir Boundary Agreement, 1895
• the Bower/Thorold mission to Tibet, 1881
• Dorjief’s supposed intrigues in Tibet and Younghusband’s assault on Lhasa, 1903–4
• the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907.