The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk

[Paluka]

I read this book recently. It was about a time period and a place in the world I knew basicaly nothing about. It is about the struggle between the British Empire and Russia to control Near Asia in the 19th century. It has stories about numerous operatives risking life and limb in the deserts and mountains of India, Afganistan, etc... Has anyone else read this? What did you think? Overall I really enjoyed it.

[TheBlueMonster]

more details about the book please. What "time" is it refering to?

[Paluka]

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more details about the book please. What "time" is it refering to?

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done

[TheBlueMonster]

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more details about the book please. What "time" is it refering to?

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done

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ty. Actually sounds quite interesting. Is it non-fiction or historical fiction?

[Paluka]

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more details about the book please. What "time" is it refering to?

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ty. Actually sounds quite interesting. Is it non-fiction or historical fiction?

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non-fiction

[Bascule]

I've read this too. Like Paluka, I really enjoyed it, it's about a period of history that wasn't covered in my history lessons at school, or on the Discovery channel [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. It's a non-fictional account of the political intrigue of Britain and Russia in 19th century Asia (south of Russia's borders, what we call Afghanistan, Iran etc. nowadays).

Some of the tales about what would happen to the early British explorers were hair raising... a quick death was a relatively good result. Later explorers fared better, but if the Russians got somewhere first and had political influence with a local leader then the British explorers could expect a bloody end (and vice versa). The Afghan tribal chiefs of the time didn't live by modern western values! To be fair though, the explorers weren't on sightseeing trips - they were all military men, and had ulterior political motives.

I don't have the book with me right now, I'll post more in a day or two if there's interest.

[Paluka]

The were some really amazing facts in the book. In some cases a British operative would enter a city of 300,000 people in the 1850s and he was the first Englishman to ever see the city! There was another case where a tribal warlord living in the mountains north of India believed his military might to be on par with England's. The isolation is really hard to grasp.

[sam h]

The stuff about the British spies completely amazed me.

For those who haven't read the book, it is about the fight between England and Russia for colonial supremacy in central asia during the 19th century, when most of what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, and several of the former Soviet Republics was largely unknown territory to the western powers.

Britain sent spies in to map the area and learn more about the various Khanate kingdoms that were there. Basically, they took these pretty young guys, taught them some languages, and then had them travel through this unknown region of the world disguised as holy men for years at a time, covertly mapping the territory and taking notes on the strength of the various Khans' armies. Crazy stuff.