author : Peter Hopkirk

The vast imperial chessboard on which the two superpowers of the day manoeuvred for advantage stretched from the snow-capped Caucasus in the west to Tibet and China in the east. When play first began, the frontiers of Russia and British India lay some 2,000 miles apart. By the end, the gap had shrunk in places to less than 20 miles.

This book tells the story of the Great Game, one of the most romantic episodes in modern history, through the adventures and misadventures of those who took part in it on either side. Some travelled on their shadowy missions in disguise, as holy men or native horse-traders, while others set out in full regimentals. It was always a dangerous game, and some never returned.

As the Russians pushed forward their frontiers the British became convinced that they would not halt until India, the richest of all imperial prizes, was theirs. Soon the Tsar’s empire was expanding at some fifty-five square miles a day, as one by one the khanates and caravan towns of the old Silk Road fell to the fast-riding Cossacks, ever in the van of the Russian advance. At times war seemed inevitable.

To the young officers and others on either side who were chosen to play the Great Game it was the stuff of dreams. Here was the chance to escape the monotony of garrison life, and perhaps win promotion, glory – or even a place in the imperial history books. It was their task to fill in the blanks on the staff maps, discover possible invasion routes, gather political intelligence, befriend powerful khans, and report on the movements of the other side.

The Great Game’s violent aftermath haunts us even now. The overthrow of Asian rulers, the storming of embassies, inglorious retreats from Afghanistan, and blood-letting in the Caucasus – all these were familiar to Victorian newspaper readers. Today, with the whole future of Russia’s vast Central Asian empire in doubt, the enthralling story of the Great Game is an ominously topical one.