Great Game
On the 12th of January 1830, Lord Ellenborough issued a directive to Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-General of India. He ordered the creation of a new trade route leading directly to the Emirate of Bukhara. This administrative order marked the formal beginning of British strategic engagement in Central Asia. The phrase "the Great Game" itself did not originate with this decree. Captain Arthur Conolly coined the term in 1840 while serving as a political officer. In July 1840, he wrote to Major Henry Rawlinson about their shared mission. Conolly stated that Rawlinson had a great game and a noble game before him. He believed the British Government should play this grand game to help Russia cordially. His letter outlined hopes for humanitarianism in Afghanistan and justice toward Oosbeg states. Rudyard Kipling later popularized the concept through his 1901 novel Kim. Before Kipling, Professor H.W.C. Davis used the term academically on the 10th of November 1926. The title described Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia only after the Second World War.
Britain feared Russian southward expansion would threaten its colony in India. The Indian subcontinent was ruled by independent princely states and the East India Company at the start of the 19th century. Tsar Paul I planned an invasion of India in 1801 known as the Indian March of Paul. He directed Cavalry General Vasily Petrovich Orlov to march from Orenburg to conquer Central Asian Khanates. Paul instructed Orlov to gain information about English possessions beyond Khiva and the River Oxus. This plan failed when Paul was assassinated in the same year. Napoleon tried to persuade Paul's son, Tsar Alexander I, to invade India but Alexander resisted. In 1807, Napoleon dispatched General Claude Matthieu Count Gardane on a French military mission to Persia. Britain sent diplomatic missions under Mountstuart Elphinstone to Persia and Afghanistan in response. Russia invaded Iran from 1804 to 1813 adding to British fears during the Napoleonic Wars. By the mid-19th century, American historian David Fromkin identified nine reasons for British war anxiety. These included the fear that Russia would eventually invade India or disrupt established trade routes. Petroleum deposits discovered in central Asia in the early 20th century became essential for the Royal Navy.
Russia began advancing southward from Siberia in the 1820s seeking secure boundaries. Between 1824 and 1854, Russia occupied the entire Kazakh Khanate which is modern-day Kazakhstan. The Russian Empire launched an attack on Khiva in 1839, 1840 but failed due to severe winter conditions. Of the 5,000 men who left Orenburg only 4,000 returned. During the 1840s and 1850s, Russia aimed to prevent hostile actions by Bukhara and Khiva. They demanded free navigation on the Amu Darya river for Russian ships. In 1864, a circular was sent to consular officers explaining expansion doctrines of necessity and civilization. Russia occupied Chimkent in 1864 and Tashkent in 1865. The empire took Khokhand and Bukhara in 1866 and Samarkand in 1868. General Konstantin Kaufman led campaigns that extended influence into outlying regions of Afghan Turkestan. Another campaign started from the Caspian Sea toward Herat near the Persian frontier. Khiva was occupied in 1873 and Krasnovodsk seized in 1869. Notable generals included Mikhail Skobelev and Mikhail Chernyayev. By 1873 Afghanistan governed Badakhshan with help from Amir Sher Ali Khan.
In 1782 George Forster undertook a journey starting in Calcutta passing through Kashmir and Afghanistan. His detailed description published in 1798 described travel across the Caspian Sea to London. William Moorcroft left India for Bukhara in 1820 to buy Turkoman horses but died of fever on return. Charles Masson resided in Baluchistan between 1826 and 1838 publishing his travels later. Lieutenant Arthur Conolly traveled from St Petersburg to Kir in September 1829. He was detained as a Russian spy in Astrabad then marched with the Afghan army to Kandahar. Captain Alexander Burnes embarked on a dangerous 12-month journey beginning in 1831 into Afghanistan. He returned in 1832 and published Travels To Bukhara which became an overnight success in 1834. In 1835 Lord Auckland replaced Bentinck and instructed him to watch events in Afghanistan closely. The Indian Navy commanded Lieutenant John Wood piloted the first steamboat up the Indus River in 1837. British recruiters hired native explorers called Pundits including Nain Singh who reached Lhasa in 1866. Nikolay Przhevalsky set out on expeditions in the 1870s traveling extensively in Tibet and Qinghai. Agvan Dorzhiev acted as a diplomatic link between Russia and the 13th Dalai Lama starting in 1853.
The First Anglo-Afghan War began when Britain marched into Afghanistan in 1838. They deposed Dost Mohammad Khan and replaced him with Shah Shuja Durrani. Tensions grew leading to the killing of Captain Alexander Burnes in 1841. By January 1842 Afghans were in full revolt against British rule. A Kabul garrison of 4,500 troops and 12,000 camp followers left for Jalalabad that was 80 miles away. They were attacked by 30,000 Afghans resulting in the destruction of the Army of the Indus. Only one wounded doctor named William Brydon made it to safety. The Second Anglo-Sikh War fought from 1848, 1849 resulted in annexation of Punjab Province. In 1856 Persia commenced an assault on Herat triggering the Anglo-Persian War under Major General Sir James Outram. The war ended in 1857 when Persia signed a treaty renouncing claims on Herat. Russia sent uninvited troops to Kabul on the 22nd of July 1878 during Sher Ali Khan's reign. Lord Lytton ordered an envoy to set out in September 1878 but the mission was turned back at Khyber Pass. On the 14th of August 1878 Britain demanded Sher Ali accept a British mission which he refused. In November 1878 forty thousand men led by the British Raj invaded Afghanistan. Warfare settled diplomatically by the Treaty of Gandamak in 1879 but fighting reignited after a massacre on the 3rd of September 1880.
On the 21st of January 1873 Great Britain and Russia signed an agreement defining spheres of influence. It stipulated eastern Badakhshan area as Afghan territory with northern boundary along Amu Darya River. A joint commission would define boundaries from Khwaja Salar to Persian border on Hari River. No boundary west of Amu Darya was defined until 1885. On the 10th of September 1885 Delimitation Protocol Between Great Britain and Russia was signed in London. The protocol defined boundary from Oxus to Harirud followed by nineteen additional protocols between 1885 and 1888. The Afghan Boundary Commission agreed Russia would relinquish farthest captured territory but retain Panjdeh. This left border east of Lake Zorkul in Wakhan region undefined. In 1891 Russia sent military force to Bozai Gumbaz ordering Captain Francis Younghusband to leave. The matter remained unclear regarding whether Murray engaged in diplomacy or espionage. Agreement Between Great Britain and Afghanistan signed the 12th of November 1893 required withdrawal from north of Amu Darya. Exchange of Notes Between Great Britain and Russia occurred the 11th of March 1895 defining northern boundary of Wakhan Corridor. Pamir Boundary Commission conducted by Major-General Gerard met Russian deputation under General Povalo-Shveikovsky in 1895. One peak named Mount Concord while Russians called Lake Zorkul as Lake Victoria honoring Queen Victoria.
Historians do not agree on dating the beginning or end of the Great Game. Konstantin Penzev believes it commenced with Russia's victory in Russo-Persian War ending 1813. Edward Ingram thinks it began between 1832 and 1834 during trade negotiations with Ranjit Singh. Hopkirk views unofficial British support for Circassian anti-Russian fighters in Caucasus starting 1836 as part of the game. Sergeev argues it started after Caucasus War ended 1859 and intensified with Crimean War. Edward Ingram proposes the Great Game was over at end of First Anglo-Afghan war in 1842. British fears ended in 1907 when Britain and Russia became military allies. They made three agreements delineating spheres of interest in Persia Afghanistan and Tibet. Historian Elena Andreeva sets endpoint with Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Konstantin Penzev stated unofficially the Great Game in Central Asia will never end echoing Kipling fiction. German historian David X. Noack calls conflict from 1919 to 1933 a Second Tournament of Shadows. Authors Andrei Znamenski and Alexandre Andreyev describe continuation by Soviet Union until 1930s focused on secret diplomacy.
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Common questions
When did the Great Game begin according to Lord Ellenborough's directive?
Lord Ellenborough issued a directive on the 12th of January 1830 marking the formal beginning of British strategic engagement in Central Asia. This administrative order created a new trade route leading directly to the Emirate of Bukhara.
Who coined the phrase the Great Game and when was it first used?
Captain Arthur Conolly coined the term the Great Game in 1840 while serving as a political officer. He wrote to Major Henry Rawlinson in July 1840 describing their shared mission as a great game and noble game.
What were the main reasons for British war anxiety during the Great Game?
American historian David Fromkin identified nine reasons for British war anxiety including fear that Russia would invade India or disrupt established trade routes. Petroleum deposits discovered in central Asia in the early 20th century became essential for the Royal Navy.
Which Russian generals led campaigns during the Great Game expansion into Central Asia?
General Konstantin Kaufman led campaigns that extended influence into outlying regions of Afghan Turkestan. Notable generals included Mikhail Skobelev and Mikhail Chernyayev who participated in various military operations between 1864 and 1873.
When did the First Anglo-Afghan War occur and what happened to the Army of the Indus?
The First Anglo-Afghan War began when Britain marched into Afghanistan in 1838. A Kabul garrison of 4,500 troops and 12,000 camp followers left for Jalalabad on the 8th of January 1842 but were attacked by 30,000 Afghans resulting in the destruction of the Army of the Indus.
What agreements defined the boundaries of the Great Game between Great Britain and Russia?
Great Britain and Russia signed an agreement defining spheres of influence on the 21st of January 1873 which stipulated eastern Badakhshan area as Afghan territory. The Delimitation Protocol Between Great Britain and Russia was signed in London on the 10th of September 1885 followed by nineteen additional protocols between 1885 and 1888.