The "Great Game" was an imperial, political, diplomatic, and military enterprise in which intrepid individuals played for high stakes in a struggle that stretched from the Causasus in the West to Chinese Turkestan and Tibet in the East. The prize was British India. When play first began, the frontiers of Russia and India lay some 2000 miles apart; by the end, the gap had reduced in some places to just 20 miles. Officers on either side, disguised as holy men and horse traders, or advancing in full uniform, delighted in the play as they sought to learn enemy positions, befriend powerful khans, or discover vital secrets. This book should appeal to those interested in espionage and diplomacy, the history of "High Asia" in Victorian period and superpower relations.
- ISBN10 0192827995
- ISBN13 9780192827999
- Publish Date 9 May 1991 (first published 10 May 1990)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 27 April 2001
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Oxford University Press
- Imprint Oxford Paperbacks
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 576
- Language English