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About this book
Britain and Russia maintained a frosty civility for a few years after Napoleon’s defeat in 1815. But, by the 1820s, their relations degenerated into constant acrimonious rivalry over Persia, the Ottoman Empire, Central Asia—the Great Game—and, towards the end of the century, East Asia.
The First Cold War presents for the first time the Russian perspective on this ‘game’, drawing on the archives of the Tsars’ Imperial Ministry. Both world powers became convinced of the expansionist aims of the other, and considered these to be at their own expense. When one was successful, the other upped the ante, and so it went on. London and St Petersburg were at war only once, during the Crimean War. But Russophobia and Anglophobia became ingrained on each side, as these two great empires hovered on the brink of hostilities for nearly 100 years.
Not until Britain and Russia recognised that they had more to fear from Wilhelmine Germany did they largely set aside their rivalries in the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, which also had major repercussions for the balance of power in Europe. Before that came a century of competition, diplomacy and tension, lucidly charted in this comprehensive new history.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title
- Copyright
- Photos
- Contents
- Maps
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Preface by Sir Rodric Braithwaite
- 1. England and Muscovy: The Beginning of Anglo-Russian Relations
- 2. The Russian Empire: Peter the Great
- 3. ‘Natural Friends’
- 4. Catherine the Great
- 5. The Long Eighteenth Century: The Diplomats
- 6. The Long Eighteenth Century: Wider Relations
- 7. The Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon,Part I: 1793–1807
- 8. The Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon, Part II: 1807–1815
- 9. The New Diplomacy: 1815–1825
- 10. Nicholas I
- 11. The Eastern Question
- 12. Persia and Afghanistan
- 13. A Fragile Friendship
- 14. Towards Crimea
- 15. War
- 16. Russia Is Not Sulking: She Is Consolidating
- 17. Manifest Destiny in Central Asia
- 18. The End of the Crimean System
- 19. War in the Near East
- 20. The War Won: The Peace Lost
- 21. Détente
- 22. The Pogroms
- 23. The Pendjeh Incident
- 24. The Battenbergs: Russia versus Britain over Bulgaria
- 25. The Tsar Peacemaker
- 26. The Tsar Persecutor
- 27. Persia
- 28. The Roof of the World: The Pamirs Crisis
- 29. The Celestial Empire and the Land of the Rising Sun
- 30. The Roadblocks to an Anglo-Russian Rapprochement
- 31. Towards the Anglo-Russian Convention
- 32. Endgame
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- Back Cover