Twin Imperial Disasters. The invasions of Khiva and Afghanistan in the Russian and British official mind, 1839-1842

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3612640
AutoresAlexander Morrison (0000-0001-8483-5766, University of Liverpool, autor de correspondencia)
Año2014
Volumen48
Número1
Páginas253-300
Fecha de publicación2014-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x13000036
OpenAlexW2135370441
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas38

This paper examines two linked cases of abortive Imperial expansion. The British invasion of Afghanistan and the Russian winter expedition to Khiva both took place in 1839, and both ended in disaster. These events were linked, not merely by coincidence, but by mutual reactions to intelligence received in Orenburg, St Petersburg, Calcutta, London, and Tehran. British and Russian officials shared similar fears about each other's ambitions in Central Asia, similar patterns of prejudice, arrogance and ignorance, and a similar sense of entitlement as the self-conscious agents of two 'Great Powers'. By examining the decision-making process which preceded these twin cases of expansion, and the British and Russian attitudes to Central Asian rulers and informants, the paper provides not only a deeper understanding of what provoked these particular disasters, but also of the wider process of European imperial expansion in the early nineteenth century

Ancient history · Central asia · Economic history · Entitlement (fair division · Ethnology · Geography · Ignorance · Political science · Prejudice (legal term · History · Law · Military History and Strategy · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Soviet and Russian History