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

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3612640
AutoresAlexander Morrison (0000-0001-8483-5766, University of Liverpool, autor correspondente)
Ano2014
Volume48
Fascículo1
Páginas253-300
Data de publicação2014-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x13000036
OpenAlexW2135370441
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas13
Referências 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