Synopses & Reviews
By the early 1900s both Britain and Russia, suspicious of Imperial Germany, decided to stabilize their relations and replace their rivalry in Central Asia - the "Great Game" - with reapprochement. But as Jennifer Siegel here demonstrates, reality in the field told a different story. The momentum of imperial rivalry, spiced by oil and railway development, could not be arrested. By 1914 Britain and Russia were on the brink of war with each other to be saved only by the outbreak of World War I. This is a groundbreaking study based on hitherto unseen archives in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as original research in London.
Review
Winner of the 2003 Barbara Jelavich Book Prize!
"Beautifully written. Dr. Siegel has produced the definitive description of the last years of rivalry between Britain and Russia..."-- Peter Williams, British Army Review
"a clearly written, detailed and digestible account of the fate of this treaty."--Asian Affairs
"I hope that [I.B.Tauris's] effort reaps the reward that this hard work deserves."--Travel IQ
"Jennifer Siegel's scholarly and original study benefits from extensive research in previous unseen archives in Moscow, St. Petersburg and London."-- The Guards Magazine
"well-documented and neatly written book¿valuable contribution to our understanding of the titanic Anglo-Russian rivalry"--Alexander Andreyev, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
About the Author
Jennifer Siegel is Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania.
Table of Contents
The Great Game and the 1907 Agreement * Triumph or Tribulation? The Realities of the Anglo-Russian Relationship: 1907-8 * ‘Old Designs Under a New Cover?: 1909 * Conflicting Motivations and the Drift Towards Discord: 1910 * The Strangling of Anglo-Russian Foreign Policy: 1911 * Amicable Accord or Impending Breach?: 1912 * ‘Towards a Revision of the Anglo-Russian Agreement: 1913 * The Death of the Anglo-Russian Agreement: 1914