Great game
The Great Game was a political and diplomatic confrontation that existed for most of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century between the British Empire and the Russian Empire, over Afghanistan, Tibetan Kingdom, and neighboring territories in Central and South Asia.
Russia was fearful of British commercial and military inroads into Central Asia, and Britain was fearful of Russia adding “the jewel in the crown”, India, to the vast empire that Russia was building in Asia. This resulted in an atmosphere of distrust and the constant threat of war between the two empires.
Britain made it a high priority to protect all the approaches to India, and the “great game” is primarily how the British did this in terms of a possible Russian threat
- The Great Game between England and Russia began in 1830 and lasted throughout the 19th century.
- The British were concerned about Russian advances in Central Asia. England used Afghanistan as a buffer state to protect all approaches to British India from a Russian invasion.
- Great Britain, concerned about growing Persian and Russian influences, invaded Afghanistan in 1838
- Anglo-Afghan wars: British concern about the Russian influence on Afghanistan led to the First Anglo-Afghan War (from 1838 to 1842) and the Second Anglo-Afghan War (from 1878 to 1880).
- The Third Anglo-Afghan War began May 1919 and lasted for a month. Great Britain no longer had control of Afghanistan’s foreign affairs after an armistice was signed on August 8, 1919.
End of the great game: Historians consider the end of the Great Game to be 10 September 1895 signing of the Pamir Boundary Commission protocols, when the border between Afghanistan and the Russian empire was defined.
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