Stories About Merchants Or Cunning Merchant 20 Poor Arthur Conolly - Conclusion

The Russian Empire was able to gain, if not trust, an understanding of its interests among the Central Asian khanates, which were based either on the fear of a possible military expansion or on economic benefits. Put pressure on Persia, Afghanistan.

The British Empire partially secured its Indian colonies, strengthened its influence in the Qing Empire, and influenced the policy of Persia. Failure befell them in Afghanistan and the Central Asian khanates. Her prestige in the Turkestan region was severely damaged.

Turkestan region for both great empires was a tasty morsel. Both from the point of view of control of transit and trade routes connecting three continents, and the creation of new routes for the sale of their goods. The development of industry needed new markets. As well as the Turkestan region, having an extremely important geostrategic and geo-economic situation, could serve as a good outpost as well as a springboard for the subsequent development of the colonization of new lands.

The Russian Empire planned to seize after the colonization of the Turkestan region, Afghanistan and probably India. Depo Maps military topographers persistently collected data, tied them to the terrain, and plotted new, topographic maps of Afghanistan and parts of North India. And, as is known with the history of the colonization of the Central Asian khanates, when cartographers are taken to study new territories, it smells like kerosene, for those whose territories are mapped.

The British Empire wanted to seize - Siberia, the Caucasus, the Volga region, and they also made maps ...

The Central Asian khanates were located between two millstones. They had a hard time tacking between them. In many ways, their position depended on the regional political context and not least in peace within their khanates, the creation of a system of containment of forces and balances, both within the region and in the influential clans in their possessions. In view of this, it was necessary to have an effective secret police and counterintelligence, as the empires, as well as other poles of power, actively intervened in politics and economics.

However, the feudal era and being in the center of the continent played a cruel joke with these eastern khanates. World empires have already pa.s.sed into a new era — industrial capitalism. Having an archaic mentality, the Khanates were unable to modernize their countries, the management system, upgrade the army, introduce new technologies in time and in the shortest possible time.

How this was done in feudal j.a.pan, which was able to go over to capitalism in the Meiji era and upgrade the entire system, including the army. In the end, this led to the victory of the j.a.panese empire over the Russian in the new century.

Perhaps the fact is that modernization could be carried out by those countries where there was an imperial spirit. The regional powers, instead of pursuing a policy of friendship with cross-border countries, establishing mutually beneficial political and economic contacts, were engaged in attempts to annex neighboring territories. All this is clearly not conducive to progress, undermined the economic situation, weakened the Khanate.

The empires, adhering to the old method - "divide and conquer", played on the contradictions and weaknesses of these seemingly so close, but in fact distant from each other states. Supporting one khanate, against others, in the end, they, the empires achieved their goal.

The game of shadows, that is, illegal immigrants, intelligence agents, agents of influence, has been going on for decades.

The empires, using unlimited resources, could easily bribe and recruit the right people in all regions of their interests. Introduce their agents into various state structures and control their work. The native police was aware, but sometimes could not do anything. The initiative and then was punishable.

Scouts of all stripes had their cover as doctors, travelers, scientists, merchants, sales representatives. They collected information about languages, culture, traditions, ritual, economy, population, trade routes, pa.s.ses, ferries, mountain pa.s.ses, etc.

The British did not abandon their idea of ​​penetrating into Central Asia. Despite the terrible death of British intelligence, after six years, secret talks were held between Emir Nasrullah and the British mission on the conclusion of a new union.

Then there was the defeat of the Russian Empire in the Crimean War of 1853-1856, the strengthening of British influence in the Turkestan region, the revenues of the Russian Empire in the conquest of the Central Asian khanates. But more about that later, in the possible continuation.

Arthur Conolly and Charles Stoddart were far from being the first and not the last victims of this game. A "Cla.s.sic Big Game" lasted until 1907, when the two great empires agreed to divide all the borders of their new colonies...

After the tragic events with the magnificent Arthur Conolly, the millstones of the "Big Game" continued their unhurried pace, grinding the history into pieces - the fate of people, intelligence agents, and entire countries. The time of acquisition of new land-colonies, empires.

At the same time, the colonies were different, some overseas, others marginal. But to those and other empires was carried out, in general, a unified policy of separation of the inhabitants of the metropolis and the natives or aliens, who differed in their status.

Forts, railways, ports were built in the new colonies, flotillas were created, schools and hospitals were built. Updated infrastructure, logistics. Paved roads, post office, telegraph appeared. That is, the signs of civilization. New territories were dragged behind the ears to a new social level of development, over the decades, centuries-old frontiers were overcome.

From the Middle Ages or feudalism immediately into capitalism. Bypa.s.sing the evolutionary path of development, where the transition from one value system to another requires at least a hundred, another. New technologies, methods, formats, investments allowed to change the world.

Naturally, such investments were needed to strengthen their presence in the new colony, the operational redeployment of military units. Including for the protection of their territories from a potential adversary, that is, other regional powers and even great empires. As well as the export of natural resources.

In the historical sources of the 19th century, two empires - British and Russian officials, scientists, military topographers, military orientalists write directly about the economic development of new colonies, express their att.i.tude to the natives. They talk about future development and what needs to be done for this.

Due to the rapid growth of the economy of the new territories, many mistakes were made both in land reclamation and unsystematic cutting down of forest plantations, shooting endemic animals.

As a result, over 50-100 years, some species of animals and birds have completely disappeared, some agricultural lands became useless, most of the territories remained without forest and shrub cover. In particular, the structure of the sown area has changed. So much so that the new colonies could no longer independently satisfy domestic demand for certain types of agricultural products. That is, they lost the opportunity to provide themselves with the most basic foodstuffs.

The markets for products changed their direction and reoriented from foreign transborder states and empires to the metropolis that conquered them.

It is appropriate to note that the dependence on empires was different. Some territories had the status of va.s.sal possessions, after a series of military campaigns were conducted against them, the purpose of which was to force some form of cooperation with the empires.

For example, the opening of ports for foreign ships, goods or the seizure of part of the territory with mineral deposits. Something like that. After such campaigns, the va.s.sal territories lost the opportunity to maintain independent diplomatic relations with other countries, the border and customs points were replaced with imperial ones, the national currency disappeared.

Over time, part of the territory of the va.s.sal possessions could be transferred to the possessions of another empire.

Other lands voluntarily joined the empires in the hope of obtaining protection from other regional powers. Other territories were long-time colonies of third empires or regional powers, with a loss in armed clashes, these lands were left to the winning side. There were also independent states that were simply colonized by military invasion. Not to mention the new lands, where there was no stable statehood.

So, in 1850, the two Great Empires competed in their striving to acquire the greatest possible influence on the world. The territories of their overseas and marginal colonies grew. Every three to four years the number of colonies steadily increased. Naturally, this prompted the empire to oppose.

...

The influence of the Russian Empire spread in the East - after the lost wars, the loss of territories, many states, in one way or another, were influenced by the Great Northern Metropolis.

The Russian Empire slowly but surely absorbed the transborder khanates, realizing the voiced doctrine of the presence in the regions of interests - the borders of the empire should be from ocean to ocean.

Persia supported the Russian Empire during the Russian-Turkish war in the late 70s of the 19th century.

The Persian Shah Na.s.ser ad-Din Shah Qajar asked the government of the Russian Empire to create a "Persian Cossack Brigade", where instructors and officers with the commander were citizens of the Russian Empire. In the mid-eighties of the nineteenth century, cavalry was replenished with artillery and infantry brigades. This unit performed various security functions, including the head of state. And thus showed the whole world who really stands behind Persia! Not the British Empire and not France, but the Russian Empire.

This influence continued until 1916 - 1920 ... interestingly, the army was paid for in Persia in 1917 with silver obtained from the remelting of Bukhara shadows ... The story was simple, after a seven-year interruption, as a result of repeated pet.i.tions On the eleventh of May, one thousand nine hundred and one, an imperial decree followed, allowing the emir to mint out of his silver twenty-five million shadows and transfer them, as well as twenty million tenge in the Emir's treasury to the State Bank nk of the Russian Empire.

Three years after that, the chasing of the Bukhara tenge was completely stopped. Gradually, Bukhara coins were withdrawn from circulation at the rate of one tenga - fifteen kopecks and sent to the smelter at the St. Petersburg Mint.

After fixing the teng course, a large number of fifteen-pound coins would facilitate trading and settlement. Although in the domestic circulation of Russia in the period of the First World War there is no exchange silver, the St. Petersburg Mint continues to issue a billon coin represented by three denominations [ten, fifteen and twenty kopecks].

When changing political formats - as was the case with the collapse of the Russian Empire, the old military alliances, bases, were not necessary. With the loss of funding, previous agreements were lost ...

Now, in 1921, the Persian Cossack brigade or division by that time was no longer disbanded. In Persia, the influence of the British Empire increased.

If the 19th century was behind the Russian Empire and its strong influence on the Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries, then the beginning of the 20th century, as well as the expansion of influence in these regions, pa.s.sed to the British Empire.

The world has changed ...

- STORY AND BIG GAME-

Historical events tend to repeat. Some unresolved or unspoken cases appear again, but in a new context.

In historical science, many "white spots", especially when they are somehow connected with the "big game." The meeting place of various ideologies, interests, worldview.

These spots are enough in the history of the late Middle Ages, feudalism, and subsequent eras. Some facts are voiced in public literature, but they prefer not to notice, in view of certain preferences. Other information is in the nature of a.s.sumptions or hypotheses, like data is enough, like and a.n.a.lysis of them indicates exactly such a decision. However, this is not a fact not confirmed by diverse doc.u.mentary sources, which means that information processing and, therefore, the conclusion may well be erroneous. Not to mention the deliberate distortion of history.

There have been cases in history when certain individuals reached something extremely interesting, quintessence, and ... their arrival on a third planet from the Sun was interrupted.

After all, they wondered what could happen to them. One of these strange cases was the departure of Yan Viktorovich Vitkevich, he knew too much and double and triple agents have always been abound.

After he left, all interested parties made various a.s.sumptions and voiced the options they needed. What actually happened was just another white spot, which guesses are building after a hundred and seventy-five years.

Meetings in the east as well as names are never random. Poor Vitkevich did not know this or did not attach any importance to it. The merchants with whom he spoke in search of information appear to have very successfully shared their observations on the high-sounding gold coin with British scouts.

For the umpteenth time, the empire, right under the very nose and fiefdom of the British so to speak, deftly fingered the scouts of this empire. Alas, it all came down to an empty air shake, the political dividends of the future turned out to be less than maintaining parity of the forces of the present. The c.u.mbersome management of the empire once again, missed the initiative. This was repeated in the subsequent, at the beginning of the new century, the achievements of the genius commander, were not fully embodied.

The history of the "big game" is very interesting and full of amazing surprises, even the events of two hundred years ago are still full of secrets ...

Instead of an epilogue - in search of a portrait of Jan Vitkevich, I came across it, not in a turban but in uniform and with epaulets. True it is not clear or not. The Internet in search of data verified, the source is extremely unreliable. Foreign authors believe that Vitkevich worked for the British, for which he paid.

In general, the dark story. You can build hypotheses and guesses forever. Once again it is clear that the authors from different countries, differently evaluate those or other historical figures.

The truth is somewhere far away, not everyone, it is destined to be seen, and even fewer to share information.

So that historians and researchers, so far remains to build only a.s.sumptions.