Book
Russia, Great Britain and Tibet in the «Great Game»
Еditor: Kuzmin Sergius
Москва, 2017, 205 p.
The book deals with the little-known history of international relations in Central Asia and the Far East in the late 19th - early 20th Century. It makes use of many original sources from the Foreign Policy Archives of the Russian Empire and the National Archives of India, including correspondence between the Russian Czar and the 13!h Dalai-Lama, reports and letters from Russian diplomatic representatives and agents from London, Calcutta, Bejing and Urga. The author shows the meaning of Tibet in the Russian foreign policy, describes features of Tibet’s relationship with Russia, the Qing Empire, Great Britain and Mongolia, and details of attempts to consolidate Tibet’s independence. The establishment of Russian-Tibetan relations, the Tibetan missions to Russia in 1900 and 1901 were connected with key trends of Russian Far Eastern and Central Asian policies as a part of the “Great Game”, an Anglo-Russian rivalry in Asia. Tibetan missions to Russia gave Lord Curzon a pretext to send a British military expedition to Tibet in 1903-1904.
The author argues that it was the Tibetan question that became the ballon d’essai in Anglo- Russian negotiations and created an opportunity' for both sides to recognize other's intentions. The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 created an opportunity for the Qing Empire to strengthen its position in Tibet.
This book is published on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS.