Russia, Napoleon and the Threat to British India

Abstract

This volume is about the monumental struggle between Napoleonic France and Russia at the turn of the nineteenth century.1 While a fight to the death, its duration pales in comparison to Russia’s clash with the Anglo-Saxon world, which spanned large stretches of the past 200 years. Yet unlike the Second World War, except for the Crimea in the mid-1850s, the latter confrontation involved remarkably little direct combat. Whether Eastern Question, Great Game or Cold War, the adversaries were well aware of the terrible cost an armed clash might bring. Rather than meeting on the battlefield, they preferred diplomatic intrigue and military operations against third parties.