The Great Game and the border issue in the Pamirs in the reports of Ralph Cobbold, 1898‒1899

Abstract

The 1890s were a time of growing tension in Central Asia, stemming both from the geopolitical confrontation between the Russian and British empires and from the desire of Afghanistan and China to realise their own national interests and use the struggle of the dominant political forces to their own ends. One of the most difficult issues was the border dispute, i.e. fixing the border between Russia and Afghanistan, on the one hand, and Russia and China, on the other. Britain sought to exploit the differences on this issue to its own advantage, which could well have led to the outbreak of hostilities. The mechanism for identifying weaknesses in Russia’s position in the Pamirs comes out clearly in the 1898‒1899 reports of the British intelligence officer Ralph Cobbold, preserved in the National Archives of India. They characterise the actions of the Russian authorities in the Pamirs, the attitude of the local population to the opposing sides, and potential instruments of local influence that would allow Britain to bring the region under its control. The Russian diplomatic and military administrations were aware of the aspirations of the British Empire and used both the “stick” and the “carrot” to maintain the status quo in the region: in some issues they had to make concessions, in others the Russian side acted rigidly. Such an approach not only kept the Central Asian region in the frames of peaceful development, but also was one of the foundations of the conclusion of the Russian-British pact on the division of spheres of influence in the Middle East and Central Asia in 1907, which put an end to the Great Game and allowed the formation of the Triple Anglo-Franco-Russian alliance.