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Product Description
Review
'Recreates with much verve and brilliance, the clandestine attempts by Britain's imperial rivals to subvert the British Empire in India'
(Guardian )'Tells with great fluency, authority and narrative skill . . . a story which no single book has told before'
(Sunday Telegraph )Product Description
Under the banner of a Holy War, masterminded in Berlin and unleashed from Constantinople, the Germans and the Turks set out in 1914 to foment violent revolutionary uprisings against the British in India and the Russians in Central Asia. It was a new and more sinister version of the old Great Game, with world domination as its ultimate aim.
Here, told in epic detail and for the first time, is the true story behind John Buchan's classic wartime thriller Greenmantle, recounted through the adventures and misadventures of the secret agents and others who took part in it. It is an ominously topical tale today in view of the continuing turmoil in this volatile region where the Great Game has never really ceased.
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First Sentence
Had one been travelling through eastern Turkey in the spring of 1838, one might have been startled to come upon a young Prussian officer perched on a remote hillside carefully sketching an Ottoman fortress. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Had one been travelling through eastern Turkey in the spring of 1838, one might have been startled to come upon a young Prussian officer perched on a remote hillside carefully sketching an Ottoman fortress. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In this book, Hopkirk takes up where 'The Great Game' ended. In it, he examines Axis attempts to divert British resources and effort away from the Western Front during World War One. It is an intriguing story. Who would have known about the battle for Kut? Who could have guessed at the presence of pro-German Swedish officers in the Persian police? No matter how much you think you know about history, you will learn something from Hopkirk.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you have any interest at all in the intrigue of The Great Game or you have read John Buchans "Greenmantle" this is an absolute must. This has to be one of the easiest factual books I've ever read, with all the suspense of a thriller novel in the form of historical accounts. I honestly couldn't put the book down.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It must be 16 years since I spotted this in a book club catalogue and, out of idle curiosity, ordered it. Little did I realise that it would ensnare me in a fascination for this part of the world (Central Asia) and this period of history (early twentieth century) which has yet to show any signs of dissipating. This is due in part to Hopkirk's skill as a storyteller, in part to the astonishment of learning there was so much more to World War One than the mechanised butchery of the Western Front - and, if you thought really hard, Peter O'Toole prancing around in shiny white robes.
As mentioned by other reviewers, what we have here is the story of German attempts to stir up a Holy War against Britain amongst the Moslem population of Persia, Afghanistan and India. The principal dramatis personae are German and British secret agents and Indian revolutionaries, and their adventures are often related in their own words. It is Hopkirk's ability to frame these in the political and military context of the times that makes this book so engrossing.
The collapse of the Russian armed forces after the revolution of 1917, at a time when the Allies had all but won this clandestine war, drastically changed the game plan. The British now found themselves providing limited military support and large amounts of cash to anyone prepared to resist the eastwards march of Turkish and German armies - i.e. anyone other than the Bolsheviks. The intervention here, as elsewhere in the Russian Civil War, ultimately benefitted nobody and only prolonged the suffering of the local people.
It is rather poignant to reread this book at a time when the West is once again getting its collective knickers in a twist at the thought of militant Islam. The lessons of history, it seems, remain stubbornly unlearned. On a less maudlin note, when can we expect the next instalment in your Great Game series, Mr Hopkirk - the one covering the 1940s onwards?
As mentioned by other reviewers, what we have here is the story of German attempts to stir up a Holy War against Britain amongst the Moslem population of Persia, Afghanistan and India. The principal dramatis personae are German and British secret agents and Indian revolutionaries, and their adventures are often related in their own words. It is Hopkirk's ability to frame these in the political and military context of the times that makes this book so engrossing.
The collapse of the Russian armed forces after the revolution of 1917, at a time when the Allies had all but won this clandestine war, drastically changed the game plan. The British now found themselves providing limited military support and large amounts of cash to anyone prepared to resist the eastwards march of Turkish and German armies - i.e. anyone other than the Bolsheviks. The intervention here, as elsewhere in the Russian Civil War, ultimately benefitted nobody and only prolonged the suffering of the local people.
It is rather poignant to reread this book at a time when the West is once again getting its collective knickers in a twist at the thought of militant Islam. The lessons of history, it seems, remain stubbornly unlearned. On a less maudlin note, when can we expect the next instalment in your Great Game series, Mr Hopkirk - the one covering the 1940s onwards?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Game of Shadows...
To most British readers, World War One is associated with the trenches on the Western front, the Gallipoli campaign or the Arab revolt in Syria, made famous of characters like T.E. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Mark, Bath
Thrillingly told story peppered by some eccentric language and a...
Hopkirk staked his claim to double dealings and daring-dos in the unforgiving deserts and plains of Central Asia in his first book 'The Great Game'. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Manzikert
They only needed to wait
World War is looming in the second decade of the twentieth Century. The Great Game is not so much over as getting ready for extra time. Read more
Published 20 months ago by G. M. Sinstadt
Forgotten 'Boys Own' story Of 1st WW BUT On The 'Other Side'!
Britain had it's amateur in the Middle east, one Lawrence of Arabia, well find out what the German Secret service were doing at the same time! Read more
Published on 9 May 2010 by G. P. Martin
Well recommended
Peter Hopkirk's book is an excellent read, covering aspects of history in these distant lands that often get overshadowed or overlooked by those more familair with the better known... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2009 by T. A. Gordon
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