A gripping and fascinating history of the attempts by Germany to launch a Holy War in Central Asia as part of its World War 1 strategy. The intention was to create a war that would spill into British India and place intolerable pressure on the British Empire. The subtitle for the book is “The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire”. It could have been as easily titled “The Plots to Carve Out a New Empire I Central Asia by Germany and Turkey”.
The story is an astonishing one taking place before technology had completely transformed travel and spying, when remote regions were genuinely isolated and the crumbling Ottoman Empire was a pot of riches for whoever could grab them and hold on to them. The region had a long history of secret warfare and espionage as the Great Game between Russia and British India was played out. This game only came to a close in the face of the mutual threat from Germany and Turkey. The Kaiser had an explicit plan to foment a Holy War by the Muslim population in Central Asia against both Britain and Russia, this Holy War would be lead by the Ottoman Sultan, the political and religious leader of Muslim population. Hidden inside this plan was another plan to replace Russia and Britain as the imperial power in the region, gaining the riches of the the Caucasus and India.
The plan was to use a limited number of German soldiers, diplomats and spies armed with some gold, more propaganda and a lot of promises to maneuver Turkey into a declaration of Holy War against the infidels. This would unleash the muslin population into a war that would be funded by the gold seized from Russian and, chiefly, British banks in the region. This would be a very cot effective war if the plans were realized. Peter Hopkirk describes how the plans were made, the move and counter move made across the region, the desperate and frequently confused actions of Germany, Britain and Russia, before and after the revolution, collided and intertwined.
At its hear this is a story of a number of incredibly brave men from Germany and Britain who fought a secret war against each other. It is a flat out adventure story with daring escapes, endurance, luck and heart stopping courage that grips the reader like a vise. Without technology these men, they were nearly all men though the incredible courage of the women caught up in the wars, massacres and revolutions is fully acknowledged, had to rely on their wits to save themselves and complete their missions.
Peter Hopkirk manages to balance the wider picture of the war across the globe with the details of the struggles in the region, placing the individual stories within a wider context. The results of the actions of that time are still very relevant today, the fantastically cavalier way that the Allies disposed of the the countries in the region, carving them up for their own benefit post war without any reference to the people who lived there is still bearing bitter fruit today.
This is wonderful narrative history, the sweep and dash of the events are told with clarity and a due appreciation for the astonishing people involved.
