Nevertheless, in 1716, the Russians embarked on the construction of the so-called Orenburg-Siberian defensive line…protecting the southern frontier of the Russian Empire. …However, nomadic tribes regularly raided the frontier area during the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries—as, for example, they did under the command of the self-proclaimed Kazakh “sultan” Kenessary Kasimov in 1841-47. Numerous gangs of mounted bandits frequently broke through defensive lines of cordon posts, looted Russian colonists, captured many people, and sold them as white slaves on the markets of Khiva and Bokhara, while frontier guards were enlisted mostly to garrison service. The ignorance of local specialities, inadequate mobility, and a scarcity of the means of offensive prevented frontier guards from conducting effective punitive expeditions on a regular basis … to eliminate banditry and slavery in Central Asia (pp. 56–57; cf. p. 144, 159, 221). a b c d e Irwin, Robert (21 June 2001). "An Endless Progression of Whirlwinds". London Review of Books. Vol.23, no.12. ISSN 0260-9592. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021 . Retrieved 1 September 2021. Without detracting from his genuinely impressive mastery of the broader world historical context, I would like to suggest some additional threads which could have enhanced the storyline. Note that all of the sources I reference here, and throughout the remainder of this critique, are not included in the author's already impressive bibliography – in some cases understandably, in others not as easily so.

Robert Middleton, Huw Thomas, and Markus Hauser. Tajikistan and the High Pamirs, Odyssey Books, p. 476Despite the board being on the small side, this is a great educational family game. And also a fun way to plan places you can visit together! a b c d Marvin, Charles (1883). The Russians at Merv and Herat, and their power of invading India. London: W.H. Allan & Co. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022 . Retrieved 15 December 2022. Symptomatically, many Europeans were convinced that [the] Russian … pattern of colonial government proved to be not less progressive and sometimes more efficient than that of the British. … It is disputable whether Russian rule was less progressive than British rule in the fields of education, industry, and social standards, but Russian rule was definitely more understandable for natives who were not really ready to fully accept Western civilization …whereas the British caused the local people to feel inferior, the Russians wished them to behave somewhat as if they were at home … Durand quite correctly held that whereas the Russian position in Asia was natural, the British one proved to be artificial' (pp. 332–3; cf. pp. 149, 156). Main article: Khivan campaign of 1839 Russian Empire acquisitions by year in Central Asia up to 1885

Dean, Riaz (2019). Mapping The Great Game: Explorers, Spies & Maps in Nineteenth-century Asia. Oxford: Casemate. pp.270–71. ISBN 978-1-61200-814-1. a b c Zaloga, Steven J. (20 October 2015). Gustaf Mannerheim. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-1443-2. The Great Game of Britain Board Game includes 1 playing board, 36 x souvenier cards, 60 x hazard cards, 6 x steam train playing pieces, 12 x counters, 1 x die, 1 x die shaker By the late 19th century London added the argument that Russian success against the Ottoman Empire would seriously embarrass Britain's reputation for diplomatic prowess.First, the author's discussion of the Russian conquest of Central Asia, drawing on essential post-1950s Soviet scholarship, certainly contains reference to political, economic, and religious (especially pan-Islamic) ties between 19th-century India and the Central Asian states. He, nonetheless, could have added greater depth and clarity to the discussion by highlighting how the process of industrialization in both Russia and Britain along with the Russian ‘imposition of a state banking infrastructure’ in Central Asia ‘effectively remov[ed] Indians from their central role in the Central Asian rural credit system’ so that ‘in just a few short decades, the centuries-old Indian diaspora in Central Asia came to an end’. (4) This in turn, I suggest, must have affected the leverage of India in its political and possibly even religious (Islamic) relations with the Central Asian states, which certainly continued, though with decreasing frequency and economic clout. It must also have impacted the economy and thus even politics of British India, adding to the sense of competition with Russia, not only in general, but particularly in the Central Asian realms. Goodwin, Jason (20 February 2009). "Mongolia and the Madman". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 19 March 2023. With its panoply of outlandish tyrants, fortune tellers, mounted tribesmen and wild dreams advanced against absurd odds, the whole story [of Roman von Ungern-Sternberg] could have possessed the makings of a glorious offshoot of the Great Game, had Ungern been anything more than a murderous sadist. Minute by Viceroy, encl. No. 123 of 1875, Government of India, Foreign Department (Political), to Salisbury, 7 June 1875, N.P.123.