The Great Game was the name given to the rivalry between the British Empire and the Russian Empire over influence in Central Asia and Afghanistan during the nineteenth century. Britain feared that Russia, advancing south through the Caucasus and the steppe, would threaten the route to British India. Both sides sent explorers, spies and diplomats into the region, and Britain fought wars in Afghanistan to keep it as a buffer. Russia took the khanates of Khiva, Bukhara and Kokand, and a crisis at Panjdeh nearly led to war. The rivalry was settled through boundary commissions and, in 1907, an Anglo-Russian agreement. The phrase was popularized by Rudyard Kipling's novel Kim.
Before and after
- from 1830 to 1838Mir Muhammed Rebellion
- from 1830 to 1900Rise of literary realism
- 1830Rise of Carlism
- 1830Charles Lyell publishes Principles of Geology
- from 12 January 1830 to 10 September 1895Great Game
- 16 May 1830Death of Joseph Fourier
- 10 July 1830Birth of Camille Pissarro
- from 26 July 1830 to 29 July 1830July Revolution
- 18 August 1830Birth of Franz Joseph I of Austria
More in Wars, politics & history
- 4 July 1776United States Declaration of Independence
- 1815Congress of Vienna
- from October 1853 to February 1856Crimean War
- from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871Franco-Prussian War
- from 1885 to 1914Scramble for Africa
- from 8 February 1904 to 5 September 1905Russo-Japanese War
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.