The Future of the Great Game: Sir Olaf Caroe, India's Independence, and the Defense of Asia
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Description
The “Great Game” described Britain’s efforts to maintain India as a base from which to defend the Persian Gulf and southeast Asia against rival empires. As British India’s leading geostrategist during the end of imperial rule, as well as the last British governor on the Afghan frontier, Sir Olaf Caroe saw the future of the Great Game. He predicted with remarkable acuity how the struggle for mastery in South Asia’s borderlands would play out beyond the end of the Raj.
In the aftermath of 9/11, much as Caroe foretold, flashpoints continue to light up from Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf to Nepal and Burma; threats range from terrorism and insurgency to naval expansion and nuclear rivalry. India commands the vital center, its power key to the overall stability and defense of Asia.
This book examines Caroe’s thinking to illuminate both the geopolitics behind India’s independence in 1947 and the historical precedents of contemporary South Asian strategy.
“This is a superb book that will be of interest to historians of Britain and India as well as general readers wanting to know how the Great Game continues today in the Middle East.” —Wm. Roger Louis, University of Texas
“This work marks a timely and original contribution to recent work on decolonization and the making of the modern world and does so with a commendable level of clarity." —Douglas M. Peers, University of Calgary
ISBN
978-1-931968-10-2
Publication Date
Winter 1-1-2005
Publisher
University of Akron Press
City
Akron, OH
Keywords
Foreign Affairs, Global Politics, Terrorism
Disciplines
Diplomatic History
Recommended Citation
Brobst, Peter John, "The Future of the Great Game: Sir Olaf Caroe, India's Independence, and the Defense of Asia" (2005). University of Akron Press Publications. 88.
https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/uapress_publications/88