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Setting the East Ablaze: Lenin's Dream of an Empire in Asia
A DANGEROUS NEW TWIST IN THE GREAT GAME
In this gripping narrative Peter Hopkirk tells how Lenin and his revolutionary comrades tried, in the period between the two world wars, to set the East ablaze with their heady new gospel of Marxism. Their dream was to "liberate" the whole of Asia, and their starting point was British India, the richest of all imperial possessions.
The bloody struggle that ensued, the full story of which has never been told, marked a dramatic new twist in the Great Game. Among the players were British Indian intelligence officers and the armed revolutionaries of the Communist International. There were also Muslim visionaries and Chinese warlords-as well as a White Russian baron who roasted his Bolshevik captives alive.
Pieced together from secret archives, intelligence reports, and the long-forgotten memoirs of the players involved, here is an extraordinary tale of intrigue and treachery. Like Hopkirk's bestselling The Great Game, its theme is ominously topical in view of the violent events that still grip this turbulent region-from the Caucasus to Afghanistan-where the Great Game never really ended.
In this gripping narrative Peter Hopkirk tells how Lenin and his revolutionary comrades tried, in the period between the two world wars, to set the East ablaze with their heady new gospel of Marxism. Their dream was to "liberate" the whole of Asia, and their starting point was British India, the richest of all imperial possessions.
The bloody struggle that ensued, the full story of which has never been told, marked a dramatic new twist in the Great Game. Among the players were British Indian intelligence officers and the armed revolutionaries of the Communist International. There were also Muslim visionaries and Chinese warlords-as well as a White Russian baron who roasted his Bolshevik captives alive.
Pieced together from secret archives, intelligence reports, and the long-forgotten memoirs of the players involved, here is an extraordinary tale of intrigue and treachery. Like Hopkirk's bestselling The Great Game, its theme is ominously topical in view of the violent events that still grip this turbulent region-from the Caucasus to Afghanistan-where the Great Game never really ended.
272 pages, Paperback
First published July 12, 1984
87 people are currently reading
1363 people want to read
About the author
Peter Hopkirk
20 books303 followersPeter Hopkirk was born in Nottingham, the son of Frank Stewart Hopkirk, a prison chaplain, and Mary Perkins. He grew up at Danbury, Essex, notable for the historic palace of the Bishop of Rochester. Hopkirk was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford. The family hailed originally from the borders of Scotland in Roxburghshire where there was a rich history of barbaric raids and reivers hanging justice. It must have resonated with his writings in the history of the lawless frontiers of the British Empire. From an early age he was interested in spy novels carrying around Buchan's Greenmantle and Kipling's Kim stories about India. At the Dragon he played rugby, and shot at Bisley.
Before turning full-time author, he was an ITN reporter and newscaster for two years, the New York City correspondent of Lord Beaverbrook's The Sunday Express, and then worked for nearly twenty years on The Times; five as its chief reporter, and latterly as a Middle East and Far East specialist. In the 1950s, he edited the West African news magazine Drum, sister paper to the South African Drum. Before entering Fleet Street, he served as a subaltern in the King's African Rifles in 1949 – in the same battalion as Lance-Corporal Idi Amin, later to emerge as a Ugandan tyrant.
Hopkirk travelled widely over many years in the regions where his six books are set – Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, and eastern Turkey.
He sought a life in dangerous situations as a journalist, being sent to Algeria to cover the revolutionary crisis in the French colonial administration. Inspired by Maclean's Eastern Approaches he began to think about the Far East. During the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961 he was based in New York covering the events for the Express. No stranger to misadventure, Hopkirk was twice arrested and held in secret police cells, once in Cuba, where he was accused of spying for the US Government. His contacts in Mexico obtained his release. In the Middle East, he was hijacked by Arab terrorists in Beirut, which led to his expulsion. The PLO hijacked his plane, a KLM jet bound for Amsterdam at the height of the economic oil crises in 1974. Hopkirk confronted them and persuaded the armed gang to surrender their weapons.
His works have been officially translated into fourteen languages, and unofficial versions in local languages are apt to appear in the bazaars of Central Asia. In 1999, he was awarded the Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal for his writing and travels by the Royal Society for Asian Affairs.[3] much of his research came from the India Office archives, British Library, St Pancras.
Hopkirk's wife Kathleen Partridge wrote A Traveller's Companion to Central Asia, published by John Murray in 1994 (ISBN 0-7195-5016-5).
Hopkirk died on 22 August 2014 at the age of 83.
Before turning full-time author, he was an ITN reporter and newscaster for two years, the New York City correspondent of Lord Beaverbrook's The Sunday Express, and then worked for nearly twenty years on The Times; five as its chief reporter, and latterly as a Middle East and Far East specialist. In the 1950s, he edited the West African news magazine Drum, sister paper to the South African Drum. Before entering Fleet Street, he served as a subaltern in the King's African Rifles in 1949 – in the same battalion as Lance-Corporal Idi Amin, later to emerge as a Ugandan tyrant.
Hopkirk travelled widely over many years in the regions where his six books are set – Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, and eastern Turkey.
He sought a life in dangerous situations as a journalist, being sent to Algeria to cover the revolutionary crisis in the French colonial administration. Inspired by Maclean's Eastern Approaches he began to think about the Far East. During the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961 he was based in New York covering the events for the Express. No stranger to misadventure, Hopkirk was twice arrested and held in secret police cells, once in Cuba, where he was accused of spying for the US Government. His contacts in Mexico obtained his release. In the Middle East, he was hijacked by Arab terrorists in Beirut, which led to his expulsion. The PLO hijacked his plane, a KLM jet bound for Amsterdam at the height of the economic oil crises in 1974. Hopkirk confronted them and persuaded the armed gang to surrender their weapons.
His works have been officially translated into fourteen languages, and unofficial versions in local languages are apt to appear in the bazaars of Central Asia. In 1999, he was awarded the Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal for his writing and travels by the Royal Society for Asian Affairs.[3] much of his research came from the India Office archives, British Library, St Pancras.
Hopkirk's wife Kathleen Partridge wrote A Traveller's Companion to Central Asia, published by John Murray in 1994 (ISBN 0-7195-5016-5).
Hopkirk died on 22 August 2014 at the age of 83.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
November 12, 2024
When everyone is dead the Great Game is finished. Not before.”
- Rudyard Kipling, ‘Kim’ (1901)
“For the British, at least, the Great Game was well and truly over.”
- Peter Hopkirk, ‘Setting the East Ablaze’ (1984)
************
Although not the Great Game played between British agents in India between 1850 and 1907 when a treaty was signed by the Tsar the places and events in this history are analogous. Russia had made plans to deprive Britain of its major source of wealth and power by invasion of India through Central Asia. After the October Revolution of 1917 the treaty was torn up and in 1920 Lenin’s Civil War wound down but Soviets followed the playbook of the Tsar. Hopkirk introduces a cast on both sides in Turkistan, Afghanistan, China and India.
An exploratory diplomatic mission was sent from Delhi to Tashkent to see what the Bolsheviks were up to. What they feared was 15,000,000 Turkestanis rising up against 1,500,000 Russians, so they were exceptionally brutal. Austrians, Germans and Hungarians, Swedes, Danes, were prisoners unless they agreed to join the socialists. After a counter-revolutionary coup and the Bolsheviks took control back the torture and executions multiplied. Outside Tashkent the White Army battled the Red Army to resume rule. The British pulled out leaving their spies no route of retreat.
While Col. Bailey was protecting the Khyber Pass in Central Asia Col. Etherton was protecting the Karakorum Pass in Western China against an invasion by Bolsheviks. Lenin’s strategy was to train Indian revolutionaries for overthrow of British India and the rest of Asia would follow. M.N. Roy was one who went to Moscow and met with him. The Comintern threw a massive meeting with 1800 delegates from the Middle East to enlist Muslims to rebel against colonial rule. They didn’t need convincing since Britain had just carved up the Ottoman Empire where it’s Holy Sites were located.
Roy was sent to Tashkent with to trains full of arms and gold. On the way to Tashkent, where the usual British spies awaited, they recruited Indian Muslim refugees. Britain partially recognized Bolsheviks in the 1921 Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement signed by Lloyd George and opposed by Churchill. In return for trade Soviets promised to not interfere in India. Britain was already on to the Roy plot. Meanwhile a leader of the White Army attacked the capital of Mongolia gathering warriors for a crusade on Moscow that would make the predations of Genghis Khan look gentle.
In the Ferghana Valley Muslim hillmen plotted to be rid of the Bolsheviks, who had shelled a city and mosques. Lenin plays host to Enver Pasha, ex-PM of Turkey and top general during WWI, who fought the Allies and lost the Ottoman Empire. He would attack India with Russian troops if Lenin lent them to help him regain Turkey. While Enver is exiled in Moscow, Lenin allies with Kemal Ataturk his rival. Enver is sent to Turkestan to quell the rebels but betrays Lenin by joining them. Fighting against Red Army weapons and troops the end can be imagined, a complete and utter rout.
Britain soon found out that Russia was violating its non-interference trade agreement with accuracy, threatening to end it. Russia promised compliance but continued operations on a smaller scale. India curtailed, they turned to China as the next best option, with the polity fragmented between warlords in the north and Sun Yat-sen’s Kuomintang in the south. It also had passes over the mountains. Soviet agent Borodin went and sent military advisers to modernize Sun’s army. While there Lenin died and the succession struggle began between Stalin, Zinoviev and Trotsky began.
After grants of weapons and money Russia was allowed to open embassies in Xinjiang. Public and private propaganda to overthrow local government spread in the cities. Stolen Chinese documents are found in Soviet hands, offices and staff raided, with arrests and executions made. Russian defectors to India reveal a network of Soviet led communists. In 1934 killings between Chinese leaders in Xinjiang sparked a war with 100,000 dead. A siege of the capital Urumchi by the leader Ma Chung-yin was ended by the Red Army. Stalin feared Muslim wars spilling into his Central Asian lands.
The book shows how Soviets claims to liberate devolved into other brutal colonial exploitations. By then a different type of revolutionary had arrived in India whom the British would have done better to be more wary of, Mahatma Gandhi. Peter Hopkirk besides being an expert on Central Asia during the period was a collector of rare books and papers, scouring period reports and letters on the subject. His emphasis was writing accessible histories. There are no footnotes but there is an extensive bibliography and listing of the principal sources, many written by key actors who had roles to play.
- Rudyard Kipling, ‘Kim’ (1901)
“For the British, at least, the Great Game was well and truly over.”
- Peter Hopkirk, ‘Setting the East Ablaze’ (1984)
************
Although not the Great Game played between British agents in India between 1850 and 1907 when a treaty was signed by the Tsar the places and events in this history are analogous. Russia had made plans to deprive Britain of its major source of wealth and power by invasion of India through Central Asia. After the October Revolution of 1917 the treaty was torn up and in 1920 Lenin’s Civil War wound down but Soviets followed the playbook of the Tsar. Hopkirk introduces a cast on both sides in Turkistan, Afghanistan, China and India.
An exploratory diplomatic mission was sent from Delhi to Tashkent to see what the Bolsheviks were up to. What they feared was 15,000,000 Turkestanis rising up against 1,500,000 Russians, so they were exceptionally brutal. Austrians, Germans and Hungarians, Swedes, Danes, were prisoners unless they agreed to join the socialists. After a counter-revolutionary coup and the Bolsheviks took control back the torture and executions multiplied. Outside Tashkent the White Army battled the Red Army to resume rule. The British pulled out leaving their spies no route of retreat.
While Col. Bailey was protecting the Khyber Pass in Central Asia Col. Etherton was protecting the Karakorum Pass in Western China against an invasion by Bolsheviks. Lenin’s strategy was to train Indian revolutionaries for overthrow of British India and the rest of Asia would follow. M.N. Roy was one who went to Moscow and met with him. The Comintern threw a massive meeting with 1800 delegates from the Middle East to enlist Muslims to rebel against colonial rule. They didn’t need convincing since Britain had just carved up the Ottoman Empire where it’s Holy Sites were located.
Roy was sent to Tashkent with to trains full of arms and gold. On the way to Tashkent, where the usual British spies awaited, they recruited Indian Muslim refugees. Britain partially recognized Bolsheviks in the 1921 Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement signed by Lloyd George and opposed by Churchill. In return for trade Soviets promised to not interfere in India. Britain was already on to the Roy plot. Meanwhile a leader of the White Army attacked the capital of Mongolia gathering warriors for a crusade on Moscow that would make the predations of Genghis Khan look gentle.
In the Ferghana Valley Muslim hillmen plotted to be rid of the Bolsheviks, who had shelled a city and mosques. Lenin plays host to Enver Pasha, ex-PM of Turkey and top general during WWI, who fought the Allies and lost the Ottoman Empire. He would attack India with Russian troops if Lenin lent them to help him regain Turkey. While Enver is exiled in Moscow, Lenin allies with Kemal Ataturk his rival. Enver is sent to Turkestan to quell the rebels but betrays Lenin by joining them. Fighting against Red Army weapons and troops the end can be imagined, a complete and utter rout.
Britain soon found out that Russia was violating its non-interference trade agreement with accuracy, threatening to end it. Russia promised compliance but continued operations on a smaller scale. India curtailed, they turned to China as the next best option, with the polity fragmented between warlords in the north and Sun Yat-sen’s Kuomintang in the south. It also had passes over the mountains. Soviet agent Borodin went and sent military advisers to modernize Sun’s army. While there Lenin died and the succession struggle began between Stalin, Zinoviev and Trotsky began.
After grants of weapons and money Russia was allowed to open embassies in Xinjiang. Public and private propaganda to overthrow local government spread in the cities. Stolen Chinese documents are found in Soviet hands, offices and staff raided, with arrests and executions made. Russian defectors to India reveal a network of Soviet led communists. In 1934 killings between Chinese leaders in Xinjiang sparked a war with 100,000 dead. A siege of the capital Urumchi by the leader Ma Chung-yin was ended by the Red Army. Stalin feared Muslim wars spilling into his Central Asian lands.
The book shows how Soviets claims to liberate devolved into other brutal colonial exploitations. By then a different type of revolutionary had arrived in India whom the British would have done better to be more wary of, Mahatma Gandhi. Peter Hopkirk besides being an expert on Central Asia during the period was a collector of rare books and papers, scouring period reports and letters on the subject. His emphasis was writing accessible histories. There are no footnotes but there is an extensive bibliography and listing of the principal sources, many written by key actors who had roles to play.
March 24, 2022
Covering the period between the wars (loosely) in central Asia, this is the third of Peter Hopkirk's excellent books I have read.
Coming from a reportage background it is all the more surprising that he writes an incredibly compelling story, giving it life and filling out the details which make it so readable. Other reporters who write often fail to capture the narrative the same way. More academic history readers will find this lacks the source references, which are for the most part British and therefore perhaps lacks more soviet perspective or filling out.
While I have read a number of books by the players in the game, Hopkirk's strength is to be able to bring them together and assemble the individual parts to give the overview we miss from an individuals perspective.
As the British try to protect Central Asia from Communist interference, supporting the White Russians against the Bolsheviks, the Soviets meanwhile look to undermine British control in India by stirring up communist sympathisers against them. They compete to become indispensable to the Chinese in Sinkiang, both succeeding at different times when the situation suits the Chinese. As well as the strings pulled from Britain and Moscow, there are other individuals with their own agendas, taking opportunities where they arise and often playing both sides.
There are many compelling characters who play their part in this story: For the British, FM Bailey, Georg Vasel, Wilfred Malleson, Percy Etherton; for the anti-communist Russians Paul Nazaroff, Roman von Ungern-Sternberg; For the communists Mikhail Borodin, Indian communist MN Roy, exiled Turk Enver Pasha (who won the trust of Lenin and was sent to Bukhara to quell the Muslim revolt against the Soviets, but subsequently switched sides!); for the Chinese in Sinkiang, warlords Sheng Shi-tsai, then Ma Chung-yin (Big Horse) battle for supremacy, switching sides as opportunity arises.
Hopkirk's main aim appears to be recording a series of ripping yarns, rather than full blown historical analysis. He writes a tidy introduction, but largely we move from chapter to chapter and pick up on new characters on the way.
4 stars
For me it was a great read, matching the previous books from Hopkirk which I have read:
Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Race for Lhasa
Foreign Devils on the Silk Road
Coming from a reportage background it is all the more surprising that he writes an incredibly compelling story, giving it life and filling out the details which make it so readable. Other reporters who write often fail to capture the narrative the same way. More academic history readers will find this lacks the source references, which are for the most part British and therefore perhaps lacks more soviet perspective or filling out.
While I have read a number of books by the players in the game, Hopkirk's strength is to be able to bring them together and assemble the individual parts to give the overview we miss from an individuals perspective.
As the British try to protect Central Asia from Communist interference, supporting the White Russians against the Bolsheviks, the Soviets meanwhile look to undermine British control in India by stirring up communist sympathisers against them. They compete to become indispensable to the Chinese in Sinkiang, both succeeding at different times when the situation suits the Chinese. As well as the strings pulled from Britain and Moscow, there are other individuals with their own agendas, taking opportunities where they arise and often playing both sides.
There are many compelling characters who play their part in this story: For the British, FM Bailey, Georg Vasel, Wilfred Malleson, Percy Etherton; for the anti-communist Russians Paul Nazaroff, Roman von Ungern-Sternberg; For the communists Mikhail Borodin, Indian communist MN Roy, exiled Turk Enver Pasha (who won the trust of Lenin and was sent to Bukhara to quell the Muslim revolt against the Soviets, but subsequently switched sides!); for the Chinese in Sinkiang, warlords Sheng Shi-tsai, then Ma Chung-yin (Big Horse) battle for supremacy, switching sides as opportunity arises.
Hopkirk's main aim appears to be recording a series of ripping yarns, rather than full blown historical analysis. He writes a tidy introduction, but largely we move from chapter to chapter and pick up on new characters on the way.
4 stars
For me it was a great read, matching the previous books from Hopkirk which I have read:
Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Race for Lhasa
Foreign Devils on the Silk Road
September 17, 2024
Yet another gripping tale of geo-political intrigue from a great historian and writer. Set between the two wars, this is the story of Lenin's desire to claim Asia for his own and wrench India from the sticky fingers of the British.
Leaders today are accused of ignoring the plain truth; nothing much has changed then.
Leaders today are accused of ignoring the plain truth; nothing much has changed then.
July 7, 2025
Them Russkies! Trying to steal away our hard won land and wealth. We stole it years ago and stole it fair and square.
This is a great read. Lots and lots of bravery, gentleman ship, duty first and honour amongst thieves.
This is a great read. Lots and lots of bravery, gentleman ship, duty first and honour amongst thieves.
September 10, 2024
I'm fascinated by the history of Eastern-Europe post the Russian Revolution and the events taking place in Central Asia are all the more captivating for me. Representatives of the Foreign Office (spies) infesting the lands like flies: revolutionaries and mercenaries around every corner and all brought to life by the authors wonderful portrayal of 'how the east was battled for'.
An account bristling with colourful and dangerous characters: diplomats, soldiers, heroes, traitors, and murderers. Peter Hopkirk tells all so well: it left me breathless.
I'm already a fan and a veteran of his other first-class works: 'The Great Game' and 'On Secret Service East of Constantinople' (which I would suggest are part one and part two of this great tale).
The author gives great insight into how and why the events unfolded with many reflections from the first-hand accounts from those times. It reads like a thriller. A corking, bang-up read.
An account bristling with colourful and dangerous characters: diplomats, soldiers, heroes, traitors, and murderers. Peter Hopkirk tells all so well: it left me breathless.
I'm already a fan and a veteran of his other first-class works: 'The Great Game' and 'On Secret Service East of Constantinople' (which I would suggest are part one and part two of this great tale).
The author gives great insight into how and why the events unfolded with many reflections from the first-hand accounts from those times. It reads like a thriller. A corking, bang-up read.
April 22, 2023
As I have just said with regard to,‘The Great Game; On Secret Service in High Asia’.
There’s nothing I can say about this book that has not already been said.
I’m a huge Peter Hopkirk fan and utterly captivated by this history.
This is a ‘great’ read, and, I’m now in possession of:
‘Trespassers on the Roof of the World’.
There’s nothing I can say about this book that has not already been said.
I’m a huge Peter Hopkirk fan and utterly captivated by this history.
This is a ‘great’ read, and, I’m now in possession of:
‘Trespassers on the Roof of the World’.
October 5, 2025
The research supporting the historical account must be huge. Historical account doesn't really fit, it's more a historical blockbusting adventure. Having bettered the Germans once they set their sights on the prize (India), there was but a few years allowed for the British to rest and feed on the fatted calf before Lenin too turned his gaze on the prize.
A thrilling account of derring-do.
A thrilling account of derring-do.
July 25, 2024
The third chapter in Peter Hopkirk's look at Asia in the days of Empire. Lenin decides he'll rustle up some unrest among the unwashed and put paid to Blighty's interference in land they've no business with.
Lots of murder, mayhem and skulduggery: none of which gave Lenin and his Marxist cause the upper hand.
Once again a great read from a great author.
Lots of murder, mayhem and skulduggery: none of which gave Lenin and his Marxist cause the upper hand.
Once again a great read from a great author.
May 31, 2025
Such an engaging read: again full of thrills and jolly-well put to paper (that's me trying to write in the time).
April 16, 2015
This is one of those rare books that demands to be read. I finished it in a single sitting and had to call in sick to work the next morning because I hadn’t slept.
Hopkirk, a former soldier and newsman for ITN and the Times, has been studying Central Asia for years and has made the shadow war between the British and Russian empires in the region his particular subject.
His earlier book, The Great Game, covered the period up until the signing of the “spheres of influence” agreement in the 1900s. Setting the East Ablaze takes up the tale in the dying days of the Great War, following the exploits of an unofficial British mission sent to Central Asia to discover Bolshevik intentions there. The result is a fantastic tale of bandits, secret agents, white Russians generals, Soviet commissars, hair raising escapes and desperate battles. Hopkirk has often been compared to John Buchan, the author of Greenmantle and The Thirty Nine Steps, and this certainly holds up as he manages his material with the dash and verve of a novelist.
Most of Hopkirk’s information comes from recently declassified files from British military intelligence, where Buchan worked during the war, and it would be a dull fellow indeed who could produce a bad book from such extraordinary raw material. The two characters that particularly stand out for me are the “Mad Baron” von Ungern-Sternberg and Colonel Bailey of British intelligence.
Von Ungern-Sternberg was an anti-bolshevik, who raised an army, fought against both Whites and Reds during the Russian Civil War and occasionally committed acts of such medieval cruelty that he is a name to frighten children with in the area even to this day. Putting people who have offended you in the boiler of your armoured train and then eating their remains, may not be a great system of man management, but it certainly makes for a great yarn. Though I suppose it helps if you think that you’re the reincarnation of the Buddha.
While Von Ungern-Sternberg is a superb villain, Colonel Bailey is a hero in the classic Buchan mold. When he discovers that his mission has been compromised and he and his friends must escape, he help his comrades (one of whom brought his wife!) to safety and then goes on the run himself, gathering intelligence as he goes. On the run for five months, he endures many hardships and has a great many extraordinary adventures, before escaping through the use of a very unusual ruse*.
If you like tales of courage and adventure, this is the book for you. If not, read it anyway. To dislike this marvelous book is just to prove that you have no poetry in your soul.
*You’ll have to read the book to find out. It’s one of the highlights and I couldn’t spoil it for you.
Hopkirk, a former soldier and newsman for ITN and the Times, has been studying Central Asia for years and has made the shadow war between the British and Russian empires in the region his particular subject.
His earlier book, The Great Game, covered the period up until the signing of the “spheres of influence” agreement in the 1900s. Setting the East Ablaze takes up the tale in the dying days of the Great War, following the exploits of an unofficial British mission sent to Central Asia to discover Bolshevik intentions there. The result is a fantastic tale of bandits, secret agents, white Russians generals, Soviet commissars, hair raising escapes and desperate battles. Hopkirk has often been compared to John Buchan, the author of Greenmantle and The Thirty Nine Steps, and this certainly holds up as he manages his material with the dash and verve of a novelist.
Most of Hopkirk’s information comes from recently declassified files from British military intelligence, where Buchan worked during the war, and it would be a dull fellow indeed who could produce a bad book from such extraordinary raw material. The two characters that particularly stand out for me are the “Mad Baron” von Ungern-Sternberg and Colonel Bailey of British intelligence.
Von Ungern-Sternberg was an anti-bolshevik, who raised an army, fought against both Whites and Reds during the Russian Civil War and occasionally committed acts of such medieval cruelty that he is a name to frighten children with in the area even to this day. Putting people who have offended you in the boiler of your armoured train and then eating their remains, may not be a great system of man management, but it certainly makes for a great yarn. Though I suppose it helps if you think that you’re the reincarnation of the Buddha.
While Von Ungern-Sternberg is a superb villain, Colonel Bailey is a hero in the classic Buchan mold. When he discovers that his mission has been compromised and he and his friends must escape, he help his comrades (one of whom brought his wife!) to safety and then goes on the run himself, gathering intelligence as he goes. On the run for five months, he endures many hardships and has a great many extraordinary adventures, before escaping through the use of a very unusual ruse*.
If you like tales of courage and adventure, this is the book for you. If not, read it anyway. To dislike this marvelous book is just to prove that you have no poetry in your soul.
*You’ll have to read the book to find out. It’s one of the highlights and I couldn’t spoil it for you.
May 25, 2016
The problems with this book have as much to do with my personal preference as a historian as with more objective observations that combined made this a book I will not remember except for a few general lines and thoughts.
The main issue to me was the way it was structured. The book's chapters center around characters such as the mad baron, Enver Pasja, the indian revolutionary Roy, warlord Ma and British explorer and spy Bailey and a collection of side characters given less attention. To me it felt like the book had little coherence and the connection between chapters was limited to recurring historical figures rather then historical developments. It read and felt as a collection of biographies on sensationalist figures rather than a critical analysis of USSR policies towards Asia, the title itself felt like a lie, for Lenin and his plan feature only on the background. The second biggest issue to me was sources used. Not only was a lot of this book based on secondary sources and published memoires, virtually no Soviet or Chinese sources were used, their point of view diverted from British point of view which can hardly be called objective. To top it all of, the author claimed to have used source material from British archives including secret service files, but did not consider it necessary to include them for they are of no interest to most readers according to Hopkirk. You could ask him and he would gladly tell you, but since he is dead now that means that nobody will ever know if he made up parts of his book or not.
it was quickly clear that the author was not interested in analyzing any events in central Asia, he wanted to tell juicy stories, it is populist history and a class example of it with adjectives as cowardly, dishonorable, brave and noble to identify villains and heroes rather than analyse historical figures. That does not mean that in itself biographies are wrong but then it should be called as such. The book is presented as a history book on USSR plans for the central Asian region and it does not deliver. A final problem due to the content was the style, although it is accessible, it can be dull at times for going in such lengthy details on every move made by individuals and either going at a snail space or jumping years ahead with little comment on what happened in between.
So in conclusion, this is a third choice book. You read this when you know the general history of the USSR and Central Asia and after that if you want to go into detail you pick up this book but be aware of its limitations.
The main issue to me was the way it was structured. The book's chapters center around characters such as the mad baron, Enver Pasja, the indian revolutionary Roy, warlord Ma and British explorer and spy Bailey and a collection of side characters given less attention. To me it felt like the book had little coherence and the connection between chapters was limited to recurring historical figures rather then historical developments. It read and felt as a collection of biographies on sensationalist figures rather than a critical analysis of USSR policies towards Asia, the title itself felt like a lie, for Lenin and his plan feature only on the background. The second biggest issue to me was sources used. Not only was a lot of this book based on secondary sources and published memoires, virtually no Soviet or Chinese sources were used, their point of view diverted from British point of view which can hardly be called objective. To top it all of, the author claimed to have used source material from British archives including secret service files, but did not consider it necessary to include them for they are of no interest to most readers according to Hopkirk. You could ask him and he would gladly tell you, but since he is dead now that means that nobody will ever know if he made up parts of his book or not.
it was quickly clear that the author was not interested in analyzing any events in central Asia, he wanted to tell juicy stories, it is populist history and a class example of it with adjectives as cowardly, dishonorable, brave and noble to identify villains and heroes rather than analyse historical figures. That does not mean that in itself biographies are wrong but then it should be called as such. The book is presented as a history book on USSR plans for the central Asian region and it does not deliver. A final problem due to the content was the style, although it is accessible, it can be dull at times for going in such lengthy details on every move made by individuals and either going at a snail space or jumping years ahead with little comment on what happened in between.
So in conclusion, this is a third choice book. You read this when you know the general history of the USSR and Central Asia and after that if you want to go into detail you pick up this book but be aware of its limitations.
January 29, 2018
I have now read three of the five books in Peter Hopkirk's "Great Game" series. As a late New Year's promise to myself I will get the last two read sometime this year (2018).
Peter Hopkirk's work is as well researched as any good historian would do. Then when you add to that the knack he has of being able to turn his research into a rollicking good "yarn" you have very good works of history.
Setting the East Ablaze tells the history of Central Asia between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning to the Second World War. Its main theme is the attempt by successive Soviet (Bolshevik) rulers to spread Communism to the region as a whole and to India in particular. One of the interesting facets of Hopkirk's "yarn" is the total failure, particularly on Stalin's part in carrying out this task.
Another theme is the bravery and ingenuity of a few brave English army officers and bureaucrats who served in lonely posts in the middle of nowhere collecting intelligence about and fighting off the spread of Soviet Communism. We live in a different time!
I whole heartedly recommend this book.
Regards,
Peter
Peter Hopkirk's work is as well researched as any good historian would do. Then when you add to that the knack he has of being able to turn his research into a rollicking good "yarn" you have very good works of history.
Setting the East Ablaze tells the history of Central Asia between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning to the Second World War. Its main theme is the attempt by successive Soviet (Bolshevik) rulers to spread Communism to the region as a whole and to India in particular. One of the interesting facets of Hopkirk's "yarn" is the total failure, particularly on Stalin's part in carrying out this task.
Another theme is the bravery and ingenuity of a few brave English army officers and bureaucrats who served in lonely posts in the middle of nowhere collecting intelligence about and fighting off the spread of Soviet Communism. We live in a different time!
I whole heartedly recommend this book.
Regards,
Peter
July 12, 2022
This was my first Peter Hopkirk read, and I was pleasantly surprised. The obvious attraction with Hopkirk is his lucid and engaging writing style, with a flair for the dramatic. But although the book suffers from not being up to date with the latest research, Hopkirk is largely impartial and neutral in his commentary. For a work published in 1984 before the opening of the Soviet archives to historians, Hopkirk has nevertheless searched creatively for his sources and incorporates them into his narrative while alerting the reader to his source, leaving it for us to judge its reliability. His sympathies clearly lie with the great adventurers and survivors on all sides. Overall it is a gripping, yet informative, narrative of characters we largely already know but of specific historical events involving those characters that are largely unfamiliar.
August 25, 2024
More hair-raising tales - I'm sold on this stuff.
I'll not question the research that backs this up. Mind, I do get the feeling there's a little license taken - I do wonder if at times I'm reading the Hollywood take on a true life event. Even if it does veer toward a touch of fiction to spice the story at times, it's still fact-based and gripping stuff.
I'll not question the research that backs this up. Mind, I do get the feeling there's a little license taken - I do wonder if at times I'm reading the Hollywood take on a true life event. Even if it does veer toward a touch of fiction to spice the story at times, it's still fact-based and gripping stuff.
September 21, 2025
I found this to most informative. I had no idea of Lenin's view outside of his want for a 'People's Democracy' (his total control of the Russia people). We 'The British' (our faithful, honourable members of the establishment) knew of Lenin's dream, yet, as far as I can deduce, we seem not to have treated, seen, recognised, him as an adversary. Is that what diplomacy means?
With that said, this is thrilling read and I enjoyed every bit of it.
With that said, this is thrilling read and I enjoyed every bit of it.
June 27, 2025
Like The Great Game, which precedes it in terms of the historical events described although written later, it's an easy-to-read and highly interesting book on the events that still influence relations between the states of Central Asia today, with a more specific focus on Soviet strategies to expand the communist revolution there between the two world wars.
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Come Il Grande Gioco, che lo precede dal punto di vista degli eventi storici descritti anche se scritto più tardi, si tratta di un libro di facile lettura e di grande interesse sugli eventi che ancora oggi influenzano i rapporti tra gli Stati dell'area centro-asiatica, con un focus più specifico sulle strategie sovietiche per espandervi la rivoluzione comunista tra le due guerre mondiali.
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Come Il Grande Gioco, che lo precede dal punto di vista degli eventi storici descritti anche se scritto più tardi, si tratta di un libro di facile lettura e di grande interesse sugli eventi che ancora oggi influenzano i rapporti tra gli Stati dell'area centro-asiatica, con un focus più specifico sulle strategie sovietiche per espandervi la rivoluzione comunista tra le due guerre mondiali.
September 29, 2024
Another 4 stars for another Hopkirk thriller.
March 20, 2014
Depended too much on British perspectives and English-language sources; I felt like a much larger story was conspicuously missing.
October 15, 2025
I read this twice. Phew! More thrills and spills from being out there spying the land.
Fantastic.
Fantastic.
July 4, 2021
A very interesting account of the events undertaken to set the East ablaze. The author has a gift to make the scenes come alive.
Though being a lover of the British Empire, the author does portray the British as being synomous with the good. Every deed by the British is a good deed, every Britisher playing "the great game" is an exemplary individual, and every non-British character is just a barbarian. This is the general theme of his writings in most, if not all, cases.
But this cannot take away the magic that Hopkirk is able to create with his words. This is an excellent read.
For the Indians, it does offer up an insight about how the world was fighting to gain access to India. This surprised me because nothing of this sort is taught in our classrooms. This tendency to remain aloof stretches to the present day, and India still lacks a strategic vision. i wonder why these events are not taught as part of our history.
Though being a lover of the British Empire, the author does portray the British as being synomous with the good. Every deed by the British is a good deed, every Britisher playing "the great game" is an exemplary individual, and every non-British character is just a barbarian. This is the general theme of his writings in most, if not all, cases.
But this cannot take away the magic that Hopkirk is able to create with his words. This is an excellent read.
For the Indians, it does offer up an insight about how the world was fighting to gain access to India. This surprised me because nothing of this sort is taught in our classrooms. This tendency to remain aloof stretches to the present day, and India still lacks a strategic vision. i wonder why these events are not taught as part of our history.
August 14, 2015
The struggle for ascendancy in Asia had its roots in the histical contests between the Britain and the Russians , the Great Game, immortalized by Kipling in Kim. It had begun in the middle of 19th century .Peter Hopkirk calls it neither history of the Civil War , nor of Anglo Soviet relations nor India struggle for independence . He calls it primarily a story about people. It's about a clandestine struggle for India and the East . It is set largely in Central Asia , where three great empires, those of Britain Russia and China met. It is a tale of intrigue and treachery, barbarism and fear, and occasionally pure farce. It's about Bolsheviks ' seizure of powers in Russia , the European national wars and the alarming spectre of a combined German-Turkish attack through Central Asia on Erstwhile India.
September 22, 2025
Another thrilling glimpse at the history of Asia and how Britain's adversaries battled to plant their flag.
I enjoyed this.
I enjoyed this.
March 26, 2023
Peter Hopkirk is a fantastic writer. I read his 'Great Game' before this and really enjoyed the narrative he constructed.
This book is equally well written, and has some gripping narrative chapters. The manner in which Soviet control was extended into central Asia is well told, as is the account of
Baron Von Ungern-Sternberg.
Despite this, I feel the topic was stretched and the sources used do not always justify the narrative Hopkirk tried to construct.
This book is equally well written, and has some gripping narrative chapters. The manner in which Soviet control was extended into central Asia is well told, as is the account of
Baron Von Ungern-Sternberg.
Despite this, I feel the topic was stretched and the sources used do not always justify the narrative Hopkirk tried to construct.
August 4, 2017
An excellent history on Communism's expansion into a part of the world that is often overlooked, but which played a large part in the Party's eastward push.
July 15, 2024
Wow. I knew nothing of this. I'm now fired up to read more.
I think the author writes so well; he draws you in to the action of that time.
I think the author writes so well; he draws you in to the action of that time.
December 9, 2022
The second book by Peter Hopkirk I've read this year. This one picks up only a few years after the close of "The Great Game", which documented the years of imperial intrigue between the British and Russian empires in Central Asia. The Entente between the allies of World War One had led to a quiet frontier, untill the Russian Revolution of 1917 created a new frontier of ideas.
Following the failure of socialist revolution in Western European following the end of WW1, Lenin turned the focus of Comintern to spreading socialism into the east, specifically to Britain's largest colony India.
Hopkirk collected the stories of the decades of upheaval in Central Asia in the interwar era in this book with the same attention to detail and excellent writing style. Combining political dispatches, newspaper articles, and the numerous travel accounts published by those on the ground along the Silk Road this book is a captivating read.
As was true with his other book, this one includes excellent maps, with all villages and cities discussed marked!
Following the failure of socialist revolution in Western European following the end of WW1, Lenin turned the focus of Comintern to spreading socialism into the east, specifically to Britain's largest colony India.
Hopkirk collected the stories of the decades of upheaval in Central Asia in the interwar era in this book with the same attention to detail and excellent writing style. Combining political dispatches, newspaper articles, and the numerous travel accounts published by those on the ground along the Silk Road this book is a captivating read.
As was true with his other book, this one includes excellent maps, with all villages and cities discussed marked!
July 11, 2021
4.5/5 rounding up
A short (240 pages)and very enjoyable book. It is about Soviet and British agents and espionage in Central Asia. The bulk of the book is based around Tashkent and modern day Uzbekistan in the Russian Civil War era (1918-21). There was a brief but very interesting interlude about Mongolia and the mad baron Ungern-Sternberg who was a brutal Buddhist anti-Bolshevik who thought he was the reincarnation of Genghis Khan. As the book progresses it becomes more about Soviet anti-British activities in India and in particular the actions of the Indian revolutionary M N Roy. The book then ends with a bit about 30s western China and a young Muslim-Chinese warlord. The book is told in a story like adventure sort of way, it isn’t academic and the author doesn’t deny that. The writing was very good imo. It is mainly from the British perspective.
A short (240 pages)and very enjoyable book. It is about Soviet and British agents and espionage in Central Asia. The bulk of the book is based around Tashkent and modern day Uzbekistan in the Russian Civil War era (1918-21). There was a brief but very interesting interlude about Mongolia and the mad baron Ungern-Sternberg who was a brutal Buddhist anti-Bolshevik who thought he was the reincarnation of Genghis Khan. As the book progresses it becomes more about Soviet anti-British activities in India and in particular the actions of the Indian revolutionary M N Roy. The book then ends with a bit about 30s western China and a young Muslim-Chinese warlord. The book is told in a story like adventure sort of way, it isn’t academic and the author doesn’t deny that. The writing was very good imo. It is mainly from the British perspective.
July 29, 2025
Lenin had his eyes on much, much, more than sorting the 'injustices' that had plagued his beloved Russia.
His dream of being the world's leader unfortunately for him is scuppered. Exciting stuff and a thrilling read.
His dream of being the world's leader unfortunately for him is scuppered. Exciting stuff and a thrilling read.
May 15, 2025
More from Mr Hopkirk. History on steroids. Reading history has always put me to sleep. Reading this stops me sleeping.
August 6, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed this. There is so much in here that I had no idea of.
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