The British in India’s Zoom Lecture Series
Heather A. Campbell will speak on ‘THE DECLINE OF EMPIRES IN SOUTH ASIA’ on Tuesday 18 April at 18.30 GMT.
The post- First World War period was pivotal in global history and geopolitics. And no more so than in South Asia, where for decades the ‘Great Game’ in geopolitical rivalry of the two greatest modern empires—Britain and Russia—had dominated international relations. But with the advent of Communism in Russia and growing nationalism and pan-Islamism in Afghanistan, Persia and India, Britain’s imperial standing was under threat.
Some, such as Lord Curzon, the dominant Imperialist in the Foreign Office, fell back on what they knew—old patterns of rivalry and high-handedness that characterised the Great Game. Not all however agreed with Curzon, and with war in Afghanistan, civil unrest in India, and rising tensions in Persia, those who opposed the Great Game mindset advocated a new way forward for British foreign relations.
Heather A. Campbell is the author of The Decline of Empires in South Asia: How Britain and Russia lost their grip over India, Persia and Afghanistan (Pen & Sword 2022). She has taught at the School of History, Queen Mary University of London and works at the Central European University, Vienna.