Like Hidden Fire: The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire ANNOTATION
Here, in epic detail, the author of The Great Game and other works of history and espionage tells of the plot to bring down the British Empire. In 1914, during World War I, the Germans and Turks tried to start violent uprisings against the British in India and the Russians in Central Asia. 24 pages of illustrations; 3 maps.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Under the banner of a Holy War, masterminded in Berlin and unleashed from Constantinople, the Germans and the Turks set out in 1914 to foment violent revolutionary uprisings against the British in India and the Russians in Central Asia. It was a new and more sinister version of the old Great Game, with world domination as its ultimate aim. As the storm clouds of the First World War loomed, German hawks dreamed of driving the British out of India and creating a vast new Teutonic empire in the East, using their Turkish ally as a springboard. At the same time, Turkey's leaders aimed to free the Muslim peoples of Central Asia from the Tsarist yoke - and rule them themselves as part of a great new Ottoman empire. The shadowy - and often bloody - struggle that followed was fought out between the intelligence services of King, Kaiser, Sultan, and Tsar. It was to spill over into Persia, Afghanistan, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, and to be felt as far afield as the United States and China. Here, told in epic detail and for the first time, is the extraordinary story of the Turco-German jihad of the First World War, recounted through the adventures and misadventures of the secret agents and others who took part in it. Pieced together from the secret intelligence reports of the day and the long-forgotten memoirs of the participants, Peter Hopkirk's latest narrative is an enthralling sequel to the acclaimed The Great Game, and his three earlier works set in Central Asia. It is also highly topical in view of recent events in this volatile region where the Great Game has never really ceased. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism and fears of a resurgent Russia and a reunified Germany add greatly to the significance of this epic tale.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Expertly assembled from memoirs, diaries and secret intelligence reports of the day, Hopkirk's book recounts the attempt of Germany's Wilhelm II to harness the forces of militant Islam against Britain's imperial interests in central Asia during WW I. His efforts to rally the peoples of the Ottoman Empire, the Caucasus, Persia and Afghanistan--and the counterefforts by the British and Russians--were carried out largely by intelligence agents. If the book has a flaw it is its plethora of riches: there are plots here to supply several spy novels. In the final third of his study, Hopkirk ( The Great Game ) focuses on the unsuccessful defense of Baku by British, Russian and Armenian troops against the German-backed Turkish ``Army of God.'' Among those taken captive when the Azerbaijani capital fell in September 1918 were 26 Bolshevik commissars whose subsequent martyrdom became a staple of Soviet propaganda. Hopkirk's scholarly efforts, which included a visit to the remote massacre site, go a long way toward clearing up the mystery of their final hours. This little-known chapter of great-power rivalry in central Asia demonstrates that the region was no less volatile three-quarters of a century ago. Illustrations. (June)
Library Journal
The author of The Great Game (Kodansha, 1992) and other espionage narratives, Hopkirk tells a lively World War I story in this account of the Turco-German effort to move to the East and disrupt the British and Russian grip in Asia. The Turks dreamed of an expanded Ottoman Empire; the Germans planned to use the Turks and ultimately supplant them. A railroad heading east from Constantinople, a failed uprising in Calcutta, a wild race to Afghanistan, and a matching of wits with Lawrence of Arabia occurred simultaneously as Germany faltered in the West and the effort gradually lost steam. Libraries where Hopkirk's previous tales have been popular will want to add this one also.-Nancy C. Cridland, Indiana Univ. Libs., Bloomington
Booknews
It was 1914 when Germany and Turkey hatched a plot to drive Britain out of India and Tsarist Russia out of Islamic Central Asia and divide half the world between a Teutonic Empire and a revived Ottoman Empire. Popular writer Hopkirk (The Great Game, etc.) draws on secret intelligence reports, memoirs of participants, and other primary sources to construct his historical thriller. First published in Britain in 1994 as On Secret Service East of Constantinople Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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