Setting the East Ablaze

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