The Devils of Loudun

In this book Fitzroy Maclean collects stories from Central Asia's Great Game in the lands between Russia and India in the 19th century. Maclean himself is no stranger the area, having taken four trips to Russian Central Asia while on a diplomatic post in Moscow just prior to WWII. He explains his two trips to Bokhara in the Epilogue - one unsanctioned and one thirty years later as a tourist. The stories are in chronological order and often tie through.

A Person From England is the longest, and leads off well with the story of first Colonel Stoddart and then Captain Conolly visit the Khanate of Bokhara to be taken captive by the Emir Muzaffar bin Nasrullah in the 1840s. The larger part of the story is of Dr Joseph Wolff, an unconventional Christian missionary and his single handed undertaking to travel to Bokhara and negotiate their freedom. It has to be said that Stoddart and Conolly were left poorly unsupported by the British, where the Emir was put out by not receiving a letter from the Queen herself to claim the men. Instead politics got in the way and it was the Governor General of India who was to respond - which was insufficient for the Emir. Wolff was certainly brave and ambitious, and despite being warned by many on his journey, arrived in Bokhara to find both men executed and himself in a similar position that they were!

A Dervish from Turkey is next, telling the story of Armin Vambery, a Hungarian orientalist and traveller who in 1863 took up the disguise of a dervish from Turkey to travel from Turkey through Persia, Turkestan and Afghanistan and pack to Persia and Turkey. While often accosted as being a European spy, he manages against all odds to convince the right people at the right time to the contrary. From Meshed (Mashhad) in Persia and back he spends 10 months, travelling mostly with a band of pious men returning from the Haj (pilgrimage to Mecca) to their homes in Turkestan. With these men he forms a close bond and they, convinced of his authenticity defend him to all who call him out. He even meets with the Emir of Bokhara (Emir Said Abd al-Ahad Khan, the son of Nasrullah featuring in the first story), blesses him and is awarded a gift of money!

Special Correspondent is the story of American Januarius MacGahan, the Special Correspondent for the New York Herald, who was sent to follow the Russian advance on Khiva to force the Khan of Khiva to submit to Russian control. General Kaufmann was the commanding officer, and MacGahan had to pursue him across 600 miles of desert for over a month, finally reaching him on the banks of the Oxus in s brief battle before they crossed the river to approach Khiva proper. At the age of 30 at the time, he had already had an illustrious career in dangerous and carried on to Bulgaria and Turkey before his death only 4 years later.

White General tells of General Skobelyov, known as the White General for his white uniform and white horse. A well respected Russian military strategist and leader, he was a key player in the conquest of Khiva (previous chapter) and went on to many other battles and had great ambitions to lead an attack on the British in India, but was thwarted politically by various peace agreements. Herat was seen as the key to access India, and to take Herat, for Herat one must take Merv and for Merv, one must take Gok Tepe. This story covers the siege of, then attack on Gok Tepe, Skobelyov's falling out of favour and being recalled to Russia, and his subsequent death by heart attack at 38 (bit suspicious...).

Khan of Merv Another rather long chapter! In 1881, watching the attack of Gok Tepe (previous chapter) from a nearby hill Irish correspondent for the London Daily News Edmund O'Donovan held an invite from the Khan of Gok Tepe to visit - now not of much use! Predicting the next Russian move to be Merv, he quickly made his way to Merv where his identity was under question and made a prisoner, but through a turn of events it is considered he has the power to take British control over the Khanate, and became a Khan, and was therefore unable to leave! A large part of the narrative is O'Donovan making plans for escape!

Superior Person George Curzon, MP for Southport makes a circuit through Central Asia as, for want of a better description an informed tourist. 1888 he finds Russia has subdued Central Asia and that Russia is there to stay!

The Bolshevic Revolution takes place in the gap between these stories.

All is Known to Finkelstein 1917, where FM Bailey, British agent who is residing in Bokhara feels the risk from the Russian Bolsheviks and takes on multiple identities to escape - at one point even going in the employ of the Russian Secret Service to help hunt for himself!

A Rendezvous with Death Enver Pasha, the Turkish Minister of War who aligned himself though a complex process, first with Germany, then Russia and is eventually sent to Bokhara to suppress the revolt there. He switched sides and was in hiding there. The story proper is of the two Soviet Security Services officers under cover who has been tasked with locating Enver Pasha for capture. They are disguised as merchants and must track down Enver.

Published in 1958, I enjoyed the way Maclean wrote the stories. They were all fast paced and interesting. He has a knack of adding in amusing asides, and was consistent in his approach. While perhaps none of this is new, and can all be found elsewhere, it is useful to have the context of each story in a linear timeline to understand events as they rolled out in sequence.

5 stars