From the early 19th century to the early 20th century, Britain, the maritime hegemon, and Russia, the land power, engaged in a nearly century-long contest, the "Victorian Cold War," also known as the "Great Game." This book takes the two focal points of the "Great Game" - the Eastern Question and the Central Asian Question - as its context, sorting out the military and diplomatic behaviors of Britain and Russia in the "Great Game", vividly depicting this power competition that lasted for nearly a century, focusing on the geopolitics of this period, explaining the logic of power, and discussing the geopolitical thoughts of the 19th century. This book places China in the late Qing Dynasty from a global perspective, providing an important horizontal comparative historical perspective for us to understand China and the world. It also provides a very valuable historical perspective for us to understand today the significance of China's modernization, which has undergone major changes unseen in a century.
