A Ride to Khiva: Travels and Adventures in Central Asia (Cambridge Library Collection - Travel, Middle East and Asia Minor)

Travel

Frederick Burnaby

Asia

C. Knight

Frederick Burnaby (1842-85) joined the Royal Horse Guards in 1859, but, when not assigned to active duty, he crafted his own adventures. He ballooned across the English Channel, and travelled in Spain, Asia Minor and Russia. He was wounded, and eventually killed, fighting for the British Empire. His book, A Ride to Khiva (1876) gave a personal account of his hazardous mission into Russian territory during the 'Great Game' when the British and Russian Empires were vying for power in central Asia. It was an instant bestseller, and brought him overnight fame. This two-volume work, published in 1877, recounts his next adventure: a two-thousand mile journey through Asia Minor to assess Turkey's chances in the impending war with Russia. On the way, he creates vivid snapshots of the region and the people he encounters. Volume 2 covers the journey from Armenia to the Black Sea and includes numerous appendices.

On Horseback through Asia Minor: Volume 2

Cambridge University Press

A Ride to Khiva: Travels and Adventures in Central Asia

In the winter of 1875, a young British officer set out across Central Asia on a strictly unofficial mission to investigate the latest secret Russian moves in the Great Game. His goal was the mysterious caravan city of Khiva, closed to all European travellers by the Russians following their seizure of it two years earlier. His aim was to discover whether, as many British strategists feared, this remote and dangerous oasis was about to be used as a springboard for an invasion of India. Unknown to his superiors, who would have forbidden the venture, Captain Frederick Gustavus Burnaby rode for over a thousand miles across steppe and desert, struggling through blizzards and snowdrifts, to reach forbidden Khiva. Ordered home by an alarmed government, Burnaby immediately sat down and wrote this best-selling account of his adventures, which was to become a Great Game classic, the first of two he was to publish.

Long Riders' Guild Press

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Books by Frederick Burnaby