1901 The Great Game / Germany, Russia and India

“As long as we rule India we are the greatest power in the world,” he (e.g. Lord Curzon) pontificated in 1901. “If we lose it we shall drop straight away to a third rate power.” Viewing the empire from this India-centric perspective Curzon saw Britain’s victories in the Middle East as a golden company to strengthen the forward defenses of the Raj. He even wanted a British protectorate in Persia and “Strong independent states” on the ruins of the tsarist empire in the Caucasus, backed by British power.

Source: Reynolds, David. The Long Shadow. (p. 90); David Gilmour, Curzon (London, 1994), p. 30 [Asquith]; David Dilks, Curzon in India (2 vols., London, 1969 – 70), vol. I, p. 113; Darwin, Britain, Egypt and the Middle East, pp. 153, 160.