John Murray Publishers Ltd On Secret Service East of Constantinople: The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire

Peter Hopkirk was an extraordinary historian and writer. Having read his classic "The Great Game" I was greatly looking forward to reading this book - and was not disappointed. A thrilling book from cover to cover, Hopkirk relays in tremendous detail Germany's intense effort to create a Holy War in Central Asia to their efforts in World War I in an effort to both defeat Great Britain but also massively expand their political reach around the world.Hopkirk tells the story from both sides having done voluminous research into Germany's considerable strategic planning to inflame the region and Britain's intense efforts to counter it. What really stuns me as a student of history is how little attention has been paid to Germany's efforts to create an Islamic revolution in the region. You cannot help but wonder how Germany's efforts then helped create a spark that has led to the rise of radical, violent Islam today.Overall, what Hopkirk sheds light on is the end days of the Great Game as we knew it then (of course, we have entered into a new Great Game in the region with China joining Russia, the United States and, still to some degree, Great Britain struggling to influence the still rugged and dangerous region.On Secret Service East of Constantinople is a must read for anyone wanting to fully understand all the factors that have created the Central Asia we know today.

The first book by Peter Hopkirk I read was his famous 'the Great Game' on English-Russian rivalry in Central Asia from the early 1800s up to British-Russian reconciliation just before World War One. This one takes off where 'the Great Game left' and deals with what happened in Turkey, the Caucasus, Persia, Afghanistan, India and Central Asia until the end of World War One.Perhaps the main storyline is about the German attempts to incite muslims living under British and Russian rule against their colonial rulers. This involved infiltrations in Persia (trying to get the Shah to invade British India or joint the Turks in their fight against Russia, but at the very least to tie down more British troops in the Gulf region), and a diplomatic mission via Persia to Afghanistan to convince the Afhgan king to invade British India. As we know now, all of this was way too ambitious and almost nothing was achieved - despite admirable efforts by the small German delegation.Another even more interesting storyline is on the events in the Caucasus - notably Baku - in the confused time from the November 1917 revolution to the end of WWI. I had never realized that the Turks, having now shed the burden of fighting the Russians, embarked on a final desperate offensive and actually managed to capture Baku just before their own capitulation (reportedly one of the reasons for Allenby's success in Jeruzalem and Damascus was the diversion of Turkey's best troops to the Caucasus). There is also an interesting sideline into Central Asia, where 'Transcaspia' (say Turkmenistan) rose against the Bolsheviks and fought them with limited British assistance.Hopkirk is a phenomenal writer. I really can't praise this book highly enough. Awesome!RE-READ AUGUST 2019: re-read this book after some 5 years, and enjoyed it just as much. What a story, what phenomenal writing, what a breathtakingly wide scope (covering the storming of Erzerum to shady arms deals in California, from the Zimmermann telegram (which would likely never have been revealed had the British not captured key German codes in the Persian outback) to the Battle of Baku. Just one critical note: Hopkirk might have talked a bit more about the main reason of Persia's importance to the British, namely the vast supplied of oil near the head of the Persian Gulf - this was in fact a good deal more important than Persia's role as a rather forward 'bulwark' of British India....

I love Peter Hopkirk's books and was surprised when I saw this one as I hadn't heard of it before. I didn't do my homework because it turns out this this book was published in the US under the title Like Hidden Fire (which I already own and have read). It has the exact page count and table of contents as this version. I'm not sure of the purpose of the name change: I think On Secret Service East of Constantinople is a more intriguing title than Like Hidden Fire. Anyway, if you are interested in Central Asia, this book, along with Hopkirk's other works, are informative and enjoyable reads.

superb

It's worth the money.A truly great book to read and experience history.Although its imported from US (it has a $ price) Its cheaper than its dollar counterpart.Worth the price and a good read