Book
Review: "Setting the East Ablaze" by Peter Hopkirk
(Oxford University Press - 252 pages)
 Reviewer
- Luke Brown
Having seized power of
Russia in the 1917 Revolution and being subsequently disappointed
that it didn't have a snowballing effect on Europe, the murderous,
tyrannical, communist dictator Lenin decided that it was through
the East that he could hope to conquer the West. As Britain was
considered his biggest rival for power, British India was his initial
target for fomenting revolution that he hoped would then sweep the
region in order that his vision of total control could be achieved
throughout the world. Setting The East Ablaze is primarily concerned
with this attempt, and the opposition to it by the British.
Like his other works,
Peter Hopkirk ensures that the characters who populate this story
receive the greatest attention, at rightly so. The most intriguing
one, Colonel Frederick Bailey, whom had previously visited the holy
Tibetan city of Lhasa with the legendary Francis Younghusband, was
to play a vital role in combating the Russian threat. A master of
disguise and a skilled operative (who, in a bizarre set of events,
to effect his escape from the hands of the Bolsheviks, managed to
get himself hired by their secret services to track himself down),
he was a constant thorn in the side of the Bolsheviks. M.N. Roy,
an Indian revolutionary, who became a member of the Comintern, was
also, at times, a thorn in the side of the British, as he schemed
to spark off a revolution in British India, and throw off the yoke
of India's British colonial masters. In addition, a brutal civil
war was under way in Russia and beyond, between the Red Bolsheviks
and the White Russian counter-revolutionaries. One such counter-revolutionary
was Paul Nazaroff who had a torrid time escaping from the clutches
of the likes of the Cheka, the secret police. Further east, a psychopathic
and brutal White Russian baron, Ungern-Sternberg, with his visceral
hatred of Bolsheviks and Jews, was attempting to take control of
Mongolia (he was under the delusion that he was a re-incarnated
Genghis Khan) for its use as a base to bring about a Greater Mongolia,
and also from which to attack the Bolsheviks.
Aside from an extraordinary
cast of characters, this period of intrigue was characterised by
enough misinformation, psy-ops and treachery to fill a multitude
of spy novels, and these are detailed expertly. All in all, Setting
The East Ablaze is highly recommended, principally for throwing
light on this little-known aspect of 20th century history, all in
Hopkirk's trademark witty and discerning style.
Reviewer: Luke Brown
Email: editor@polosbastards.com
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