Skobelev’s plan for a campaign in British India as a reflection of Russian-English rivalry

Abstract

The article analyzes the views of the prominent Russian military commander M.D. Skobelev on the organization of Russia’s military campaign in India. The author shows that although such an operation was conceived as an auxiliary action to achieve Russia’s strategic goal – to capture the Bosphorus and Constantinople, but gradually M.D. Skobelev began to give it much more importance and came to the conclusion that it can challenge Great Britain’s dominance in the Hindustan subcontinent and put an end to its world domination. Skobelev assigned an important role to Afghanistan, whose ruler, Emir Shir Ali Khan, atthattime was extremely concerned by the influence ofthe government of British India on his country and was very friendly towards Russia.
Analyzing the plans of the White General, the author concludes that Skobelev had a clear strategic vision of the tasks and goals of the expedition, a clear definition of moves, an understanding of the need for combined strikes, etc., but at the same time, clearly underestimated the means required by the Russian army and the resources that the enemy will have in a potential theater of operations. The author proposes the reasons for such an underestimation and considers the factors that could favor Russian success and hinder it.