| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| susquesus |
Posted - November 23 2003 : 3:25:00 PM
TGG and early Western exploration of Tibet has always fascinated me. The race to Lhasa for strategic supremacy in Asia must have been one of the most thrilling adventures ever undertaken. In addition to being the world's highest plateau it was a step back in time. Tibet was a theocracy headed by a god-king, the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is believed to be a reincarnation of the Tibetan-Buddhist spirit of compassion, a Buddha. The current Dalai Lama is believed to be the 14th successive such re-incarnation of the Buddha of Compassion. Conditions were medievel, religion was overwhelming and Tibetans strictly enforced a no-foreigners policy. Westerners were forced to travel in disguise across the world's most barren and beautiful vistas to the forbidden capital of Lhasa. To the over 1 million monks and millions of devoted lay people Lhasa was a religious mecca. The Jokhang temple housed it's ancient golden Buddha, lit by the dim flickering light of butter candles. Droves of pilgrims circumambulated stupa's, spun prayer wheels, launched windhorses, lit incense, meditated, and counted prayer beads. Prayer flags rose from the city up to the heights of the Dalai Lama's Potala palace which overlooked the holy city from it's perch on a small bluff.
Competitors from Britain, Czarist Russia, China, America, and a half dozen other countries set off to be the first to get a foothold in the Tibetan plateau. TGG finally culminated in Communist China's invasion of the plateau from it's relatively defenseless eastern border in 1949. China's subsequent destruction of Tibetan culture and even an attempt to decrease native Tibetan population through involuntary sterilization of young Tibetan women is a horrible blotch on Humanity's report card.
America had some involvement in funding and training a guerrilla campaign that held out until the early 1970's. The CIA transported Tibetans to Colorado for weapons and warfare training, then parachuted them back in with weaponry and supplies. When the U2 incident took place the program was shut down as fewer flights were being allowed over Communist territory. They were finally disarmed in the early 70's in Mustang, a forbidden kingdom in northwestern Nepal.
Anyone read any good books or seen any films about "The Great Game"? Any interesting tidbits of info? |
| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| SgtMunro |
Posted - December 16 2003 : 08:21:31 AM
Ah, Kipling. We could fill a separate folder topic in the 'Colonial Wars' Section on his works alone. He was a very interesting cat, to say the least. A book which covers how he portrayed "Tommy Atkins" is called 'Mr. Kippling's Army' by Byron Farwell, it is a fun read.
Your Most Humble Servant,
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| susquesus |
Posted - December 16 2003 : 01:36:00 AM
Rudyard Kipling's, "Kim", is a good bit of fiction that touches on TGG. |
| SgtMunro |
Posted - November 27 2003 : 04:39:24 AM
The two best works on this topic that I know of are 'Tournament of Shadows' by Karl Meyer and 'The Great Game' by Peter Hopkirk. Both are available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobel. The subject of 'The Great Game' is a complex one to say the least. I like to think of it as the original Cold War, since it has all of the components; political intrigue, espionage and using surrogates to do battle.
Your Most Humble Servant,
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