On Secret Service East of Constantinople - The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire

Aug 7, 2026

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On Secret Service East of Constantinople traces imperial rivalry and clandestine operations across Central Asia during the era leading up to the First World War. Peter Hopkirk reconstructs alliances, propaganda, sabotage, and conspiratorial schemes that targeted British influence, following key episodes from Germany’s involvement to plots around Kabul, Enver Pasha, and the shifting fortunes in the Caucasus. The narrative is grounded in extensive first-hand accounts and scholarly sources.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages398

Reading Time10 h 13 min

AccessFree to download

Prologue

DRANG NACH OSTEN

A Place in the Sun

‘Deutschland über Allah!’

‘Like Some Hidden Fire’

Kaiser Wilhelm’s Holy War

The Great Indian Conspiracy

Enver Pasha’s Bombshell

THE NEW GREAT GAME

The German Lawrence

The Race for Kabul

Niedermayer ’s Bluff

Audience with the Emir

Wassmuss Pounces

The Christmas Day Plot

The Storming of Erzerum

The Million-Pound Bribe

The Tide Begins to Turn

MELTDOWN

The Great Russian Collapse

Caucasian Powder Keg

Bloodbath in Baku

Captain Noel’s Bizarre Adventure

Alone among the Bolsheviks

The Plot

The Battle for Baku

‘Streets Running with Blood’

The Death Train

Teague-Jones Disappears

Epilogue

ON SECRET SERVICE EAST OF CONSTANTINOPLE The P lot to Bring Down the British Empire Peter Hopkirk [www.johnmurray.co.uk](www.johnmurray.co.uk) [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) First published in Great Britain in 1994 by John Murray (Publishers) An Hachette UK Company © The Estate of Peter Hopkirk 1994 The moral right of the Author of the Work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library Epub ISBN: 978-1-84854-633-2 Book ISBN: 978-0-7195-6451-2 John Murray (Publishers) Carmelite House 50 Victoria Embankment London EC4Y 0DZ [www.johnmurray.co.uk](www.johnmurray.co.uk) [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) Contents Title Page Copyright Dedication Also by Peter Hopkirk Acknowledgements Maps Prologue DRANG NACH OSTEN 1. A Place in the Sun 2. ‘Deutschland über Allah!’ 3.‘Like Some Hidden Fire’ 4. Kaiser Wilhelm’s Holy War 5. The Great Indian Conspiracy 6. Enver Pasha’s Bombshell THE NEW GREAT GAME 7. The German Lawrence 8. The Race for Kabul 9. Niedermayer ’s Bluff 10. Audience with the Emir 11. Wassmuss Pounces 12. The Christmas Day Plot 13. The Storming of Erzerum 14. The Million-Pound Bribe 15. The Tide Begins to Turn MELTDOWN 16. The Great Russian Collapse 17. Caucasian Powder Keg 18. Bloodbath in Baku 19. Captain Noel’s Bizarre Adventure 20. Alone among the Bolsheviks 21. The Plot 22. The Battle for Baku 23.‘Streets Running with Blood’ 24. The Death Train 25. Teague-Jones Disappears Epilogue Bibliography About the Author [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) To the memory of my mother, who some sixty years ago read me John Buchan’s Greenmantle, the true story of which I have told here [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) Also by Peter Hopkirk Foreign Devils on the Silk Road Trespassers on the Roof of the World Setting the East Ablaze The Great Game Quest for Kim [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My principal debt, as with my previous narratives of imperial rivalry in Central Asia, is to those individuals, on either side, who left first-hand accounts of these turbulent events. For without them this book could never have been written. They include Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Captain Oskar von Niedermayer, Captain Werner Otto von Hentig, Har Dayal, Raja Mahendra Pratap, Sir Frederick O’Connor, Captain Edward Noel, Major Ranald MacDonell, Captain Reginald Teague-Jones, General Sir Wilfrid Malleson, General Lionel Dunsterville, Sir Percy Sykes, and Morgan Philips Price of the Manchester Guardian. All are now dead. Their accounts of the war east of Constantinople are to be found in my bibliography. Living individuals to whom I owe a considerable debt include Brian Pearce, a Russian scholar and historian, who generously placed at my disposal the material he has gathered, over many years, on the strange affair of the twenty-six Baku commissars and the alleged role of Captain TeagueJones in their murder. Also Air Commodore A. R. D. MacDonell, CB, DFC, for the portrait of his father, Ranald MacDonell, and for other information on him, and Christian Dewar Durie, for allowing me to read and quote from her grandmother ’s graphic account of Baku during the Muslim massacres of 1918. Again I am most grateful to Tanya Rose, daughter of M. Philips Price the war correspondent, for information about her father, and to Peter Ellis of Toronto for information about his father, Colonel C. H. Ellis, and for photographs taken by him. I also have to thank Dr H. W. von Hentig for material, including photographs belonging to his late father, Werner Otto von Hentig, and formost interesting discussions with him about th

FAQs

What region and time period does the book focus on?

The book focuses on operations east of Constantinople, drawing a narrative across the imperial rivalry period in Central Asia associated with the coming conflict.

Which side’s influence is repeatedly targeted in the plot?

The narrative centers on schemes intended to undermine British power and influence, following efforts to destabilize British standing through covert action.

How does the author support the story?

The author relies on first-hand accounts from participants on multiple sides and organizes additional context through a listed bibliography of specialist historians.

Aug 7, 2026

Upload by Noah