Editing Great Game (section)

== Further expansion ==

=== Under the British Crown ===
Following the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], the East India Company's remaining powers were transferred to the British [[The Crown|Crown]]<ref name=gazetteer1908/> in the person of [[Queen Victoria]] (who in 1876 was proclaimed [[Emperor of India|Empress of India]]). As a state, the [[British Raj]] functioned as the guardian of a system of connected markets maintained by military power, business legislation and monetary management.<ref name=baten2016/> The [[Government of India Act 1858]] saw the [[India Office]] of the British government assume the administration of [[British India]] through a [[Viceroy]] appointed by the Crown.

In 1863 [[Sultan Ahmad Khan]] of Herat, who was placed into power by Persia and issued coinage on behalf of the Shah, attacked the disputed town of [[Farah, Afghanistan|Farrah]]. Farrah had been under Dost Mohammad Khan's control since 1856, and he responded by sending his army to defeat Herat and reunited it with Afghanistan.<ref name=tate1911/><ref name=sicker2001/>

=== Under Alexander II of Russia ===
{{See also|Russian conquest of Bukhara|Khivan campaign of 1873|Russian annexation of Kokand}}[[File:H21774BakuSimpson.jpg|thumb|Oil Wells at [[Caspian Sea]], 1886]]
The [[Crimean War]] had ended in 1856 with Russia's defeat by an alliance of Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire. The new and wary [[Alexander II of Russia]] waited some years so as not to antagonize the British, then Russia expanded into Central Asia in two campaigns. In 1864, a circular was sent to the consular officers abroad by Gorchakov, the Russian Chancellor, patiently explaining the reasons for expansion centering on the doctrines of necessity, power and spread of civilisation.{{sfn|Mahajan|2001|p=13}} Gorchakov went to great lengths to explain that Russia's intentions were meant not to antagonize the British but to bring civilised behavior and protect the traditional trade routes through the region.{{sfn|Ewans|2012|p=153}} The first campaign started from [[Orenburg]] and proceeded in the direction of Kabul in Afghanistan. Russia occupied Chimkent in 1864, Tashkent in 1865, Khokhand and Bukhara in 1866, and Samarkand in 1868. Russia's influence now extended to outlying regions of Afghan Turkestan. The second campaign started from the Caspian Sea and was in the direction of Herat, near the Persian frontier. Khiva was occupied in 1873.{{sfn|Mahajan|2001|p=13}} Russian forces also seized [[Türkmenbaşy, Turkmenistan|Krasnovodsk]] (now in Turkmenistan) in 1869.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Volodarsky |first=Mikhail |date=1983 |title=Persia and the Great Powers, 1856–1869 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4282923 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=75–92 |doi=10.1080/00263208308700534 |issn=0026-3206 |jstor=4282923 |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024023052/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4282923 |url-status=live }}</ref> Notable Russian generals included [[Konstantin Kaufman]], [[Mikhail Skobelev]], and [[Mikhail Chernyayev]].

From 1869 to 1872, Mir Mahmud Shar was able to gain control of the Khanate of [[Badakhshan]] with the help of Afghanistan's new ruler, Amir [[Sher Ali Khan]], and by 1873 Afghanistan governed Badakhshan.<ref name=noelle1997/>