In 1864 the Russian forces captured Tchenken, in Turkestan, and she had advanced as far as the river Syr Daria. In 1865 she declared war with Bokhara, and captured Taskend, which was followed by the surrender of Khojind (1866).
In 1867 the province of Syr Adria was annexed, and in the same year Nicholas installed a Russian Government in Turkestan. In 1868 Samarcand was subjugated, and the Ameer of Bokhara was practically made a vassal of the Czar. In 1869 Krasnovodok, on the east coast of the Caspian, next fell a prey to Russian greed, and a fort was built there, and at present forms one of the Russian military outposts.
During and after the Franco-German War she was busily engaged in Central Asia, and still increased and extended her boundaries, until at length the Oxus was reached, and the Clarendon boundary in 1872 for a time stopped her roving footsteps. In 1873, however, the whole territory of the Khan of Khiva was drawn in, and the river Atrak was now the boundary with Persia. Zerafshan next fell before her, and now the Tian Shan mountains and the eastern part of Semipolatinsk formed the eastern boundary with China. Lastly, 1876 saw the annexation of Ferghana.
Let us now direct our attention to the English frontiers and territory, which she was trying to consolidate more firmly.
The Indian Mutiny of 1857 had led to the transferring of the Government of India from the East India Company to the Crown, and the reins of government from a Governor-General to a Viceroy (1858). The tour of the Prince of Wales through India, 1875–1876, had done a good deal of good in creating a friendly feeling with the natives, and he had met with a brilliant reception. This was the preliminary to Queen Victoria being proclaimed Empress of India in 1877.
The Russo-Turkish War (1878), the San Stefano Treaty, and the Congress of Berlin, produced a new phase in the Afghan question. The opposition of Austria to Russia at the Balkans, the defence of England in Asia Minor, both by the provisions of the Berlin Treaty, and the Anglo-Turkish Convention had frustrated the schemes of Russia in Europe; she therefore turned her undivided energies to her advance in Central Asia, with the object of dividing the attention and forces of the English between Asia Minor and the Afghan frontiers.
In 1880 the final conquest of the Turcomans along the northern frontier of Persia and the east coast of the Caspian facilitated her designs, and Askhabad was occupied. The dispute of the Kulja frontier with China was a winning move also in the eastern direction, also a part of Semipolatinsk was added, and fresh boundaries were made in the south-west of Ferghana towards the Chinese Empire, which measure caused England to adopt a defensive policy by the third Burmese War (1885).
In 1882 the Russo-Merv Convention was concluded, finally deciding the submission of the latter, while in 1884 “His Imperial Highness (of Russia) had determined to accept the allegiance of the Merv-Turcomans, and to send an officer to administer the government of that region.”[[95]] The annexation of Merv gave Russia possession of the river Murghab, giving her an opportunity of having a waterway to Herat if needed.
This action compelled England to appoint a Commission to define the North-West frontier of Afghanistan (1885). England at this time was worried also with Egyptian affairs. Russia, notwithstanding, advanced and occupied Sarakhs and various other posts on the North-West frontier, all being strategically important. This aroused the English Government, who at once asked for a vote of credit of £11,000,000, and began to show such a determined front that Russia was compelled to make certain concessions.
However, at the conclusion of the negotiations it was found that Russia had pushed herself a considerable distance towards Herat, and had reached Ak Robat, while the railway to Samarcand was nearly finished. Thus Russia certainly scored a winning point, and, if desirous, could attack the Anglo-Indian frontier by three ways: