Russian Intelligence Files on Asia: 1620-1917: Turkey, Arabia and Syria, Palestine

During the last two centuries of its existence, the Russian Empire clashed with Turkey no less than eight times; one of these conflicts was the disastrous Crimean War. Known to Victorian England as "The Eastern Question," these confrontations were a major feature of the era's great power struggle. The Russian general staff gathered an enormous mass of data about its Ottoman adversary. Comprising more than 1,000 separate files, the collection includes classified attaché and diplomatic reports on Turkish politics, British influence, the organization and condition of the Turkish army, the defenses of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles straits, as well as nationalist revolts in the Balkans and elsewhere. There are also over 500 maps, plans, diagrams, and other illustrations.