Back in the day when men were men and Britain ruled the world, the two great world powers went head to head over control of central Asia - from the Caucasus to Kabul. This was the stage of open warfare but also espionage, subterfuge and reckless adventure. Following on from the derring do of Shooting Leave, John Ure tells the story of British soldiers, missionaries and mercenaries, horse traders and opportunists who travelled to make their name in the Great Game. Praise for Shooting Leave: 'Extremely entertaining ... deserves to be a surprise Christmas bestseller.' Robert Harris. 'Gripping stuff.' Peter Hopkirk. 'Anyone with red blood in his or her veins will be stirred by these stories ... The perfect read.' Country Life.

This book explores the relationship between Vikings, Rus’ and nomadic (mostly Turkic) steppe dwellers during the course of the Viking Age (c. 750–1050) in a geographical area stretching from Eastern Scandinavia through the Kievan Rus’, Byzantium, the Islamic world to the Western Eurasian steppes. The primary focus is the steppe influence on the development of Scandinavian-Rus’ culture. It illustrates the effects of Turkic (nomadic) cultures on the evolving Scandinavian-Rus’ communities in their military technology and tactics, as well as in everyday customs, ritual traditions and religious perceptions, whilst paying attention to the politico-commercial necessities and possible communication channels tying these two cultures, normally considered to be distinct, together. The arguments are supported by a multi-disciplinary analysis of diverse historical and archaeological materials occasionally supplemented with linguistic evidence. The result is a comprehensive evaluation of the relations of the Scandinavians active in the ‘East’ with Turkic groups, and brings (the so far neglected) steppes into Viking studies in general. The book will fill a serious scholarly gap in the field of Viking studies and will be read by both academics and students interested in the archaeological and historical sources concerned with the traditions of the ‘Eastern Vikings’.

The year 922 saw a series of remarkable face-to-face encounters in the steppes between Bukhara and the Middle Volga. Ibn Fadlan was an intrepid member of a diplomatic and religious mission from the distant caliphate in Baghdad to the ruler of the Volga Bulgars. His account gives a vivid eyewitness description of the peoples he came upon (whose appearance, rituals and filthy habits both fascinate and appal) and a famous depiction of a Viking Rus ship burial. It is unique testimony to burgeoning exchanges between several different cultures, and to the emergence of new political structures on the steppes. Yet the account survives only as part of a later composite work, raising questions of meaning and historical interpretation. This pioneering interdisciplinary study of Ibn Fadlan's text and the world he surveyed draws on a variety of specialists to give readers both 'the bigger picture' of cultural and economic change in Eurasia, Byzantium and the Muslim world, and hard facts, in the form of archaeological and numismatic data.

In Avar-Age Polearms and Edged Weapons, Gergely Csiky offers a presentation of close combat weapons of a nomadic population that migrated from Inner Asia to East-Central Europe. During the late 6th – early 7th centuries, the Avars led successful military campaigns against the Balkan realms of the Byzantine Empire, facilitated by their cavalry’s use of stirrups for the first time in Europe. Besides the classification, manufacturing techniques, fittings, suspension, distribution, and chronology of polearms and edged weapons known from Avar-age burials, a special emphasis is laid on the origins and cultural contacts of these weapons, among them the first edged weapons with curved blades: the sabres. The social significance and, function of these artefacts is discussed in order to place them in nomadic warfare.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Russian empire opened the grasslands of southern Ukraine to agricultural settlement. Among the immigrants who arrived were communities of Prussian Mennonites, recruited as "model colonists" to bring progressive agricultural methods to the east. Transformation on the Southern Ukrainian Steppe documents the Tsarist Mennonite experience through the papers of Johann Cornies (1789-1848), an ambitious and energetic leader of the Mennonite colony of Molochna. Cornies was well connected in the imperial government, and his papers offer a window not just into the world of the Molochna Mennonites, but also into the Tsarist state's relationship with the national minorities of the frontier: Mennonites, Doukhobors, Nogai Tatars, and Jews. This selection of his letters and reports, translated into English, is an invaluable resource for scholars of all aspects of life in Tsarist Ukraine and for those interested in Mennonite history.

The Khazars were one of the most important Turkic peoples in European history, dominating vast areas of southeastern Europe and the western reaches of the Central Asian steppes from the 4th to the 11th centuries AD. They were also unique in that their aristocratic and military elites converted to Judaism, creating what would be territorially the largest Jewish-ruled state in world history. They became significant allies of the Byzantine Empire, blocking the advance of Islam north of the Caucasus Mountains for several hundred years. They also achieved a remarkable level of metal-working technology, and their military elite wore forms of iron plate armour that would not be seen in Western Europe until the 14th century. The Khazar state provided the foundations upon which medieval Russia and modern Ukraine were built. Fully illustrated with detailed colour plates, this is a fascinating study into the armies, organisation, armour, weapons and fortifications of the Khazars.

The technological relationship between the three main civilizations of the Western world - Byzantium, the Islamic world and the West - most particularly in the area of arms, armour and military technology is a field of research for which Dr Nicolle is noted. This volume deals principally with Western Europe and Byzantium, which for many centuries learnt from the Muslims in these matters; several articles also focus on military interactions in the Crusader states. The work draws upon both written and archaeological sources, but above all makes use of the depictions of war and military equipment in contemporary art to examine the interconnections across the medieval world.

The Khazars were one of the most important Turkic peoples in European history, dominating vast areas of southeastern Europe and the western reaches of the Central Asian steppes from the 4th to the 11th centuries AD. They were also unique in that their aristocratic and military elites converted to Judaism, creating what would be territorially the largest Jewish-ruled state in world history. They became significant allies of the Byzantine Empire, blocking the advance of Islam north of the Caucasus Mountains for several hundred years. They also achieved a remarkable level of metal-working technology, and their military elite wore forms of iron plate armour that would not be seen in Western Europe until the 14th century. The Khazar state provided the foundations upon which medieval Russia and modern Ukraine were built. Fully illustrated with detailed colour plates, this is a fascinating study into the armies, organisation, armour, weapons and fortifications of the Khazars.