First published in 1899, with a second edition following in 1900 – just four years prior to the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War – this in-depth study of Russia’s great expansion into Asia describes in detail the policies which brought it about. The author acknowledges close scrutiny of over two hundred authorities, including primary Russian sources and British official documents in the writing of this extensive volume.

In his Preface to the second edition, Krausse observes: ‘The developments in Russian affairs during the past fifteen months have been concerned rather in the continuation of the aims already recorded than in any new departure of policy; and the acquisition of the Liaotung peninsula, the Russification of Manchuria, and the completion of the Kushk railway to the Afghan frontier remain the latest definite achievements of Russian diplomacy. The attitude of Russia in regard to the question of the open door, her attempts on the independence of Korea, her pending struggle with Japan, and her aims in China, are yet in the evolutionary stage…’

Making it clear what the underlying thesis of his study is, Krausse concludes in his Prefatory Chapter, after anticipating the completion of ‘gigantic [Siberian] railway’, ‘And then, like a giant refreshed, Russia will once more gird up her loins and set forth on a renewed campaign for the conquest of the world’.

The relevance of this work continues into the present in the broad context of Asian Studies and the colonial history in the nineteenth century, Russian Tzarist history and Anglo-Russian diplomatic history, as well as in the context of post-1989 political history.