Shiryaev M. Anglo-Russian rivalry in the Russian Central Asia and Afghanistan in 1907-1922.

The dissertation is devoted to a complex study of the problem of Anglo-Russian opposi-tion in the Middle East and Afghanistan in 1907-1922. The first part of the dissertation covers database and literature review as well as re-search methodology. Due to the wide range of archive sources and published materials of the Russian and British Foreign Archives Affairs Offices such as: diplomatic documents, memoirs, diaries, private correspondence of the British and Russian statesmen and civil leaders of the national movement, contemporary media resources - the researcher comes up with rather profound observations about the specifics of the historic processes in that region in 1907-1922. A detailed analysis of the historiography of Ukrainian, Russian, English and other authors duly reflects the degree of research on this topic. In the second part of the dissertation the background of Anglo-Russian opposition in the Central Asia and Afghanistan is considered. The motions of this opposition in the late XIX-early XX centuries are covered as well. In the third part the forms and methods of Anglo-Russian opposition in the region un-der study in 1907-1917 are defined. The researcher emphasizes that this struggle between Russia and Great Britain in the Central Asia and Afghanistan did not stop even after their joining the Antanta political-military block. In the fourth part the new stage of Anglo-Russian rivalry in the Central Asia and Af-ghanistan, in 1917-1922, is considered, which was caused by the Communist Bolshevik party coming to power in Russia. The methods of the British intelligence resistance to So-viet expansion in Afghanistan and British India are revealed. The researcher concludes, that with the defeat of Enver-Pasha mutiny Great Britain abdicated its efforts to spread influence on the Central Asia and chose defensive tactics in Afghanistan. In its turn, the Soviet Russia stopped its attempts to ruin the British domination in India.