Featured battle : Pruth

Part of Russo-Turkish war, Fourth

Date : 09 July 1711 - 10 July 1711

As the Turks marched north on one bank of the river Pruth the Russians marched south on the other bank. Peter, commanding the Russian army, sent his cavalry far ahead to capture and destroy Turkish supplies. The Turkish army cross the river behind Peter who was then trapped and encircled. 300 cannon were placed in the ring around his makshift defences. Turkish attacks were repulsed, and a Russian sortie inflicted heavy losses on the Tuurks. Although the Turks were in a position to totally destroy the Russian army their commander, the Grand Vizier, chose to accept Peter's overtures for peace.

The Decline of Empires in South Asia

Heather A Campbell
This book covers quite a niche subject in the history of what became known as "The Great Game" between the British Empire and the Russian Empire in South Asia. It focuses on the problems of imperial control over primarily Afghanistan in the years 1919-1923, and how the conflicts between the Indian government, the India Office, and the Foreign Office in London. It uses as a comparison the approaches taken during those same years in Persia, and while it covers a number of viewpoints, it largely revolves around Lord Curzon, his strong personality, and the mistakes it argues that he made because of it.
I found this book to be fascinating, and extremely thoroughly researched (the notes pages and bibliography are approximately one third of the book) but it is really quite academic and probably not for a casual reader.
Pen & Sword Military, 2022