John Baptist Lucius Noel
HistoryComments
Records are one thing, but how did this actually change the daily administration for people in Lhasa? Did the officials just stop showing up to meetings, or was it a slow fade?
Reminds me of the Pig War of 1859. A boundary dispute sparked by a shot pig almost started a war between the US and UK because neither side could communicate effectively.
Actually, the article mentions that the Tibetan court had informants in London. They likely knew it was a stunt, but viewed the lack of British government condemnation as a sign of tacit approval.
did the stunt actually cause the collapse or just provide a pretext for the british to exit the region?
The timing is too precise. The diplomatic freeze began within weeks of the stunt's fallout, which matches the Foreign Office correspondence records.
If we consider the broader context of the Great Game, perhaps the stunt was merely the catalyst for a rupture already inevitable due to Russian pressure. Would the diplomatic collapse have happened regardless if the Russian threat had vanished?
What about the Tibetan side... did they even know it was a publicity stunt in London? I wonder if they thought it was an actual policy shift... that would be such a wild misunderstanding...