A Forward Policy is a set of foreign policy doctrines applicable to territorial ambitions and disputes in which emphasis is placed on securing control of targeted territories by invasion and annexation or by the political creation of compliant

buffer states A buffer state is a country geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile great powers. Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between t ...

. Such foreign policies have been used by a number of countries including Austria, France, Britain and China, to achieve their tactical aims over external countries. The term has been candidly employed as an unvarnished

sobriquet A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...

for two military 'forward policies' in two periods of history relating to the Central Asian border disputes in

The Great Game The Great Game is the name for a set of political, diplomatic and military confrontations that occurred through most of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century – involving the rivalry of the British Empire and the Russian Empi ...

, The term has been used more generally to describe the promulgation of policies in specific areas for tactical reasons, such as by British women's

anti-suffragism Anti-suffragism was a political movement composed of both men and women that began in the late 19th century in order to campaign against women's suffrage in countries such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. To ...

supporters from 1908 to 1914, who set out a raft of progressive policy proposals affecting women but excluding suffrage under the label of the Forward Policy.

The Great Game

The Great Game was a long period of dispute between the British and Russian empires from circa 1813 to 1907, reflecting British concerns about the security of its Indian empire as the empire expended southwards; and played out in competitions for strategic control of Afghanistan, Persia, the Central Asian Khanates/Emirates and the British trade-route to India. In The Great Game, the Forward Policy or Forward School was identified with arguments for the annexation of, or the control of foreign policy of, states and territories on the Indian border. The policy came with a number of costs: of armies deployed to secure territory, or subsidies to client states; as well as opportunity costs such as the increased risk of revolt in other parts of India should troops be moved to the frontier. The Forward Policy stood in contrast with the " masterly inactivity" or Backward school of policy, which saw the geography of the subcontinent, especially the Himalayas, as sufficient protection against Russian encroachment, and which was - all things being equal - less risky and of lower cost. Support for and dominancy of the two policies varied across time and place, with changes of government and circumstance. In Britain, Gladstone and the Liberals are identified with the Backward school,

Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...

and the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

with the Forward. Amongst India hands

Lord Wellesley Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, (20 June 1760 – 26 September 1842) was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator. He was styled as Viscount Wellesley until 1781, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of ...

, an early

Governor-General of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...

, supported the policy, as did his acolyte

John Malcolm Major-General Sir John Malcolm GCB, KLS (2 May 1769 – 30 May 1833) was a Scottish soldier, diplomat, East India Company administrator, statesman, and historian. Early life Sir John Malcolm was born in 1769, one of seventeen children of Ge ...

and less exalted staff such as William Moorcroft

Sir Henry Rawlinson Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, KLS (5 April 1810 – 5 March 1895) was a British East India Company army officer, politician and Orientalist, sometimes described as the Father of Assyriology. His son, also Henry, was to bec ...

was a strong advocate of the Forward Policy, notably in this ‘’England and Russia in the East’’ (1875) .

Charles Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe, (30 January 1785 – 5 September 1846), known as Sir Charles Metcalfe, Bt between 1822 and 1845, was a British colonial administrator. He held appointments including acting Governor-General o ...

, a member of the Supreme Council of India and later Governor General of Bengal, favoured the opportunity for consolidation offered by Masterful Inactivity. Contention between the two played out at local as well as national levels: Sandeman's Forward Policy in

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

was at a complete variance with his colleague's approaches in neighbouring frontier areas. The

Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 (russian: Англо-Русская Конвенция 1907 г., translit=Anglo-Russkaya Konventsiya 1907 g.), or Convention between the United Kingdom and Russia relating to Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet (; ...

settled British-Russian relations by defining borders and spheres of influence sufficiently to enable Britain to bring its Forward Policy to an end.

References

Citations Bibliography * *{{cite book, title=The Forward Policy and its results, first=Richard Isaac, last=Bruce, date=1900, url=https://archive.org/details/forwardpolicyan00brucgoog, publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co., location=London Foreign policy International relations theory Geopolitical terminology

The Great Game

See also

References