“A British General on the Caspian…”: the Geopolitical Code of Great Britain in Transcaucasia in the Lionel Danstervill’s Memoirs

The aim of the article is analysis of “The Adventures of "Dunsterforce" by Charles Lionel Dunsterville from the point of critical geopolitics and refl ection of the geopolitical code of Great Britain in it. The images of present and probable allies and enemies of Great Britain, methods of dealing with those and others, threats to its state interests and ways to level them are analysed.
The work with the source allowed to conclude that there were several major forms of geopolitical control of Transcaucasia by Great Britain: coercive, ideological and economic. The fi rst one was to create a reliable intelligence system, recruitment of the local population and surveillance of offi cials dissatisfi ed with British power. The second one was to work with the local press and promotion of the British image as the saviour of "uncivilised" peoples from chaos and despotic rule. The final form was the construction of roads, humanitarian actions, attempts to regulate grain prices, and bribery of offi cials. In Dunsterville's descriptions of the Transcaucasia
and its inhabitants, whether supporters or opponents of British policy, they are portrayed as rude, cruel, naïve, beggarly and foolish “Others” who cannot organise an eff ective system of governance in their regions without help. The article points out that it was a typical colonialist stereotype, and the publication of the memoirs of an English offi cer in the form of adventures with humour anddramatic episodes supported and entrenched them in the mass consciousness, thus explaining the geopolitical calculations of the British establishment to various segments of the population.