COMPTES RENDUS - AFEC

Comptes rendus
loaded with food supplies had to be sent to meet thèse starving soldiers on
their return." (p. 159)
In the aftermath of thèse first campaigns, the situation in the steppe
grew potentially more threatening to the Qing, as some Mongols sought to
ally with the Russians. Had large numbers of steppe peoples gone over to
the Russians, or even if the possibility existed of switching allegiances
from the Qing to the Russians and back as interests suggested, Kangxi and
his successors would hâve been plagued by chronic disorder on their
Central Asian frontiers, as well as the possibility that a strong alliance
might émerge against them, perhaps with the Russians at the core. Perdue
argues, convincingly, that the purpose of Qing diplomacy with ail the
players was to assure above ail that the Mongols could not ally with the
Russians. This they did by using trade to lead Moscow to give up its
inclination to make allies of border peoples. As a resuit the "middle" was
excluded, as it is in traditional logic, which makes propositions either true
or false. The Mongols had no choice but to face the Qing, either coming to
terms or being brought to them.
This is an important point. By showing how the potential interaction
of Russia's eastward expansion with Mongol and Tibetan attempts to build
power created the choices Kangxi faced, Perdue intégrâtes three stories:
European, Central Asian, and Chinese. The Qing treaties with Russia, of
Nerchinsk in 1689 and Kiakhta in 1725 made China's march west much
easier.
Hère an interesting counter-factual scénario présents itself. Note that
just fifteen years after Kiakhta the Russians created their settlement at
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii, the single most dominating platzdarm in East
Asia, which flanks the Pacific coast of the entire continent. If we imagine
a situation in which the Manchus had not conquered China, but were instead
ensconced in their homeland and at this period threatening to join
with the Russians against some hypothesized power in Beijing, then we
might expect - foliowing Perdue's logic - that the Chinese dynasty would
hâve sought above ail to insulate the Manchus from Russian alliance. That
would hâve meant conquest of the Northeast and a potential check to
Russia's advance to the Pacific. From the point of view of China today,
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