The name of the Russian traveler and naturalist N. M. Przhevalsky, who made an invaluable contribution to the study of the geography of Central Asia, is known to every educated person. At the same time, few people know that all Przhevalsky's research expeditions were carried out by order of the Ministry of War of the Russian Empire, and their goals were not only the study of geography and nature.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the leading European states were already conducting a systematic study and colonization of new continents that had recently been discovered and introduced into geographical maps. Sparsely populated, with a harsh climate, the territory of Central Asia, formally controlled by China, remained a "blank spot" on the map. The main struggle for this "tidbit" and for influence in the region unfolded between Russia and England.
This period of struggle between the two states coincided with important changes in the nature of military intelligence operations, in essence the "intelligence revolution" - the transition from a passive diplomatic stage of development to a more active and operational method of collecting intelligence using scientific methods of accumulating and systematizing information.
It is Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky who can be considered the founder of a new approach and a new type of active military intelligence - operational. Thanks to Przhevalsky, Russia immediately gained a huge advantage in the Central Asian theater of operations.
The first independent expedition of Przhevalsky took place in 1867-1869, during which he mapped a new area of Russian possessions, equal in size to England. The first Central Asian expedition was next, followed by three more.
During these expeditions, important political goals and tasks aimed at increasing the influence of the Russian Empire in the region were solved, and the nature of Central Asia was comprehensively studied. But more important goals were military reconnaissance tasks for mapping the terrain, collecting information about the state of the Chinese army, the nature of the local population and the penetration of emissaries from other European states into the region, as well as searching for passages in the mountains and deserts and studying climatic conditions.
In accordance with these tasks, each expedition was organized as a reconnaissance detachment raid deep behind enemy lines. The rules for conducting reconnaissance developed at that time became the basis for drawing up the norms and rules of intelligence for the modern Russian army.
The detachments for the expeditions consisted exclusively of volunteers, consisted of several officers, four soldiers, an interpreter and 5-6 Cossack escorts. Each member of the expedition had one rifle and two revolvers. They traveled on horseback, the routes sometimes totaled tens of thousands of kilometers, food supplies were replenished from the local population and hunted.
All expeditions took place in extreme military-climatic conditions in the deserts, in the highlands, at extremely high and low temperatures, often in many areas of the terrain there was no water. Fighting clashes with peoples inhabiting the poorly studied territory took place from time to time.
Here is how Przewalski himself describes one of such skirmishes in his memoirs: "It was like a cloud rushing towards us, this wild, bloodthirsty horde … and in front of their bivouac silently, with rifles aimed, stood our little group - 14 people, for whom now there was no other outcome as death or victory. " The scouts did not part with their weapons even during sleep.
N. M. Przewalski died of typhoid fever on October 20, 1888 during the sixth expedition-raid. Of course, he was a man of heroism who lived for his country and served the Motherland until his last day.
