Crisis Gallery

Panjdeh incident - Russian encounter with Afghan forces at Pul-i-Khishty (Brick Bridge)

Panjdeh incident - Russian encounter with Afghan forces at Pul-i-Khishty (Brick Bridge) . The incident of 1885 was a diplomatic crisis between the British Empire and the Russian Empire caused by Russian expansion south-eastwards towards the Emirate of Afghanistan and the British Raj (India). After nearly completing the Russian conquest of Central Asia (Russian Turkestan) Russian forces captured an Afghan border fort. Seeing a threat to India, Britain came close to threatening war but both sides backed down and the matter was settled by diplomacy. The effect was to stop further Russian expansion in Asia, except for the Pamir Mountains and to define the north-western border of Afghanistan. Date: 1885

© Mary Evans Picture Library

Patriotic poster, Give and Take, Buy British

Patriotic poster, Buy British campaign -- Give and Take, Empire Products for Britain, British Manufactured Goods for the Empire, Buy British and help British labour at home and overseas. Part of a government campaign to tackle a balance of payments crisis, reinforced by a speech by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), promoting the importance of buying from British farms and factories to reduce unemployment and boost the national economy, with the second choice being to buy from the British Empire. Date: 1931

© Mary Evans Picture Library/Onslow Auctions Limited

HMS Pegasus - ex HMS Ark Royal

HMS Pegasus (ex HMS Ark Royal) at A Spithead re in 1938. HMS Pegasus was re-named from the 1914 HMS Ark Royal seaplane carrier, which saw action in WWI and in the 1920s She was re-named in 1934, to allow a new aircraft carrier to be commissioned as HMS Ark Royal (pennant number 91), on 16 December 1938. The hull was purchased by the Royal Navy while still in early stages of construction and the ship was designed and constructed as the first purpose-built aircraft / seaplane carrier. Ark Royal participated in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915 and remained in the Dardanelles region until 1918, when she carried out patrols in the Aegean Sea. After the armistice she supported White Russian forces during the Russian revolution, supported British forces in British Somaliland and transported a squadron of seaplanes to the Dardanelles for the Chanak crisis in 1922. Placed in reserve, she was re-commissioned in 1930 as a training ship and for research into ship-board aircraft catapults. Date: 1938

© The Peter Butt Aviation Collection / Mary Evans A The Peter Butt Aviation Collection / Mary Evans