“ In 1873 he attacked Khiva, took the capital, and forced the khan to become a vassal of Russia. Then followed in 1875 the campaign against Khokand, in which Kaufmann defeated the khan, Nasr-ed-din. Khokand north of the Syrdaria was annexed to Russia, and the independence of the rest of the country became merely nominal. This rapid absorption of the khanates brought Russia into close proximity to Afghanistan, and the reception of Kaufmann’s emissaries by the Amir was a main cause of the British war with Afghanistan in 1878. ”