Britain in Afghanistan

by Archibald Forbes

This is the story of how that led to just one British soldier-the sole survivor of a slaughtered British army and its followers-staggering into Allahabad-just three years after the folly began.

Britain in Afghanistan

Author: Archibald Forbes

Publisher:

ISBN: 9781846773044

Page: 164

View: 466

From invasion to destruction-a British military disaster. Following over a century of the gradual assumption of sovereignty of the Indian Sub-Continent, the British Empire, in the form of the Honourable East India Company, supported by troops of the new Queen Victoria's army, found itself inevitably at the natural boundaries that surround Afghanistan. There it set in motion a series of disastrous events-the first of which was to march into the country at all. After an initially successful campaign and the placement of a ruler more acceptable to the British-if totally unacceptable to the Afghans-on the throne, there came the far more formidable-and ultimately hopeless-task of controlling an almost unconquerable and inhospitable land and people. This is the story of how that led to just one British soldier-the sole survivor of a slaughtered British army and its followers-staggering into Allahabad-just three years after the folly began. This was the first time Britain fought to control Afghanistan. It would by no means be the last!

The First Afghan War 1839 42

by Richard Macrory

This book goes on to trace the retribution attack on Kabul the following year, which destroyed the symbolic Mogul Bazaar before rapidly withdrawing and leaving Afghanistan in peace for nearly a generation.

The First Afghan War 1839 42

Author: Richard Macrory

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 1472813995

Page: 96

View: 534

In 1839 forces of the British East India Company crossed the Indus to invade Afghanistan on the pretext of reinstating a former king Shah Soojah to his rightful throne. The reality was that this was another step in Britain's Great Game – Afghanistan would create a buffer to any potential Russian expansion towards India. This history traces the initial, campaign which would see the British easily occupy Kabul and the rebellion that two years later would see the British army humbled. Forced to negotiate a surrender the British fled Kabul en masse in the harsh Afghan winter. Decimated by Afghan guerilla attacks and by the harsh cold and a lack of food and supplies just one European – Dr Brydon would make it to the safety of Jalalabad five days later. This book goes on to trace the retribution attack on Kabul the following year, which destroyed the symbolic Mogul Bazaar before rapidly withdrawing and leaving Afghanistan in peace for nearly a generation.

The Anglo Afghan Wars 1839 1919

by Gregory Fremont-Barnes

This book reveals the history of these three Anglo-Afghan wars, the imperial power struggles that led to conflict and the torturous experiences of the men on the ground.

The Anglo Afghan Wars 1839 1919

Author: Gregory Fremont-Barnes

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 1472810082

Page: 96

View: 249

During the 19th century Britain entered into three brutal wars with Afghanistan, each one saw the British trying and failing to gain control of a warlike and impenetrable territory. The first two wars (1839–42 and 1878–81) were wars of the Great Game; the British Empire's attempts to combat growing Russian influence near India's borders. The third, fought in 1919, was an Afghan-declared holy war against British India – in which over 100,000 Afghans answered the call, and raised a force that would prove too great for the British Imperial army. Each of the three wars were plagued by military disasters, lengthy sieges and costly engagements for the British, and history has proved the Afghans a formidable foe and their country unconquerable. This book reveals the history of these three Anglo-Afghan wars, the imperial power struggles that led to conflict and the torturous experiences of the men on the ground. The book concludes with a brief overview of the background to today's conflict in Afghanistan, and sketches the historical parallels.

The Afghan Wars 1839 42 and 1878 80

by Archibald Forbes

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process.

The Afghan Wars 1839 42 and 1878 80

Author: Archibald Forbes

Publisher: London : Seeley

ISBN:

Page: 337

View: 496

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

The First Afghan War 1838 1842

by Norris, John

1839. 14 Auckland to Cotton 28 Jan. 1839, Auckland 37695, fo. 45. 15 William
Nott to Charles Nott 7 Feb. 1839, Nott, Memoirs, 1, 102. 16 Durand, The First
Afghan War, p. 42, 31 Jan. 1839. 17 'Zeta' to Hobhouse 1 Jan. 1839, Broughton
36470 ...

The First Afghan War 1838 1842

Author: Norris, John

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 0521058384

Page: 516

View: 348

A examination of the unresolved problems of the first Afghan war.

Return of a King

by William Dalrymple

Informed by the author’s decades-long firsthand knowledge of Afghanistan, and superbly shaped by his hallmark gifts as a narrative historian and his singular eye for the evocation of place and culture, The Return of a King is both the ...

Return of a King

Author: William Dalrymple

Publisher: Vintage

ISBN: 0307958299

Page: 560

View: 695

From William Dalrymple—award-winning historian, journalist and travel writer—a masterly retelling of what was perhaps the West’s greatest imperial disaster in the East, and an important parable of neocolonial ambition, folly and hubris that has striking relevance to our own time. With access to newly discovered primary sources from archives in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia and India—including a series of previously untranslated Afghan epic poems and biographies—the author gives us the most immediate and comprehensive account yet of the spectacular first battle for Afghanistan: the British invasion of the remote kingdom in 1839. Led by lancers in scarlet cloaks and plumed helmets, and facing little resistance, nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the mountain passes from India into Afghanistan in order to reestablish Shah Shuja ul-Mulk on the throne, and as their puppet. But after little more than two years, the Afghans rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into rebellion. This First Anglo-Afghan War ended with an entire army of what was then the most powerful military nation in the world ambushed and destroyed in snowbound mountain passes by simply equipped Afghan tribesmen. Only one British man made it through. But Dalrymple takes us beyond the bare outline of this infamous battle, and with penetrating, balanced insight illuminates the uncanny similarities between the West’s first disastrous entanglement with Afghanistan and the situation today. He delineates the straightforward facts: Shah Shuja and President Hamid Karzai share the same tribal heritage; the Shah’s principal opponents were the Ghilzai tribe, who today make up the bulk of the Taliban’s foot soldiers; the same cities garrisoned by the British are today garrisoned by foreign troops, attacked from the same rings of hills and high passes from which the British faced attack. Dalryrmple also makes clear the byzantine complexity of Afghanistan’s age-old tribal rivalries, the stranglehold they have on the politics of the nation and the ways in which they ensnared both the British in the nineteenth century and NATO forces in the twenty-first. Informed by the author’s decades-long firsthand knowledge of Afghanistan, and superbly shaped by his hallmark gifts as a narrative historian and his singular eye for the evocation of place and culture, The Return of a King is both the definitive analysis of the First Anglo-Afghan War and a work of stunning topicality.

The A to Z of Afghan Wars Revolutions and Insurgencies

by Ludwig W. Adamec

Dupree, Louis. “Afghan and British Military Tactics in the First AngloAfghan War (
1838–1842). ... “The Retreat of the British Army from Kabul to Jalalabad in 1842:
History and Folklore.” Journal of the ... Forbes, A. The Afghan Wars 1839–42 and
 ...

The A to Z of Afghan Wars Revolutions and Insurgencies

Author: Ludwig W. Adamec

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

ISBN: 1461731895

Page: 520

View: 931

All the information currently available on the endless chain of wars stretching over two and a half centuries is traced in The A to Z of Afghan Wars, Revolutions and Insurgencies. It consists of the American involvement in Afghanistan since October 2001 as well as individual campaigns, including tactics and logistics of skirmishes, the weapons used, and biographical entries on the significant leaders involved in the battles. Extensive analysis of regional and ideological divisions within the country and the external forces that have brought around conflict in this remote, mountainous region, in addition to a chronology of the encounters, an extensive bibliography, and numerous maps and illustrations make this crucial volume indispensable.

War Strategy and the Modern State 1792 1914

by Carl Cavanagh Hodge

58 Archibald Forbes, The Afghan Wars, 1839–42 and 1878–80 (New York:
Scribner, 1892), p. 30. 59 Norris, First Afghan War, pp. 296–97. 60 Ibid., pp. 330–
35. 61 H/546 Letter Book of Major-General Sir Willoughby Cotton, commanding
at ...

War Strategy and the Modern State 1792 1914

Author: Carl Cavanagh Hodge

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

ISBN: 1315391376

Page: 268

View: 423

This book is a comparative study of military operations conducted my modern states between the French Revolution and World War I. It examines the complex relationship between political purpose and strategy on the one hand, and the challenge of realizing strategic goals through military operations on the other. It argues further that following the experience of the Napoleonic Wars military strength was awarded a primary status in determining the comparative modernity of all the Great Powers; that military goals came progressively to distort a sober understanding of the national interest; that a genuinely political and diplomatic understanding of national strategy was lost; and that these developments collectively rendered the military and political catastrophe of 1914 not inevitable yet probable.

The Great Game A narrative of the Russian military expedition to Khiva in 1839

by Perovski (General)

second spans the period between that conflict and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878-80, while the third terminates with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, which effectively marked the end of the confrontation.

The Great Game A narrative of the Russian military expedition to Khiva in 1839

Author: Perovski (General)

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

ISBN: 9780415316460

Page: 205

View: 337

second spans the period between that conflict and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878-80, while the third terminates with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, which effectively marked the end of the confrontation.

Conflict in Afghanistan

by Frank Clements

The Shura was headed by Sayyid Ali Beheshti, who supported the unity of the
Afghan state,whereas Sadeqi was an advocate of armed action against the ...
This situation led to the Simla Manifesto and the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–
1842).

Conflict in Afghanistan

Author: Frank Clements

Publisher: ABC-CLIO

ISBN: 1851094024

Page: 377

View: 449

Provides information on key figures, events, and organizations in Afghanistan from 1747, when the state was formed, to the current conflict with the Taliban.

Imperial Echoes

by Robert Giddings

Eye-Witness Accounts of Victoria's Little Wars Robert Giddings. 13. An Expensive
and Dangerous Garrison (The First Afghan War 1839–42) Dangerous it is, but if it
succeeds, it is worth all risks; the rebels have not even fulfilled even one article ...

Imperial Echoes

Author: Robert Giddings

Publisher: Pen and Sword

ISBN: 1473815428

Page: 288

View: 596

The years between the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 are sometimes described as 'The Long Peace', the there were in fact British Soldiers fighting somewhere in the world throughout the whole of that period, usually in an effort to restore order in some far-flung parts of the Empire 'upon which the sun never set.' Although these campaigns have been well documented by numerous historians, Robbert Giddings, well known as author, journalist and writer for radio and television, here adopts an entirely new approach and relies largely on first-hand accounts to show not mealy what happened but what it was actually like to be there. His sources are many and varied and not confined the the soldier's own records. Nothing, for instance, could surpass in vividness Florentia Sale's brilliant account of the terrible retreat from Kabulin 1842. Due respect is also paid to the courage of the opposition. As Lieutenant Charles Townshend wrote after Omdurman in 1898, 'The Valour of these poor half-starved Dervishes...would be graced by Thermopylae.' The book continues eye-witness accounts from the following campaigns and minor wars: Maratha, Gurkha, Burmese, Ashanti, opium, Afghan, Maori, Sikh, Kaffir, Persian, Abyssinian, Zulu, Boer, Egyptian, Sudanese and Matabele. The list alone shows how busy the British Soldier was throughout the nineteenth century. The text itself brilliantly recapture the nature of soldiering in that era.

The Great Game Documents

by Martin Ewans

second spans the period between that conflict and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878-80, while the third terminates with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, which effectively marked the end of the confrontation.

The Great Game Documents

Author: Martin Ewans

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

ISBN: 9780415316392

Page: 142

View: 253

second spans the period between that conflict and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878-80, while the third terminates with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, which effectively marked the end of the confrontation.

Complete Guide for SSC

by Sanjeev Joon

... as Governor General ( 1836 – 42 ) 1837 – 38 : Famine in North India 1838 :
Tripartite treaty of the English with Shah Shuja and Ranjit Singh 1839 : New
treaty forced on the Amirs of Sind ; death of Ranjit Singh ; First Afghan War ( 1839
– 42 ) ...

Complete Guide for SSC

Author: Sanjeev Joon

Publisher: Tata McGraw-Hill Education

ISBN: 9780070706453

Page:

View: 218

The Afghan Way of War

by Robert Johnson

General Alexander Lyakhovski, Tragedia i Doblest Afgana (The Tragedy and
Glory of the Afghan War) (Moscow, 1985 edn). Historic ... Durand, Major General
H. M., The First Afghan War (London, 1879). Elphinstone ... Forbes, Archibald,
The Afghan Wars, 1839–42 and 1878–80 (London: Seely & Co., 1892). Havelock
 ...

The Afghan Way of War

Author: Robert Johnson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 0199912564

Page: 400

View: 733

Focusing on key episodes in Afghanistan's long history of conflict with foreign forces from the early nineteenth century to the present, this book sheds new light on the Afghan "Way of War." Robert Johnson shows that, contrary to the stereotypes of primitive warriors enflamed with religious fanaticism, Afghan warfare has been marked by constant change as Afghani methods evolved to face new threats. From the dynastic struggles and popular resistance movements of the nineteenth century to the ideological confrontations of recent decades, Afghans have long resisted political coercion, military intervention, and foreign influence. To do so, they have developed sophisticated strategic approaches to deal with both internal unrest and foreign intrusion, while at the tactical level outthinking and outfighting their opponents at every step. The final part of the book, which deals with how the Taliban has contested Western intervention by borrowing from traditions in Afghan history and culture, will be of considerable topical interest in light of the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.

War and State Building in Afghanistan

by Scott Gates

And during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–42), the Qizilbash supported the
British puppet Shah Shuja.6 Thus, we see that the 'state' in Afghanistan
represented a fragile fabric based on a complex network of tribes, sub-tribes and
clans ...

War and State Building in Afghanistan

Author: Scott Gates

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 147257219X

Page: 288

View: 217

The Mughals, British and Soviets all failed to subjugate Afghanistan, failures which offer valuable lessons for today. Taking a long historical perspective from 1520 to 2012, this volume examines the Mughal, British, Soviet and NATO efforts in Afghanistan, drawing on new archives and a synthesis of previous counter-insurgency experiences. Special emphasis is given to ecology, terrain and logistics to explain sub-conventional operations and state-building in Afghanistan. War and State-Building in Modern Afghanistan provides an overall synthesis of British, Russian, American and NATO military activities in Afghanistan, which directly links past experiences to the current challenges. These timely essays are particularly relevant to contemporary debates about NATO's role in Afghanistan; do the war and state-building policies currently employed by NATO forces undercut or enhance a political solution? The essays in this volume introduce new historical perspectives on this debate, and will prove illuminating reading for students and scholars interested in military history, the history of warfare, international relations and comparative politics.

America s Dirty Wars

by Russell Crandall

Thirty-one times the size of El Salvador, landlocked Afghanistan tradition- ally
served as a buffer between the Russian tsarist and British empires. The British
leaders suffered a bitter defeat during the First Afghan War, 1839 – 42, when they
 ...

America s Dirty Wars

Author: Russell Crandall

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 110700313X

Page: 598

View: 413

This book examines the long, complex experience of American involvement in irregular warfare. It begins with the American Revolution in 1776 and chronicles big and small irregular wars for the next two and a half centuries. What is readily apparent in dirty wars is that failure is painfully tangible while success is often amorphous. Successfully fighting these wars often entails striking a critical balance between military victory and politics. America's status as a democracy only serves to make fighting - and, to a greater degree, winning - these irregular wars even harder. Rather than futilely insisting that Americans should not or cannot fight this kind of irregular war, Russell Crandall argues that we would be better served by considering how we can do so as cleanly and effectively as possible.

The Great Game Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde

by Henry Pottinger

second spans the period between that conflict and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878-80, while the third terminates with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, which effectively marked the end of the confrontation.

The Great Game Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde

Author: Henry Pottinger

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

ISBN: 9780415316408

Page: 423

View: 710

second spans the period between that conflict and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878-80, while the third terminates with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, which effectively marked the end of the confrontation.

The Man Who Would Be King

by Ben Macintyre

same Afghan hills I had known a decade earlier, I was combing the stacks of the
British Library. ... The first official British history of the First Afghan War (1839—42
) dismissed him as “clever and unscrupulous ... žan American adventurer, now a
 ...

The Man Who Would Be King

Author: Ben Macintyre

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

ISBN: 1466803797

Page: 368

View: 297

The Riveting Account of the American Who Inspired Kipling's Classic Tale and the John Huston Movie In the year 1838, a young adventurer, surrounded by his native troops and mounted on an elephant, raised the American flag on the summit of the Hindu Kush in the mountainous wilds of Afghanistan. He declared himself Prince of Ghor, Lord of the Hazarahs, spiritual and military heir to Alexander the Great. The true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker and the first American ever to enter Afghanistan, has never been told before, yet the life and writings of this extraordinary man echo down the centuries, as America finds itself embroiled once more in the land he first explored and described 180 years ago. Soldier, spy, doctor, naturalist, traveler, and writer, Josiah Harlan wanted to be a king, with all the imperialist hubris of his times. In an extraordinary twenty-year journey around Central Asia, he was variously employed as surgeon to the Maharaja of Punjab, revolutionary agent for the exiled Afghan king, and then commander in chief of the Afghan armies. In 1838, he set off in the footsteps of Alexander the Great across the Hindu Kush and forged his own kingdom, only to be ejected from Afghanistan a few months later by the invading British. Using a trove of newly discovered documents and Harlan's own unpublished journals, Ben Macintyre's The Man Who Would Be King tells the astonishing true story of the man who would be the first and last American king.