Anglo-Afghan Wars
Anglo-Afghan Wars, also called Afghan Wars, three conflicts (1839–42; 1878–80; 1919) in which Great Britain, from its base in India, sought to extend its control over neighbouring Afghanistan and to oppose Russian influence there.
What is the Great Game?
"The Great Game" was a political and diplomatic confrontation that existed for most of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century between the British Empire and the Russian Empire, over Afghanistan and neighbouring territories in Central and South Asia. It also had direct consequences in Persia and British India. Britain was fearful of Russia invading India to add to the vast empire that Russia was building. As a result, there was a deep atmosphere of distrust and the talk of war between the two major European empires. Britain made it a high priority to protect all the approaches to India, and the "great game" is primarily how the British did this. Some historians have concluded that Russia had no plans involving India, as the Russians themselves repeatedly stated to the British.
First Anglo-Afghan War
Following a protracted civil war that began in 1816, the Bārakzay clan became the ruling dynasty of Afghanistan, with its most powerful member, Dōst Moḥammad Khan, ascending the throne in 1826. With Great Britain and Russia manoeuvring for influence in Afghanistan, Dōst Moḥammad was forced to balance his country between the two great powers. The British, feeling that Dōst Moḥammad was either hostile to them or unable to resist Russian penetration, moved to take a direct role in Afghan affairs. First they negotiated unsatisfactorily with Dōst Moḥammad, and then an invasion of Afghanistan was ordered by the governor-general of India, Lord Auckland, with the object of restoring exiled Afghan ruler Shah Shojā to the throne.
In April 1839, after suffering great privations, the British army entered Kandahār, and Shojā was then crowned shah. Ghazna (now Ghaznī) was captured the following July, and in August Shojā was installed at Kabul. The Afghans, however, would tolerate neither a foreign occupation nor a king imposed on them by a foreign power, and insurrections broke out. Dōst Moḥammad—who had escaped first to Balkh and then to Bukhara, where he was arrested—escaped from prison and returned to Afghanistan to lead his partisans against the British. In a battle at Parwan on November 2, 1840, Dōst Moḥammad had the upper hand, but the next day he surrendered to the British in Kabul. He was deported to India with most of his family.
In April 1839, after suffering great privations, the British army entered Kandahār, and Shojā was then crowned shah. Ghazna (now Ghaznī) was captured the following July, and in August Shojā was installed at Kabul. The Afghans, however, would tolerate neither a foreign occupation nor a king imposed on them by a foreign power, and insurrections broke out. Dōst Moḥammad—who had escaped first to Balkh and then to Bukhara, where he was arrested—escaped from prison and returned to Afghanistan to lead his partisans against the British. In a battle at Parwan on November 2, 1840, Dōst Moḥammad had the upper hand, but the next day he surrendered to the British in Kabul. He was deported to India with most of his family.
The British army at Urghundee, Afghanistan, during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–42).
Outbreaks continued throughout the country, and the British eventually found their position untenable. Terms for their withdrawal were discussed with Akbar Khan, Dōst Moḥammad’s son, but Sir William Hay Macnaghten, the British political agent, was killed during a parley with the Afghans. On January 6, 1842, some 4,500 British and Indian troops, with 12,000 camp followers, marched out of Kabul. Bands of Afghans swarmed around them, and the retreat ended in a bloodbath. Shojā was killed after the British left Kabul. Although in the summer of that same year British forces reoccupied Kabul, the new governor-general of India, Lord Ellenborough, decided on the evacuation of Afghanistan, and in 1843 Dōst Moḥammad returned to Kabul and was restored to the throne.
Second Anglo-Afghan War
In November 1875 British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli appointed Lord Lytton governor-general of India. Lytton during his service there was concerned primarily with India’s relations with Afghanistan. At the time of his appointment, Russian influence was growing in Afghanistan, and Lytton had orders to counteract it or to secure a strong frontier by force.
Soon after Lytton arrived in India, he notified Shīr Alī Khan—the third son of Dōst Moḥammad, who succeeded to the throne upon his father’s death—that he was sending a “mission” to Kabul. When the emir refused Lytton permission to enter Afghanistan, Lytton bellicosely declaimed that Afghanistan was but “an earthen pipkin between two metal pots.” He did not, however, take action against the kingdom until 1878, when Russia’s General Stolyetov was admitted to Kabul while Lytton’s envoy, Sir Neville Chamberlain, was turned back at the border by Afghan troops.
Soon after Lytton arrived in India, he notified Shīr Alī Khan—the third son of Dōst Moḥammad, who succeeded to the throne upon his father’s death—that he was sending a “mission” to Kabul. When the emir refused Lytton permission to enter Afghanistan, Lytton bellicosely declaimed that Afghanistan was but “an earthen pipkin between two metal pots.” He did not, however, take action against the kingdom until 1878, when Russia’s General Stolyetov was admitted to Kabul while Lytton’s envoy, Sir Neville Chamberlain, was turned back at the border by Afghan troops.
Afghan ruler Yaʿqūb Khan and Sir Louis Cavagnari, the British negotiator, signing the Treaty of Gandamak, May 26, 1879.
Viceroy Lytton decided to crush his neighbouring “pipkin” and launched the Second Anglo-Afghan War on November 21, 1878, with a British invasion. Shīr Alī fled his capital and country, dying in exile early in 1879. The British army occupied Kabul, as it had in the first war, and a treaty signed at Gandamak (Gandomak) on May 26, 1879, recognised Shīr Alī’s son, Ya'qūb Khan, as emir. He subsequently agreed to receive a permanent British embassy at Kabul. In addition, he agreed to conduct his foreign relations with other states in accordance “with the wishes and advice” of the British government.
This British triumph was short-lived, however. On September 3, 1879, the British envoy, Sir Louis Cavagnari, and his escort were murdered in Kabul. British forces were again dispatched, and before the end of October they occupied Kabul. Ya'qūb abdicated the throne, which remained vacant until July 1880, when Abd al-Raḥmān, nephew of Shīr Alī, became emir. During the reign of Abd al-Raḥmān, the boundaries of modern Afghanistan were drawn by the British and the Russians.
This British triumph was short-lived, however. On September 3, 1879, the British envoy, Sir Louis Cavagnari, and his escort were murdered in Kabul. British forces were again dispatched, and before the end of October they occupied Kabul. Ya'qūb abdicated the throne, which remained vacant until July 1880, when Abd al-Raḥmān, nephew of Shīr Alī, became emir. During the reign of Abd al-Raḥmān, the boundaries of modern Afghanistan were drawn by the British and the Russians.
Third Anglo-Afghan War
With the outbreak of World War I (1914–18), there was in Afghanistan widespread support of Ottoman Turkey against the British. However, the ruler of Afghanistan at the time, Ḥabībullāh Khan, was able to maintain a policy of non-involvement throughout the war. When Ḥabībullāh was assassinated on February 20, 1919, by persons associated with the anti-British movement, his son Amānullāh Khan took possession of the throne. At that time Britain still exercised an important influence on Afghan affairs. In his coronation address Amānullāh declared total independence from Great Britain. This declaration launched the inconclusive Third Anglo-Afghan War in May 1919.
Fighting was confined to a series of skirmishes between an ineffective Afghan army and a British Indian army exhausted from the heavy demands of World War I. Nevertheless, the month-long war gained the Afghans the conduct of their own foreign affairs. A peace treaty recognising the independence of Afghanistan was signed at Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) on August 8, 1919, and was amended in 1921. Before signing the final document with the British, the Afghans concluded a treaty of friendship with the new Bolshevik regime in the Soviet Union. Afghanistan thereby became one of the first states to recognise the Soviet government, and a “special relationship” evolved between the two governments that lasted until December 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan during the Afghan War.
Fighting was confined to a series of skirmishes between an ineffective Afghan army and a British Indian army exhausted from the heavy demands of World War I. Nevertheless, the month-long war gained the Afghans the conduct of their own foreign affairs. A peace treaty recognising the independence of Afghanistan was signed at Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) on August 8, 1919, and was amended in 1921. Before signing the final document with the British, the Afghans concluded a treaty of friendship with the new Bolshevik regime in the Soviet Union. Afghanistan thereby became one of the first states to recognise the Soviet government, and a “special relationship” evolved between the two governments that lasted until December 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan during the Afghan War.
Exercises:
1. Re-read the text, make up a list of necessary vocabulary and answer the following questions:
1) Who were the two players of the Great Game?
2) What was the cause of the First Anglo-Afghan War?
3) What was the conclusion of the First Anglo-Afghan War?
4) How did the Second Anglo-Afghan War start?
5) Who won the Second Anglo-Afghan War, and was that victory a decisive one? Why?
4) How did the Third Anglo-Afghan War begin?
5) What was the ultimate outcome of the Anglo-Afghan Wars?
2. Find in the text the following words and word combinations, find a Russian equivalent for them and add them to your working vocabulary:
ascending the throne; untenable; bloodbath; deplorable; secure a frontier; bellicosely; an earthen pipkin; policy of non-involvement; series of skirmishes.
3. Use the words from the Exercise 2 in your own sentences.
4. Write your summary of the text, emphasising in it:
a) its subject matter,
b) the facts discussed,
c) the author's point of view on these facts.
1) Who were the two players of the Great Game?
2) What was the cause of the First Anglo-Afghan War?
3) What was the conclusion of the First Anglo-Afghan War?
4) How did the Second Anglo-Afghan War start?
5) Who won the Second Anglo-Afghan War, and was that victory a decisive one? Why?
4) How did the Third Anglo-Afghan War begin?
5) What was the ultimate outcome of the Anglo-Afghan Wars?
2. Find in the text the following words and word combinations, find a Russian equivalent for them and add them to your working vocabulary:
ascending the throne; untenable; bloodbath; deplorable; secure a frontier; bellicosely; an earthen pipkin; policy of non-involvement; series of skirmishes.
3. Use the words from the Exercise 2 in your own sentences.
4. Write your summary of the text, emphasising in it:
a) its subject matter,
b) the facts discussed,
c) the author's point of view on these facts.
