First Anglo-Afghan War

CHAPTER I.

THE FIRST AFGHAN WAR.

the afghan wars eighteen thirty nine to eighteen forty two and eighteen seventy eight to eighteen eighty part i the first afghan war by archibald forbes i preliminary since it was the british complications with persia which mainly furnished what pretext there was for the invasion of afghanistan by an anglo-indian army in some brief recital is necessary of the relations between great britain and persia prior to that aggression by a treaty concluded between england and persia in eighteen fourteen the former state bound itself in case of invasion of persia by any european nation to aid the shah either with troops from india or by the payment of an annual subsidy in support of his war expenses it was a dangerous engagement even with the caveat rendering the undertaking inoperative if such invasion should be provoked by Persia.

During the fierce struggle of 1825-7 between Abbas Mirza and the Russian general Paskevich, England refrained from supporting Persia, either with men or with money.

And when prostrate Persia was in financial extremities because of the war indemnity which the Treaty of Turkmanchai imposed upon her, England took advantage of her needs by purchasing the cancellation of the inconvenient obligation at the cheap cost of about three hundred thousand pounds.

to counteract them by familiar methods if serious consequences should seem impending.

Our alliance with Ranjit Singh was solid, and the quarrel between Dost Mohammad and him concerning the Peshawar province was notoriously easy of arrangement.

On whose memory rests the dark shadow of responsibility for the first Afghan war? The late Lord Broughton, who, when Sir John Cam Hobhouse was president of the Board of Control from 1835 to 1841, declared before a House of Commons committee in 1851, quote, The Afghan war was done by myself, entirely without the privity of the Board of Directors, unquote.

Local voices were effectively absent from the decision-making process.

The pattern repeated itself elsewhere: India's annexation after the First Anglo-Afghan War, the annexations of Punjab and Sindh.

But what emerges is a narrative where the British Empire consistently positioned itself as protector while simultaneously subverting native governance structures.

These actions laid the groundwork for later movements that would challenge the legitimacy of empire from within.

The 19th century version of trying to occupy terrain and the diverse people in Afghanistan was called the Great Game, the imperial competition between the United Kingdom and Russia for influence across Central Asia, and Afghanistan was part of the chessboard.

Britain fought three Anglo-Afghan Wars between 1839 and 1919, and they won most of the military engagements, but they never won the country.

The first Anglo-Afghan War ended with the near total destruction of a British column retreating from Kabul in 1842.

16,000 soldiers and camp followers and one man, a Dr. William Brydon, famously made it back to Jalalabad.