The First Anglo-Afghan War

In the summer of 1837 the young Victoria ascended theBritish throne. The Empire was still expanding and at itscore gleamed India, the jewel in the crown, the heart of therealm. But to the north-west lay Russia, a rival power withexpansionist ambitions. The fear of Russia and Russianinfluence was a constant factor in Britain’s foreign affairsduring the mid-nineteenth century, referred toeuphemistically as the ‘Great Game’. When, in 1836,Russia extended her influence into Persia (modern-dayIran), Britain feared for India. Between Persia and India’snorth-west frontier lay Afghanistan and it was to this rugged,inhospitable country that Britain turned its attention.

The Amir of Afghanistan, Dost Mohammad Khan(pictured below), had received delegations from bothBritish and Russian dignities. Although the British managedto persuade Dost to decline Russia’s offer of aid, theyconsidered him unreliable and decided that in order to‘save Afghanistan’ from Russian interference they neededto replace him with someone more compliant to their ownneeds. The man they had in mind was Shah Shuja, a formerking of Afghanistan, who had been deposed in 1809 andremained a figure of loathing throughout the country. ButShuja, now residing at Britain’s expense in India, had theadvantage, in Britain’s eyes, of being pro-British.

Dost Mohammad Khan, Amir of Afghanistan, 1826–1839 and1843–1863

Lord Auckland, Governor-General of India, proposed thatthe British army escort Shuja back into Afghanistan, oustDost Mohammad, and place Shuja on the throne where,according to the British, he rightfully belonged. The Afghannation saw Shuja in a different light but this inconvenientfact was ignored by the Foreign Secretary, LordPalmerston, who agreed to Auckland’s proposal, known asthe Simla Manifesto. Thus the stage was set for the FirstAnglo-Afghan War and one of Britain’s greatest militaryhumiliations.

Towards the end of 1838, Britain’s ‘Army of the Indus’was assembled in Lahore, consisting of almost 10,000

British soldiers and 6,000 soldiers loyal to Shah Shuja(pictured below). The typical British officer of Victoria’searlier years did not travel light and insisted on bringingwith him all the luxuries of the officers’ mess. Thus thetroops were accompanied by 38,000 camp followers –cooks, butlers, valets and servants, together with 30,000camels to carry all the essentials of a military expedition –wine, brandy, cigars, perfume, soap, bed linen andluxurious food. Add to this enough cattle, sheep and goatsto feed the expedition for three months, together with theherdsmen to look after the beasts and the butchers toslaughter them.

Shah Shuja, Amir of Afghanistan, 1803–1809 and 1839–1842

By July 1839 this huge, cumbersome train of soldiers andpersonnel had reached the fortress city of Ghazni in eastern

Afghanistan, south-west of Kabul. Along the way thesoldiers had seen off numerous gangs of maraudingAfghan tribesmen but Ghazni presented the first obstacleon the way to Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. The Britishstormed the walled city, massacred 500 of its inhabitantsand secured fresh provisions. The route to Kabul now layahead, within easy reach.

As the convoy approached Kabul, Dost Mohammad fled.The British entered the city unopposed, placed Shah Shujaon the throne and congratulated themselves on a job welldone. Having sent most of the army back to India, theremainder settled down to a life of indolence and luxury.They sent for their wives and families and enjoyed cricket,horse racing, music and dancing, while the local Afghanslooked on with growing disdain.

Sir William Hay Macnaghten (pictured below) wasappointed Minister of Kabul with Sir Alexander Burnes hissecond-in-command. After a year Macnaghten decidedthat their situation was secure enough to move out of thecapital and set up a settlement, or cantonment, a mile north.It was a decision of staggering foolishness. Surrounded byaggrieved locals, the cantonment was separated from thecity by an expanse of orchards, gardens and canals which,in an emergency, would hamper the movement of horsesand men; the perimeter was too long to defend and thestores of provisions were situated a quarter of a mileoutside the cantonment.

Sir William Hay Macnaghten (1793–1841)

A second British garrison had been stationed at Jalalabad,ninety miles east. In order to secure the route between thecities the British paid the local tribesmen who controlled thedangerous mountain passes for the guarantee of a safepassage. But in an effort to save money, Macnaghten cutthe payment by half. Furious, the tribesmen plundered thefirst caravan to pass through. Macnaghten’s economy drivehad, in effect, cut the Kabul garrison off from Jalalabad.

The growing resentment of the local Afghans finallyerupted in November 1841 when a mob attacked theBritish Residency situated within Kabul. Its resident, SirAlexander Burnes, tried to placate the screaming crowdsand, having failed, attempted to make his escapealongside his brother. Both men were soon caught andhacked to death in a frenzied attack.

The newly appointed military commander in Kabul,General William Elphinstone, an elderly and poorly man,

crippled with gout, responded by doing nothing. His lack ofaction merely encouraged the Afghans and whileElphinstone dithered, trying to decide on the best course ofaction, the Afghans seized the precious store of provisionsthat lay outside the British cantonment and proceeded tolay siege to the isolated outpost. By December foodsupplies were so low that the livestock had to be fed ontheir own dung. With the temperature plummeting and ledby a commander unable to command, the situation lookedperilous. Elphinstone did finally order a batch of cavalry outto subdue the locals but the mission failed, which onlyadded to the misery within the camp. With food suppliesdown to the last four days and morale shattered,Elphinstone had no choice but to negotiate.

Elphinstone sent Macnaghten to talk with Akbar Khan, sonof the recently deposed Dost Mohammad. Akbar Khanoffered the British a safe retreat to Jalalabad butMacnaghten, realizing that Akbar’s authority did not extendover the various different tribes, tried to negotiate with othertribal leaders, playing one off against the other. WhenMacnaghten’s double-dealing came to Akbar’s attention,he invited the envoy back for further discussions, and therehad him murdered. Macnaghten’s head was paradedtriumphantly through the streets of Kabul while his bodyhung from a meat hook in the city’s Great Bazaar.

Akbar ordered the British out, still offering safe passagebut demanding in return cash, guns and hostages. Thehostages would be returned once his father, Dost

Mohammad, was back on the throne. The wounded andsick would also remain behind. Elphinstone had no choicebut to accept the offer, knowing that Akbar’s word wasmeaningless.

Thus, on 6 January 1842, began the retreat from Kabul.Four thousand five hundred British and Indian soldierstogether with twelve thousand camp followers faced atreacherous ninety-mile trek to Jalalabad, through mountainpasses deep in snow, in freezing conditions, with emptystomachs and inadequate clothing. Full of trepidation, theexodus began.

The sick and wounded left behind were immediately killedwhile the convoy came under attack as soon as it had leftthe city (pictured below in The Last Stand of the 44thRegiment at Gundamuck by William Barnes Wollen). Atrail of bodies soon lay scattered along the mountainpasses, mutilated by local women, leaving a gruesomescene for those trailing behind. After three days, the convoyhad only managed ten miles and already three thousandwere dead. Many succumbed to the sub-zerotemperatures, others committed suicide.

The Last Stand of the 44th Regiment at Gundamuck, 1842 byWilliam Barnes Wollen

On the sixth day, Elphinstone, his second-in-command, anda few women – including one Lady Sale – gave themselvesup to the Afghans and were returned to Kabul as hostages.It was Elphinstone’s final humiliation – having failed tocommand his troops at any point, he had now desertedthem.

His men and followers had no option but to plough on,facing one ambush after another, suffering heavycasualties. Surrounded on all sides, the column waspitilessly slaughtered.

On 13 January 1842, the British garrison at Jalalabadspied in the distance one lone horseman coming towardsthem. The man on the ragged horse, given to him by a

sympathetic Afghan farmer, was Dr William Brydon. Later afew Indian sepoys staggered in but Dr Brydon was the onlyBritish survivor. The scene was made famous in a paintingentitled Remnants of an Army by Lady Butler (picturedbelow). When asked what had happened to the army,Brydon replied, ‘I am the army.’

Remnants of an Army by Lady Butler

Brydon’s survival and the infamous retreat from Kabulbecame a gruesome cause célèbre in Victorian Britain anda stark reminder to its politicians that the British army wasnot the invincible force they believed it to be. On hearing thenews, Lord Auckland, the Governor-General of India whohad originally proposed the Simla Manifesto, suffered astroke.

Retribution was swift. A force under the command of SirGeorge Pollock and Robert Sale, husband of Lady Sale,stormed through Afghanistan, relieved the garrison atJalalabad and, in September 1842, forced its way intoKabul where Lord and Lady Sale were emotionallyreunited. But Pollock was too late to save Shah Shuja, whohad been murdered in April 1842, or Elphinstone, who haddied, a broken man, in captivity the same month. WilliamNott, one of Pollock’s second-in-commands, describedElphinstone as ‘the most incompetent soldier who everbecame general’.

Pollock, who had been ordered to ‘leave some lastingmark of the just retribution of an outraged nation’, blew upKabul’s Great Bazaar. Then, having rescued the remainingBritish hostages, he returned to India.

British prestige had been partially restored and its honoursatisfied, but with the restoration of Dost Mohammad to theAfghan throne, the whole farcical and tragic episode hadachieved nothing.

Thirty-six years later, in 1878, the Great Game was playedagain.