Anglo-Afghan wars

The First War

The 19th century was a period of diplomatic competition between the British and Russian Empires for spheres of influence in South Asia, known as the "Great Game" for the British and the "Tournament of Shadows" for the Russians.  With the exception of Emperor Paul who ordered the invasion of India in 1800 (which was rescinded after his assassination in 1801), no Russian tsar had ever seriously considered invading India, but 19  For much of the 20th century, Russia was seen as the "enemy".  in Britain;  And any Russian advance into Central Asia, in what is now Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, was always directed (in London) to the conquest of India, as the American historian David Fromkin observed,"  No matter how far-fetched" such an interpretation may be.  In 1832, the first reform bill to reduce the suffrage requirements for voting and holding office in the United Kingdom was passed, which was openly rejected by the ultra-Orthodox Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, an Anglo-Russian".  set the stage for the Cold War".  Many believed that Russian autocracy and British democracy were destined to clash.  In 1837, Lord Palmerston and John Hobhouse feared a possible Russian invasion of British India through Afghanistan, fearing the instability of Sindh and the growing power of the Sikh Empire in the northwest.  The British misunderstood Emperor Nicholas I's foreign policy as anti-British and intended to be an expansionist policy in Asia;  While in fact although Nicholas disliked Britain as a liberal democratic state, which he considered "weird", he always believed that it was possible to reach an understanding with Britain over spheres of influence in Asia, this  Believing that the essentially conservative nature of British society would slow the advent of liberalism.  The main goal of Nicolaus' foreign policy was not to conquer Asia, but to maintain the status quo in Europe, especially by cooperating with Prussia and Austria, and isolating France, as did Louis Philippe I, the French  was the king of  The man whom Nicholas hated as "the usurer".  The duc d'Orléans was once a friend of Nicolas, but when he assumed the throne of France after the Revolution of 1830, Nicolas was filled with hatred for his former friend, as he saw it.  He had gone over what he believed to be the dark side of liberalism.  The idea that Russia was a threat to the East India Company is one version of events.  Scholars now favor a different interpretation that the fear of the East India Company was actually the decision of Dost Mohammad Khan and the Qajar ruler of Iran to form an alliance and end Sikh rule in Punjab.  The British feared that an invading Islamic army would cause rebellion by the people and princely states in India, so it was decided to replace Dost Mohammad Khan with a more powerful ruler.  "Rumors may have cost lives and empire. So instead of focusing on East India, the East India Company played down the Russian bear threat."

The company sent to Kabul to form an alliance against Russia with Amir Dost Mohammad Khan of Afghanistan.  Dost Mohammad had recently lost a strategic city of Peshawar to the Sikh Empire and was ready to form an alliance with Britain if he supported it to retake it, but the British were reluctant.  Instead, the British forces were afraid of the Khalsa, and they viewed the Sikh army as a far more formidable threat than the Afghans, who did not have a well-disciplined army, rather than being merely a tribal levy where jihad served as an emir under the banner of tribals.  Come out to fight for  For this reason, Lord Auckland preferred an alliance with Punjab over an alliance with Afghanistan.  The British could have had an alliance with Punjab or Afghanistan, but not both at the same time.

  When Lord Auckland, the Governor-General of India, heard of the arrival of the Russian envoy in Kabul, Count Jan Prosper Witkiewicz (better known as Yan Witkevich from the Russian version of his name) and likely Dost Mohammad to support  Might turn to Russia, his political advisers exaggerating the threat.  Scotsman Alexander Burns, who served as chief political officer of the East India Company in Afghanistan, described Witkiewicz: "He was a gentleman and agreeable man of about thirty years of age, who spoke fluent French, Turkish and Persian, and  An officer of the Cossacks wore a uniform".  Witkiewicz's appearance had put Burns in a state of despair, leading one contemporary to note that he "left himself in despair, tied his head with a wet towel and handkerchief and carried in the smelling bottle".  Dost Mohammad had actually invited Count Witkiewicz to Kabul to intimidate the British into forming an alliance with him against their arch enemy Ranjit Singh, the Maharaja of Punjab, not because he really wanted an alliance with Russia.  The British had the power to force Singh to return the former Afghan territories he had conquered, while the Russians did not, which explains why Dost Mohammad Khan wanted an alliance with the British.  Burns wrote home in late December 1837 after having dinner with Count Witkiewicz and friend Mohammed: "We are in a messy house. The Emperor of Russia has sent a messenger to Kabul ... money [to the Afghans] Rajit  To fight the lion.!!! I couldn't believe my eyes or ears."  On 20 January 1838, Lord Auckland sent an ultimatum to Dost Mohammed, saying: "You must abstain from all correspondence with Russia. You should never receive agents from them, or do anything with them without our approval."  You must sack Captain Viktevich. [Witkiewicz] With courtesy, you must surrender all claims to Peshawar. Burns himself complained that Lord Auckland's letter was "so dictatorial and exaggerated as to imply the author's intent."  indicates that he must commit a crime", and tried to avoid delivering it as long as possible. Dost Mohammed was genuinely annoyed by the letter, but to avoid war, he asked his special military adviser, the American adventurer Josiah  Harlan engaged in a conversation with Burns to see if something could be negotiated. Burns didn't really have the power to negotiate anything, and Harlan complained that Burns was just stopping, which  Because Dost Mohammad expelled the British diplomatic mission on 26 April 1838.