Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
The Second Anglo-Afghan War was fought between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when
the nation was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan.
This was the second time British India invaded Afghanistan.
The war ended in a manner after attaining all the British geopolitical objectives.
Most of the British and Indian soldiers withdrew from Afghanistan.
The Afghans were permitted to maintain internal sovereignty but they had to cede control of their nation's foreign relations to the British.
After tension between Russia and Britain in Europe ended with the June 1878 Congress of Berlin, Russia turned its attention to Central Asia.
That same summer, Russia sent an uninvited diplomatic mission to Kabul.
Sher Ali Khan, the Amir of Afghanistan, tried unsuccessfully to keep them out.
Russian envoys arrived in Kabul on 22 July 1878, and on 14 August, the British demanded that Sher Ali accept a British mission too.
The Amir not only refused to receive a British mission under Neville Bowles Chamberlain, but threatened to stop it if it were dispatched.
Lord Lytton, the viceroy, ordered a diplomatic mission to set out for Kabul in September 1878 but the mission was
turned back as it approached the eastern entrance of the Khyber Pass, triggering the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
A British force of about 40,000 fighting men, mostly British and Indians, was distributed
into military columns which penetrated Afghanistan at three different points.
An alarmed Sher Ali attempted to appeal in person to the Russian Tsar for assistance, but unable to do so, he returned to Mazari Sharif, where he died on 21 February 1879.
The Battle of Ali Masjid, which took place on 21 November 1878, was the opening battle in the Second Anglo-Afghan War between the British forces,
under Lieutenant-General Sir Samuel James Browne, and the Afghan forces, under Ghulam Haider Khan.
The perceived offence of an Afghan general's refusal to allow a British envoy entrance to the country was used as an excuse to attack the fortress of Ali Masjid, as the opening battle in the war.
Despite numerous setbacks, including half the troops getting lost or delayed and missing the battle entirely, the British were lucky that the Afghans abandoned their position overnight.
The British victory meant that the northern approach to Kabul was left virtually undefended by Afghan troops. Browne was able to reach Dakkah with relative ease, and spent the winter camped safely in Jalalabad.
Eight of the native troops fighting with the British were awarded the Indian Order of Merit.
After the battle, Sher Ali still refused to ask the Russians for military assistance, despite their insistence that he should seek terms of surrender from the British.
With British forces occupying much of the country, Sher Ali's son and successor, Mohammad Yaqub Khan,signed the Treaty of Gandamak in May 1879 to prevent a British invasion of the rest of the country.
According to this agreement and in return for an annual subsidy and vague assurances of assistance in case of foreign aggression, Yaqub relinquished control of Afghan foreign affairs to Britain.
British representatives were installed in Kabul and other locations, British control was extended to the Khyber and Michni passes, and Afghanistan ceded various North-West Frontier Province frontier areas and Quetta to Britain
The British Army then withdrew.
However, on 3 September 1879 an uprising in Kabul led to the slaughter of Sir Pierre Cavagnari, his guards, and staff - provoking the next phase of the Second Afghan War.
A force was assembled and named the Kabul Field Force, under the command of major-general Frederick Roberts.
After defeating Afghan forces at Chariasab on 6 October, Roberts marched into Kabul on 13 October.
At the end of November, an army under the command of Mohammed Jan Khan Wardak, who had denounced Yaqub Khan as a British puppet and instead declared Musa Jan the new amir, gathered in the area north of Kabul
On 11 December a small detachment (c.170 men) of the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers andthe 14th Bengal Lancers encountered a 10,000+ Afghan army advancing on Kabul.
As it was of the utmost importance that Mohammed Jan's advance was delayed the woefully outnumbered Lancers charged the Afghans.
Heavy casualties were suffered and the Afghans continued their advance.
On December 15, the Afghan army began to besiege the British forces entrenched in the Sherpur Cantonment.
As news of a relief column under the command of Brigadier General Charles Gough reached Mohammed Jan, he ordered his troops to storm the cantonment on 23 December.
By midday, the assault had been repulsed, and the Afghan army dispersed. No quarter was given to Afghans found in the area with weapons.
Yaqub Khan, suspected of complicity in the massacre of Cavagnari and his staff, was obliged to abdicate.
The British considered a number of possible political settlements, including partitioning Afghanistan between multiple rulers or placing Yaqub's brother Ayub Khan on the throne,
but ultimately decided to install his cousin Abdur Rahman Khan as emir instead.
The Battle of Maiwand in 1880 was one of the principal battles of the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
In May 1880, a new British Liberal government recalled the Viceroy of India, Lord Lytton from India and replaced him with Lord Ripon who had instructions to bring all troops out of Afghanistan.
These plans for the evacuation were disrupted by Ayub Khan,
Ayub Khan, Shere Ali's younger son, who had been holding Herat during the British operations at Kabul and Kandahar, set out towards Kandahar with a small army in June 1880,
and a brigade under Brigadier-General Burrows was detached from Kandahar to oppose him.