Anglo-Afghan wars. Anglo-Afghan Wars of the 19th century Preparations for the English offensive
Afghanistan began to emerge as an independent state in the first half of the 18th century. At that time, the Afghans were undergoing a process of disintegration of the communal-tribal system and feudal relations were being formed. The main area of settlement of Afghan tribes was the Suleiman Mountains. During the XIV - XVIII centuries. The Afghans also established themselves in the territory that stretches from the Indus River (in its upper reaches) in the east and to the Helmand River in the west. At the beginning of the 18th century. many Afghan families were settled in the Herat area.
“The geographical location of Afghanistan and the characteristic features of the people give this country such political significance in the affairs of Central Asia that can hardly be overestimated” (F. Engels).
To the southeast of Afghanistan, employment increasingly expanded in the 18th century. territories of the English East India Company. She extended her rule over Bengal and a large part of South India, and by 1818 she had virtually brought almost all of India under her control.
The robbery of the peoples of India was a source of enormous income for the East India Company and the ruling elite of the British Empire, closely associated with it. Using a policy of bribery, blackmail and direct violence, the East India Company moved from the regions of India it had captured further and further to the north, northwest and northeast, masking its expansionist activities with the need to “protect” British possessions and demagogic statements about the “threat” to India - first from France, and then from Russia.
The growing influence of Russia in Central Asia forced England to turn its attention to Afghanistan, which at that time was still separated from its Indian possessions by a vast territory of Sikh and Sindhi possessions.
Afghanistan itself did not play any role, and its value was always indirect and conditional. If you think about the essence of its political value, it mainly boils down to the fact that Afghanistan includes operational routes to India. There were no other roads. It was Afghanistan's geography that made it politically valuable and gave it a certain weight. It is from this angle that the Afghan territories must be viewed - this is the only way to explain the main reason for the struggle between England and Russia in Central Asia.
Russia has entered the Geopolitical Great Game in this Asian region. Persia also played an important role in this game.
Persia under the influence of England and Russia.
Before considering the situation in Afghanistan, we should also write a few words about Persia, which is located next door.
The Persian ruler Fet Ali Shah (1797-1834) had been an ally of the British against the Afghans since 1814. England and Russia each had their own permanent representatives in Tehran.
In 1829, after Russia’s victory in the Russian-Persian War, in which the Anglo-Saxons were undoubtedly involved, the influence of Russian diplomacy in Persia reached a qualitatively new level.
After the death of Feta Ali Shah on October 23, 1834, his grandson Mohammad Mirza ascended the throne, ruling until 1848 under the name Mohammad Shah Qajar. It should be noted that this Shah was placed on the throne by England and Russia by mutual agreement. But the Shah was still more loyal to the Russians than to the British. This was, of course, known in England, and in 1835 the English cabinet itself appointed its commissioner in Tehran, who until then had always been appointed by the Governor-General of India. This was the first sign of the onset of more active intervention in Persian affairs. From that moment on, in Persia, the diplomatic war between Russia and Britain escalated to the limit.
Afghanistan. Brief history 1803 - 1835
At the beginning of the 19th century, a fierce internecine struggle for the Kabul throne unfolded in the Afghan capital, in which the half-brothers Mahmud Shah and Shuji ul-Mulk from the Sadozaev clan fought. In 1803 it ended with the victory of the latter, but this victory was very fragile. In 1809, Shuji signed an agreement with the British, which provided for the Afghans to act on the side of England in the event of war with France when the latter attacked India. It is characteristic that in the event of a war between Persia and Afghanistan, England did not undertake such obligations.
In June 1809, a new offensive by Mahmud Shah forced Shuji ul-Mulk to flee the country. He took refuge in the dominions of the East India Company, settling in Ludhiana.
In 1818, the power of the Sadozai dynasty was overthrown. Mahmud Shah, like Shuja ul-Mulk, was also forced to flee. He moved to Herat, where he died soon after. Power over the Herat oasis passed to his son Kamran. The rest of Afghanistan was divided between representatives of the Barakzai dynasty, but there was no friendship or agreement between the rulers. The united Afghan state collapsed.
Gradually, the Kabul ruler Dost Mohammed Khan came to the fore among the Barakzai rulers. He subjugated the city of Ghazni to his power and in 1826 took the title of emir, thereby emphasizing his role as a spokesman for common Afghan interests. Naturally, this caused discontent among the Anglo-Saxons; the creation of a unified Afghan state was not part of their plans. They tried in every possible way to stop the unity of the Afghans, using the “pensioner” Shuja ul-Mulk (he received a pension from the East India Company).
In 1832, Shuja ul-Mulk launched a campaign against Kandahar. The British provided the invasion plan and money. Despite the support, Shuja suffered a crushing defeat. After the defeat of Shuja ul-Mulk again fled to Ludhiana under the wing of the British Empire.
While fighting was going on in the Kandahar region and Dost Muhammad's troops headed there, Ranjit Singh (ruler of Punjab) moved troops of his Sikhs to Peshawar and captured the Peshawar district - the area settled by Afghan tribes. Naturally, this was all done according to the British script.
In the spring of 1835, Dost Muhammad made an attempt to recapture Peshawar. The attempt failed. The reasons for the failure are simple - corruption. K. Marx wrote: “Dost Mohammed declared a religious war against the Sikhs, marched on Punjab with a huge army; However, he was prevented from achieving success by General Garlan, an American in the pay of Ranjit Singh, who came to the Afghan camp as an ambassador and with his intrigues achieved that discontent began throughout the entire army, half of it fled and went home in different ways ... "
Dost Muhammad was forced to abandon his attempts to include the Peshawar district in the united state he was restoring. For many years, hostile relations developed between Afghanistan and Punjab.
Afghanistan and Russia 1836
In May 1836, the Afghan ambassador Hossein Ali arrived in Orenburg. He was instructed to ask for help “against the danger threatening the Kabul owner from the British (supporting the overthrown dynasty of the Afghan Shahs - the outcast Shuja ul-Mulk) and against the Sikh ruler Ranjid Singh, the ruler of the Punjab.”
The Russian government was afraid of the spread of British influence in this region, because this threatened trade relations in Central Asia, and most importantly, the British could easily set the Asian peoples against Russia by supplying them with weapons and money. A representative of Russia, Lieutenant Jan Witkiewicz (Polish nobleman, orientalist, traveler), was sent to Kabul on a return visit.
In 1837, Witkevich first went to Persia, where he was received by the Russian envoy Count Simonich. From Tehran, the lieutenant, accompanied by a Cossack convoy, secretly headed to Afghanistan. He arrived in Kabul at the end of 1837.
In Kabul, Jan met the English intelligence officer and diplomat Alexander Burns, who headed the English diplomatic mission at the court of the Afghan emir. The Russian envoy managed to win over the sympathies of the Afghan emir Dost Mohamed Shah in favor of Russia, despite the opposition of Alexander Burns, who had the exact opposite task.
The deliberate failure of the British diplomatic mission in Afghanistan
Ambassadors of the Afghan ruler Dost Mohammed visited not only Russia, but also Persia and English possessions in India. At this time, in March 1836, Lord Auckland, a confidant of Foreign Secretary Palmerston, assumed the post of Governor-General of India. It reflected the interests of the English industrial bourgeoisie, which persistently sought to expand sales markets and territorial conquests.
In June 1836, Auckland was tasked with intervening in Afghan affairs to counter Russian influence.
It was at this time that the new Governor General of India received a letter from the Afghan Emir Dost asking him to force the Sikhs to return Peshawar and other Afghan lands. But the British themselves expected to capture Peshawar - an important trading center and strategic point - and did not at all intend to help Dost Mohammed.
In August 1836, Kabul received Auckland's reply saying that England would like to see the Afghans flourish as a nation, sanctimoniously stating that she was "surprised" to learn of the discord between Afghanistan and the Sikhs.
Burns offered Dost an alliance, which he was ready to conclude, but the Anglo-Indian government demanded from him many concessions and the opening of the country's market to the British. Despite the high demands of the British, the Emir still promised his full assistance, but in return asked for help in returning Peshawar.
Burns promised support to Dost. This was reported to the ruling Anglo-Indian circles. Naturally, no one expressed a desire to help the Afghans or tame the Sikhs, and Burns himself was accused of exceeding his authority.
Not only did Dost not receive English help, but they also began to send him threats: they promised to sever diplomatic relations, demanded that he abandon the idea of returning Peshawar, and also immediately stop all negotiations with the Russian representative. These arrogant demands actually violated the sovereignty of the Afghan state and were rejected by the emir: “I see that England does not value my friendship. I knocked on your door, but you rejected me. True, Russia is too far away, but through Persia... she can help me.”
Dost Mohammed with his youngest son.
The insolent and humiliating notes from the British to the Afghan ruler showed that England had no intention of reaching an agreement with Afghanistan and was in fact breaking off friendly and trade relations. Why negotiate and trade if you can simply conquer and take away? - such was the philosophy of the Anglo-Saxons in this region. Meanwhile, British agents were actively collecting information about Afghanistan, planning an invasion soon. All this completely compensated for the diplomatic “failure” of Burns’s embassy, which, in fact, was a conscious and deliberate decision by the British ruling circles.
Under such conditions, a very tense atmosphere was created in 1937, which could have exploded into a serious war.
Meanwhile, the Russians are in Afghanistan...
The current situation in Afghanistan allowed Russia to achieve certain diplomatic successes. Following Burns, Lieutenant Vitkevich arrived in Kabul, who informed the Afghans of Russian support in preserving the integrity of the state.
This was the colossal difference between the Russians and the Anglo-Saxons: some united peoples, strengthened the integrity of the state and traded with it; others dismembered, conquered and enslaved.
Vitkevich promised Dost Mohammed Russia's assistance in the fight for the return of Peshawar. This support for Dost Muhammad's government made a great impression in Afghanistan.
The news of the results of Witkevich's mission caused a great stir among the British authorities in India and in England itself. The English press sounded the alarm about the “Russian threat” allegedly looming over India, that Dost Mohammed was the “sworn enemy of England”, and the entire existence of the British Empire was at stake. The same fuss was raised in parliament.
Siege of Herat by the Persians 1837 - 1838
Herat is a city located on the northern outskirts of Iran, at an altitude of 923 meters above sea level, on the banks of the Geri Rud, on a well-irrigated plain that produces abundant harvests of grain, fruit and cotton and is dotted with many villages.
Due to its advantageous position, abundance of food and water, Herat was an obligatory station for caravans passing from Turkestan and Persia to India. Occupying such a position, this city, in fact, was the “key to the Indian gates.” By owning Herat, it was possible to influence the trade of British India.
F. Engels called Herat “the strategic center of the entire region lying between the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea and the Jaxartes River in the west and north and the Indus River in the east...”
Since 1818, the ruler of Herat was one of the Saddozaids expelled from Kabul by Dost Mohammed. Under this ruler, the city separated from Afghanistan and became an independent fief.
In 1836, the Russian diplomatic agent Count Simonich easily convinced the Persian Shah Mohammad Qajar to launch a military campaign against Herat.
The British diplomatic representative tried in vain to keep the Shah from war. After this, the English ambassador left Tehran and ordered all English military personnel who were in Persian service to return to India. In November 1837, the Shah with a huge army reached Herat - the siege began. Russian officers were military advisers in the Shah's army.
Herat was considered the strongest fortress in Central Asia. Behind the walls there were more than 40,000 inhabitants, whose number greatly decreased during the siege due to hunger and disease. The Persians stood under the walls until September 1838.
In August 1838, the English Colonel Stoddart arrived at the camp of the Persian Shah and demanded that he immediately lift the siege of Herat. There was also a demand to recognize the British government as the sole mediator between Persia and Herat. A month later, the Shah retreated, and the English agent McNeil arrived in Tehran with the conditions offered by England - the abandonment of all fortifications on Herat territory occupied during the siege of the city. The Shah tried to drag out the matter. Then MacNeil retired to Erzurum and ordered the English military to leave Persian service.
The Governor-General of India ordered the occupation of the island of Kharak in the Persian Gulf. London threatened war with Persia.
In the negotiations that then began, in mid-1839, Palmerston presented nine demands to the representative of Iran, Hossein Khan, who arrived in London, subject to the fulfillment of which England agreed to restore diplomatic relations with Iran. The most important of these demands were: the withdrawal of Persian troops from the Gorian fortress and a number of other Afghan points; concluding a trade agreement with England on terms similar to the Turkmanchay Peace Treaty (Iran-Russian Treaty). As a result, Shah Mohammed accepted London's demands: in March 1841, the Gorian fortress was transferred to the ruler of Herat. In October 1841, diplomatic relations between England and Iran were restored, and the English envoy McNeill returned to Tehran. At the same time, the Anglo-Iranian trade agreement was signed, which provided England, on the basis of the most favored nation principle, with the same privileges that Russia had according to the Turkmanchay Treaty (5 percent import duties, consular jurisdiction, exemption from internal customs duties, etc.).
So, the British successfully pushed the Russian-Iranian threat away from Herat, thereby securing the path to India, and London also strengthened its influence in Persia. The Russian attempt to cut a passage to India failed.
The siege of Herat became one of the pretexts for the British invasion of Afghanistan: “the defense of Herat from the Persian occupiers.”
Preparations for the British invasion
In the military center of British India - Simla, already in the summer of 1838, preparations were in full swing for a future invasion, the consequence of which was to be the enslavement of Afghanistan and its transformation into a colony of England.
The Governor-General's Council, meeting at Simla, outlined a plan for the complete conquest of Afghanistan. After lengthy discussions, it was decided to move a large Anglo-Indian army to Afghanistan.
The war against Afghanistan being prepared by England was of a clearly aggressive, aggressive nature. Lord Ellenborough, who succeeded Auckland as Governor-General of India in 1842, frankly admitted this. “We fought with Kabul in order to remove the ruler, who managed to unite the tribes, create an army and introduce order,” he said.
The declaration spoke of Dost Mohammed’s intention to attack Ranjit Singh, “our ally,” which could (!) affect British trade and the “needs of the British government in a peaceful environment,” about “secret relations” between Afghanistan and Iran, allegedly directed against England , about the failure of Burns' "trade mission". In addition, it said that Dost Mohammed is bad and aggressive, that he does not really like the peace-loving and kind old lady England, and that the British and their Indian friends are very afraid of him... It went on to say that the Afghans themselves do not really like the usurper Dost and they want to see Shuja ul-Mulk on the throne - a good friend of the British, and indeed a very good person. The British respect this good man, Mulk, very much and wish with all their hearts to help him take his throne. After which, British soldiers will leave the country to the applause of their Afghan friends. They will not do this for the sake of self-interest, but only out of great love for the Afghan people...
Of course, this is complete nonsense, and no one was going to leave. On the contrary, they intended to stay there for a long time, creating a springboard for further conquests in Central Asia. The Afghan historian S.K. Rishtia wrote well about this: “Lord Auckland realized,” he wrote, “that in order to implement the far-reaching British plans in the Middle East, which included establishing military and political control over Sindh, Punjab, Kabul, Kandahar and Herat, The British need to have rulers in these areas who would be subordinate to the British government in absolutely all respects, who would have absolutely no point of view of their own and, being an instrument in the hands of English representatives, would exercise only nominal power. It is clear that rulers such as Emir Dost Mohammed Khan and his brothers, who had their own opinions and their own plans and did not allow any interference in the internal affairs of their country, were people completely unsuitable for these purposes... As a result, the British decided to openly use military force and overthrow the Mohammadzai dynasty in Afghanistan, put in their place Shah Shuja, who was in the hands of the British, secure for England the right to keep British troops and British officials in Afghanistan and thereby put the country under the military and political control of England.”
In July 1838, Shuja ul-Mulk and Ranjit Singh signed a “tripartite treaty” developed by the Governor of Bombay and the political secretary of Auckland MacNaughton, in which England also participated. Shah Shuja, in exchange for military-political support, ceded Sindh to the British, and Peshawar and other East Afghan lands to Ranjit Singh; he also pledged to subordinate his foreign policy to the interests of England and not lay claim to Herat.
In the autumn of 1838, the Anglo-Indian invasion army was ready to be sent to Afghanistan.
Beginning of the 1838 intervention
The army consisted of a Bengali column of 9,500 men, with 38,000 servants and porters and 30,000 camels, which was to assemble at Firoznur and, joining with 6,000 local Afghans, supporters of Shah Shuja, hostile to Dost Mohammed, move on Shikarpur, where it was joined by a Bombay column of 5,600 people. The goal of both columns was Kandahar.
Kandahar offered no resistance. After the fall of the city, the Barakzai sardars who ruled it, Kohendil Khan and his brothers fled to the western regions of the country, and then to Seistan. They rejected the offer of the British authorities to move to India for “retirement”.
The interventionists were initially confident of success. Dost Mohammed was able to counter the conquerors with about 13,000 horsemen, 2,500 infantry and 45 cannons.
The third column of interventionists was supposed to go to Kabul; on March 6, 1839, the Bengal and Bombay columns arrived at the Bolan Pass. Here they met no resistance, and, having passed the passage, they proclaimed Shah Shuja as emir, after he signed an unequal treaty with the British. The British then sent a detachment and 5,000 men to Ghazni and took it by storm, thereby opening the way to Kabul. Then Dost Mohammed abandoned Kabul and went north to Afghan Turkestan. On the eve of the decisive battle, the Afghan khans, bribed by the British, went over to the side of the invaders. On August 7, 1839, the British entered Kabul without a fight.
Dost Muhammad retreated beyond the Hindu Kush, from where, with the help of the Uzbeks of the Kunduz Khanate, he continued his guerrilla war against the British. He still hoped for Russian help, but the Russians could not help him.
At this time, the Russian task was to strengthen and expand the borders of Persia, which was under Russian influence. To this end, the Russians helped her in the Herat issue, which ended in nothing due to the intrigues of the British.
In November 1839, with most of Afghanistan occupied, Russia moves south. We are talking about Perovsky’s campaign against the Khiva Khanate, which ended in failure for Russia. The possible capture of Khiva could have significantly changed the balance of power in the region and affected the war in Afghanistan, but this did not happen.
Having captured southeastern Afghanistan, the occupiers began to plunder cities and villages and oppress the population. Deep resentment grew among the Afghan tribes. Afghans moved from passive forms of protest to open resistance. At first, it manifested itself in attacks on English convoys and on British soldiers who had lagged behind their units.
Gradually, the struggle of the Afghan people against the invaders began to take on more and more widespread character. It intensified as the aggressors moved into the country. At first, the British troops were subjected to continuous attacks by Baloch tribes. Then the Afghan Ghilzai tribes began to increasingly become involved in the liberation struggle.
The British began to have real difficulties.
The collapse of the British intervention in Afghanistan 1840 - 1842.
Dost recruited a significant army, crossed the Hindu Kush and inflicted a strong defeat on the British. At the end of September - October 1840, several fierce battles took place in the gorges of Kohistan, and on November 2, a decisive battle broke out at the Parvandar Pass. Dost Mohammed led a successful attack on the English cavalry that had crossed the river. The cavalry, which turned to panicked flight, carried away the infantry with it. The British suffered heavy losses in killed and wounded. The Battle of Parwan caused a great response throughout Afghanistan and played an important role in the development of the liberation movement.
This success greatly frightened the British; they did not know what to do, but they were helped by Dost Mohammed himself, who voluntarily came to their camp. Dost surrendered to the invaders. What prompted him to take such actions remains unknown. The British arrested him and sent him into exile in India.
Despite the capture of the emir, which was greeted with great jubilation by the British, the Afghan people's struggle for freedom did not weaken, but continued to develop.
At the beginning of October 1840, the eastern Ghilzai tribes actively participated in the liberation movement and occupied the mountain passes between Kabul and Jalalabad. They inflicted significant damage on the interventionists, raiding convoys and cutting off the supply of British troops from India.
In the winter of 1840/41, due to difficulties in supplying troops, the occupiers began to requisition food and fodder on a larger scale. Instead of pay, English troops were given entire districts to plunder. The occupiers viewed Afghanistan as their colony and the Afghans as their slaves.
In the fall of 1841, all the forces of the Afghan people fighting for independence came together. The uprising began on November 2, 1841 and was one of the culminating moments of the liberation movement in Afghanistan.
A common weapon in Afghanistan was the Jezail musket, popular in the Muslim world - a long gun, often rifled or percussion, which was easily recognized by its curved butt.
The Afghans reached the residence of the British governor of Kabul Burns, where he was killed after killing all his guards. After these events, the British were greatly demoralized, and the uprising gained new momentum. Soon power in the capital passed into the hands of Afghan patriots. Near Kabul, the invaders lost over 300 soldiers and part of the artillery.
Mohammed Akbar Khan, the son of Dost Mohammed, who had previously been in the north of the country, arrived in liberated Kabul. About 6 thousand people of the Uzbek people's militia came with him. The occupiers soon had to experience the force of the blows of this army.
All the peoples of Afghanistan united in the fight against the aggressors. Even Afghans and Indians who had been recruited into the British army partially defected to the rebels.
Now no one even remembered the power or influence of Shuja ul-Mulk. His "army" disintegrated.
Soon the British command had to negotiate with the rebels. On December 12, 1841, an agreement was signed with them, which contained an obligation to withdraw British troops from Afghanistan, return prisoners and return Dost Muhammad to his homeland.
In January 1842, the retreat of the English garrison began. About 5 thousand soldiers and officers and 12 thousand camp servants left Kabul. Seeing that the British, having violated the agreement, took the guns with them, the Afghan leaders announced their abandonment of their previous promise to guard the garrison along the retreat route.
During the retreat, the English troops were destroyed by mountain tribes. Of the entire Kabul garrison, not counting those captured, only one person escaped and reached Jalalabad.
The beginning of 1842 was marked by attacks by Afghan troops on the English garrisons that still remained in some cities and towns of the country. The rebels cleared the entire country of foreigners, except for the besieged garrisons in Jalalabad and Kanjar.
The siege of the Ghazni fortress ended successfully, which the rebels liberated on March 7, 1842, destroying the English garrison.
At the end of 1843, the British authorities allowed Dost Mohammed to return to his homeland, recognizing that their aggressive plans for Afghanistan had suffered a complete collapse. Soon Dost Mohammed again became emir - this is how the war of 1838-1842 ended.
Results of the war
Dost again became the Emir of Kabul, ruling until his death in 1863. The losses of the Afghans were enormous, the economy in the largest cities was destroyed, and the countryside was devastated. Famine continued in Afghanistan for several years.
The British military did not really receive any bonuses or awards for the Afghan campaign.
The impression of the first serious defeat of the British army in the colonial war was quickly forgotten against the backdrop of successes in other areas.
The Afghans have shown that in the event of a foreign invasion they can unite with other peoples of their country and together drive out well-armed invaders, even at the cost of colossal casualties.
In the 1840s: The British abandoned the idea of "buffer countries" and eliminated the independent states between British India and Afghanistan - Punjab and the emirates of Sindh. All territories that make up modern Pakistan, including the Afghan Peshawar region and the Khyber Pass, came under their rule.
As for Russia, in the 1850s. she focused on the Khanate of Khiva and in the 1860s. conquered Central Asia right up to the Afghan border.
In the 1870s. Fearing that the Russian army would be able to occupy Afghanistan, the British government launched the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
Khalfin N.A. The failure of British aggression in Afghanistan (XIX century - early XX century). - M.: Publishing house of socio-economic literature, 1959.
Afghanistan. Geographical and political essay. A.E. Snesarev
Reaction time and constitutional monarchies. 1815-1847. Part two. Volume 4. Authors Ernest Lavisse and Alfred Rambaud;
The history of British aggression in the Middle East, author Steinberg E. L.
The progressive movement of Russia into the Caucasus and Turkestan during the first three quarters of the 19th century forced England to pay attention to Afghanistan, which at that time was still separated from its Indian possessions by the vast territory of Sikh and Sindhi possessions. As Russian possessions approached the borders of Afghanistan, the military importance of Turkey and Persia gradually fell in the eyes of the British and in return the importance of Afghanistan became important, which became the only barrier separating Russian possessions from the borders of India. Hence, the idea of subjugating Afghanistan, or at least of a strong alliance with it, became an obligatory element of all British considerations concerning the defense of their Indian possessions. But the initial reason that forced England to enter into relations with Afghanistan already in 1808 was not Russia’s expansion to the south, but Napoleon’s plans to seize British India. In 1807, the Franco-Iranian Alliance was signed, which allowed France to send its troops through Iran with the aim of capturing India, so the East India Company had to take retaliatory actions. Since Afghanistan was the “northern gateway” to India, it was decided to send an embassy there.
By the 1830s, the advantage was on the side of Dost Muhammad, who, while remaining ruler of Kabul and Ghazni, distributed the provinces to his brothers and sons. Only Herat still remained in the power of Kamran, the nephew of Shah Shuja, the latter lived in India, receiving a small subsidy from the British. The internecine war weakened Afghanistan so much that neighbors began to encroach on some parts of its territory. The Sikhs began to threaten Peshawar from the east, and the Persians laid claim to Herat from the west. Dost Mohammed's position became difficult, but worsened further when Shah Shuja, encouraged by the British, entered into an alliance with the Sikhs in 1833 and invaded Sindh, intending to then march on Kandahar and Kabul.
Finding his strength to fight him insufficient, Dost Muhammad sent an embassy to Russia in 1834 asking for help. The Emir's envoy Hussein Ali Khan reached Orenburg only in 1836, where, through the military governor V.A. Perovsky, he entered into negotiations with the Russian government. The result of these relations was the dispatch to Afghanistan in 1837 of Perovsky’s lieutenant I.V. Vitkevich. The arrival of Vitkevich in Kabul in December of the same year, which discovered negotiations had begun between Russia and Afghanistan, as well as the movement of Persian troops to Herat, carried out under the influence of Russian diplomacy in Tehran, turned out to be a sufficient reason for England to declare war on Dost Mohammed.
On October 1, 1838, the Governor General of India, George Eden, announced a manifesto containing a declaration of war and the motivation for the decision taken by the British.
Preparations for the English offensive
Back in August 1838, the military units intended for the campaign were warned about this, and on September 13, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, General Fane, the composition of the expeditionary force was determined. Karnul was appointed as the concentration point. The detachment consisted of five infantry brigades (15 regiments), one artillery (5 batteries), and one cavalry (3 cavalry regiments). The infantry brigades were consolidated into two divisions, under the command of generals Cotton and Duncan. In addition to this detachment, called the Bengal Army and assembled under the personal command of the commander-in-chief, another detachment was formed in Bombay, consisting of three brigades, infantry (3 regiments), artillery and cavalry under the command of General Keane (commander of the Bombay Army). The troops recruited by Shah Shuja had about 6 thousand people. They were supposed to, together with the Bengal Army, cross the Indus on the road to Shikarpur and from there go to Kandahar and Kabul. Finally, the Sikh regiments of Ranjit Singh and a small detachment of Indo-British troops, only about 10 thousand people under the command of Shah Shuja’s son, Teimur Mirza and under the leadership of the English captain Wada, were supposed to head from Peshawar to Kabul. Meanwhile, while the troops were concentrating, circumstances in Afghanistan changed greatly: the Persians, who were besieging Herat at that time, were unable to take it, and in early September 1838 they were forced to leave. Vitkevich was no longer in Kabul, Dost Mohammed remained helpless. With the Persian retreat from Herat, of course, any pretext for going to Afghanistan disappeared, but the then Viceroy of India, Lord Oakland, insisted on implementing the decision. However, the composition of the expeditionary force was nevertheless reduced to 21 thousand people, including Bengali troops - 9.5 thousand people, concentrated at Firospur in early December (one division of General Cotton, consisting of 3 infantry brigades). The combined forces of Bengal and Bombay troops received the name "Indus Army", the command of which was entrusted to General Keane. The number of convoys accompanying the troops was excessively large and made their movement very difficult; Thus, the Bengal contingent was followed by a convoy of 30 thousand pack camels with 38 thousand convoy servants. The Bengal troops were to march from Firospur to the southwest, through Bagawalpur and then through Sind to the banks of the Indus; crossing the river at Sukkur. From here the troops were to proceed northwest through Shikarpur and Bagh, to the beginning of the Bolan Pass, then through the pass to Quetta, and from here through the Kojak Pass to Kandahar.
The forces that Afghanistan had at that time were very insignificant. Dost Mohammed maintained 2.5 thousand infantry men armed with large-caliber matchlock rifles, 12-13 thousand horsemen and about 45 guns. The best branch of the army was the cavalry. In addition to this “regular” army, there was a militia, which, under favorable conditions, could provide several tens of thousands of untrained, undisciplined and poorly armed soldiers.
March to Kabul
By April 1839, the Indian army concentrated at Quetta and then continued to move to Kandahar and Ghazni, without encountering resistance from the Afghans anywhere. The troops experienced hardships from a lack of food, as well as vehicles, due to the heavy mortality of transport animals. About 20 thousand heads died on the way to Kandahar alone. Indo-British troops entered Kandahar without a fight on April 25. Their further route lay in Ghazni. This city was defended by a garrison under the command of Haider Khan, the son of Dost Mohammed. In view of the Afghans' reluctance to surrender, the British blew up the fortress wall with a mine and launched an assault. The garrison fought to the last opportunity. About 1000 of his men died in battle, 1600 were taken prisoner, including Haider Khan himself. The British victory cost only 17 killed and 165 wounded, including 18 officers. Despite, however, the significant superiority of the enemy forces, Dost Muhammad did not lose heart. Relying on the strength of the resistance of the Ghazni fortress, he decided to throw his best troops under the command of his son Akbar Khan first to Peshawar, where in April the Sikh troops of Ranjit Singh began to gather, defeat the latter and then attack the Indus Army with all their might. However, the rapid fall of Ghazni ruined the emir's plans. Dost Mohammed changed his intention and decided with a detachment of troops, a force of about 6,000 people, to set out from Kabul to meet the Indus Army, and give it battle on the banks of the Kabul Darya. He reached with his troops to the village. Arganda, where such alarming signs of fermentation and treason were discovered in the detachment that there was no hope for the success of the battle. Then Dost Mohammed allowed (August 2) his troops to submit to Shah Shuja, and he himself, with a small handful of followers (350 people), retreated to Bamiyan. The emir's flight became known in the British camp the very next day; a pursuit was sent after him, but he managed to bypass the passes of the Hindu Kush and reach Afghan Turkestan. On August 7, Shah Shuja solemnly entered Kabul, and three weeks later the Sikh detachment of Teimur Mirza arrived here, which, in view of the death of Ranjit Singh in June 1839, only entered the Khyber Pass at the end of July, and after a short skirmish at Ali Majid , headed to Kabul without encountering any resistance along the way.
The beginning of the uprisings
Thus, Shah Shuja was placed on the throne and, according to the spirit of the declaration on October 1, 1838, the troops were to return to India. But in view of the dubious state of affairs, it was decided to return home only half of the Army of the Indus, and the remaining troops were to remain in Afghanistan under the command of General Cotton. In September, the entire Bombay Division left Kabul, heading through the Bolan Gap. In October, part of the Bengal detachment left, heading through Peshawar. 7 thousand Anglo-Indian troops remained in Afghanistan. 13 thousand people of Shah Shuja (supported by the East India Company) and 5 thousand Sikh contingent. The bulk of these troops remained in Kabul, a significant number of them were in Jalalabad, and small detachments were located in Kandahar, Ghazni and Bamiyan. At first everything went well. The influx of money into the country revived it and strengthened commercial and industrial activity, but then the rise in price of basic necessities, the intrusive invasion of foreigners into the internal affairs of the country, their systematic insult to the religious and family feelings of the people and other reasons brought general discontent into the country. Growing gradually, it soon began to manifest itself in separate uprisings in different parts of Afghanistan. The Ghilzais, who greatly disturbed the Indus Army on its way from Kandahar to Ghazni, did not recognize the authority of Shah Shuja and continued to interrupt communications between Kabul and Ghazni. They were pacified, but not for long, in September 1839 by the expedition of Major Outram. In the spring of the following year, the Ghilzais revolted on a larger scale, and the troops of General Noth sent against them with great difficulty brought them to submission. In the fall of 1839, the Khybers became indignant. In the spring of 1840, the Hazaras rebelled (near Bamiyan).
Captivity of Dost Muhammad
Meanwhile, Dost Mohammed, after his short stay in Khulm, tried to seek refuge with the Bukhara emir Nasrullah, but made a mistake in his calculations and returned back to Khulm. Around this time (mid-1840), the British, in order to influence the Uzbek rulers of Afghan Turkestan, moved a small detachment north of Bamiyan, to Baygak. Dost Mohammed took advantage of this circumstance and persuaded the Khulma Khan to attack Baygak. On August 30, an attack was made on the British post and the detachment occupying it had to retreat to Bamiyan. Dost Mohammed with an Uzbek detachment pursued the British, but on September 18 he was defeated by the native units of General Denny. Having lost hope for the assistance of the Uzbeks, Dost Mohammed went to Kugistan (a province north of Kabul) and created unrest there. A detachment under the command of General Sel was sent against the rebels from Kabul. A battle took place in the Pervan Valley (north of Charikar) on November 2, in which the British were defeated. The next day, Sel's detachment retreated to Charikar. This was the state of affairs when an incomprehensible event, which has not yet been clarified by history, took place. On the third day after the Battle of Pervan, Dost Muhammad appeared in Kabul and placed himself at the disposal of the British. Nasrullah's failure, the weakness of the Uzbeks, fear for one's own head, which was probably not poorly appreciated by the British, these are, apparently, circumstances that can serve as a clue to Dost Mohammed's act. The surrendered emir was sent to live in India.
Insurrection
With the removal of Dost Mohammed and after the failure of the Khiva campaign (1839-1840) by Perovsky, the British presence in Afghanistan lost its meaning, which is why Shah Shuja reminded them of this. However, the British, apparently, did not intend to leave, settling in the country as if at home, planting gardens here, building houses, sending their families out of India. This behavior of foreigners further incited the Afghan population against them. The anger gradually increased. Rebellions and unrest began to arise between the Duraniyas, Ghilzais and other tribes of Afghanistan. The pacification of these outbreaks absorbed all the attention of the British, but the further, the less successful it became. The state of affairs threatened a general uprising, which was not slow to appear. The reason for it was the reduction and even termination of cash subsidies given to the leaders of the Ghilzais, Kugistans, Qizilbashs and other Afghan tribes. Shah Shuja, in response to a number of complaints addressed to him on this matter, referred to the self-will of the British, hinting at the desirability of freeing himself from foreigners. This hint was enough for a conspiracy to be hatched at the end of September 1841 to regain what was lost and overthrow the rule of foreigners. The British, warned about the conspiracy, did nothing. A series of uprisings began.
At the end of September, the eastern Ghilzais blocked in their mountains all the passes leading from Kabul to the Jalalabad region, interrupting British communication with India. The pacification of the Ghilzais was entrusted to General Sel, who had already been assigned with his brigade to return to India through Peshawar. He was supposed to restore order in the Ghilzai lands, heading to Jalalabad. On October 11, he entered the Khurd-Kabul Gorge and, fighting continuous battles with the rebels along the way, by October 30 he barely reached Gandamak, having suffered significant losses.
At the same time, an uprising broke out in Kugistan and in the space between Kabul and Kandahar. Finally, on November 2, a massacre occurred in Kabul itself and one of the first victims was the Englishman Burns, who served as an unofficial adviser to Shah Shuja. Two houses in which the British mission was located were looted, their guards were slaughtered, the treasury (170 thousand rupees) was plundered, and all the servants were killed. And all this was done in the presence of 6 thousand British troops, locked in a fortified camp half an hour away from the indignant city. From the general's side Elphinstone, who commanded the troops near Kabul at that time, did not receive any orders, not a single British officer came to the rescue of his own.
The impunity of the massacre on November 2, 1841 was in the eyes of the Afghans evidence of the weakness of the British, the news of the success of the uprising spread throughout the country and crowds of ghazis (companions for the faith) poured into the city from everywhere. Shah Shuja locked himself in the Kabul citadel of Bala Gissar and waited for the outcome of events. The uprising was led by the Mohammedans, relatives of Dost Mohammed, who elected Mohammed Zeman Khan, the nephew of Dost Mohammed and the former ruler of the Jalalabad region, as emir. The British troops were deprived of most of their provisions and artillery supplies. In Kudar, the indignant soldiers of the Kugistan regiment themselves massacred their English officers. In Charikar, a Gurkha regiment was besieged by Afghans in their barracks, forced to leave them due to lack of water, and was exterminated on the way to Kabul. In Chain-dabad, between Kabul and Ghazni, a detachment of Captain Woodbourne was slaughtered. Captain Firriz's detachment was besieged in the Khyber Mountains by several thousand Afghans and barely made it to Peshawar.
Retreat and destruction of Elphinstone's detachment
Weak and indecisive Elphinstone saw salvation only in retreat. Instead of taking vigorous action, he entered into negotiations with the Afghans. Meanwhile, the troops were starving and gradually became completely demoralized. The negotiations dragged on endlessly. The English representative Macnachten, invited to a meeting with Akbar Khan, was treacherously killed on December 23rd. His severed head, stuck on a pike, was carried through the streets of the city, and his mutilated body was exposed for desecration in the Kabul bazaar for three days. With the death of Macnachten, the leaders of the uprising considered the treaty he had worked out invalid and offered Elphinstone new, more humiliating conditions. On the first day of 1842, the agreement with the Afghans was sealed by 18 serdars. In pursuance of this agreement, the British handed over to the Afghans: all sums of money, in the amount of 1,400,000 rupees, all artillery, with the exception of 9 cannons, many different firearms and bladed weapons, all shells, ammunition, all the sick and seriously wounded with two doctors with them and, finally, the hostages included 6 officers. The convoy of Afghan troops promised by the agreement was not assigned. Not receiving the promised convoy, Elphinstone decided to set off at his own peril and risk, and on January 6, British troops, including 4.5 thousand combat personnel, with non-combatants, women, children and camp servants, set out from Kabul, heading towards Khurd-Kabul gorge. As soon as the tail of the column left the camp, the Afghan attacks began, the guns were soon taken from the British and the entire detachment was turned into a panic-stricken crowd. Not far from Jalalabad, where General Sel was with his detachment, the Afghans completed the extermination of Elphinstone’s detachment. Those who escaped here died further from cold, hunger and deprivation. Of the 16 thousand people who set out from Kabul, the only person who survived was Dr. Bryden, who on January 14, wounded and completely exhausted from hunger, reached Jalalabad.
End of the war
The fate of other British troops in Afghanistan was as follows. Sel successfully held out in Jalalabad, repelling and even dispersing crowds of Afghans, and General William Nott also held out in Kandahar. Both refused to surrender the positions they occupied to the Afghans, despite the instructions of Elphinstone, who carried out the agreement on January 1. Captain Kregi held out successfully in Kelat-i-Ghilzai. In Ghazni, Colonel Pamer resisted for a long time, but, believing the Afghans that they would let him through to Peshawar, he surrendered the citadel (March 6). An immediate attack followed on the garrison, and it was completely destroyed, with the exception of Pamer and several officers who were taken prisoner. Communications between India and Kabul were interrupted as early as October 1841. When news of the Kabul uprising was received in Calcutta, General Wild's brigade was sent through Peshawar to support the Kabul army, but it (January 1842) could not get through the Khyber Pass and was driven back with great damage. To save the detachments of Sel and Nott remaining in Afghanistan, the following measures were taken: Pollock, who replaced Wild, was reinforced with 4 infantry regiments, cavalry and artillery, and General England’s brigade was moved from Sindh to Kandahar. The latter was met at the Kojak Pass by Afghans at the end of March and retreated to Quetta. Pollock was already in Peshawar in February, but remained here for two months. Subsequently, however, the actions of the British were more decisive and successful. Having set out on April 3, Pollock walked a few days to Jalalabad, where he united with Sel. On May 10, after a small matter at the Kojak Pass, General England also arrived in Kandahar.
After this, British troops had to either withdraw from Afghanistan, or advance deeper into the country to restore their prestige and free hostages and prisoners. The new viceroy (Edward Lowe) was inclined towards the first; public opinion in England loudly demanded the second. Finally, Nott was ordered to begin a retreat from Afghanistan, but in a roundabout way, through Ghazni-Kabul-Peshawar, while Pollock was asked to support Nott by moving to Kabul. Nott set out from Kandahar on 7, Pollock from Jalalabad on 20 August. Meanwhile, in Kabul, since Elphinstone's departure, internecine strife continued, which significantly weakened the Afghans' ability to resist. Pollock and Nott moved towards Kabul almost unhindered, easily dispersing the discordant crowds of Afghans. On September 15, Pollock arrived in Kabul, and the next day Nott. From here they sent punitive expeditions to various parts of the country, and Kabul was given over to the troops for plunder. After almost a month's stay near Kabul, on October 12, British troops set out for Peshawar. This retreat was like an escape. Nott's detachment, walking behind, was subjected to continuous attacks by Afghans. In the last days of December the troops reached the borders of India. At the same time, Dost Mohammed received permission to return to Afghanistan, where, in view of the death of Shah Shuja, he soon took the throne of the emirs. Despite the retreat, the British strengthened their military presence in Afghanistan. Thus ended the first Anglo-Afghan war. It cost more than 18 thousand people, 25 million pounds sterling and significantly undermined the prestige of the British army, but at the same time strengthened its presence in Central Asia.
For almost 10 years, from December 1979 to February 1989, military operations took place on the territory of the Republic of Afghanistan, called the Afghan War, but in fact it was one of the periods of civil war that has been shaking this state for more than a decade. On the one hand, pro-government forces (the Afghan army) fought, supported by a limited contingent of Soviet troops, and they were opposed by quite numerous formations of armed Afghan Muslims (Mujahideen), who received significant material support from NATO forces and most countries of the Muslim world. It turned out that on the territory of Afghanistan the interests of two opposing political systems once again collided: one sought to support the pro-communist regime in this country, while others preferred that Afghan society follow the Islamist path of development. Simply put, there was a struggle to establish absolute control over the territory of this Asian state.
Over the course of all 10 years, the permanent Soviet military contingent in Afghanistan numbered about 100 thousand soldiers and officers, and in total more than half a million Soviet military personnel passed through the Afghan war. And this war cost the Soviet Union about 75 billion dollars. In turn, the West provided the Mujahideen with financial assistance worth $8.5 billion.
Causes of the Afghan War
Central Asia, where the Republic of Afghanistan is located, has always been one of the key regions where the interests of many of the world's strongest powers have intersected for several centuries. So in the 80s of the last century the interests of the USSR and the USA collided there.
When Afghanistan gained independence back in 1919 and was freed from British colonization, the first country to recognize this independence was the young Soviet country. In all subsequent years, the USSR provided its southern neighbor with tangible material assistance and support, and Afghanistan, in turn, remained devoted to the most important political issues.
And when, as a result of the April Revolution of 1978, supporters of the ideas of socialism came to power in this Asian country and proclaimed Afghanistan a democratic republic, the opposition (radical Islamists) declared a holy war on the newly created government. Under the pretext of providing international assistance to the fraternal Afghan people and to protect their southern borders, the leadership of the USSR decided to introduce its military contingent into the territory of the neighboring country, especially since the Afghan government had repeatedly turned to the USSR with requests for military assistance. In fact, everything was a little different: the leadership of the Soviet Union could not allow this country to leave its sphere of influence, since the coming to power of the Afghan opposition could lead to a strengthening of the US position in this region, located very close to Soviet territory. That is, it was at this time that Afghanistan became the place where the interests of two “superpowers” collided, and their interference in the country’s internal politics became the cause of the 10-year Afghan war.
Progress of the war
On December 12, 1979, members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, without the consent of the Supreme Council, finally made a decision to provide international assistance to the fraternal people of Afghanistan. And already on December 25, units of the 40th Army began to cross the Amu Darya River to the territory of a neighboring state.
During the Afghan war, four periods can be roughly distinguished:
- Period I – from December 1979 to February 1980. A limited contingent was introduced into Afghanistan and placed in garrisons. Their task was to control the situation in large cities, guard and defend the locations of military units. During this period, no military operations took place, but as a result of shelling and attacks by the Mujahideen, Soviet units suffered losses. So in 1980, 1,500 people died.
- Period II - from March 1980 to April 1985. Conducting active combat operations and major military operations together with the forces of the Afghan army throughout the state. It was during this period that the Soviet military contingent suffered significant losses: about 2,000 people died in 1982, and more than 2,300 in 1985. At this time, the Afghan opposition moved its main armed forces to mountainous areas, where it was difficult to use modern motorized equipment. The rebels switched to maneuverable actions in small detachments, which did not make it possible to use aviation and artillery to destroy them. To defeat the enemy, it was necessary to eliminate the base areas of concentration of the Mujahideen. In 1980, a major operation was carried out in Panjshir; in December 1981, a rebel base was destroyed in the province of Jowzjan; in June 1982, Panjshir was captured as a result of military operations with a massive landing. In April 1983, opposition forces were defeated in the Nijrab gorge.
- III period - from May 1985 to December 1986. Active military operations of the Soviet contingent are decreasing, military operations are more often carried out by the Afghan army, which received significant support from aviation and artillery. The delivery of weapons and ammunition from abroad to arm the Mujahideen was stopped. 6 tank, motorized rifle and anti-aircraft regiments were returned to the USSR.
- IV period – from January 1987 to February 1989.
The leadership of Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the support of the UN, began preparations for a peaceful resolution of the situation in the country. Some Soviet units, together with the Afghan army, are conducting operations to destroy militant bases in the provinces of Logar, Nangarhar, Kabul and Kandahar. This period ended on February 15, 1988 with the withdrawal of all Soviet military units from Afghanistan.
Results of the Afghan War
Over the 10 years of this war in Afghanistan, almost 15 thousand Soviet soldiers died, more than 6 thousand remained disabled, and about 200 people are still considered missing.
Three years after the departure of the Soviet military contingent, radical Islamists came to power in the country, and in 1992 Afghanistan was proclaimed an Islamic state. But peace and tranquility never came in the country.
I had to take action. Since Afghanistan was the northern portal to India, it was decided to send an embassy there.
Elphinstone's embassy, sent to Kabul in 1808 to establish friendly relations with Shuji Shah, for the first time gave the British some definite information about Afghanistan, which until then was completely unknown to them. However, the relationship, which began successfully, due to various circumstances, was not maintained for the next 30 years, until the year when special circumstances prompted England to again pay attention to this place in central Asia. The first 30 years of the 19th century in the history of Afghanistan were filled with internal contradictions, expressed mainly in the struggle of the two main branches of the Durrani dynasty - Sadozaiv (Shuja Shah and his descendants) and Barakzai (Dost Mohammed). By the 1830s, the advantage was on the side of Dost Muhammad, who, while remaining ruler of Kabul and Ghazni, distributed the provinces to his brothers and sons. Only Herat still remained under the rule of Kamran, the nephew of Shuja Shah, the latter living in India, receiving a small subsidy from the British. Discord has weakened Afghanistan so much that neighbors have begun encroaching on parts of its territory. The Sikhs began to threaten Peshawar from the east, and the Persians laid claim to Herat from the west. Dost Mohammed's position became difficult, but worsened further when Shuja Shah, prompted by the British, entered into an alliance with the Sikhs and invaded Sindh, intending to then march on Kandahar and Kabul. Considering his forces to fight him insufficient, Dost Muhammad sent an embassy to Russia asking for help. The Emir's envoy, Hussein Khan, reached Orenburg only in 1999, where, due to the military governor Perovsky, he entered into negotiations with the Russian government. The result of this relationship was a business trip to Afghanistan last year for Lieutenant Vitkevich, who served under Perovsky. The arrival of Vitkevich in Kabul in December of the same year, which revealed the negotiations that had begun between Russia and Afghanistan, as well as the movement of Persian troops towards Herat, carried out under the influence of Russian diplomacy in Tehran, became a sufficient reason for England to declare war on Hon. Muhammad.
On October 1 of the year, George Eden delivered a manifesto containing declarations of war and the motivation for the decision taken by the British.
2. Preparation for the English offensive
Indian Army enters Kandahar
Back in August 1838, the military units intended for the campaign were warned about this, and on September 13, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, General Fein, the composition of the expeditionary force was determined. Kurnol was appointed as the concentration point. The detachment consisted of five infantry brigades (15 regiments), one artillery (5 batteries), and one cavalry (3 cavalry regiments). The infantry brigades were organized into two divisions under the command of Generals Cotton and Duncan. In addition to this detachment, which was called the Bengal Army and was assembled under the personal command of the commander-in-chief, another detachment was formed in Bombay consisting of three brigades, infantry (3 regiments), artillery and cavalry under the command of General Keane (commander of the Bombay army). The troops recruited by Shuji Shah numbered about 6,000 people. They were supposed to, together with the Bengal army, cross the Indus road to Shikarpur and from there go to Kandahar and Kabul. Finally, the Sikh regiments of Ranjit Singh and a small detachment of Indo-British troops, together about 10,000 people, were to go from Peshawar to Kabul under the command of Shuja Shah's son, Taimur Mirza and under the leadership of the English captain Wade. Meanwhile, while the troops were concentrating, circumstances in Afghanistan changed greatly: the Persians, who were currently besieging Herat, were unable to take it, and in early September 1838 they were forced to leave. Vitkevich was no longer in Kabul, Dost Mohammed remained helpless. With the retreat of the Persians from Herat, of course, any reason to go to Afghanistan disappeared, but the then Viceroy of India, Lord Auckland, insisted on implementing the decision. However, the composition of the expeditionary force was still reduced to 21,000 people, including 9,500 Bengali troops, concentrated at Firospur in early December (one division of General Cotton, consisting of 3 infantry brigades). The combined forces of Bengal and Bombay troops were called the "Indus Army", the command of which was entrusted to General Keane. The number of convoys accompanying the troops was excessively large and greatly hampered their movement, yes, the Bengal contingent was followed by a convoy with 30,000 pack camels with 38 thousand convoy servants. The Bengal troops had to follow from Firospur to the southwest through Bagawalpur and then through Sind to the banks of the Indus; crossing the river near Sukkur. From here the troops were to go northwest through Shikarpur and Bagh, to the beginning of the Bolan Pass, then through the pass to Quetta, and from here through the Kojak Pass of Kandahar.
The forces that Afghanistan had at that time were insignificant. Dost Mohammed held 2.5 thousand infantry, armed with large-caliber tinder guns, 12-13 thousand horsemen and about 45 guns. The best branch of the army was the cavalry. In addition to this “regular” army, there was a militia, which, under favorable conditions, could provide several tens of thousands of untrained, undisciplined and poorly armed soldiers.
3. March to Kabul
City of Ghazni in 1839
The Indian army concentrated near Quetta until April of the year and then continued to move towards Kandahar and Ghazni, without encountering resistance anywhere from the Afghans. The troops experienced a shortage of food, as well as vehicles due to a severe pestilence of transport animals. About 20 thousand heads died on the way to Kandahar alone. Indo-British troops entered Kandahar without a fight on April 25. Their further route lay in Ghazni. This city was defended by a garrison under the command of Heydar Khan, the son of Dost Mohammed. Due to the reluctance of the Afghans to appear, the British blew up the wall of the fortress with a mine and launched an assault. The garrison fought to the last opportunity. About 1000 of his men died in battle, 1600 were captured, including Heydar Khan himself. The British victory cost only 17 killed and 165 wounded, including 18 officers. Despite, however, the significant superiority of the enemy forces, Dost Muhammad did NOT give up. Relying on the strength of the resistance of the Ghazni fortress, he decided to throw his best troops under the command of his son Akbar Khan first to Peshawar, where Ranjit Singh's Sikh troops began to gather in April, defeat them and only then attack the Indus Army with all his might. However, the rapid fall of Ghazni ruined the emir's plans. Dost Muhammad changed his mind and decided to march with a detachment of troops, a force of about 6,000 people, from Kabul to meet the Indus Army, and give it battle on the banks of the Kabul Darya. He came with his troops to the village. Argand, where the detachment showed alarming signs of frustration and betrayal, there was absolutely no hope for the success of the battle. Then Dost Mohammed allowed (August 2) his troops to submit to Shuja Shah, and he himself, with a small number of supporters (350 people), retreated to Bamiyan. The emir's flight became known in the British camp the very next day; a chase was sent after him, but he managed to pass through the passes of the Hindu Kush and reach Afghan Turkestan. On August 7, Shuja Shah solemnly entered Kabul, and three weeks later the Sikh detachment of Teimur Mirza arrived here, which, due to the death of Ranjit Singh in June 1839, only entered the Khyber Pass at the end of July, and after a short battle near Ali-Mejid , went to Kabul without encountering any resistance along the way.
4. The beginning of the uprisings
Thus, Shuja Shah was placed on the throne and, in the spirit of the declaration on October 1, 1838, the troops were allowed to return to India. But due to the dubious state of affairs, it was decided to return home only half of the Army of the Indus, and the remaining troops should remain in Afghanistan under the command of General Cotton. In September, the entire Bombay division left Kabul, heading through the Bolan Gap. In October, part of the Bengal detachment left, heading through Peshawar. The following remained in Afghanistan: 7,000 people of the Anglo-Indian troops, 13 thousand people of Shuja Shah (maintained at the expense of the East India Company) and 5,000 Sikh contingent. The main body of these troops remained in Kabul, a significant number were in Jalalabad, and small detachments were located in Kandahar, Ghazni and Bamiyan. At first everything went well. The influx of money into the country revived the economy and strengthened commercial and industrial activity, but then the rise in price of basic necessities, the constant interference of foreigners in the internal affairs of the country, systematic insults on their part against religious and family feelings and other reasons caused general discontent. Brewing gradually, it soon began to manifest itself in separate uprisings in different parts of Afghanistan. The Ghilzais, who greatly disturbed the Indus Army on its way from Kandahar to Ghazni, did not recognize the authority of Shuja Shah and continued to obstruct the connection between Kabul and Ghazni. They were eliminated, but not for long, in September 1839 by an expedition by Major U.M. In the spring of the following year, the Ghilzais initiated an uprising on a wide scale, and the troops of General Noth sent against them brought them to obedience with great difficulty. In the fall of 1839, the Khybers rebelled. In the spring, an uprising of the Khazarians took place (near Bamiyan).
5. Captivity of Dost Mohammed
Meanwhile, Dost Mohammed, after his short stay in Khulmi, tried to look for a link with the Bukhara emir Nasrullah, but made a mistake in his calculations and returned to Khulm. At the same time (mid-1840), the British, in order to influence the Uzbek owners of Afghan Turkestan, advanced a small detachment north of Bamiyan, to Baygak. Dost Mohammed took advantage of these circumstances and persuaded the Khulma Khan to attack Baigak. On August 30, a British post was attacked, and the detachment occupying it was forced to retreat to Bamiyan. Dost Mohammed with an Uzbek detachment pursued the British, but on September 18 he was defeated by the native units of General Danny. Having lost hope of Uzbek assistance, Dost Mohammed went to Kugistan (a province north of Kabul) and restored unrest there. A detachment of peasants under the command of a general was sent from Kabul against the rebels. A battle took place in the Pervan Valley (north of Charikar) on November 2, in which the British were defeated. The next day, a detachment of peasants retreated to Charikar. This was the state of affairs when this incomprehensible and inexplicable event by historians took place. The third day after the Battle of Pervan, Dost Muhammad arrived in Kabul and placed himself at the disposal of the British. The failure of Nasrullah, the weakness of the Uzbeks, fear for one’s own head, which was probably well appreciated by the British, these are the probable reasons that can serve as a clue to Dost Mohammed’s act. The emir was sent to live in India.
6. Uprising
With the departure of Dost Mohammed and after the failure of Perovsky's Khiva campaign, the British presence in Afghanistan lost its meaning, which is why Shuja Shah reminded them of this. However, the British probably did not intend to go, settling in the country, laying out gardens here, building houses, sending their families out of India. This behavior of foreigners further incited the Afghan population against them. The anger gradually grew. Mutinies and unrest began to arise between the Durranis, Ghilzais and other tribes of Afghanistan. The taming of these outbreaks absorbed all the attention of the British, but the further it went, the less successful it became. The state of affairs threatened a general uprising, which soon began. The reason for it was the reduction and even termination of cash subsidies issued to the leaders of the Ghilzais, Kugistans, Qizilbashs and other Afghan tribes. Shuja Shah, in response to a number of complaints addressed to him on this matter, referred to the arbitrariness of the British, hinting at a desire to free himself from foreigners. This hint was enough for a conspiracy to take place at the end of September to return what had been lost and eliminate the domination of foreigners. The British, warned of the conspiracy, did nothing. A series of uprisings began.
At the end of September, the eastern Ghilzais closed all passages in their mountains leading from Kabul to the Jalalabad region, interrupting communication between the British and India. The taming of the Ghilzais was entrusted to the Selya general, who had already been assigned with his brigade to return to India through Peshawar. He had to restore order in the Ghilzay lands on the way, during his movement to Jalalabad. On October 11, he entered the Khurd-Kabul Gorge and, seeing continuous battles with the rebels along the way, barely reached Gandamak on October 30, suffering significant losses.
At the same time, an uprising broke out in Kugistan and in the space between Kabul and Kandahar. Finally, on November 2, a massacre occurred in Kabul itself and one of the first victims was the Englishman Burns, who stood as an unofficial adviser to Shuja Shah. Two houses in which the British mission was located were looted, their guards were slaughtered, the treasury (170,000 rupees) was plundered, and all the servants were killed. And all this was accomplished in the presence of 6,000 British troops locked in a fortified camp at a distance of half an hour from the rebel city. From the side of General Elphinstone, who at that time commanded the troops near Kabul, not a single order was received, not a single British officer came to his aid!
Impunity on November 2, 1841 became, in the eyes of the Afghans, evidence of the weakness of the British, the news of the success of the uprising spread throughout the country, and crowds of ghaz from everywhere poured into the city. Shuja Shah locked himself in the Kabul citadel of Bala Gissar and waited for the outcome of events. The uprising was led by the Mohammedans, relatives of Dost Mohammed, who elected Mohammed Zeman Khan, the nephew of Dost Mohammed and the former ruler of the Jalalabad region, as emir. The British troops were deprived of most of their supplies of provisions and artillery ammunition. In Kudari, the soldiers of the Kugistan regiment were indignant and themselves massacred their English officers. At Charikar, a regiment of Gurkhas was besieged by Afghans in their barracks, was forced to abandon them due to lack of water and was exterminated on the way to Kabul. In Chain Dabadi, between Kabul and Ghazni, Woodbourne's detachment was cut out. Captain Firriz's detachment was besieged in the Khyber Mountains by several thousand Afghans and barely made it to Peshawar.
7. Retreat and destruction of Elphinstone's detachment
Remnants of the army. Painting by Elizabeth Butler
Weak and indecisive Elphinstone saw salvation only in retreat. Instead of taking energetic measures, he began to negotiate with the Afghans. Meanwhile, the troops were hungry and gradually became completely demoralized. The negotiations dragged on endlessly. The English representative Macnakten, invited to a meeting with Akbar Khan, was treacherously killed on December 23. His severed head, mounted on a spear, was carried through the streets of the city, and his disfigured body was exposed to mockery in the Kabul market for three days. With the death of Macnachten, the leaders of the uprising decided that their agreement was no longer valid, and offered Elphinstone new, more humiliating conditions. On the first day of the year, the agreement with the Afghans was sealed by the 18th Serdar. In pursuance of this agreement, the British handed over to the Afghans: all sums of money, in the amount of 1,400,000 rupees, all artillery, with the exception of 9 guns, many different firearms and bladed weapons, all shells, ammunition, all sick and seriously wounded with two doctors with them and, finally, hostages numbering 6 officers. The convoy of Afghan troops promised by the agreement was not assigned. Having not received the promised convoy, Elphinstone decided to set out at his own peril and risk, and on January 6, British troops numbering 4,500 combat personnel, with non-combatants, women, children and camp servants, set out from Kabul, heading for the Khurd-Kabul Gorge. As soon as the tail of the column left the camp, the Afghan attacks began, the guns were soon taken from the British and the entire detachment was transformed into a panic-stricken crowd. Not far from Jalalabad, where General Sel was with his detachment, the Afghans completed the destruction of Elphinstone’s detachment. What was saved here perished further from cold, hunger and poverty. Of the 16 thousand people who set out from Kabul, the only survivor was Dr. Bryden, who on January 14 was wounded and completely exhausted by starvation in Jalalabad.
8. End of the war
The fate of the remaining British troops in Afghanistan was the same. Sel successfully held out in Jalalabad, repelling and even scattering crowds of Afghans; General Nott was also held in Kandahar. Both refused to surrender their positions to the Afghans, despite instructions from Elphinstone, who carried out the agreement on January 1. Captain Craig held out successfully in Kelat-i-Ghilzaev. In Ghazni, Colonel Pamer resisted for a long time, but believing the Afghans that they would let him through to Peshawar, he surrendered the citadel (March 6). An immediate attack took place on the garrison and was completely exterminated, with the exception of Pamer and several officers who were taken prisoner. Communications between India and Kabul were interrupted as early as October 1841. When news of the Kabul uprising was received in Calcutta, General Wilde's brigade was sent through Peshawar to support the Kabul army, but it (January 1842) was unable to break through the Khyber Pass and was repulsed with heavy losses. To save the remaining Afghan troops, the peasants and Nott, the following measures were taken: Pollko, who replaced Wild, was reinforced with 4 infantry regiments, cavalry and artillery, and the brigade of General Englyand was advanced from Sindh to Kandahar. The latter was met by Afghans at the Kojak Pass at the end of March and retreated to Quetta. Pollock was already in Peshawar in February, but he remained here for two months. Subsequently, however, the actions of the British were decisive and successful. Having set out on April 3, Pollock walked a few days to Jalalabad, where he united with Sel. On May 10, after a small matter at the Kojak Pass, General Englyand arrived in Kandahar.
After this, British troops must withdraw from Afghanistan, advance deeper into the country to restore their prestige and free hostages and prisoners. The new viceroy was inclined towards the first; public opinion in England loudly demanded another. Finally, Nott was ordered to begin a retreat from Afghanistan, but by the roundabout route, through Ghazni-Kabul-Peshawar, while Pollock was asked to support Nott by moving to Kabul. Nott set out from Kandahar on August 7, Pollock from Jalalabad on August 20. Meanwhile, in Kabul, discord continued since Elphinstone's departure, which significantly weakened the Afghans' ability to resist. Pollock and Nott moved towards Kabul almost unhindered, easily dispersing the disorganized crowd of Afghans. On September 15, Pollock arrived in Kabul, followed by Nott the next day. From here they sent small punitive expeditions to different parts of the country, and Kabul was given over to the troops for plunder. After almost a month's stay near Kabul, on October 12, British troops set out for Peshawar. This retreat was like an escape. Noth's detachment, which walked behind, was subject to continuous attacks by the Afghans. In the last days of December, troops reached the borders of India. At the same time, Dost Mohammed received permission to return to Afghanistan, where, despite the death of Shuja Shah, he soon took the throne. Thus ended the first Anglo-Afghan war. It cost the lives of 18 thousand people, 25 million pounds sterling and greatly diminished the political importance and military prestige of the British in Central Asia.
Sources
- Sytin's military encyclopedia, part 2 (Russian)
- Halfin. The failure of British aggression in Afghanistan
- Richard Hartley Kennedy. Narrative of the campaign of the Hindu in Sind and Kaubool in 1838-9. (English)
- (English)
- William Hough. A Narrative of the March and Operations of the Army of the Hindu: In the Expedition to Affghanistan in the Years 1838-1839. (English)
Notes
- V. Masson, V. Romodin. History of Afghanistan
| ||||||||||||||
First Anglo-Afghan War- war between Great Britain and Afghanistan 1838-1842.
Causes
The progressive movement of Russia into the Caucasus and Turkestan during the first three quarters of the 19th century forced England to pay attention to Afghanistan, which at that time was still separated from its Indian possessions by the vast territory of Sikh and Sindhi possessions. As Russian possessions approached the borders of Afghanistan, the military importance of Turkey and Persia gradually fell in the eyes of the British and in return the importance of Afghanistan became important, which became the only barrier separating Russian possessions from the borders of India. Hence, thoughts about the subjugation of Afghanistan, or at least about a strong alliance with it, became an obligatory element of all British considerations concerning the defense of their Indian possessions. But the initial reason that forced England to enter into relations with Afghanistan already in 1808 was not Russia’s expansion to the south, but Napoleon’s plans to seize British India. In 1807, the Franco-Iranian Alliance was signed, allowing France to send its troops through Iran with the aim of capturing India, so the East India Company had to take retaliatory actions. Since Afghanistan was the “northern gateway” to India, it was decided to send an embassy there.
By the 1830s, the advantage was on the side of Dost Muhammad, who, while remaining ruler of Kabul and Ghazni, distributed the provinces to his brothers and sons. Only Herat still remained in the power of Kamran, the nephew of Shah Shuja, the latter lived in India, receiving a small subsidy from the British. The internecine war weakened Afghanistan so much that neighbors began to encroach on some parts of its territory. The Sikhs began to threaten Peshawar from the east, and the Persians laid claim to Herat from the west. Dost Mohammed's position became difficult, but worsened further when Shah Shuja, encouraged by the British, entered into an alliance with the Sikhs in 1833 and invaded Sindh, intending to then march on Kandahar and Kabul.
Finding his strength to fight him insufficient, Dost Muhammad sent an embassy to Russia in 1834 asking for help. The Emir's envoy Hussein Ali Khan reached Orenburg only in 1836, where, through the military governor V.A. Perovsky, he entered into negotiations with the Russian government. The result of these relations was the dispatch to Afghanistan in 1837 of Perovsky’s lieutenant I.V. Vitkevich. The arrival of Vitkevich in Kabul in December of the same year, which discovered negotiations had begun between Russia and Afghanistan, as well as the movement of Persian troops to Herat, carried out under the influence of Russian diplomacy in Tehran, turned out to be a sufficient reason for England to declare war on Dost Mohammed.
On October 1, 1838, the Governor General of India, George Eden, announced a manifesto containing a declaration of war and the motivation for the decision taken by the British.
Preparations for the English offensive
Back in August 1838, the military units intended for the campaign were warned about this, and on September 13, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, General Fane, the composition of the expeditionary force was determined. Karnul was appointed as the concentration point. The detachment consisted of five infantry brigades (15 regiments), one artillery (5 batteries), and one cavalry (3 cavalry regiments). The infantry brigades were consolidated into two divisions, under the command of generals Cotton and Duncan. In addition to this detachment, called the Bengal Army and assembled under the personal command of the commander-in-chief, another detachment was formed in Bombay, consisting of three brigades, infantry (3 regiments), artillery and cavalry under the command of General Keane (commander of the Bombay Army). The troops recruited by Shah Shuja had about 6 thousand people. They were supposed to, together with the Bengal Army, cross the Indus on the road to Shikarpur and from there go to Kandahar and Kabul. Finally, the Sikh regiments of Ranjit Singh and a small detachment of Indo-British troops, only about 10 thousand people under the command of Shah Shuja’s son, Teimur Mirza and under the leadership of the English captain Wada, were supposed to head from Peshawar to Kabul. Meanwhile, while the troops were concentrating, circumstances in Afghanistan changed greatly: the Persians, who were besieging Herat at that time, were unable to take it, and in early September 1838 they were forced to leave. Vitkevich was no longer in Kabul, Dost Mohammed remained helpless. With the Persian retreat from Herat, of course, any pretext for going to Afghanistan disappeared, but the then Viceroy of India, Lord Oakland, insisted on implementing the decision. However, the composition of the expeditionary force was nevertheless reduced to 21 thousand people, including Bengali troops - 9.5 thousand people, concentrated at Firospur in early December (one division of General Cotton, consisting of 3 infantry brigades). The combined forces of Bengal and Bombay troops received the name "Indus Army", the command of which was entrusted to General Keane. The number of convoys accompanying the troops was excessively large and made their movement very difficult; Thus, the Bengal contingent was followed by a convoy of 30 thousand pack camels with 38 thousand convoy servants. The Bengal troops were to march from Firospur to the southwest, through Bagawalpur and then through Sind to the banks of the Indus; crossing the river at Sukkur. From here the troops were to proceed northwest through Shikarpur and Bagh, to the beginning of the Bolan Pass, then through the pass to Quetta, and from here through the Kojak Pass to Kandahar.
The forces that Afghanistan had at that time were very insignificant. Dost Mohammed maintained 2.5 thousand infantry men armed with large-caliber matchlock rifles, 12-13 thousand horsemen and about 45 guns. The best branch of the army was the cavalry. In addition to this “regular” army, there was a militia, which, under favorable conditions, could provide several tens of thousands of untrained, undisciplined and poorly armed soldiers.
March to Kabul
By April 1839, the Indian army concentrated at Quetta and then continued to move to Kandahar and Ghazni, without encountering resistance from the Afghans anywhere. The troops experienced hardships from a lack of food, as well as vehicles, due to the heavy mortality of transport animals. About 20 thousand heads died on the way to Kandahar alone. Indo-British troops entered Kandahar without a fight on April 25. Their further route lay in Ghazni. This city was defended by a garrison under the command of Haider Khan, the son of Dost Muhammad. In view of the Afghans' reluctance to surrender, the British blew up the fortress wall with a mine and launched an assault. The garrison fought to the last opportunity. About 1000 of his men died in battle, 1600 were taken prisoner, including Haider Khan himself. The British victory cost only 17 killed and 165 wounded, including 18 officers. Despite, however, the significant superiority of the enemy forces, Dost Muhammad did not lose heart. Relying on the strength of the resistance of the Ghazni fortress, he decided to throw his best troops under the command of his son Akbar Khan first to Peshawar, where in April the Sikh troops of Ranjit Singh began to gather, defeat the latter and then attack the Indus Army with all their might. However, the rapid fall of Ghazni ruined the emir's plans. Dost Mohammed changed his intention and decided with a detachment of troops, a force of about 6,000 people, to set out from Kabul to meet the Indus Army, and give it battle on the banks of the Kabul Darya. He reached with his troops to the village. Arganda, where such alarming signs of fermentation and treason were discovered in the detachment that there was no hope for the success of the battle. Then Dost Mohammed allowed (August 2) his troops to submit to Shah Shuja, and he himself, with a small handful of followers (350 people), retreated to Bamiyan. The emir's flight became known in the British camp the very next day; a pursuit was sent after him, but he managed to bypass the passes of the Hindu Kush and reach Afghan Turkestan. On August 7, Shah Shuja solemnly entered Kabul, and three weeks later the Sikh detachment of Teimur Mirza arrived here, which, in view of the death of Ranjit Singh in June 1839, only entered the Khyber Pass at the end of July, and after a short skirmish at Ali Majid , headed to Kabul without encountering any resistance along the way.
The beginning of the uprisings
Thus, Shah Shuja was placed on the throne and, according to the spirit of the declaration on October 1, 1838, the troops were to return to India. But in view of the dubious state of affairs, it was decided to return home only half of the Army of the Indus, and the remaining troops were to remain in Afghanistan under the command of General Cotton. In September, the entire Bombay Division left Kabul, heading through the Bolan Gap. In October, part of the Bengal detachment left, heading through Peshawar. 7 thousand Anglo-Indian troops remained in Afghanistan. 13 thousand people of Shah Shuja (supported by the East India Company) and 5 thousand Sikh contingent. The bulk of these troops remained in Kabul, a significant number of them were in Jalalabad, and small detachments were located in Kandahar, Ghazni and Bamiyan. At first everything went well. The influx of money into the country revived it and strengthened commercial and industrial activity, but then the rise in price of basic necessities, the intrusive invasion of foreigners into the internal affairs of the country, their systematic insult to the religious and family feelings of the people and other reasons brought general discontent into the country. Growing gradually, it soon began to manifest itself in separate uprisings in different parts of Afghanistan. The Ghilzais, who greatly disturbed the Indus Army on its way from Kandahar to Ghazni, did not recognize the authority of Shah Shuja and continued to interrupt communications between Kabul and Ghazni. They were pacified, but not for long, in September 1839 by the expedition of Major Outram. In the spring of the following year, the Ghilzais revolted on a larger scale, and the troops of General Noth sent against them with great difficulty brought them to submission. In the fall of 1839, the Khybers became indignant. In the spring of 1840, the Hazaras rebelled (near Bamiyan).
Captivity of Dost Muhammad
Meanwhile, Dost Mohammed, after his short stay in Khulm, tried to seek refuge with the Bukhara emir Nasrullah, but made a mistake in his calculations and returned back to Khulm. Around this time (mid-1840), the British, in order to influence the Uzbek rulers of Afghan Turkestan, moved a small detachment north of Bamiyan, to Baygak. Dost Mohammed took advantage of this circumstance and persuaded the Khulma Khan to attack Baygak. On August 30, an attack was made on the British post and the detachment occupying it had to retreat to Bamiyan. Dost Mohammed with an Uzbek detachment pursued the British, but on September 18 he was defeated by the native units of General Denny. Having lost hope for the assistance of the Uzbeks, Dost Mohammed went to Kugistan (a province north of Kabul) and created unrest there. A detachment under the command of General Sel was sent against the rebels from Kabul. A battle took place in the Pervan Valley (north of Charikar) on November 2, in which the British were defeated. The next day, Sel's detachment retreated to Charikar. This was the state of affairs when an incomprehensible event, which has not yet been clarified by history, took place. On the third day after the Battle of Pervan, Dost Muhammad appeared in Kabul and placed himself at the disposal of the British. Nasrullah's failure, the weakness of the Uzbeks, fear for one's own head, which was probably not poorly appreciated by the British, these are, apparently, circumstances that can serve as a clue to Dost Mohammed's act. The surrendered emir was sent to live in India.
Insurrection
With the removal of Dost Mohammed and after the failure of Perovsky’s Khiva campaign, the British’s stay in Afghanistan lost its meaning, which is why Shah Shuja reminded them of this. However, the British, apparently, did not intend to leave, settling in the country as if at home, planting gardens here, building houses, sending their families out of India. This behavior of foreigners further incited the Afghan population against them. The anger gradually increased. Rebellions and unrest began to arise between the Duraniyas, Ghilzais and other tribes of Afghanistan. The pacification of these outbreaks absorbed all the attention of the British, but the further, the less successful it became. The state of affairs threatened a general uprising, which was not slow to appear. The reason for it was the reduction and even termination of cash subsidies given to the leaders of the Ghilzais, Kugistans, Qizilbashs and other Afghan tribes. Shah Shuja, in response to a number of complaints addressed to him on this matter, referred to the self-will of the British, hinting at the desirability of freeing himself from foreigners. This hint was enough for a conspiracy to be hatched at the end of September 1841 to regain what was lost and overthrow the rule of foreigners. The British, warned about the conspiracy, did nothing. A series of uprisings began.
At the end of September, the eastern Ghilzais blocked in their mountains all the passes leading from Kabul to the Jalalabad region, interrupting British communication with India. The pacification of the Ghilzais was entrusted to General Sel, who had already been assigned with his brigade to return to India through Peshawar. He was supposed to restore order in the Ghilzai lands, heading to Jalalabad. On October 11, he entered the Khurd-Kabul Gorge and, fighting continuous battles with the rebels along the way, by October 30 he barely reached Gandamak, having suffered significant losses.
At the same time, an uprising broke out in Kugistan and in the space between Kabul and Kandahar. Finally, on November 2, a massacre occurred in Kabul itself and one of the first victims was the Englishman Burns, who served as an unofficial adviser to Shah Shuja. Two houses in which the British mission was located were looted, their guards were slaughtered, the treasury (170 thousand rupees) was plundered, and all the servants were killed. And all this was done in the presence of 6 thousand British troops, locked in a fortified camp half an hour away from the indignant city. There was no order from General Elphinstone, who commanded the troops near Kabul at that time, and not a single British officer came to the rescue of his own.
The impunity of the massacre on November 2, 1841 was in the eyes of the Afghans evidence of the weakness of the British, the news of the success of the uprising spread throughout the country and crowds of ghazis (companions for the faith) poured into the city from everywhere. Shah Shuja locked himself in the Kabul citadel of Bala Gissar and waited for the outcome of events. The uprising was led by the Mohammedans, relatives of Dost Mohammed, who elected Mohammed Zeman Khan, the nephew of Dost Mohammed and the former ruler of the Jalalabad region, as emir. The British troops were deprived of most of their provisions and artillery supplies. In Kudar, the indignant soldiers of the Kugistan regiment themselves massacred their English officers. In Charikar, a Gurkha regiment was besieged by Afghans in their barracks, forced to leave them due to lack of water, and was exterminated on the way to Kabul. In Chain-dabad, between Kabul and Ghazni, a detachment of Captain Woodbourne was slaughtered. Captain Firriz's detachment was besieged in the Khyber Mountains by several thousand Afghans and barely made it to Peshawar.
Retreat and destruction of Elphinstone's detachment
Weak and indecisive Elphinstone saw salvation only in retreat. Instead of taking vigorous action, he entered into negotiations with the Afghans. Meanwhile, the troops were starving and gradually became completely demoralized. The negotiations dragged on endlessly. The English representative Macnachten, invited to a meeting with Akbar Khan, was treacherously killed on December 23rd. His severed head, stuck on a pike, was carried through the streets of the city, and his mutilated body was exposed for desecration in the Kabul bazaar for three days. With the death of Macnachten, the leaders of the uprising considered the treaty he had worked out invalid and offered Elphinstone new, more humiliating conditions. On the first day of 1842, the agreement with the Afghans was sealed by 18 serdars. In pursuance of this agreement, the British handed over to the Afghans: all sums of money, in the amount of 1,400,000 rupees, all artillery, with the exception of 9 cannons, many different firearms and bladed weapons, all shells, ammunition, all the sick and seriously wounded with two doctors with them and, finally, the hostages included 6 officers. The convoy of Afghan troops promised by the agreement was not assigned. Not receiving the promised convoy, Elphinstone decided to set off at his own peril and risk, and on January 6, British troops, including 4.5 thousand combat personnel, with non-combatants, women, children and camp servants, set out from Kabul, heading towards Khurd-Kabul gorge. As soon as the tail of the column left the camp, the Afghan attacks began, the guns were soon taken from the British and the entire detachment was turned into a panic-stricken crowd. Not far from Jalalabad, where General Sel was with his detachment, the Afghans completed the extermination of Elphinstone’s detachment. Those who escaped here died further from cold, hunger and deprivation. Of the 16 thousand people who set out from Kabul, the only person who survived was Dr. Bryden, who on January 14, wounded and completely exhausted from hunger, reached Jalalabad.
End of the war
The fate of other British troops in Afghanistan was as follows. Sel successfully held out in Jalalabad, repelling and even dispersing crowds of Afghans, and General Nott also held out in Kandahar. Both refused to surrender the positions they occupied to the Afghans, despite the instructions of Elphinstone, who carried out the agreement on January 1. Captain Kregi held out successfully in Kelat-i-Ghilzai. In Ghazni, Colonel Pamer resisted for a long time, but believing the Afghans that they would let him through to Peshawar, he surrendered the citadel (March 6). An immediate attack followed on the garrison, and it was completely destroyed, with the exception of Pamer and several officers who were taken prisoner. Communications between India and Kabul were interrupted as early as October 1841. When news of the Kabul uprising was received in Calcutta, General Wild's brigade was sent through Peshawar to support the Kabul army, but it (January 1842) could not get through the Khyber Pass and was driven back with great damage. To save the detachments of Sel and Nott remaining in Afghanistan, the following measures were taken: Pollock, who replaced Wild, was reinforced with 4 infantry regiments, cavalry and artillery, and General England’s brigade was moved from Sindh to Kandahar. The latter was met at the Kojak Pass by Afghans at the end of March and retreated to Quetta. Pollock was already in Peshawar in February, but remained here for two months. Subsequently, however, the actions of the British were more decisive and successful. Having set out on April 3, Pollock walked a few days to Jalalabad, where he united with Sel. On May 10, after a small matter at the Kojak Pass, General England also arrived in Kandahar.
After this, British troops had to either withdraw from Afghanistan, or advance deeper into the country to restore their prestige and free hostages and prisoners. The new viceroy was inclined towards the first; public opinion in England loudly demanded the second. Finally, Nott was ordered to begin a retreat from Afghanistan, but in a roundabout way, through Ghazni-Kabul-Peshawar, while Pollock was asked to support Nott by moving to Kabul. Nott set out from Kandahar on 7, Pollock from Jalalabad on 20 August. Meanwhile, in Kabul, since Elphinstone's departure, internecine strife continued, which significantly weakened the Afghans' ability to resist. Pollock and Nott moved towards Kabul almost unhindered, easily dispersing the discordant crowds of Afghans. On September 15, Pollock arrived in Kabul, and the next day Nott. From here they sent punitive expeditions to various parts of the country, and Kabul was given over to the troops for plunder. After almost a month's stay near Kabul, on October 12, British troops set out for Peshawar. This retreat was like an escape. Nott's detachment, walking behind, was subjected to continuous attacks by Afghans. In the last days of December the troops reached the borders of India. At the same time, Dost Mohammed received permission to return to Afghanistan, where, in view of the death of Shah Shuja, he soon took the throne of the emirs. Thus ended the first Anglo-Afghan war. It cost more than 18 thousand people, 25 million pounds sterling and greatly diminished the political importance and military prestige of the British in Central Asia.
see also
Sources
- Military Encyclopedia / Ed. V. F. Novitsky and others - St. Petersburg. : company of I.V. Sytin, 1911-1915.
In culture
Write a review of the article "The First Anglo-Afghan War"
Literature
- Khalfin N.A. Failure of British aggression in Afghanistan
- (English)
- (English)
- (English)
Notes
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Excerpt characterizing the First Anglo-Afghan War
-Have you seen the princess? - she said, pointing with her head to the lady in black standing behind the choir.Nikolai immediately recognized Princess Marya not so much by her profile, which was visible from under her hat, but by the feeling of caution, fear and pity that immediately overwhelmed him. Princess Marya, obviously lost in her thoughts, was making the last crosses before leaving the church.
Nikolai looked at her face in surprise. It was the same face that he had seen before, the same general expression of subtle, inner, spiritual work was in it; but now it was illuminated in a completely different way. There was a touching expression of sadness, prayer and hope on him. As had happened before with Nikolai in her presence, he, without waiting for the governor’s wife’s advice to approach her, without asking himself whether his address to her here in church would be good, decent or not, he approached her and said that he had heard about her grief and sympathizes with him with all my heart. As soon as she heard his voice, suddenly a bright light lit up in her face, illuminating her sadness and joy at the same time.
“I wanted to tell you one thing, princess,” said Rostov, “that if Prince Andrei Nikolaevich were not alive, then as a regimental commander, this would now be announced in the newspapers.”
The princess looked at him, not understanding his words, but rejoicing at the expression of sympathetic suffering that was in his face.
“And I know so many examples that a wound from a shrapnel (the newspapers say a grenade) can be either fatal immediately, or, on the contrary, very light,” said Nikolai. – We must hope for the best, and I’m sure...
Princess Marya interrupted him.
“Oh, that would be so terrible...” she began and, without finishing from excitement, with a graceful movement (like everything she did in front of him), bowing her head and looking at him gratefully, she followed her aunt.
In the evening of that day, Nikolai did not go anywhere to visit and stayed at home in order to settle some scores with the horse sellers. When he finished his business, it was already too late to go anywhere, but it was still too early to go to bed, and Nikolai walked up and down the room alone for a long time, pondering his life, which rarely happened to him.
Princess Marya made a pleasant impression on him near Smolensk. The fact that he met her then in such special conditions, and the fact that it was her at one time that his mother pointed out to him as a rich match, made him pay special attention to her. In Voronezh, during his visit, the impression was not only pleasant, but strong. Nikolai was amazed at the special, moral beauty that he noticed in her this time. However, he was about to leave, and it did not occur to him to regret that by leaving Voronezh, he would be deprived of the opportunity to see the princess. But the current meeting with Princess Marya in the church (Nicholas felt it) sank deeper into his heart than he foresaw, and deeper than he desired for his peace of mind. This pale, thin, sad face, this radiant look, these quiet, graceful movements and most importantly - this deep and tender sadness, expressed in all her features, disturbed him and demanded his participation. Rostov could not stand to see in men the expression of a higher, spiritual life (that’s why he did not like Prince Andrei), he contemptuously called it philosophy, dreaminess; but in Princess Marya, precisely in this sadness, which showed the full depth of this spiritual world alien to Nicholas, he felt an irresistible attraction.
“She must be a wonderful girl! That's exactly the angel! - he spoke to himself. “Why am I not free, why did I hurry up with Sonya?” And involuntarily he imagined a comparison between the two: poverty in one and wealth in the other of those spiritual gifts that Nicholas did not have and which therefore he valued so highly. He tried to imagine what would happen if he were free. How would he propose to her and she would become his wife? No, he couldn't imagine this. He felt terrified, and no clear images appeared to him. With Sonya, he had long ago drawn up a future picture for himself, and all of this was simple and clear, precisely because it was all made up, and he knew everything that was in Sonya; but it was impossible to imagine a future life with Princess Marya, because he did not understand her, but only loved her.
Dreams about Sonya had something fun and toy-like about them. But thinking about Princess Marya was always difficult and a little scary.
“How she prayed! - he remembered. “It was clear that her whole soul was in prayer. Yes, this is the prayer that moves mountains, and I am confident that its prayer will be fulfilled. Why don't I pray for what I need? - he remembered. - What I need? Freedom, ending with Sonya. “She told the truth,” he recalled the words of the governor’s wife, “except for misfortune, nothing will come from the fact that I marry her.” Confusion, woe maman... things... confusion, terrible confusion! Yes, I don't like her. Yes, I don’t love it as much as I should. My God! get me out of this terrible, hopeless situation! – he suddenly began to pray. “Yes, prayer will move a mountain, but you have to believe and not pray the way Natasha and I prayed as children for the snow to become sugar, and ran out into the yard to try to see if sugar was made from snow.” No, but I’m not praying for trifles now,” he said, putting the pipe in the corner and, folding his hands, standing in front of the image. And, touched by the memory of Princess Marya, he began to pray as he had not prayed for a long time. Tears were in his eyes and in his throat when Lavrushka entered the door with some papers.
- Fool! Why do you bother when they don’t ask you! - Nikolai said, quickly changing his position.
“From the governor,” Lavrushka said in a sleepy voice, “the courier has arrived, a letter for you.”
- Well, okay, thank you, go!
Nikolai took two letters. One was from the mother, the other from Sonya. He recognized their handwriting and printed out Sonya's first letter. Before he had time to read a few lines, his face turned pale and his eyes opened in fear and joy.
- No, this cannot be! – he said out loud. Unable to sit still, he holds the letter in his hands, reading it. began to walk around the room. He ran through the letter, then read it once, twice, and, raising his shoulders and spreading his arms, he stopped in the middle of the room with his mouth open and eyes fixed. What he had just prayed for, with the confidence that God would grant his prayer, was fulfilled; but Nikolai was surprised by this as if it was something extraordinary, and as if he had never expected it, and as if the very fact that it happened so quickly proved that it did not happen from God, whom he asked, but from ordinary chance.
That seemingly insoluble knot that tied Rostov’s freedom was resolved by this unexpected (as it seemed to Nikolai), unprovoked by Sonya’s letter. She wrote that the latest unfortunate circumstances, the loss of almost all of the Rostovs’ property in Moscow, and the countess’s more than once expressed desires for Nikolai to marry Princess Bolkonskaya, and his silence and coldness lately - all this together made her decide to renounce him promises and give him complete freedom.
“It was too hard for me to think that I could be the cause of grief or discord in the family that had benefited me,” she wrote, “and my love has one goal: the happiness of those I love; and therefore I beg you, Nicolas, to consider yourself free and to know that no matter what, no one can love you more than your Sonya.”
Both letters were from Trinity. Another letter was from the Countess. This letter described the last days in Moscow, the departure, the fire and the destruction of the entire fortune. In this letter, by the way, the countess wrote that Prince Andrey was among the wounded traveling with them. His situation was very dangerous, but now the doctor says there is more hope. Sonya and Natasha, like nurses, look after him.
The next day, Nikolai went to Princess Marya with this letter. Neither Nikolai nor Princess Marya said a word about what the words could mean: “Natasha is caring for him”; but thanks to this letter, Nikolai suddenly became close to the princess into an almost family relationship.
The next day, Rostov accompanied Princess Marya to Yaroslavl and a few days later he himself left for the regiment.
Sonya's letter to Nicholas, which was the fulfillment of his prayer, was written from Trinity. This is what caused it. The thought of Nicholas marrying a rich bride occupied the old countess more and more. She knew that Sonya was the main obstacle to this. And Sonya’s life recently, especially after Nikolai’s letter describing his meeting in Bogucharovo with Princess Marya, became harder and harder in the countess’s house. The Countess did not miss a single opportunity to make an offensive or cruel hint to Sonya.
But a few days before leaving Moscow, touched and excited by everything that was happening, the Countess, calling Sonya to her, instead of reproaches and demands, turned to her with tears and prayed that she, by sacrificing herself, would repay for everything. what was done for her was to break her ties with Nikolai.
“I won’t be at peace until you give me this promise.”
Sonya burst into tears hysterically, answered through her sobs that she would do everything, that she was ready for anything, but she did not make a direct promise and in her soul could not decide on what was demanded of her. She had to sacrifice herself for the happiness of the family that fed and raised her. Sacrificing herself for the happiness of others was Sonya's habit. Her position in the house was such that only on the path of sacrifice could she show her virtues, and she was accustomed and loved to sacrifice herself. But first, in all acts of self-sacrifice, she joyfully realized that by sacrificing herself, she thereby raised her worth in the eyes of herself and others and became more worthy of Nicolas, whom she loved most in life; but now her sacrifice had to consist in giving up what for her constituted the entire reward of the sacrifice, the entire meaning of life. And for the first time in her life, she felt bitterness towards those people who had benefited her in order to torture her more painfully; I felt envy of Natasha, who had never experienced anything like this, never needed sacrifices and forced others to sacrifice herself and yet was loved by everyone. And for the first time, Sonya felt how, out of her quiet, pure love for Nicolas, a passionate feeling suddenly began to grow, which stood above rules, virtue, and religion; and under the influence of this feeling, Sonya involuntarily, learned by her dependent life of secrecy, answered the Countess in general, vague words, avoided conversations with her and decided to wait for a meeting with Nikolai so that in this meeting she would not free her, but, on the contrary, forever bind herself to him .
The troubles and horror of the last days of the Rostovs’ stay in Moscow drowned out the dark thoughts that were weighing on her. She was glad to find salvation from them in practical activities. But when she learned about the presence of Prince Andrei in their house, despite all the sincere pity that she felt for him and Natasha, a joyful and superstitious feeling that God did not want her to be separated from Nicolas overtook her. She knew that Natasha loved one Prince Andrei and did not stop loving him. She knew that now, brought together in such terrible conditions, they would love each other again and that then Nicholas, due to the kinship that would be between them, would not be able to marry Princess Marya. Despite all the horror of everything that happened in the last days and during the first days of the journey, this feeling, this awareness of the intervention of providence in her personal affairs pleased Sonya.
The Rostovs spent their first day on their trip at the Trinity Lavra.
In the Lavra hotel, the Rostovs were allocated three large rooms, one of which was occupied by Prince Andrei. The wounded man was much better that day. Natasha sat with him. In the next room the Count and Countess sat, respectfully talking with the rector, who had visited their old acquaintances and investors. Sonya was sitting right there, and she was tormented by curiosity about what Prince Andrei and Natasha were talking about. She listened to the sounds of their voices from behind the door. The door of Prince Andrei's room opened. Natasha came out from there with an excited face and, not noticing the monk who stood up to meet her and grabbed the wide sleeve of his right hand, walked up to Sonya and took her hand.
- Natasha, what are you doing? Come here,” said the Countess.
Natasha came under the blessing, and the abbot advised to turn to God and his saint for help.
Immediately after the abbot left, Nashata took her friend’s hand and walked with her into the empty room.
- Sonya, right? will he be alive? - she said. – Sonya, how happy I am and how unhappy I am! Sonya, my dear, everything is as before. If only he were alive. He can’t... because, because... that... - And Natasha burst into tears.
- So! I knew it! Thank God,” said Sonya. - He will be alive!
Sonya was no less excited than her friend - both by her fear and grief, and by her personal thoughts that were not expressed to anyone. She, sobbing, kissed and consoled Natasha. “If only he were alive!” - she thought. After crying, talking and wiping away their tears, both friends approached Prince Andrei’s door. Natasha carefully opened the doors and looked into the room. Sonya stood next to her at the half-open door.
Prince Andrei lay high on three pillows. His pale face was calm, his eyes were closed, and you could see how he was breathing evenly.
- Oh, Natasha! – Sonya suddenly almost screamed, grabbing her cousin’s hand and retreating from the door.
- What? What? – Natasha asked.
“This is this, that, that...” said Sonya with a pale face and trembling lips.
Natasha quietly closed the door and went with Sonya to the window, not yet understanding what they were saying to her.
“Do you remember,” Sonya said with a frightened and solemn face, “do you remember when I looked for you in the mirror... In Otradnoye, at Christmas time... Do you remember what I saw?..
- Yes Yes! - Natasha said, opening her eyes wide, vaguely remembering that Sonya then said something about Prince Andrei, whom she saw lying down.
- Do you remember? – Sonya continued. “I saw it then and told everyone, both you and Dunyasha.” “I saw that he was lying on the bed,” she said, making a gesture with her hand with a raised finger at every detail, “and that he had closed his eyes, and that he was covered with a pink blanket, and that he had folded his hands,” Sonya said, making sure that as she described the details she saw now, that these same details she saw then. She didn’t see anything then, but said that she saw what came into her head; but what she came up with then seemed to her as valid as any other memory. What she said then, that he looked back at her and smiled and was covered with something red, she not only remembered, but was firmly convinced that even then she said and saw that he was covered with a pink, exactly pink, blanket, and that his eyes were closed.
“Yes, yes, exactly in pink,” said Natasha, who now also seemed to remember what was said in pink, and in this she saw the main unusualness and mystery of the prediction.
– But what does this mean? – Natasha said thoughtfully.
- Oh, I don’t know how extraordinary all this is! - Sonya said, clutching her head.
A few minutes later, Prince Andrei called, and Natasha came in to see him; and Sonya, experiencing an emotion and tenderness she had rarely experienced, remained at the window, pondering the extraordinary nature of what had happened.
On this day there was an opportunity to send letters to the army, and the Countess wrote a letter to her son.
“Sonya,” said the Countess, raising her head from the letter as her niece walked past her. – Sonya, won’t you write to Nikolenka? - said the countess in a quiet, trembling voice, and in the look of her tired eyes, looking through glasses, Sonya read everything that the countess understood in these words. This look expressed pleading, fear of refusal, shame for having to ask, and readiness for irreconcilable hatred in case of refusal.
Sonya went up to the countess and, kneeling down, kissed her hand.
“I’ll write, maman,” she said.
Sonya was softened, excited and touched by everything that happened that day, especially by the mysterious performance of fortune-telling that she just saw. Now that she knew that on the occasion of the renewal of Natasha’s relationship with Prince Andrei, Nikolai could not marry Princess Marya, she joyfully felt the return of that mood of self-sacrifice in which she loved and was accustomed to living. And with tears in her eyes and with the joy of realizing a generous deed, she, interrupted several times by tears that clouded her velvety black eyes, wrote that touching letter, the receipt of which so amazed Nikolai.
At the guardhouse where Pierre was taken, the officer and soldiers who took him treated him with hostility, but at the same time with respect. One could still feel in their attitude towards him doubt about who he was (whether he was a very important person), and hostility due to their still fresh personal struggle with him.
But when, on the morning of another day, the shift came, Pierre felt that for the new guard - for the officers and soldiers - it no longer had the meaning that it had for those who took him. And indeed, in this big, fat man in a peasant’s caftan, the guards of the next day no longer saw that living man who so desperately fought with the marauder and with the escort soldiers and said a solemn phrase about saving the child, but saw only the seventeenth of those being held for some reason, by by order of the highest authorities, the captured Russians. If there was anything special about Pierre, it was only his timid, intently thoughtful appearance and the French language, in which, surprisingly for the French, he spoke well. Despite the fact that on the same day Pierre was connected with other suspected suspects, since the separate room he occupied was needed by an officer.
All the Russians kept with Pierre were people of the lowest rank. And all of them, recognizing Pierre as a master, shunned him, especially since he spoke French. Pierre heard with sadness the ridicule of himself.
The next evening, Pierre learned that all of these prisoners (and probably himself included) were to be tried for arson. On the third day, Pierre was taken with others to a house where a French general with a white mustache, two colonels and other Frenchmen with scarves on their hands were sitting. Pierre, along with others, was asked questions about who he was with the precision and certainty with which defendants are usually treated, supposedly exceeding human weaknesses. where he was? for what purpose? and so on.
These questions, leaving aside the essence of the life matter and excluding the possibility of revealing this essence, like all questions asked in courts, had the goal only of setting up the groove along which the judges wanted the defendant’s answers to flow and lead him to the desired goal, that is to the accusation. As soon as he began to say something that did not satisfy the purpose of the accusation, they took a groove, and the water could flow wherever it wanted. In addition, Pierre experienced the same thing that a defendant experiences in all courts: bewilderment as to why all these questions were asked of him. He felt that this trick of inserting a groove was used only out of condescension or, as it were, out of politeness. He knew that he was in the power of these people, that only power had brought him here, that only power gave them the right to demand answers to questions, that the only purpose of this meeting was to accuse him. And therefore, since there was power and there was a desire to accuse, there was no need for the trick of questions and trial. It was obvious that all answers had to lead to guilt. When asked what he was doing when they took him, Pierre answered with some tragedy that he was carrying a child to his parents, qu"il avait sauve des flammes [whom he saved from the flames]. - Why did he fight with the marauder? Pierre answered, that he was defending a woman, that protecting an insulted woman is the duty of every person, that... He was stopped: this did not go to the point. Why was he in the courtyard of a house on fire, where witnesses saw him? He answered that he was going to see what was happening in Moscow. They stopped him again: they didn’t ask him where he was going, and why was he near the fire? Who was he? They repeated the first question to him, to which he said that he did not want to answer. Again he answered that he could not say that .
- Write it down, this is not good. “It’s very bad,” the general with a white mustache and a red, ruddy face told him sternly.
On the fourth day, fires started on Zubovsky Val.
Pierre and thirteen others were taken to Krymsky Brod, to the carriage house of a merchant's house. Walking through the streets, Pierre was choking from the smoke, which seemed to be standing over the entire city. Fires were visible from different directions. Pierre did not yet understand the significance of the burning of Moscow and looked at these fires with horror.
Pierre stayed in the carriage house of a house near the Crimean Brod for four more days, and during these days he learned from the conversation of the French soldiers that everyone kept here expected the marshal's decision every day. Which marshal, Pierre could not find out from the soldiers. For the soldier, obviously, the marshal seemed to be the highest and somewhat mysterious link in power.
These first days, until September 8th, the day on which the prisoners were taken for secondary interrogation, were the most difficult for Pierre.
X
On September 8, a very important officer entered the barn to see the prisoners, judging by the respect with which the guards treated him. This officer, probably a staff officer, with a list in his hands, made a roll call of all the Russians, calling Pierre: celui qui n "avoue pas son nom [the one who does not say his name]. And, indifferently and lazily looking at all the prisoners, he ordered the guard it is proper for the officer to dress and tidy them up before leading them to the marshal. An hour later a company of soldiers arrived, and Pierre and thirteen others were led to the Maiden's Field. The day was clear, sunny after the rain, and the air was unusually clean. Smoke did not settle down as in that day when Pierre was taken out of the guardhouse of Zubovsky Val; smoke rose in columns in the clear air. The fires of the fires were nowhere to be seen, but columns of smoke rose from all sides, and all of Moscow, everything that Pierre could see, was one conflagration. On all sides one could see vacant lots with stoves and chimneys and occasionally the charred walls of stone houses. Pierre looked closely at the fires and did not recognize the familiar quarters of the city. In some places, surviving churches could be seen. The Kremlin, undestroyed, loomed white from afar with its towers and Ivan the Great. Nearby, the dome of the Novodevichy Convent glittered merrily, and the bell of the Gospel was especially loudly heard from there. This announcement reminded Pierre that it was Sunday and the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. But it seemed that there was no one to celebrate this holiday: everywhere there was devastation from the fire, and from the Russian people there were only occasionally ragged, frightened people who hid at the sight of the French.
General Rokhlin: life and death Antipov A
Prose about WWII. Military prose. We rotate the Earth! Stopping Evil Vladimir Kontrovsky