Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
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The "Peace" That Didn't Last Long...!
On May 26, 1879, after several military defeats by the British in the second Afghan war, the Afghan ruler Mohammed Yakoub Khan felt compelled to sign the Gandamak peace treaty.
The picture shows Emir Yakub Khan in the middle and next to him the leader of the British delegation Major Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari...:
The treaty promises to Britain what no one before them has achieved in the country commonly referred to as the "graveyard of empires":
You get permanent diplomatic representation in the Afghan capital Kabul and - more importantly! - control (that is, say) over Afghanistan's foreign policy.
The British triumph! They see themselves as the winners of what was then known as the "Great Game" against the Russians, who fought a fierce competition over who would control Afghanistan and thus control the routes to Inner Asia and India.
Cavagnari, who is the spritus rector behind the Afghanistan adventure and the Gandamak treaty, is made "sir" by Queen Victoria, i. H. awarded the hereditary nobility.
The British, however, triumphed too soon!
As agreed, on July 24, 1879, the British set up their "diplomatic" mission (rather a center of power and control) in Kabul.
Sir Louis Cavagnari is appointed leader, who deliberately keeps his military escorts small - on the one hand so as not to provoke the proud Afghans and on the other hand to demonstrate British self-confidence.
He has only 89 soldiers with him, all from the Corps of Guides, a local special force stationed in the Indo-Afghan border area, led by British officers, all of whom must speak several tribal dialects...
...and commanded by Leftenant Walter Richard Pollock Hamilton...:
The next picture shows Hamilton - standing far right - during the previous war...:
Overconfidence is probably also behind this when Cavagnari accepts a building complex for his mission that the Afghans force on him:
The half-ruined Dewan-i-Am complex, not to be defended in an emergency because it was completely uncovered, surrounded by hills and multi-storey residential buildings! The drawing, which appears in British newspapers, shows the Dewan-i-Am far more homely...
... as he really looks in 1879...:
In addition, the Dewan-i-Am lies directly under the cannons of the Bela Hissar fortress, which dominates Kabul...:
Here is the view from Bela Hissar to Dewan-i-Am - the British are sitting there as if on a platter...:
And it comes as it must come:
On September 3, 1879, Afghan tribal warriors, residents of the capital and Afghan soldiers together storm Dewan-i-Am because they feel deeply humiliated by the continued presence of the British - especially British soldiers - in their capital...:
The British, including Sir Cavagnaris and her Guides escort, are cut down to the last man after fierce fighting.
18 guides are not in the Dewan-i-Am at the time of the attack, they happen to be outside Kabul "making fodder" for the horses.
Eleven of them manage to make their way alive to their unit's base in Mardan in northern India...
Leftenant Hamilton, who led the defense of the Dewan-i-Am and was one of the last to fall, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
In addition, a memorial commemorates him...:
One month Emir Yakoub Khan is overthrown and flees the country.
The "Great Game" is open again...
Recommended reading:
If you are interested in the colonial history of India and Afghanistan from the time of the Sepoy uprising ("Indian Mutiny", 1857) to the end of the British representation in Kabul (1879), I recommend the knowledgeable and detailed as well as very exciting and easy to read written novel "The Far Pavillons"...:
On May 26, 1879, after several military defeats by the British in the second Afghan war, the Afghan ruler Mohammed Yakoub Khan felt compelled to sign the Gandamak peace treaty.
The picture shows Emir Yakub Khan in the middle and next to him the leader of the British delegation Major Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari...:
The treaty promises to Britain what no one before them has achieved in the country commonly referred to as the "graveyard of empires":
You get permanent diplomatic representation in the Afghan capital Kabul and - more importantly! - control (that is, say) over Afghanistan's foreign policy.
The British triumph! They see themselves as the winners of what was then known as the "Great Game" against the Russians, who fought a fierce competition over who would control Afghanistan and thus control the routes to Inner Asia and India.
Cavagnari, who is the spritus rector behind the Afghanistan adventure and the Gandamak treaty, is made "sir" by Queen Victoria, i. H. awarded the hereditary nobility.
The British, however, triumphed too soon!
As agreed, on July 24, 1879, the British set up their "diplomatic" mission (rather a center of power and control) in Kabul.
Sir Louis Cavagnari is appointed leader, who deliberately keeps his military escorts small - on the one hand so as not to provoke the proud Afghans and on the other hand to demonstrate British self-confidence.
He has only 89 soldiers with him, all from the Corps of Guides, a local special force stationed in the Indo-Afghan border area, led by British officers, all of whom must speak several tribal dialects...
...and commanded by Leftenant Walter Richard Pollock Hamilton...:
The next picture shows Hamilton - standing far right - during the previous war...:
Overconfidence is probably also behind this when Cavagnari accepts a building complex for his mission that the Afghans force on him:
The half-ruined Dewan-i-Am complex, not to be defended in an emergency because it was completely uncovered, surrounded by hills and multi-storey residential buildings! The drawing, which appears in British newspapers, shows the Dewan-i-Am far more homely...
... as he really looks in 1879...:
In addition, the Dewan-i-Am lies directly under the cannons of the Bela Hissar fortress, which dominates Kabul...:
Here is the view from Bela Hissar to Dewan-i-Am - the British are sitting there as if on a platter...:
And it comes as it must come:
On September 3, 1879, Afghan tribal warriors, residents of the capital and Afghan soldiers together storm Dewan-i-Am because they feel deeply humiliated by the continued presence of the British - especially British soldiers - in their capital...:
The British, including Sir Cavagnaris and her Guides escort, are cut down to the last man after fierce fighting.
18 guides are not in the Dewan-i-Am at the time of the attack, they happen to be outside Kabul "making fodder" for the horses.
Eleven of them manage to make their way alive to their unit's base in Mardan in northern India...
Leftenant Hamilton, who led the defense of the Dewan-i-Am and was one of the last to fall, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
In addition, a memorial commemorates him...:
One month Emir Yakoub Khan is overthrown and flees the country.
The "Great Game" is open again...
Recommended reading:
If you are interested in the colonial history of India and Afghanistan from the time of the Sepoy uprising ("Indian Mutiny", 1857) to the end of the British representation in Kabul (1879), I recommend the knowledgeable and detailed as well as very exciting and easy to read written novel "The Far Pavillons"...:
