`color { red}ul{"First Anglo-Afghan War "}` (1839-1842)
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Following a protracted civil war that began in 1816, the Bārakzay clan became the ruling dynasty of Afghanistan, with its most powerful member, Dōst Moḥammad Khan, ascending the throne in 1826.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` With Great Britain and Russia maneuvering for influence in Afghanistan, Dōst Moḥammad was forced to balance his country between the two great powers.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` The British, feeling that Dost Moḥammad was either hostile to them or unable to resist Russian penetration, moved to take a direct role in Afghan affairs.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` First they negotiated unsatisfactorily with Dost Moḥammad, and then an invasion of Afghanistan was ordered by the governor-general of India, Lord Auckland, with the object of restoring exiled Afghan ruler Shah Shojaʿ to the throne.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` In April 1839, after suffering great privations, the British army entered Kandahār, and Shojāʿ was then crowned shah.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Ghazna (now Ghazni) was captured the following July, and in August Shojāʿ was installed at Kabul.
- The Afghans, however, would tolerate neither a foreign occupation nor a king imposed on them by a foreign power, and insurrections broke out.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` In a battle at Parwan on November 2, 1840, Dost Moḥammad had the upper hand, but the next day he surrendered to the British in Kabul. He was deported to India with most of his family.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Outbreaks continued throughout the country, and the British eventually found their position untenable.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` On January 6, 1842, some 4,500 British and Indian troops, with 12,000 camp followers, marched out of Kabul.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Shoja was killed after the British left Kabul.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Although in the summer of that same year British forces reoccupied Kabul, the new governor-general of India, Lord Ellenborough, decided on the evacuation of Afghanistan, and in 1843 Dōst Mohammad returned to Kabul and was restored to the throne.
`color { red}ul{"Second Anglo-Afghan War "}` (1878-1880)
`color { maroon}{✍️}` In November 1875 British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli appointed Lord Lytton governor-general of India.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Lytton during his service there was concerned primarily with India’s relations with Afghanistan.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Soon after Lytton arrived in India, he notified Shir ʿAli Khan-the third son of Dost Mohammad, who succeeded to the throne upon his father’s death that he was sending a “mission” to Kabul.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Viceroy Lytton launched the Second Anglo-Afghan War on November 21, 1878, with a British invasion.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Shir ʿAli fled his capital and country, dying in exile early in 1879.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` The British army occupied Kabul, as it had in the first war, and a treaty signed at Gandamak (Gandomak) on May 26, 1879, recognised Shīr ʿAlī’s son, Yaqub Khan, as emir.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` He subsequently agreed to receive a permanent British embassy at Kabul. In addition, he agreed to conduct his foreign relations with other states in accordance “with the wishes and advice” of the British government.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` This British triumph was short-lived. On September 3, 1879, the British envoy, Sir Louis Cavagnari, and his escort were murdered in Kabul.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` British forces were again dispatched, and before the end of October they occupied Kabul.
`color { red}ul{"Third Anglo-Afghan War "}` (May 6-August 8, 1919)
`color { maroon}{✍️}` With the outbreak of World War I (1914–18), there was in Afghanistan widespread support of Ottoman Turkey against the British.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` However, the ruler of Afghanistan at the time, Ḥabībullāh Khan, was able to maintain a policy of non involvement throughout the war.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` When Ḥabībullāh was assassinated on February 20, 1919, by persons associated with the anti-British movement, his son Amānullāh Khan took possession of the throne.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` At that time Britain still exercised an important influence on Afghan affairs.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` In his coronation address Amānullāh declared total independence from Great Britain. This declaration launched the inconclusive Third Anglo-Afghan War in May 1919.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Fighting was confined to a series of skirmishes between an ineffective Afghan army and a British Indian army exhausted from the heavy demands of World War I.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Nevertheless, the month long war gained the Afghans the conduct of their own foreign affairs.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` A peace treaty recognising the independence of Afghanistan was signed at Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) on August 8, 1919, and was amended in 1921.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Before signing the final document with the British, the Afghans concluded a treaty of friendship with the new Bolshevik regime in the Soviet Union.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Afghanistan thereby became one of the first states to recognise the Soviet government, and a “special relationship” evolved between the two governments that lasted until December 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
`color { red}ul{"First Anglo-Afghan War "}` (1839-1842)
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Following a protracted civil war that began in 1816, the Bārakzay clan became the ruling dynasty of Afghanistan, with its most powerful member, Dōst Moḥammad Khan, ascending the throne in 1826.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` With Great Britain and Russia maneuvering for influence in Afghanistan, Dōst Moḥammad was forced to balance his country between the two great powers.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` The British, feeling that Dost Moḥammad was either hostile to them or unable to resist Russian penetration, moved to take a direct role in Afghan affairs.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` First they negotiated unsatisfactorily with Dost Moḥammad, and then an invasion of Afghanistan was ordered by the governor-general of India, Lord Auckland, with the object of restoring exiled Afghan ruler Shah Shojaʿ to the throne.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` In April 1839, after suffering great privations, the British army entered Kandahār, and Shojāʿ was then crowned shah.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Ghazna (now Ghazni) was captured the following July, and in August Shojāʿ was installed at Kabul.
- The Afghans, however, would tolerate neither a foreign occupation nor a king imposed on them by a foreign power, and insurrections broke out.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` In a battle at Parwan on November 2, 1840, Dost Moḥammad had the upper hand, but the next day he surrendered to the British in Kabul. He was deported to India with most of his family.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Outbreaks continued throughout the country, and the British eventually found their position untenable.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` On January 6, 1842, some 4,500 British and Indian troops, with 12,000 camp followers, marched out of Kabul.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Shoja was killed after the British left Kabul.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Although in the summer of that same year British forces reoccupied Kabul, the new governor-general of India, Lord Ellenborough, decided on the evacuation of Afghanistan, and in 1843 Dōst Mohammad returned to Kabul and was restored to the throne.
`color { red}ul{"Second Anglo-Afghan War "}` (1878-1880)
`color { maroon}{✍️}` In November 1875 British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli appointed Lord Lytton governor-general of India.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Lytton during his service there was concerned primarily with India’s relations with Afghanistan.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Soon after Lytton arrived in India, he notified Shir ʿAli Khan-the third son of Dost Mohammad, who succeeded to the throne upon his father’s death that he was sending a “mission” to Kabul.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Viceroy Lytton launched the Second Anglo-Afghan War on November 21, 1878, with a British invasion.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Shir ʿAli fled his capital and country, dying in exile early in 1879.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` The British army occupied Kabul, as it had in the first war, and a treaty signed at Gandamak (Gandomak) on May 26, 1879, recognised Shīr ʿAlī’s son, Yaqub Khan, as emir.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` He subsequently agreed to receive a permanent British embassy at Kabul. In addition, he agreed to conduct his foreign relations with other states in accordance “with the wishes and advice” of the British government.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` This British triumph was short-lived. On September 3, 1879, the British envoy, Sir Louis Cavagnari, and his escort were murdered in Kabul.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` British forces were again dispatched, and before the end of October they occupied Kabul.
`color { red}ul{"Third Anglo-Afghan War "}` (May 6-August 8, 1919)
`color { maroon}{✍️}` With the outbreak of World War I (1914–18), there was in Afghanistan widespread support of Ottoman Turkey against the British.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` However, the ruler of Afghanistan at the time, Ḥabībullāh Khan, was able to maintain a policy of non involvement throughout the war.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` When Ḥabībullāh was assassinated on February 20, 1919, by persons associated with the anti-British movement, his son Amānullāh Khan took possession of the throne.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` At that time Britain still exercised an important influence on Afghan affairs.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` In his coronation address Amānullāh declared total independence from Great Britain. This declaration launched the inconclusive Third Anglo-Afghan War in May 1919.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Fighting was confined to a series of skirmishes between an ineffective Afghan army and a British Indian army exhausted from the heavy demands of World War I.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Nevertheless, the month long war gained the Afghans the conduct of their own foreign affairs.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` A peace treaty recognising the independence of Afghanistan was signed at Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) on August 8, 1919, and was amended in 1921.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Before signing the final document with the British, the Afghans concluded a treaty of friendship with the new Bolshevik regime in the Soviet Union.
`color { maroon}{✍️}` Afghanistan thereby became one of the first states to recognise the Soviet government, and a “special relationship” evolved between the two governments that lasted until December 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.