Page 50 - All About History - Issue 52-17

What if…

Britain & Russia had gone

to war over Afghanistan?

Russia’s march to imperial expansion could have been checked and the

country degraded to a second-rate power in Asia if it had tried to take on
the military might of British India

Written by Jules Stewart
ritain launched two invasions of Afghanistan The viceroy, Lord Lytton, at his summer ‘Iron Emir’, whose foreign policy has been under
in the 19th century in order to abort a residence in Simla, learns of the attack from British control since the end of the Second Anglo-
perceived Russian incursion into the friendly Afghan agents in Kabul. He Afghan War.
buffer state that separated British India immediately telegraphs the commander-in-chief, For Russia, it is a downward spiral. Still smarting
B from the Russian Empire. This was Great General Sir Frederick Haines, ordering him to from defeat in Afghanistan, its next military
Gamesmanship at its most extreme: the two wars dispatch two columns through the Khyber and humiliation comes in 1905 with the sinking of
cost Britain nearly 30,000 casualties, failed to Bolan passes. As a veteran of the Crimean War, the fleet in the Russo-Japanese War. The Raj adds
alter the status quo, and were undertaken on false Haines is an experienced hand in confronting vast buffer territories to its empire, rendering even
intelligence, equivalent to the dodgy dossier of the Russian aggression. more remote the risk of a Russian attack. However,
day. But what if Russia had Nesselrode’s rather the real winner is undoubtedly Afghanistan.
taken the fatal step “It is no contest, as reckless adventure triggers Freed from the menace of a hostile Russia and
of dispatching an army an interesting chain of consequently the threat of preventive military
into Afghanistan? the tsar’s troops are events that eventually action by Britain, the Soviet invasion of 1979 does
Empires must expand relegates Russia to the not take place. There is no US-backed Mujahedin,
to survive. Stagnation routed in a matter of status of a second-rate no Taliban to put order in the civil war between
behind closed borders power in Asia. Britain, rebel factions. A politically stable Afghanistan, for
poses a continual danger weeks by the superior having annexed the Punjab the first time in its turbulent history, is allowed
to security. The tsar’s firepower of the Raj” in 1849, has military units to benefit from its strategic position on the Asian
subjugation of Tashkent, garrisoned on the North- trade route.
Samarkand and Khiva has West Frontier abutting
taken Cossack cavalry to the banks of the Oxus Afghanistan. Russian military supply lines stretch JULES STEWART
River, within striking distance of British India. hundreds of kilometres through hostile territory.
The gate of entry is Afghanistan. Russian foreign They are effectively fighting a two-front war Jules Stewart is a former journalist for
minister Count Karl Nesselrode, emboldened by against a seasoned, well-equipped British Indian Reuters who has reported from more
than 30 countries. He is the author of
Britain’s catastrophes of 1839 and 1879, decides Army and an Afghan insurgency determined to ten books that deal mainly with the
to move from brinksmanship to action. In the oust the invader. It is absolutely no contest, as the Anglo-Afghan wars of the 19th century
and the North-West Frontier. His
summer of 1880 tsarist armies launch a two- tsar’s troops are routed in a matter of weeks by
latest book, Gotham Rising: New York
pronged assault, north from the Oxus and east the superior firepower of the Raj. The way is now in the 1930s, marks a departure from his previous works,
from Herat, to secure Afghanistan’s key military clear for Britain to ‘liberate’ the Russian-occupied nevertheless Afghanistan and its troubled history in the
context of the Great Game rivalry between Russia and
objectives before Calcutta can mobilise sufficient khanates on Afghanistan’s northern border, with Britain remains his primary area of interest.
troops to counter the attack. the connivance of Abdul Rahman Khan, the
How would it be diferent?

● An agreement is made ● A mission is rejected ● An attack is launched ● Negotiations are made
Emir Abdur Rahman and the Raj amicably Abdur Rahman’s son, the new King Amanullah, under pressure The Afghan Army is defeated, but
agree a demarcation line between both emir, rebuffs a secret German from extremist religious leaders at in peace negotiations at Rawalpindi,
countries. This precludes the need for mission sent to Kabul to his court, launches an attack on Amanullah obtains the return of
the Durand Line to safeguard defensive persuade the Afghan ruler to British India, which becomes the Afghan sovereignty in foreign policy
access to India. invade British India in WWI. Third Anglo-Afghan War. from the British.
12 November 1893 1 March 1916 1 May 1919 19 August 1919
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