Designed for classroom use, The First Anglo-Afghan Wars gathers in one volume primary source materials related to the first two wars that Great Britain launched against native leaders of the Afghan region. From 1839 to 1842, and again from 1878 to 1880, Britain fought to expand its empire and prevent Russian expansion into the region's northwest frontier, which was considered the gateway to India, the jewel in Victorian Britain's imperial crown. Spanning from 1817 to 1919, the selections reflect the complex national, international, and anticolonial interests entangled in Central Asia at the time. The documents, each of which is preceded by a brief introduction, bring the nineteenth-century wars alive through the opinions of those who participated in or lived through the conflicts. They portray the struggle for control of the region from the perspectives of women and non-Westerners, as well as well-known figures including Kipling and Churchill. Filled with military and civilian voices, the collection clearly demonstrates the challenges that Central Asia posed to powers attempting to secure and claim the region. It is a cautionary tale, unheeded by Western powers in the post–9/11 era.
- Contents
- Foreword, Andrew J. Bacevich
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Anglo-Afghan Wars in Historical Perspective
- Part I. Strategic Interests on the Road to Kabul
- 1. A Sketch of the Military and Political Power of Russia (1817), Robert Wilson
- 2. Journey to the North of India (1838), Arthur Conolly
- 3. The Court and Camp of Runjeet Sing (1840), W. G. Osborne
- 4. A Narrative of the Russian Military Expedition to Khiva, under General Perofski (1839)
- Part II. The First Anglo-Afghan War, 1839– 1842: Occupation, Route, Defeat, Captivity
- 5. Narrative of the War in Affghanistan (1840), Henry Havelock
- 6. To Herat and Cabul: A Story of the First Afghan War (1902), G. A. Henty
- 7. A Journal of Disasters in Affghanistan (1843), Florentia Sale
- 8. “English Captives at Cabul” (1843)
- 9. The Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan (1846), Mohan Lal
- 10. The Afghan Wars (1896), Archibald Forbes
- Part III. The Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878– 1880: Imperial Insecurities, Global Stakes
- 11. “Gorchakov Circular” (1864)
- 12. “The Russian Foreign Policy in Asia” (1877), Eugene Schuyler
- 13. “The Afghan War: A Lecture” (1878), Handel Cossham
- 14. “Afghanistan and Its Peoples” (1878) and “Afghan Women and Children” (1880)
- 15. “India and Afghanistan” (1879), R. D. Osborn
- 16. From the Spectator: “The Magnitude of the Afghan War,” “The Disaster in Candahar,”“Abdurrahman Khan,” “The First Lesson of Candahar,” “The Rumour from Cabul,” and “The Death of Abdurrahman Khan”
- Part IV. The Great Game, 1880–1919
- 17. Russia in Central Asia (1889), George Nathaniel Curzon
- 18. “The Amir’s Homily” (1891), Rudyard Kipling
- 19. The Life of Abdur Rahman, Amir of Afghanistan (1900) and “The Ameer’s Memoirs” (1900), Mohammed Khan, editor, and the Spectator
- 20. The Russians at the Gates of Herat (1885), Charles Marvin
- 21. The Campaign Towards Afghanistan (1885), Andrei Bolandin
- 22. The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1901), Winston Churchill
- 23. “The Indian Frontier Troubles,” The Graphic (1897)
- 24. The Judgment of the Sword (1913), Maud Diver
- 25. “Our Relations with Afghanistan” (1919), Demetrius C. Boulger
- 26. “Third Afghan War” (1919)
- Selected Bibliography of Secondary Sources
- Reprint Acknowledgments
- Index
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