Britain's Small Forgotten Wars
  • Home
  • All Conflicts
  • The Churches
  • Africa
    • Cape of Good Hope, 1806
    • The Attack on Algiers, 1816
    • Bailey's Grave & Auta's Cave: Eighth Xhosa (Kaffir) War, South Africa, 1850-53
    • (The Expedition to Abyssinia, Ethiopia, 1867-68)
    • Asante! Third Ashanti War, Ghana, 1872-73
    • Bleeding in the Dirt: Zulu War, Battle of Kambula, 1879
    • Taking on the Slavers, Zanzibar, 1881
    • The Moonlight Charge, Battle of Kassassin, Egyptian War, 1882
    • Beau Geste: Mahdist Wars, Sudan, 1881-1899
    • Far from the fells of Wensleydale: First Boer War: Ingogo/ Schuinshoojgte 1881
    • Three Graves: The Nile Expedition - Battle of Kirbekan, Sudan, 1885
    • Punishing Okurike, Nigeria 1893
    • Fight against Slavery, Zanzibar, East Africa, 1895
    • Fight Against Slavery, Madina Creek, Gambia, 1894
    • The Fight at Mguni's Stronghold: 2nd Matabele War, Rhodesia, 1896
    • Battle of Talana Hill, Second Boer War, 1899
    • War of the Golden Stool, Ghana, 1900
    • Battle of Atbara, Sudan, 1898
    • Accident & Ambush: 1st Somaliland Campaign, 1901
    • Gumburru and Daratoleh, 1903 Somaliland Campaign
    • The Sokoto Caliphate, Nigeria, 1903
    • Third Somaliland Campaign, 1904
    • The Silent Ones: Asaba Hinterland Operation, Nigeria, 1904
    • The Satiru Uprising, Nigeria, 1906
    • (Abyssinia, 1935-36)
    • The Kolloa Affray, Kenya, 1950
    • (Mau Mau Uprising , Kenya, 1952-60)
  • Americas
    • (American Revolution 1780)
    • Lost Colours: Rio de la Plata, Argentina and Uruguay, 1805-06
    • Farewell, Queen Charlotte - The British-American War 1813
    • (Venezuelan War of Independence, 1811-21)
    • The Franklin Coppermine Expedition, North-East Canada, 1819-22
    • (American Civil War, USA, 1861-65)
    • Cut Knife Creek, North-West Rebellion, Canada, 1885
    • Battle of Coronel, Chile, 1914
  • Asia
    • Farewell to a Fireworker: Invasion of Java, 1811
    • One Shot More: The Anglo-Nepalese War, Nepal, 1814
    • The Pirates of Borneo, 1844
    • Fighting Dacoits, Burma, 1887
    • Storming of Namtow, China, 1858
    • Chin Lushai Expedition, Burma, 1890
    • The Kachin Hills, Burma, 1893
    • Siege of Tientsin, Boxer Rebellion, China, 1900
    • Siege of the Legations, Peking, China, 1900
    • The Younghusband Expedition, Tibet, 1904
    • The Lost Lieutenant: Russo-Japanese War, Manchuria/ China, 1905
    • The Singapore Mutiny, 1915
    • The Wahnsien Incident, China, 1926
    • (Hsaya San Rebellion, Burma, 1930)
    • (The Malayan Insurgency, Malaya, 1954-57)
    • (Yangtze River Incident, China, 1949)
    • Battle of Happy Valley, Korea, 1951
  • Australasia
    • The Flagstaff War, New Zealand, 1845
    • Struck in the Middle: Waikato War, New Zealand, 1863-64
    • Heni Te Kiri Karamu: Tauranga War, New Zealand, 1864
    • (Titokowaru's War, New Zealand, 1868-69)
  • Europe
    • the Glorious First of June, 1794
    • And he marched them back again: The Invasion of North Holland, 1799
    • The Walcheren Campaign, 1809
    • Waterloo, 1815
    • Call in the Marines: The First Carlist War, Spain, 1834-39
    • Hail the Messiah: The Battle of Bossenden Wood, England, 1837
    • International Occupation of Crete, 1897
    • The Dover Patrol, English Channel, 1914-18
    • Q Ships, Bay of Biscay, 1917
    • Irish Independence, Limerick, Ireland, 1922
    • Corfu Channel Incident, 1946
    • Someone Has To Be The First, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 1972
  • India
    • First British-Mysore War, 1768
    • Building Bombay: the Seizure of Salsette 1774
    • "So I may die like one brave soldier": 4th British-Mysore War, 1799
    • Battle of Assaye, 2nd Maratha War, 1803
    • Battle of Deeg, India, 1804
    • The Vellore Mutiny, 1806
    • A Symbol of British Dominance, Nagpur, 1817
    • Arrow in the Skull: Conflict with the Bheels, 1833
    • Siege of Bharatpur, Rajasthan, 1826
    • (The Retreat from Kabul, 1842)
    • The Gwalior Campaign, Madhya Pradesh, 1843
    • First Sikh War, Punjab, 1845-46
    • (Second Sikh War, Punjab, 1848-49)
    • Matale Rebellion, Sri Lanka/ Ceylon, 1848
    • The Kohat pass, North-West Frontier, 1850
    • Let The Killing Begin, Meerut, India, 1857
    • Independence or Mutiny? Oudh, India, 1857
    • "A Mutinous Sepoy", Vellore, 1858
    • Attack on Wana, Waziristan, 1894
    • Malakand Field Force, North-West Frontier, 1897
    • (Tirah Expedition, North-West Frontier, 1897-98)
    • Third Afghan War, North-West Frontier, 1919
    • (Waziristan, North-West Frontier, 1936-37)
  • Middle East
    • Storming Sidon: The Oriental Crisis, Egyptian-Ottoman War, 1840
    • (Anglo-Persian War, 1856)
    • (Aden Hinterland, 1905)
    • The Palestinian revolt, Palestine, 1939
    • (Oman, 1971-75)
  • (Battle of Omdurman, Sudan, 1898)
  • (Siege of Azimghur, India, 1858)

THE RETREAT FROM KABUL 1842
​Captain Robert Salusbury Trevor, 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry
St. Mary the Blessed Virgin, Eastham, Merseyside

Captain Edward Macleod Blair, 5th Light Cavalry
St. Michael's and St. Paul's, Bath


Captain John Bascombe Lock, 5th Native Infantry
St. Peter's, Dorchester, Dorset

Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas John Antequil, 42nd Native Infantry
 St. Helier Church, Jersey





Some stories on this site feature some serious blunders, but for incredible incompetence, doltish decision-making and sheer stupidity the First Afghan War stands alone. From the initiation, through the various stages of its execution, down to the debacle of its denouement, the British ineptness defies belief. Tragically, it also cost thousands of lives.

There was never any need to invade Afghanistan anyway. In 1838 the Governor-General of India, George Eden, Baron Auckland, and his chief adviser, William Macnaghten, had two major concerns about Afghanistan: one, they feared that the western city of Herat, which was being besieged by Persian forces influenced by and supported by Russia, would fall, and thus allow Russia easy access into the country; two, they did not trust the Afghan monarch, Dost Mohammad, who was making noises about regaining control of Peshawar, at the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, having lost it to the Sikhs a few years previously. As the East India Company regarded the Sikhs as an ally, and a useful buffer protecting India, there was no desire to support Dost Mohammad with his demands. By 1839, however, both perceived threats were over - the siege of Herat had been lifted, and Dost Mohammad had agreed not to pursue his claims on Peshawar. Shame that Auckland and Macnaghten had already decided that, no matter what, regime change had to happen, and they had a ready replacement at hand; Dost Mohammad's predecessor, deposed two decades earlier, Shah Shuja ul-Milk. And so the British army, fifteen thousand strong, not counting the thirty thousand camp-followers, marched into Afghanistan.

They did not encounter much resistance. Dost Mohammad was not so popular, nor Shah Sujah so unpopular, that the various tribal chieftains felt compelled to challenge such a strong and well-armed invading force. So the British entered Kabul, and felt that they were welcomed and secure. Dost Mohammad had fled into exile, and Shah Sujah assumed the throne, guided, of course, by British advice. Macnaghten, who had accompanied the army, provided that advice, using information supplied by his chief intelligence man, Alexander Burnes.  Kabul held no problems, Shah Sujah was secure on his throne, all was peaceful content. That Shah's support was essentially underpinned by bribes, paid to tribal chieftains  in exchange for them supporting the new monarch and guaranteeing keeping the passes between Kabul and the outside world open, did not seem to worry the British. All was quiet, and so they were happy. It was, presumably, this complacency that led the British to set up their base in an open cantonment, overlooked by low hills, in a relatively open area outside the city. They left the attractions of an existing fortress inside the city, on the grounds that it was cramped and uncomfortable. A number of senior officers, concerned about the defensive implications, protested, but they were overruled. the situation was thought to be so secure that half the army was dispatched back to India, and the wives and families of British officers were allowed to leave India to join them in the cantonment. Macnaghten and his entourage seemed to have overlooked that they were a Christian invading army in an independent Islamic country.

​Despite 

​






​
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.