Return of a King

Title: Return of a King – The Battle for Afghanistan 1839-1842

Author: William Dalrymple

Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2013 (First)

ISBN: 978-1-4088-1830-5

Pages: 502

Ever since I read The Last Mughal, Dalrymple has been one of my favourite authors. As the years passed, all of his other works came to me until I saw the announcement of his new volume, Return of a King somewhere around the beginning of the year. Eager anticipation ensued, finally reaching the crescendo of joy when I got hold of a copy in the library a week back. With this book, let me proudly say that I have read and reviewed ALL of Dalrymple’s titles! Alas, along with the joy comes the saddening realization that I will not be encountering one of his works for at least two years to come, as that much time is what he normally takes in researching and publishing a new work. When a new title appears at the end of a grueling wait, I am certain that the anticipation would not have been in vain.

Return of a King is an anecdote of Britain’s first Afghan War (1839-42) in an attempt to tame the wild and mountainous country and to re-establish Shah Shuja, the monarch who lived in exile in British India. Based on unsubstantiated conclusions taken from doubtful intelligence gathered from the field, Britain invaded the country to preempt the Russians from getting a hold with the ruler Dost Mohammad who was really an anglophile at heart. The Army of the Indus, as the British forces were called, managed to overrun the country after a long march through difficult mountain passes under the constant harassment from tribal snipers. Shah Shuja, who was weak and enjoying no support at home, was made the king again. The highhandedness and rush for political and economic reforms initiated by the invaders soon alienated them from the Afghan nobility which had had a strict code of honour. Shuja was soon lampooned as the stooge of infidels and the whole country rose against them. The weak British envoy and military commander in Kabul couldn’t offer a fitting response to the uprising in time and they suffered heavy casualties in the city, with the envoy and his deputy being brutally murdered by the insurgents. A ceasefire was soon agreed and the British were allowed to retreat back to their base in Peshawar at the height of winter in 1842. The retreating troops were followed by harsh nature and the determined Afghan soldiers bent on obliterating the invading force. In a matter of weeks, the entire army was wiped out by cold, diseases, hunger and the bullets and knives of the insurgents. Only one man limped back to the British base at Jalalabad to tell the story. Shuja himself was assassinated soon after though the losses were avenged to some extent by the Army of Retribution led by the British in 1842 which devastated most of the country they passed through and killing thousands. Dalrymple beautifully describes the epic fight and the circumstances which led to it.

Afghanistan always remained at the frontier of powerful neighbours and was never under a dominant central authority until it was established by Ahmed Shah Abdali who was in the service of Nadir Shah, but fled Persia soon after the Shah’s assassination, stealing the Koh-i-Noor, the world’s largest diamond. He established the Durrani dynasty which lasted only two generations. The Sadozai clan, of which the rulers belonged, came to blows against the Barakzai clan, who were the ministers. Shah Zaman, grand son of Abdali was captured and blinded in 1800 in factional struggle against his half-brother. Three years later, Shah Shuja ul-Mulk, the brother of the deposed king managed to stage a victorious battle to ascend the throne in Kabul. Shuja was reported to be a gentleman with refined tastes, but with a predilection to cut off the ears, noses and genitals of his trusted servants for even minor infractions. Shuja’s reign lasted only till 1809 when he was deposed by Barakzais at the Battle of Nimla. Shuja ran for his life and obtained asylum at Ludhiana, even though he had to part with the Koh-i-Noor to Raja Ranjit Singh in the meanwhile. He planned and organized several abortive military strikes against the Kabul regime under his rival, the Barakzai Dost Mohammad.

Meanwhile, another story was being enacted in Europe. Napoleon’s meteoric rise and fall pointed to the importance of Afghanistan to Britain. The French emperor wanted to prise India away from England, thus weakening it. To this end, he made alliances with Persia and Russia. But his fall put paid to French ambitions until Britain found another threat looming on its northern horizon in the 1830s – Russia. St. Petersburg opened negotiations with Persia and Dost Mohammad Khan. If the Russians could ensure their military presence in Afghanistan, they could invade India when they wished. But England was in alliance with the enemies of Dost Mohammad, namely Shah Shuja and Ranjit Singh, so it had to overrule the entreaties of its most capable agent, Alexander Burnes who was dispatched to Kabul and was clamouring for an arrangement with the Barakzai ruler as against the weak Sadozai king-in-exile living in Punjab. Diplomatic hassles prevented Burnes from exerting a direct influence on Lord Auckland, the Governor General. The Persian army began skirmishing around Herat around this time with Russian support and the country was expected to fall to them and the Barakzais.

The two pronged attack on Kabul was marked more by hardships the army encountered along the way rather than due to any resistance. Kandahar fell without firing a single shot and Ghazni fell like a plum after a brief fight. When the wind seemed to be on British favour, the treacherous chieftains rebelled against their master, Dost Mohammad who had to flee to Bukhara where he was imprisoned. Shah Shuja ascended the throne, but Macnaghten, the governor general’s secretary and envoy to Kabul, was the real power. This charade could not be continued further as the people saw how weak their sovereign was. Dost Mohammad escaped meanwhile from Bukhara and surrendered to the British who promptly parcelled him to exile in Ludhiana where Shuja lived earlier. The large number of British troops in the capital was creating more havoc in the social milieu as many noble Kabuli women turned to the flesh trade for easy money. Matters came to a head when Alexander Burnes seduced the mistress of an Afghan noble who was insulted and maltreated when he tried to retrieve her.

In November 1841, the British found to their dismay, the extent of the hatred they had amassed in people’s minds when the whole country erupted against them with cries of jihad (holy war). Poor planning in setting up cantonment, indecision regarding the timely deployment of troops to quell violence and general complacency ensured totality of British rout. Burnes and Macnaghten were killed, decapitated and the mutilated remains strewn over the streets. British men, women and Indian sepoys were captured and enslaved with many women ending up in local harems. At the turn of the new year, in January 1842, the British were finally allowed to withdraw from Kabul with whatever they had after paying a huge ransom to their assaulter. Little did they suspect that they were walking into a trap set by Akbar Khan who informed nearby tribal chiefs about the party’s arrival. The cold and snow of the winter of 1842 was especially harsh that compounded the miseries of the soldiers and their camp followers who had no woolens, not much food, arms and ammunition. The Afghan assailants treated them for weapon practice and mowed them down to a single man. An estimated 12,000 people perished in the mountain passes. The British mounted an Army of Retribution to avenge their miserable failure. This army more than extracted vengeance on the city of Kabul and wherever they went. The violence was nauseating, but suffice to say that whatever the Afghans gave to the British, they were paid back with compound interest. The English however found it prudent to leave the country to its fate and recalled Dost Mohammad to hand over reins to him.

The book neatly depicts the characters of tribal leaders of Afghanistan who are thoroughly independent in outlook so that the central leadership had to resort to monetary and other placatory tactics to enlist their support. Though very brave in battlefield, they are prepared to stoop to any depth of moral degeneration if it suited their purpose for the time being. All of them were treacherous – though the author paints them in a more chivalrous attire – as evidenced by tales of murder of their own mates in garden parties who were invited for the very purpose of eliminating them. Dalrymple has used many Afghan sources which have not seen the light of day in English in the research for this book that ensures a balanced view of the debate. As is characteristic of the author, he lives history through his characters who possess enough bone and marrow to bewitch the reader’s attention. His analysis is sharp, narration so mesmerising and selection of subjects so appealing and delightful. However, the description of the besieged British army in Kabul seemed to be so lengthy and full of details of military strategy as to be a bit disconcerting. The author’s insightful comparisons to the NATO occupation of modern Afghanistan is very striking and military strategists must pay some heed to them.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star