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    Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan
    Unavailable
    Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan
    Unavailable
    Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan
    Ebook861 pages14 hours

    Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan

    By William Dalrymple

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 2013
    'As taut and richly embroidered as a great novel . . . a masterpiece' Sunday Telegraph
    'Dazzling' Sunday Times | 'Magnificent' Guardian | 'Sparkling' Daily Telegraph
    A towering history of the first Afghan War by bestselling historian William Dalrymple.

    In the spring of 1839, Britain invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk.

    On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the nineteenth century: an entire army of the then most powerful nation in the world ambushed in retreat and utterly routed by poorly equipped tribesmen.

    Using a range of forgotten Afghan and Indian sources, William Dalrymple's masterful retelling of Britain's greatest imperial disaster is a powerful parable of colonial ambition and cultural collision, folly and hubris. Return of a King is history at its most urgent and important.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateFeb 4, 2013
    ISBN9781408828434
    Unavailable
    Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan
    Author

    William Dalrymple

    William Dalrymple is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Asiatic Society, and in 2002 was awarded the Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for his ‘outstanding contribution to travel literature’. He wrote and presented the TV series ‘Stones of the Raj’ and ‘Indian Journeys’, which won BAFTA’s 2002 Grierson Award for Best Documentary Series. He and his wife, artist Olivia Fraser, have three children, and divide their time between London and Delhi.

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    Reviews for Return of a King

    4.5/5

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    • 4/5
      Afghanistan, a beautiful mysterious nation, in the lap of the mountainous range north of India (it includes modern Pakistan and parts of Persia (Iran)) the Hindukush. Today, it is a rocky backwater, poverty stricken and maybe barren, but at the time of the First Anglo Afghan War 180 years back – Afghanistan was a beauteous, scenic country, torn by internecine tribal wars – with lush fruit gardens, rivers filled with icy cold streams in which a wide variety of fishes thrived. Afghanistan was and probably is one of the biggest suppliers of variety of grapes (it is reported as 44 varieties in some Persian texts), apples, pomegranates, pears, rhubarb, mulberries, melons (both sweet and musk), apricots and peaches. It was at the crossroads of the centre of commerce – Persia, China, Russia, Ottoman Empire, East India Company (India), the Punjab and Sind. The ruling elite the Durranis were of old stock, highly cultured, educated and Persianique style of living. The Imperial powers of Russia, England, Persia and Ottoman eyed this land as an important adjunct to their empires – preferably as a province or if not so definitely as an ally.

      In the 1830s began what is today called ‘The Great Game’ between two Imperial European powers – England and Russia – to control the access to the markets of Asia from Persia to China and at the crossroads was situated Afghanistan. Further the rivalry between these two Imperial Powers was also dictated by the importance of India. If the Russians controlled Afghanistan, they could at will ride down to the plains of Punjab and raid / conquer India. If Britain controlled Afghanistan, it would be a powerful buffer state to protect India from Russian expansionism. Hence this was a very precious prize.

      In RETURN OF A KING, William Dalrymple has beautifully described the story of the British attempt to install a puppet regime in Kabul and take control of Afghanistan. In 1800, Shah Zaman the Sadozai regent was defeated and blinded by Barakzais and his half brother Shah Mahmoud. The Durrani Empire was established, in the background of tribal rivalries of the Sadozais and the Barakzais. It was agreed that while the ruler would be a Sadozai, the Wazir or Prime Minister would be a Barakzai. Hence in spite of a Barakzai revolt, a Sadozai Shah Mahmoud was made the king.

      In 1803, Shah Shuja the brother of the deposed blinded king Shah Zaman, defeated Shah Mahmoud and reclaimed the throne. However in 1809, Shah Shuja was once again defeated by the Barakzais headed by Shah Mahmoud. Shah Shuja fled to India with his hoard of diamonds (including the famed Koh-i-Noor) along with his harem and family and settled in Ludhiana.

      In 1818, Shah Mahmoud tortured, blinded and killed his Wazir Fatteh Khan for his assistance to the attackers in the rape of Sadozai harem in Heart in 1817. This re-opened the internecine war of Sadozais and Barakzais. The brothers (including half brothers of Fatteh Khan) revolted and ousted Shah Mahmoud from Kabul. Shah Mahmoud fled to Herat where he survived till 1829 and was succeeded by his son Prince Kamran Shah Sadozai.

      In 1826, the Barakzai Dost Mohammed ascended the throne of Kabul. In 1835, he declared jihad against the Sikhs led by their ruler Ranjit Singh. In the meantime Sir Alexander Burnes, agent of the East India Company was in Kabul collecting intelligence and he advised that the Company should ally with Dost Mohammed, who was popular locally, to prevent Russian annexation of Afghanistan.

      Burnes was comparatively junior in the Company hierarchy, and was reporting to Major Claude Wade, resident of Ludhiana. Wade, till his 1839 expedition had never stepped into Afghanistan, but he felt more qualified to report to the political in-charge of East India Company Sir William Hay Macnaghten, an Ulster judge who had neither been to India nor Afghanistan till his posting. In competition to Burnes, Wade overruling Burnes, recommended that the British support and re-install the more pliable Shah Shuja as king of Afghanistan, with false intelligence that Dost Mohammed was strongly disliked, and the Afghans would welcome Shah Shuja back with open arms.

      The Afghan Expedition, though it succeeded in installing Shah Shuja as the king, failed miserably in its objective to annex, control and administer the country as a part of Imperial Britannia. On the contrary, this effort cost the East India Company 15,000,000 GBP (50 million in today’s prices (US$ 80 billion), 40,000 men and 50,000 camels. That apart, the Company never regained, its profitability and lost the credibility of its military officers with the sepoys, that ultimately led to the 1857 revolt, variously called the Sepoy Mutiny and First War of Independence, depending on which side of the fence one is.

      The British made two more unsuccessful efforts to conquer Afghanistan. In spite of being shamed thrice, it is apparent that the British have not yet learned the lesson, because again in the first decade of 2000s Britain once again unsuccessfully tried its luck in Afghanistan, this time in an alliance with the USA.

      William Dalrymple has done a good deal of research and in his simple style, set forth the story of the British foolishness in Afghanistan. European ego will not permit it to accept that the treacherous, bearded, bigoted fanatics are more capable and competent than they ever given credit for. It is this false ego that has led to visceral hatred in some of the colonies and amused contempt in others. Today, most of the English educated, successful Indians look at the British Era, not as one of progress and development, but more as an Era of Darkness. The Congress Parliamentarian, former minister and UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor has actually written a book with the same title “An Era of Darkness, The British Empire in India”.

      The book is magnificent, taut and richly embroidered, and definitely a great historical writing. I have absolutely no hesitation in suggesting this book as a must read for all people interested in Indian / British / South Asian history and an interesting read for anyone who wants to curl up with a good story near the warm fireplace on an winter evening.
    • 3/5
      See Bookforum Apr/May 2013 for Review by Michael Dirda
    • 5/5
      William Dalrymple picks events that have been hitherto described in a maximum of two pages - The White Mughals, The Last Mughal and now the Return of a King. Inclined to believe from their short descriptions that these were but minor footnotes to history, thus are we condemned to repeat it after having failed to learn any lessons. Dalyrmple's telling of the First Anglo-Afghan war is a masterpiece that brings into sharp focus not only various characters from that period but also striking similarities between then and now. This book is very well researched and makes good use sources that the author claims have never been used before. This book is a must-buy.