I'm indy neidell and this is out of the ether where I sit here in the chair of wisdom and read your most interesting
enlightening or even controversial comments
Now I have only one comment to read today and it's quite a long one
So you got to bear with me but it's a good one. Jack sharp writes about the German Afghanistan expedition
Hi Indy flow and company. My name is Jack sharp, and I'm a huge fan of your show
I don't know if this will be any use to you
well
Obviously it is but I've been doing some reading on World War one and came across a German expedition to Afghanistan in
1915 since I love the stories you guys tell of other adventures like the Dunster force
I thought this would be something you'd like to know about
I may have missed some things about it, but I'm sure I'll be corrected in the comments. He knows how YouTube works great. Ok
Here we go
With the Western Front locked down in the trenches the main forces fighting the war
Began looking for other ways to end it the British and French attempted an invasion at Gallipoli
But many do not know of the Germans attempts in the Middle East
This is the story of the German Afghanistan meeting also known as the Niedermayer hunting
Expedition in the early days of the war the emir of afghanistan Habibullah khan declared afghanistan neutral for the war
right, he feared that the ottoman sultan mehmed v and his declaration of jihad against the Allies would have a
destabilizing effect on his rule
He was given funding from the British who also controlled Afghani foreign affairs
The Germans attempted to send an expedition to Afghanistan in 1914, but that attempt failed
In fact, it didn't even reach Afghanistan this expedition is notable
However, as it led to the British capture of the German codebook allowing the British to decipher the German communications, ok
The Germans not giving up their hopes sent a second expedition in 1915. This one was led
nominally by an exiled Indian Mahendra Pratap Pratap
Wanted to liberate India from the British
So he came to the Germans who were more than happy to try and create chaos for the British
The expedition also had two German officers alongside Pratap Oskar Niedermayer, Peter Meyer always reminds me of the movie Animal House
Hey Andy dermyer. Anyhow, Oscar Niedermayer German general
superspy and known as the Lawrence of Arabia by some historians and scholars and
Vana auto phone hunting a derma officer and adventurer the main task for the second expedition were
To undermine the British by fomenting dissent in the Empire. Most notably in India
encourage Afghanistan to join the central powers
secure Persia as a link between Germany and
Afghanistan the group Sons Niedermayer who was already in the region gathered in Berlin in spring 1915
They were given a letter from the Kaiser
To the Amir Khan and gold and jewelry and other gifts to bring the group set out for Kabul traveling through Vienna Budapest
Bucharest Sofia and finally arriving in Constantinople, April 17th in
Constantinople, they met both Enver Pasha and Sultan Mehmed the fifth
they headed to Baghdad via the unfinished Baghdad railway crossing the Taurus Mountains and
Navigating the Euphrates River from Baghdad, they headed to the Persian border and then to Tehran
In Persia, they had to avoid British and Russian soldiers. They then made for tebbis the conditions in Persia were
Horrendous for the men who had to endure savage heat and dehydration
British and Russian patrols hunting them dust storms and fighting off snakes and scorpions
They arrived at Tevez which hunting took to calling the hottest town on earth on July 23rd
Exhausted and with some members of the expedition sick with malaria
on the trip to Iran from Tevez
They avoided gangs of highwayman
The British Army Group the South Persia rifles led by Sir Percy Sykes the East Persia cordon and a band of Russian Cossacks the group
was now down to 37 men and 79 animals that's down from a hundred and forty men and
236 animals many of those had died from the fighting from starvation from dehydration
disease or had simply deserted
Niedermayer writes of the joy he had when entering Afghanistan saying toward 5:00 in the morning on August 21st
We reached the abandoned and dilapidated
Settlement of mogul Bechet at midnight on the 22nd. We set off at 6:00 in the morning
We passed by some fields that fresh green color was an unfamiliar view for us
We needed all our strength to prevent the animals from rushing into the fields in which some Afghans were working clothed in white linen
Two hours later we stumbled into the first Afghan village Pettit a miserable, sad pile
We were received and accommodated by the astonished natives with kindness
But with a certain shy reservation one could not hold this against these people who and their lives had not seen any European
At Herat the group was welcomed by the governor who gave them a grand welcome
Their horses were also given new saddles to help with the journey across Afghanistan
The group had a two-week rest period at Herat they could travel under some supervision pretty much anywhere in the city
They reached Kabul on October 2nd
1915 six months after Pratap and gente --g left Berlin when they arrived in Kabul the group had to wait until the
26 to meet with the Emir but before the meeting he received a letter from king george v of britain
Thanking him for his friendship and loyalty
So the Emir the Khan he was in no hurry to meet with the group
Only doing so after Niedermayer and hinting threatened to go on a hunger strike
The group gave him the kaisers letter, but the Khan was doubtful of its authenticity
They explained that an independent
Afghanistan would help the Turks avoid war between the different branches of Islam after the Sultan's declaration of jihad against the Allies
He was invited to join the Indian people in a war against the British with Pratap stating the Khan could gain vast
Swaths of land all over Central Asia if he joined them the Germans also told him they would provide troops
Weapons and a sum of ten million pounds worth of gold bullion if he signed a deal with him da Mir
while recognising Afghanistan's difficult position between both Britain and and Russia
Argued that he needed more than words
he had been given supplies and money from the British for both himself and his armies if he did what the German expedition wanted he'd
Be cutting off his own financial source
He wanted to know when they would be giving him their money
And the weapons needed to get his army prepared for any possible conflict with Britain or Russia
The expedition had no immediate answers to any of these questions
Just vague promises of an alliance with Persia which would help the Khan was not impressed
The meeting was cordial though the con met with more delegates from Germany and some from India taking into consideration their points
But not committing himself fully until he knew 100% what the plans were
One of these meetings was between Niedermayer and the cunt
who advised the Khan on how to modernize his army and use artillery the expedition also met with the prime minister of
Afghanistan nasrallah khan who was more receptive to the group's offers and was a supporter of the expedition being pro-german
The Emir continued hosting the expedition for the rest of 1915 in December
he told hinting that he wanted to draft a friendship agreement between
Afghanistan and Germany the
Process of drawing up this agreement took many weeks though finally being sent to the German Embassy in Tehran on January 24th
1916 some of the clauses in the agreement included
recognizing Afghanistan's independence
declaration of friendship with Germany establishing diplomatic relations with Germany
guaranteed German assistance if Britain and Russia attacked
Modernizing the Amer's army with a hundred thousand rifles and 300 artillery pieces
maintaining a supply line through Persia 1 million pounds to be paid to the a mere the
Next day after the agreement was sent though
he held a meeting with a British agent whom he told that the neutrality of Afghanistan would
Continue this he announced January 29th
This decision could have led to the Ottomans trying to invade Afghanistan
But the Afghans were helped in February when the Russians took air sirum cutting the ottomans off from their routes into Persia
hinting and Niedermayer
Realizing their expedition had failed decided to leave Afghanistan
They were escorted out of Afghanistan by the Amer's forces avoided captured by the British and the Russians
eventually arriving back in Germany
The expedition May have ended in failure
but it had a long-term impact on Afghanistan and
Habibullah Khan
The expedition gave rise to a huge rise of nationalism from the local people who grew more and more
Angry with the Emir this anger reached his crescendo in 1919 when Habibullah khan was
assassinated this led to the third anglo-afghan war
and the eventual signing of the anglo-afghan treaty were Britain finally recognized the independence of
Afghanistan
Oscar Vaughan Niedermayer after returning to Germany
continued with assignments throughout the Arab world until
1918 when he was recalled to the Western Front where he served in the final battles of the war
after the Armistice he joined the Fri Corps continued serving in the German army into World War two and
Eventually died in 1948 while in the custody of the Soviets phone hinting after the expedition went to work in the German
Embassy in Istanbul until the armistice when he was involved in the
repatriation of German POWs in Serbia
He served in the German government in various positions
Was an opponent of the Nazi Party and served as German ambassador to Indonesia after world war ii he died August 8
1984 in Norway, I hope you enjoyed this little-known tale from the war
I enjoy these sorts of tales like the Dunster force or the adventures of the Emden or the movie
Thank you for all the hard work you and the guys put into this channel
I loved it so much and I'm eagerly awaiting the final chapter of the war. This is a great one
I am a supporter of you guys on patreon and have to thank you guys for showing me how interesting World War one is
Jack sharp. Well, thanks Jack. That was a great. That was a great story now
We have talked two different times about intrigues in Persia
And of course the Dunster force and all the stuff in Palestine. It's interesting to go even further over to the failed
Afghani mission, I'm sure that everybody's found that quite interesting
If the post-war stuff the especially with the third anglo-afghan war
Is really really interesting and I really recommend you looking it up for yourself because it's something we can't cover in this channel
But it certainly played a huge part in in the future of that region. So
Jack thanks again for today
and if you would like to see our
Episode about the Dunster force the first one you can click right here for that and it will lead you to the second one
I will see you next time