remote region of Waziristan. This revolt has been going on since May, when the Third Anglo-Afghan
War and Afghanistan’s fight for independence began.
Hi, I’m Jesse Alexander and this is The Great War. The Third Anglo-Afghan War of May
1919 is a fascinating conflict that we just had to cover. But it happened to occur in
a rather remote area for detailed media coverage 100 years ago. As such, this episode is a
bit shorter as we couldn’t access as many photos or film reels as we usually do. Anyway:
Afghanistan had long been a hot spot in the Anglo-Russian struggle for influence in the
region. The country’s foreign policy had been under British control since 1879, but
cracks began to show in this arrangement during the First World War. The Emir, Habibullah
Khan, hoped for a Central Powers victory to achieve independence. The Germans and Ottomans
did all they could to encourage him to join them, including a German mission to Afghanistan,
and a reference to an independent Afghanistan in the treaty of Brest Litovsk (Beattie).
But the despite pressure to attack British India, he remained neutral.
In February 1919, Habibullah lobbied the British for independence. He wrote the Viceroy of
India and asked for: “Cooperation in obtaining international recognition of ‘the absolute
liberty, freedom of action, and perpetual independence of Afghanistan’ at the Paris
Peace conference.” (Beattie) But despite the Viceroy’s personal sympathy, the British
government were not interested. Habibullah had gambled that neutrality would bring independence,
but this gamble had failed, and on February 20 he was assassinated. After a brief power
struggle his nephew Amanullah became Emir and inherited a war-related political crisis
(Beattie). Amanullah declared independence April 13 and
decided to attack British India, though there is some debate about his reasoning. Most likely
it was a combination of wanting to force recognition of Afghan independence, strong anti-British
forces in his government, and military miscalculation. (Heathcote 171, Wyatt 373)
Amanullah’s May declaration of war read in part: “I proclaim to all of you, the
truthful subjects of my royal person, that the treacherous and deceitful English government
has been, since a long time, practising with diabolical treachery and fraud, many shameful
oppressions upon us. I call upon my pious and brave royal army...and upon all my faithful
subjects to wage Jihad in the path of God with their life and property” (Sykes 270)
He went on to condemn British treatment of both Muslims and Hindus in India.
The Afghan regular army which now prepared to invade India boasted about 50,000 men and
280 guns, some of which were modern German designs and some of which were obsolete (Heathcote
177). On the whole, it was not a crack force, according to British General Molesworth: “Afghan
regular units...were ill-trained, ill-paid, and probably under strength. The cavalry was
little better than indifferent infantry mounted on equally indifferent ponies.” (Molesworth
25). Critically, the Afghans hoped the frontier tribes on the British side of the border would
revolt, since their skill in irregular warfare might tip the scales.
British forces in the region faced some real difficulties too. The Indian army had been
weakened by its heavy losses overseas, and its soldiers were anxious to demobilize (Barthorp
151). Much of the country was also in a state of unrest against British rule, especially
after the massacre of unarmed civilians at Amritsar in April. The region was also hot,
remote and a logistical nightmare, as General Monro reported: “India, and Especially the
frontier region, is a country ill-provided with those amenities of civilisation which,
in Western Europe, go so far to mitigate, the discomforts of a campaign; and, coming
as it did at the hottest season of the year[...]this campaign inevitably imposed severe hardships
on the troops employed.” (Supplement to the London Gazette, 15 March 1920 3274) All
the same, the British enjoyed clear military superiority - and the use of motor transport
allowed them to move troops quickly.
So the Afghan army invaded British India in the hopes the frontier tribes would join it
and force the British to grant independence. It was a risky move, but the die had now been
cast.
The Afghan army was to advance on three fronts: through the Khyber Valley, into Waziristan,
and in Baluchistan towards Quetta and the Zhob valley.
Fighting began in the Khyber Pass on May 3 as Afghan forces under Saleh Muhammad Khan
struck prematurely. Hostilities offcially began May 6, and Muhummad’s forces occupied
key water sources near the village of Bagh. British counterattacks at first failed, but
finally drove the Afghan troops back May 11, using aircraft to bomb and strafe the retreating
column. The British then advanced into Afghanistan and took the town of Dacca, and held off counter
attacks with heavy losses. But behind British lines, many local militiamen of the Khyber
Rifles deserted and joined the Afghans. Meanwhile, an uprising in Peshawar, led by the Afghan
postmaster, was quickly put down. Putting their air power to use, the British
bombed Jalalabad and Kabul, destroying the country’s only machine shop and the tomb
of a former emir. An outraged Amanullah wrote to the British: "It is a matter of great regret
that the throwing of bombs by Zeppelins on London was denounced as a most savage act
and the bombardment of places of worship and sacred spots was considered a most abominable
operation, while now we see with our own eyes that such operations were a habit which is
prevalent amongst all civilized people of the West." (Heathcote 198)
In Waziristan, Brigadier General Eustace, feared the militias holding the nearby Tochi
valley would desert, and ordered the forward posts abandoned. Almost immediately, the local
tribes seized abandoned weaponry and rose in revolt. By May 26th, Afghan commander and
future emir Muhammad Nadir Khan had reached Thal. He surprised the British by using a
difficult route that was still passable for the elephants carrying his artillery (Sykes
278). He laid siege to the weakly defended fort but did not storm it - likely a missed
opportunity. On the Baluchistan front, the British advanced
into Kandahar province and attacked the Afghan fort at Spin Boldak on May 27. Gurkha, Punjabi
and British troops launched the assault under cover of a Western Front style creeping barrage,
and ferocious hand-to-hand fighting took place. The Afghan commander, Daud Shah, was severely
wounded and of 600 defenders, some 400 were killed (Gazette 3283).
But by late May Amanullah had asked for an armistice, but despite the talks, operations
continued and on June 1, a British Indian force under Reginald Dyer arrived to relieve
Thal after marching 30km in 12 hours. Nadir Khan sent him a message proposing they halt
the fighting during negotiations, but Dyer had not yet heard the news and instead responded:
“My guns will give an immediate reply, and a further reply will be sent by the Divisional
Commander, to whom the letter has been forwarded.” (Sykes 280). The Afghans pulled back rather
than waste lives.
So by early June, the Afghan invasion had been repulsed and the British had assembled
100,000 troops for an advance on Jalalabad. But the British were anxious to end the fighting
before the tribal revolts spread, and on June 3 the armistice was signed, just as a cholera
epidemic struck British troops.
Both sides signed the Treaty of Rawalpindi on August 8. Britain agreed to give up control
of Afghan foreign policy, but stopped paying the Afghan subsidy, as chief British negotiator
Alfred Hamilton Grant confirmed in a letter: “. . . the said Treaty and this letter leave
Afghanistan officially free and independent in its internal and external affairs” (L.
W. Adamec, Afghanistan, 1900-1923: A Diplomatic History, Berkley, 1967, pp. 182-83). The Durand
Line, until now the disputed border line, was agreed to by both sides. Further talks
about Afghan-British friendship and Afghan-Bolshevik relations were also planned for 1920. For
the Afghans, a tactical defeat had turned into a strategic victory.
Some on the British side were unhappy with the terms, given the advantageous military
situation, but Britain could not afford to continue the war because of its difficulties
in India. It also wanted to preserve a stable Afghanistan to prevent Bolshevik influence
from spreading there from Central Asia. In the end, the war had far-reaching effects
in both Afghanistan and British India. Independence had been won, but Amanullah realized the need
for reform – a policy that would pit him against his conservative opponents. The British
position in the region had been weakened by the collapse of the militia system and the
loss of the Afghan client state, and it became clear they would have to garrison the area
more heavily (Jacobsen 5). Air power had proved itself as a force multiplier in the remote
area, and military theorists took note of its success. But the British were not done
fighting on the frontier, and the tribal revolts in Waziristan would drag on well into 1920.
As usual, you can find all our sources for this episode in the video description. If
you want to support our channel, you can support us on Patreon or buy our merchandise – the
links are in the video description below as well. I’m Jesse Alexander and this is The
Great War 1919, a production of Real Time History and the only YouTube history channel
that almost felt like it was watching the news in 2019 while writing this episode about
1919.