SCENES THROUGH THE BATTLE SMOKE (Afghan War 1878-80 & Egyptian Campaign 1882)

An account of the second of Britain’s unhappy engagements with Afghanistan, which followed the disaster of its 1842 retreat from Kabul when most of its expeditionary force were slaughtered. Despite this lesson, Disraeli’s Tory Government in 1878 were anxious to counter Russian influence in Afghanistatn and demanded that Kabul match the arrival of an uninvited Russian military mission by receiving a British one too. When the Afghan ruler, Sher Ali, refused, Britain mounted an expedition to compel his submission. Sher Ali died after vainly appealing to Russia for help, and was succeeded by his son Yuqub who made terms with Britain, giving London control of Afghan foreign affairs. In 1879, the British Resident in Kabul was assassinated, and Britain sent another expedition to the Afghan capital, which compelled Yuqub’s adbdication. In 1880 Gladstone’s LIberals succeeded Disraeli’s Tories, and the Tory ‘Forward Policy’ of controlling Afghanistan up to the Hindu Kush mountain range, was abandoned.
This book is an account of the 1879-80 campaign, plus the brief campaign in Egypt in 1882 that ended with Britain’s victory at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir and the occupation of Alexandria, as seen through the eyes of Arthur Male, an army chaplain in both campaigns. Briskly written, it gives a good idea of Victorian colonial warfare, and is illustrated with some evocative line drawings. The book is especially topical given the current efforts to impose western order on the unruly Afghanis.