United Kingdom British Empire Pro-British Chitralis Pashtuns Chitralis The Chitral Expedition (Urdu:چترال فوجی مہم) was a military expedition in 1895 sent by the British authorities to relieve the fort at Chitral, which was under siege after a local coup following the death of the old ruler.

An intervening British force of about 400 men was besieged in the fort until it was relieved by two expeditions, a small one from Gilgit and a larger one from Peshawar.

In the last phase of the Great Game, attention turned to the unclaimed mountainous area north of British India along the later Sino-Russian border.

Chitral was thought to be a possible route for a Russian invasion of India, but neither side knew much about the local geography.

When the old ruler died in 1892 one of his sons, Afzal ul-Mulk, seized the throne, consolidating his rule by killing as many of his half-brothers as he could.

Umra Khan, a tribal leader from Bajour to the south marched north with 3,000 Pathans either to assist Amir ul-Mulk or replace him.

Surgeon Major George Scott Robertson, the senior British officer at Gilgit, gathered 400 troops and marched west to Chitral and threatened Umra Khan with an invasion from Peshawar if he did not turn back.

When the British heard of Robertson's situation they began assembling troops around Peshawar, but they were not in a hurry since they assumed that Umra Khan would back down.

The main problem was the 12,000 foot Shandur Pass at the head of the Gilgit River which was crossed in the waist-deep snow dragging mountain guns on sledges (1 to 5 April).

Meanwhile, the British had assembled 15,000 men at Peshawar under Major-General Sir Robert Low,[7] with Brigadier General Bindon Blood serving as his Chief of the Staff.

Accompanying Low was Francis Younghusband who was officially on leave and serving as a special correspondent for the London Times.

On 17 April Umra Khan's men prepared to defend his palace at Munda, but finding themselves greatly outnumbered, they slipped away.

The first person from Low's force to reach Chitral was Younghusband who, without permission, rode out ahead of the troops.

In the spring of 1898 Captain Ralph Cobbold was on "hunting leave" in the Pamirs and learned that the Russians had planned to occupy Chitral if the British abandoned it.

[14] The Chitral Expedition is a much celebrated event, remembered in British history as a chapter in gallantry and valour, which has drawn wide appraisal[clarification needed].

[15][16][17] The valour and endurance displayed by all the ranks in the defence of the fort at Chitral, have added greatly to the prestige of the British arms, and will elicit the admiration of all those who read this account of the gallant defence made by a small party of Her Majesty’s forces, and combined with the troops of His Highness the Maharaja of Kashmir, against heavy odds when shut up in a fort in the heart of an enemy’s country, many miles from succour and support.The military skill displayed in the conducting of the defence, the cheerful endurance of all the hardship of the siege, the gallant demeanour of the troops and the conspicuous example of heroism and intrepidity recorded, will ever be remembered as forming a glorious episode in the history of the Indian Empire and its army.35°53′N 71°48′E / 35.883°N 71.800°E / 35.883; 71.800