Military history of the North-West Frontier
With the expansion of the Russian Empire into Central Asia in the twentieth century, stability of the Frontier and control of Afghanistan became cornerstones of defensive strategy for British India.
[3] Between 1849 and 1947 the military history of the frontier was a succession of punitive expeditions against offending Pashtun (or Pathan) tribes, punctuated by three wars against Afghanistan.
Many British officers who went on to distinguished command in the First and Second World Wars learnt their soldiering on the North-West Frontier, which they called the Grim.
During this period the Punjab was effectively ceded to its erstwhile governor Ranjit Singh, Iran recovered Khorassan, and Sindh broke away.
[8] He defeated a further attempt to oust him by his exiled rival Shuja Shah Durrani in 1833; however the Sikhs seized all of Peshawar the following year.
The civil war in Afghanistan coupled with a British backed assault meant that the Sikhs could virtually walk into Peshawar.
Britain and France were at war, and the Franco-Persian alliance of 1807, followed the same year by the Franco-Russian Treaty of Tilsit, alerted the HEIC to the external threat posed from the north-west.
Attempts by Irān to recover Herat in 1834, and again in 1837, raised the spectre of Russian armies on the road to Kandahar, whence direct access to India through the Khojak and Bolan passes.
Dost Mohammad appealed to the HEIC for aid in recovering Peshawar, but the company could not help him without alienating its treaty ally Ranjit Singh.
Restored to his throne in Kabul, the exiled former ruler would accept the Sikh gains west of the Indus, and the Company controlling his foreign policy.
[13] When the Sepoy Rebellion broke out Amir Dost Mohammad Khan came under internal pressure to seize the advantage and attack India.
On May 26, 1879, Amir Yakub signed the Treaty of Gandamak, whereby Afghanistan surrendered its foreign policy to the British Empire, which in turn promised protection from aggression.
Yakub's army was defeated in September 1880, and his throne was offered to, and accepted by, Abdur Rahman, who agreed to surrender all claims on the Khyber, the Kurram, Sibi, and Pishin.
[15] In support of the British war effort, the Indian Army deployed expeditionary forces to the Western Front, East Africa, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, Sinai and Palestine.
However, Amir Habibulla abided by his treaty obligations and maintained Afghanistan's neutrality, in the face of internal opposition from factions keen to side with the Ottoman Sultan.
Having upheld Afghan neutrality while India was engaged in the Great War, Habibulla sought full independence for Afghanistan in February 1919.
[23] By the Treaty of Rawalpindi signed in August, Afghanistan gained control of its foreign affairs, and in turn, recognised the Durand Line as its border with India.
As a result, the Indian Army's Waziristan Force was fully engaged in re-establishing the posts and restoring the lines of communication from November until May 1920.
[25] The long-term plan for control of the district entailed building metalled roads along the lines of communication to a new central base to be established at Razmak.
The two roads met in 1924, linking North and South Waziristan, and enabling the Indian Army to reorganise both areas as one military district.
Razmak, Wana and Bannu were garrisoned with half-trained units which suffered serious reverses, losing men, rifles, and light machine-guns.
[35] As part of its findings, it recommended a return to the Curzon Plan, which advocated the withdrawal of all regular forces from tribal territory into outposts, or cantonments, along the administrative border from where they could keep an eye on things.
[36] Based upon the recommendations of the Tucker committee in 1944 (see above), the newly formed Pakistani government decided to move away from the previous British policy of 'forward defence' in the North-West Frontier region and ordered the withdrawal of forces from Waziristan, as it was felt that the presence of a regular military force in the region was provoking tensions with the local tribesmen.
[39] A method of execution by this is recorded: captured British soldiers were spread out and fastened with restraints to the ground, then a stick, or a piece of wood was used to keep their mouth open to prevent swallowing.
[50] From its inception the corps was clothed in native style, with smock, baggy trousers and turban of home-spun cotton, and jerkin of sheepskin.
That same year the Corps of Guides was ordered to Delhi, covering the 930 km from Mardan in twenty-two days and famously going into action on arrival.
Bombay Native Artillery in 1875, when that company relieved the men of Jacob's Rfles manning the guns of the force headquarters at Jacobabad.
[92] The 4th Regiment of Sikh Infantry served in the Second Burma War, winning the honour PEGU, and then marched 900 km from Abbottabad in thirty days to help suppress the revolt in Delhi, and like the Guides going into action on arrival.
As General Baden-Powell noted, when he was looking, many years later, for a suitably inspiring term to adopt for his youth movement to train young boys in fieldcraft and other 'para-military' activities, the word Scouts encapsulated a spirit of 'dash' (enthusiasm), expertise - within a defined set of skills- and familiarity with both the local conditions.
It began, in the British manner, as an improvisation to meet a need; it was maintained because it guaranteed certain unique skills at an acceptable price (the great Empire may have vaunted its 'pomp and circumstance' to wow the impressionable, but behind the scenes the deciding factor was often simply the acceptability or otherwise to HM Treasury) and only then was the principle regularised, standardised and systemised (cf.
