Afghanistan by Frederick Engels\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>
Frederick Engels<\/p>\nAfghanistan [40]\n
Source<\/span>: MECW Volume 18, p. 40; Afghanistan<\/span>, an extensive country\nof Asia, north-west of India. It lies between Persia and the Indies, and\nin the other direction between the Hindu Kush and the Indian Ocean. It formerly\nincluded the Persian provinces of Khorassan and Kohistan, together with Herat,\nBeluchistan, Cashmere, and Sinde, and a considerable part of the Punjab.\nIn its present limits there are probably not more than 4,000,000 inhabitants.\nThe surface of Afghanistan is very irregular, — lofty table lands, vast mountains,\ndeep valleys, and ravines. Like all mountainous tropical countries it presents\nevery variety of climate. In the Hindu Kush, the snow lies all the year on\nthe lofty summits, while in the valleys the thermometer ranges up to 130°.\nThe heat is greater in the eastern than in the western parts, but the climate\nis generally cooler than that of India; and although the alternations of\ntemperature between summer and winter, or day and night, are very great,\nthe country is generally healthy. The principal diseases are fevers, catarrhs,\nand ophthalmia. Occasionally the small-pox is destructive. The soil is of\nexuberant fertility. Date palms flourish in the oases of the sandy wastes;\nthe sugar cane and cotton in the warm valleys; and European fruits and vegetables\ngrow luxuriantly on the hill-side terraces up to a level of 6,000 or 7,000\nfeet. The mountains are clothed with noble forests, which are frequented\nby bears, wolves, and foxes, while the lion, the leopard, and the tiger,\nare found in districts congenial to their habits. The animals useful to mankind\nare not wanting. There is a fine variety of sheep of the Persian or large-tailed\nbreed. The horses are of good size and blood. The camel and ass are used\nas beasts of burthen, and goats, dogs, and cats, are to be found in great\nnumbers. Beside the Hindu Kush, which is a continuation of the Himalayas,\nthere is a mountain chain called the Solyman mountain, on the south-west;\nand between Afghanistan and Balkh, there is a chain known as the Paropamisan\nrange, very little information concerning which has, however, reached Europe.\nThe rivers are few in number; the Helmund and the Kabul are the most important.\nThese take their rise in the Hindu Kush, the Kabul flowing cast and falling\ninto the Indus near Attock; the Helmund flowing west through the district\nof Seiestan and falling into the lake of Zurrah. The Helmund has the peculiarity\nof overflowing its banks annually like the Nile, bringing fertility to the\nsoil, which, beyond the limit of the inundation, is sandy desert. The principal\ncities of Afghanistan are Kabul, the capital, Ghuznee, Peshawer, and Kandahar.\nKabul is a fine town, lat. 34° 10’ N. long. 60° 43’ E., on the river\nof the same name. The buildings are of wood, neat and commodious, and the\ntown being surrounded with fine gardens, has a very pleasing aspect. It is\nenvironed with villages, and is in the midst of a large plain encircled with\nlow hills. The tomb of the emperor Baber is its chief monument. Peshawer\nis a large city, with a population estimated at 100,000. Ghuznee, a city\nof ancient renown, once the capital of the great sultan Mahmoud, has fallen\nfrom its great estate and is now a poor place. Near it is Mahmoud’s tomb.\nKandahar was founded as recently as 1754. It is on the site of an ancient\ncity. It was for a few years the -capital; but in 1774 the seat of government\nwas removed to Kabul. It is believed to contain 100,000 inhabitants. Near\nthe city is the tomb of Shah Ahmed, the founder of the city, an asylum so\nsacred that even the king may not remove a criminal who has taken refuge\nwithin its walls.<\/p>\n The geographical position of Afghanistan, and the peculiar character of\nthe people, invest the country with a political importance that can scarcely\nbe over-estimated in the affairs of Central Asia. The government is a monarchy,\nbut the king’s authority over his high-spirited and turbulent subjects, is\npersonal and very uncertain. The kingdom is divided into provinces, each\nsuperintended by a representative of the sovereign, who collects the revenue\nand remits it to the capital.<\/p>\n The Afghans are a brave, hardy, and independent race; they follow pastoral\nor agricultural occupations only, eschewing trade and commerce, which they\ncontemptuously resign to Hindus, and to other inhabitants of towns. With\nthem, war is an excitement and relief from the monotonous occupation of industrial\npursuits.<\/p>\n The Afghans are divided into clans [41]\n, over which the various chiefs exercise a sort of feudal supremacy. Their\nindomitable hatred of rule, and their love of individual independence, alone\nprevents their becoming a powerful nation; but this very irregularity and\nuncertainty of action makes them dangerous neighbours, liable to be blown\nabout by the wind of caprice, or to be stirred up by political intriguers,\nwho artfully excite their passions. The two principal tribes are the Dooranees\nand Ghilgies, who are always at feud with each other. The Dooranee is the\nmore powerful; and in virtue of their supremacy their ameer or khan made\nhimself king of Afghanistan. He has a revenue of about $10,000,000. His authority\nis supreme only in his tribe. The military contingents are chiefly furnished\nby the Dooranees; the rest of the army is supplied either by the other clans,\nor by military adventurers who enlist into the service in hopes of pay or\nplunder. Justice in the towns is administered by cadis, but the Afghans rarely\nresort to law. Their khans have the right of punishment even to the extent\nof life or death. Avenging of blood is a family duty; nevertheless, they\nare said to be a liberal and generous people when unprovoked, and the rights\nof hospitality are so sacred that a deadly enemy who eats bread and salt,\nobtained even by stratagem, is sacred from revenge, and may even claim the\nprotection of his host against all other danger. In religion they are Mohammedans,\nand of the Soonee sect; but they are not bigoted, and alliances between Sheeahs\nand Soonees[42] are by no means uncommon.<\/p>\n Afghanistan has been subjected alternately to Mogul[43]\n and Persian dominion. Previous to the advent of the British on the shores\nof India the foreign invasions which swept the plains of Hindostan always\nproceeded from Afghanistan. Sultan Mahmoud the Great, Genghis Khan, Tameriane,\nand Nadir Shah, all took this road. In 1747 after the death of Nadir, Shah\nAhmed, who had learned the art of war under that military adventurer, determined\nto shake off the Persian yoke. Under him Afghanistan reached its highest\npoint of greatness and prosperity in modern times. He belonged to the family\nof the Suddosis, and his first act was to seize upon the booty which his\nlate chief had gathered in India. In 1748 he succeeded in expelling the Mogul\ngovernor from Kabul and Peshawer, and crossing the Indus he rapidly overran\nthe Punjab. His kingdom extended from Khorassan to Delhi, and he even measured\nswords with the Mahratta powers. [44]\n These great enterprises did not, however, prevent him from cultivating some\nof the arts of peace, and he was favourably known as a poet and historian.\nHe died in 1772, and left his crown to his son Timour, who, however, was\nunequal to the weighty charge. He abandoned the city of Kandahar, which had\nbeen founded by his father, and had, in a few years, become a wealthy and\npopulous town, and removed the seat of government back to Kabul. During his\nreign the internal dissensions of the tribes, which had been repressed by\nthe firm hand of Shah Ahmed, were revived. In 1793 Timour died, and Siman\nsucceeded him. This prince conceived the idea of consolidating the Mohammedan\npower of India, and this plan, which might have seriously endangered the\nBritish possessions, was thought so important that Sir John Malcolm was sent\nto the frontier to keep the Afghans in check, in case of their making any\nmovement, and at the same time negotiations were opened with Persia, by whose\nassistance the Afghans might be placed between two fires. These precautions\nwere, however, unnecessary; Siman Shah was more than sufficiently occupied\nby conspiracies, and disturbances at home, and his great plans were nipped\nin the bud. The king’s brother, Mahmud, threw himself into Herat with the\ndesign of erecting an independent principality, but failing in his attempt\nhe fled into Persia. Siman Shah had been assisted in attaining the throne\nby the Bairukshee family, at the head of which was Sheir Afras Khan. Siman’s\nappointment of an unpopular vizier excited the hatred of his old supporters,\nwho organized a conspiracy which was discovered, and Sheir Afras was put\nto death. Mahmud was now recalled by the conspirators, Siman was taken prisoner\nand his eyes put out. In opposition to Mahmud, who was supported by the Dooranees,\nShah Soojah was put forward by the Ghilgies, and held the throne for some\ntime; but he was at last defeated, chiefly through the treachery of his own\nsupporters, and was forced to take refuge amongst the Sikhs. [45]<\/p>\n In 1809 Napoleon had sent Gen. Gardane to Persia in the hope of inducing the shah [Fath Ali]<\/span> to invade India, and the Indian government sent a representative [Mountstuart Elphinstone]<\/span>\n to the court of Shah Soojah to create an opposition to Persia. At this epoch,\nRunjeet Singh rose into power and fame. He was a Sikh chieftain, and by his\ngenius made his country independent of the Afghans, and erected a kingdom\nin the Punjab, earning for himself the title of Maharajah (chief rajah),\nand the respect of the Anglo-Indian government. The usurper Mahmud was, however,\nnot destined to enjoy his triumph long. Futteh Khan, his vizier, who had\nalternately fluctuated between Mahmud and Shah Soojah, as ambition or temporary\ninterest prompted, was seized by the king’s son Kamran, his eyes put out,\nand afterward cruelly put to death. The powerful family of the murdered vizier\nswore to avenge his death. The puppet Shah Soojah was again brought forward\nand Mahmud expelled. Shah Soojah having given offence, however, was presently\ndeposed, and another brother crowned in his stead. Mahmud fled to Herat,\nof which he continued in possession, and in 1829 on his death his son Kamran\nsucceeded him in the government of that district. The Bairukshee family,\nhaving now attained chief power, divided the territory among themselves,\nbut following the national usage quarrelled, and were only united in presence\nof a common enemy. One of the brothers, Mohammed Khan, held the city of Peshawer,\nfor which he paid tribute to Runjeet Singh; another held Ghuznee; a third\nKandahar; while in Kabul, Dost Mohammed, the most powerful of the family,\nheld sway.<\/p>\n To this prince, Capt. Alexander Burnes was sent as ambassador in 1835,\nwhen Russia and England were intriguing against each other in Persia and\nCentral Asia. He offered an alliance which the Dost was but too eager to\naccept; but the Anglo-Indian government demanded every thing from him, while\nit offered absolutely nothing in return. In the mean time, in 1838, the Persians,\nwith Russian aid and advice, laid siege to Herat, the key of Afghanistan\nand India[46]; a Persian and a\nRussian agent arrived at Kabul, and the Dost, by the constant refusal of\nany positive engagement on the part of the British, was, at last, actually\ncompelled to receive overtures from the other parties. Burnes left, and Lord\nAuckland, then governor-general of India, influenced by his secretary W.\nMcNaghten, determined to punish Dost Mohammed, for what he himself had compelled\nhim to do. He resolved to dethrone him, and to set up Shah Soojah, now a\npensioner of the Indian government. A treaty was concluded with Shah Soojah,\nand with the Sikhs; the shah began collecting an army, paid and officered\nby the British, and an Anglo-Indian force was concentrated on the Sutlej.\nMcNaghten, seconded by Burnes, was to accompany the expedition in the quality\nof envoy in Afghanistan. In the mean time the Persians had raised the siege\nof Herat, and thus the only valid reason for interference in Afghanistan\nwas removed, but, nevertheless, in December 1838, the army marched toward\nSinde, which country was coerced into submission, and the payment of a contribution\nfor the benefit of the Sikhs and Shah Soojah.[47]\n Feb. 20, 1839, the British army passed the Indus. It consisted of about\n12,000 men, with above 40,000 camp-followers, beside the new levies of the\nshah. The Bolan Pass was traversed in March; want of provisions and forage\nbegan to be felt; the camels dropped by hundreds, and a great part of the\nbaggage was lost. April 7, the army entered the Khojak Pass, traversed it\nwithout resistance, and on April 25 entered Kandahar, which the Afghan princes,\nbrothers of Dost Mohammed, had abandoned. After a rest of two months, Sir\nJohn Keane, the commander, advanced with the main body of the army toward\nthe north, leaving a brigade, under Nott, in Kandahar. Ghuznee, the impregnable\nstronghold of Afghanistan, was taken, July 22, a deserter having brought\ninformation that the Kabul gate was the only one which had not been walled\nup; it was accordingly blown down, and the place was then stormed. After\nthis disaster, the army which Dost Mohammed had collected, at once disbanded,\nand Kabul too opened its gates, Aug. 6. Shah Soojah was installed in due\nform, but the real direction of government remained in the hands of McNaghten,\nwho also paid all Shah Soojah’s expenses out of the Indian treasury.<\/p>\n The conquest of Afghanistan seemed accomplished, and a considerable portion\nof the troops was sent back. But the Afghans were noways content to be ruled\nby the Feringhee Kaffirs (European infidels), and during the whole of 1840\nand '41, insurrection followed on insurrection in every part of the country.\nThe Anglo-Indian troops had to be constantly on the move. Yet, McNaghten\ndeclared this to be the normal state of Afghan society, and wrote home that\nevery thing went on well, and Shah Soojah’s power was taking root. In vain\nwere the warnings of the military officers and the other political agents.\nDost Mohammed had surrendered to the British in October, 1840, and was sent\nto India; every insurrection during the summer of '41 was successfully repressed,\nand toward October, McNaghten, nominated governor of Bombay, intended leaving\nwith another body of troops for India. But then the storm broke out. The\noccupation of Afghanistan cost the Indian treasury £1,250,000 per annum:\n16,000 troops, Anglo-Indian, and Shah Soojah’s, had to be paid in Afghanistan;\n3,000 more lay in Sinde, and the Bolan Pass; Shah Soojah’s regal splendours,\nthe salaries of his functionaries, and all expenses of his court and government,\nwere paid by the Indian treasury, and finally, the Afghan chiefs were subsidized,\nor rather bribed, from the same source, in order to keep them out of mischief.\nMcNaghten was informed of the impossibility of going on at this rate of spending\nmoney. He attempted retrenchment, but the only possible way to enforce it\nwas to cut down the allowances of the chiefs. The very day he attempted this,\nthe chiefs formed a conspiracy for the extermination of the British, and\nthus McNaghten himself was the means of bringing about the concentration\nof those insurrectionary forces, which hitherto had struggled against the\ninvaders singly, and without unity or concert; though it is certain, too,\nthat by this time the hatred of British dominion among the Afghans had reached\nthe highest point.<\/p>\n The English in Kabul were commanded by Gen. Elphinstone, a gouty, irresolute,\ncompletely helpless old man, whose orders constantly contradicted each other.\nThe troops occupied a sort of fortified camp, which was so extensive that\nthe garrison was scarcely sufficient to man the ramparts, much less to detach\nbodies to act in the field. The works were so imperfect that ditch and parapet\ncould be ridden over on horseback. As if this was not enough, the camp was\ncommanded almost within musket range by the neighbouring heights, and to\ncrown the absurdity of the arrangements, all provisions, and medical stores,\nwere in two detached forts at some distance from camp, separated from it,\nmoreover, by walled gardens and another small fort not occupied by the English.\nThe citadel or Bala Hissar of Kabul would have offered strong and splendid\nwinter quarters for the whole army, but to please Shah Soojah, it was not\noccupied. Nov. 2, 1841, the insurrection broke out. The house of Alexander\nBurnes, in the city, was attacked and he himself murdered. The British general\ndid nothing, and the insurrection grew strong by impunity. Elphinstone, utterly\nhelpless, at the mercy of all sorts of contradictory advice, very soon got\nevery thing into that confusion which Napoleon described by the three words,\nordre, contre-ordre, disordre <\/i>[Bonaparte]<\/span>\n. The Bala Hissar was, even now, not occupied. A few companies were sent\nagainst the thousands of insurgents, and of course were beaten. This still\nmore emboldened the Afghans. Nov. 3, the forts close to the camp were occupied.\nOn the 9th, the commissariat fort (garrisoned by only 80 men) was taken by\nthe Afghans, and the British were thus reduced to starvation. On the 5th,\nElphinstone already talked of buying a free passage out of the country. In\nfact, by the middle of November, his irresolution and incapacity had so demoralised\nthe troops that neither Europeans nor Sepoys[48]\n were any longer fit to meet the Afghans in the open field. Then the negotiations\nbegan. During these, McNaghten was murdered in a conference with Afghan chiefs.\nSnow began to cover the ground, provisions were scarce. At last, Jan. 1,\na capitulation was concluded. All the money, £190,000, was to be handed\nover to the Afghans, and bills signed for £140,000 more. All the artillery\nand ammunition, except 6 six-pounders and 3 mountain guns, were to remain.\nAll Afghanistan was to be evacuated. The chiefs, on the other hand, promised\na safe conduct, provisions, and baggage cattle.<\/p>\n Jan. 5, the British marched out, 4,500 combatants and 12,000 camp-followers.\nOne march sufficed to dissolve the last remnant of order, and to mix up soldiers\nand camp-followers in one hopeless confusion, rendering all resistance impossible.\nThe cold and snow and the want of provisions acted as in Napoleon’s retreat\nfrom Moscow [in 1812]<\/span>. But instead of Cossacks\nkeeping a respectful distance, the British were harassed by infuriated Afghan\nmarksmen, armed with long-range matchlocks, occupying every height. The chiefs\nwho signed the capitulation neither could nor would restrain the mountain\ntribes. The Koord-Kabul Pass became the grave of nearly all the army, and\nthe small remnant, less than 200 Europeans, fell at the entrance of the Jugduluk\nPass. Only one man, Dr. Brydon, reached Jelalabad to tell the tale. Many\nofficers, however, had been seized by the Afghans, and kept in captivity,\nJelalabad was held by Sale’s brigade. Capitulation was demanded of him, but\nhe refused to evacuate the town, so did Nott at Kandahar. Ghuznee had fallen;\nthere was not a single man in the place that understood any thing about artillery,\nand the Sepoys of the garrison had succumbed to the climate.<\/p>\n In the mean time, the British authorities on the frontier at the first\nnews of the disaster of Kabul, had concentrated at Peshawer the troops destined\nfor the relief of the regiments in Afghanistan. But transportation was wanting\nand the Sepoys fell sick in great numbers. Gen. Pollock, in February, took\nthe command, and by the end of March, 1842, received further reinforcements.\nHe then forced the Khyber Pass, and advanced to the relief of Sale at Jelalabad;\nhere Sale had a few days before completely defeated the investing Afghan\narmy. Lord Ellenborough, now governor-general of India, ordered the troops\nto fall back; but both Nott and Pollock found a welcome excuse in the want\nof transportation. At last, by the beginning of July, public opinion in India\nforced Lord Ellenborough to do something for the recovery of the national\nhonour and the prestige of the British army; accordingly, he authorised an\nadvance on Kabul, both from Kandahar and Jelalabad. By the middle of August,\nPollock and Nott had come to an understanding respecting their movements,\nand Aug. 20, Pollock moved towards Kabul, reached Gundamuck, and beat a body\nof Afghans on the 23rd, carried the Jugduluk Pass Sept. 8, defeated the assembled\nstrength of the enemy on the 13th at Tezeen, and encamped on the 15th under\nthe walls of Kabul. Nott, in the mean time, had, Aug. 7, evacuated Kandahar,\nand marched with all his forces toward Ghuznee. After some minor engagements,\nhe defeated a large body of Afghans, Aug. 30, took possession of Ghuznee,\nwhich had been abandoned by the enemy, Sept. 6, destroyed the works and town,\nagain defeated the Afghans in the strong position of Alydan, and, Sept. 17,\narrived near Kabul, where Pollock at once established his communication with\nhim. Shah Soojah had, long before, been murdered by some of the chiefs, and\nsince then no regular government had existed in Afghanistan; nominally, Futteh\nJung, his son, was king. Pollock despatched a body of cavalry after the Kabul\nprisoners, but these had succeeded in bribing their guard, and met him on\nthe road. As a mark of vengeance, the bazaar of Kabul was destroyed, on which\noccasion the soldiers plundered part of the town and massacred many inhabitants.\nOct. 12, the British left Kabul and marched by Jelalabad and Peshawer to\nIndia. Futteh Jung, despairing of his position, followed them. Dost Mohammed\nwas now dismissed from captivity, and returned to his kingdom. Thus ended\nthe attempt of the British to set up a prince of their own making in Afghanistan.<\/p>\nFootnotes\n\n 40<\/span> That Engels wanted to write\nan article on Afghanistan (with emphasis on the Anglo-Afghan war of 1838-42)\nis evident from the fact that he included this topic in the provisional list\nof articles for The New American Cyclopaedia <\/i>in his letter to Marx\nof May 28, 1857. On July 11, 1857, however, Engels informed Marx that the\narticle would not be ready by July 14, as agreed. The work on it apparently\ntook longer than expected. Marx had received it by August 11 and, as can\nbe seen from the entry in his notebook for this date, sent it off to New\nYork, In a letter to Marx of September 2, 1857 Charles Dana acknowledged\nreceipt of “Invasion of Afghanistan”.<\/p>\n When working on this article Engels used J. W. Kaye’s History of the War in Afghanistan<\/i> Vols. I-II, London, 1851 (see this volume, pp. 379-90).<\/p>\n\n 41<\/span> Engels uses the term “clan”, widespread in Western Europe, to designate heli<\/i> (tribal groups) into which Afghan tribes were divided.<\/p>\n\n 42<\/span> Soonees <\/i>(Sunnites) and Sheeahs <\/i>\n(Shiites)-members of the two main Mohammedan sects which appeared in the\nseventh century as the result of conflicts between the successors of Mohammed,\nfounder of Islam.<\/p>\n\n 43<\/span> The Moguls-invaders of Turkish\ndescent, who came to India from the cast of Central Asia in the early sixteenth\ncentury and in 1526 founded the Empire of the Great Moguls (named after the\nruling dynasty of the Empire) in Northern India. Contemporaries regarded\nthem as the direct descendants of the Mongol warriors of Genghis Khan, hence\nthe name “Moguls”. In the mid-seventeenth century the Mogul Empire included\nmost of India and part of Afghanistan. Later on, however, the Empire began\nto decline due to peasant rebellions, the growing resistance of the Indian\npeople to the Mohammedan conquerors, and increasing separatist tendencies.\nIn the early half of the eighteenth century the Empire of the Great Moguls\nvirtually ceased to exist.<\/p>\n\n 44<\/span> The Mahrattas (Marathas)-an\nethnic group who lived in Northwestern Deccan. In the mid-seventeenth century\nthey began an armed struggle against the Empire of the Great Moguls, thus\ncontributing to its decline. In the course of the struggle the Mahrattas\nformed an independent state of their own, whose rulers soon embarked on wars\nof conquest. At the close of the seventeenth century their state was weakened\nby internal feudal strife, but early in the eighteenth century a powerful\nconfederation of Mahratta principalities was formed under a supreme governor,\nthe Peshwa. In 1761 they suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Afghans\nin the struggle for supremacy in India. Weakened by this struggle and internal\nfeudal strife, the Mabratta principalities fell a prey to the East India\nCompany and were subjugated by it as a result of the Anglo-Mahratta war of\n1803-05. <\/p>\n\n 45<\/span> The Sikhs-a religious sect which\nappeared in the Punjab (Northwestern India) in the sixteenth century. Their\nbelief in equality became the ideology of the peasants and lower urban strata\nin their struggle against the Empire of the Great Moguls and the Afghan invaders\nat the end of the seventeenth century. Subsequently a local aristocracy emerged\namong the Sikhs and its representatives headed the Sikh principalities. In\nthe early nineteenth century these principalities united under Ranjit Singh\nwhose Sikh state included the Punjab and some neighbouring regions. The British\nauthorities in India provoked an armed conflict with the Sikhs in 1845 and\nin 1846 succeeded in turning the Sikh state into a vassal. The Sikhs revolted\nin 1848, but were subjugated in 1849.<\/p>\n\n 46<\/span> The siege of <\/i>Herat by\nthe Persians lasted from November 1837 to August 1838. Intent on increasing\nBritain’s influence in Afghanistan and weakening Russia’s in Persia, the\nBritish Government declared the Shah’s actions to be hostile to Britain and\ndemanded that he should lift the siege. Threatening him with war, it sent\na squadron into the Persian Gulf in 1838. The Shah was forced to submit and\nto agree to a one-sided trade treaty with Britain. Marx described the siege\nof Herat in his article “The War against Persia” (see present edition, Vol.\n15).<\/p>\n\n 47<\/span> During the Anglo-Afghan war\nthe East India Company resorted to threats and violence to obtain the consent\nof the feudal rulers of Sind, a region in the northwest of India (now in\nPakistan) bordering on Afghanistan, to the passage of British troops across\ntheir territory. Taking advantage of this, the British demanded in 1843 that\nthe local feudal princes proclaim themselves vassals of the Company. After\ncrushing the rebel Baluchi tribes (natives of Sind), they declared the annexation\nof the entire region to British India.<\/p>\n\n 48<\/span> Sepoys-mercenary troops in the\nBritish-Indian army recruited from the Indian population and serving under\nBritish officers. They were used by the British to subjugate India and to\nfight the wars of conquest against Afghanistan, Burma and other neighbouring\nstates. However, the Sepoys shared the general discontent of the Indian people\nwith the colonial regime and took part in the national liberation insurrection\nin India in 1857-59.<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n \nReview of J W Kaye's History of the War In Afghanistan<\/i>
\nWritten<\/span>: in July and the first 10 days of August 1857;
\nFirst published<\/span>: in The New American Cyclopaedia, <\/i>Vol. I, 1858.
\nTranscribed<\/span>: Andy Blunden, 2001.
\nReview of J W Kaye’s The Afghan War, by Engels<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
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\nMarx\/Engels Archive\n<\/p>\n\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/www.marxists.org","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"Frederick Engels AFGHANISTAN [40] Source: MECW Volume 18, p. 40; Written: in July and the first 10 days of August 1857; First published: in The New American Cyclopaedia, Vol. I, 1858. Transcribed: Andy Blunden, 2001. Review of J W Kaye’s The Afghan War, by Engels Afghanistan, an extensive country ...","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2001\/11\/engelp962iq.html","filesize":"28.5 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2001\/11\/12602.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}