Part -I
Satyaraj Hazarika, IPS
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Assam
Introduction:
Small Wars made its appearance in India in the 19th C with the decline of Marathas when Baji Rao II was defeated by British in 1819 and pensioned off in a small estate at Bithur, outside Kanpur. The mighty Mughal power was in decline and Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar's power, a British pensioner with Mughal power exceeding a few miles beyond Delhi. Pratap Singh I, popularly known as Maharana Pratap (c. 9 May 1540-19 January 1597) was a king of Mewar from the Sisodia dynasty waged guerilla warfare against Mughal Empire which proved inspirational for future India warrior kings including Sivaji. Violence was not the unintended consequence of British imperialism. The psychological terror it struck by the hanging of Mangal Pandey, among other measures like disbanding entire units were kinetic enough for revolt of 1857. Charles E. Callwell's Small Wars: Their Principles and Practice (1896) which tries to eviscerate, the small wars waged by British Army does not add a new narrative to the manner in which violence is deployed by the East India Company’s conduct of small wars. ‘The Mutiny’ of 1857 itself accounted for a colossal loss of 1,00,000 rebels life, according to a conservative estimate. In 1963 a human skull was discovered in a pub in South-East England, and found out to be of an Indian soldier Alum Bheg. He was blown from a cannon for his role in 1857 revolt and his head brought back to revive the war hysteria of Victorian England that fought wars unconcerned about collateral damage.
Revolt of 1857:
It began on 10 May 1857 where sepoys of Meerut mutinied. The mutiny of the sepoys took a general rebellious turn when the rebels declared Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Jafar as emperor of India. Large tracts of erstwhile Oudh state (annexed in 1856) was captured by rebels. It took the form of large uprising in Central and Northern India. From the neighborhood of Patna to Rajasthan border the entire swathe of land Kanpur, Lucknow, Bareilly, Jhansi, Gwalior, and Arrah in Bihar are the focal point of the revolt. Brave soldiers of Rani of Jhansi staved off repeated attempts by the British to storm the fort of Jhansi. Nana Sahib led the revolt in Kanpur. In Oudh Begum Hazrat Mahal wife of the deposed Nawab of Oudh Wajid Ali Shah, offered stiff resistance. In Assam rebel leaders were Kandapareshwar Singh and Maniram Datta and in Rajasthan Jaidayal and Hardayal Singh. In Bihar's Jagdishpur Kunwar Singh and Arnar Singh kept the fire of revolt burning. The 10th May revolt was preceded by a revolt in late Feb by 19th Native Infantry at Berhampur, where sepoy Mangal Pandey wounds two. As the Meerut mutineers reached Delhi on 13th May Europeans were targeted. As the rebels proclaims Bahadur Shah II as new emperor of India a force under George Anson marched to Delhi, later the command passes on to Maj Gen Henry Bernard. There were mutiny at army barracks at Lucknow, Lahore and Rohilikhand. On 6th June the Kanpur siege began by mutineous soldiers. Smith Neill came to Allahabad when Kanpur siege began. Neill set out for Allahabad on 9th June where sepoys mutinied three days ago where few Europeans are fighting a grim battle. Neill ordered hanging of sepoys with slightest complicity, execute non-combatants and burn down their houses. Neill then directed his attention to Kanpur, which already saw the Bibighar massacre of European civilians, and Neill ordered indiscriminate atrocities. Neil promoted to command a brigade accompanied Brigadier General Henry Havelock's Army to relieve Lucknow from Kanpur. The siege of Lucknow began on 30th June. On 23rd Aug the assault on Alum Bagh in Lucknow began. And two days later as the attack on Lucknow began and Neill was shot by a rebel bullet and died. Nana Sahib is the leader in Kanpur, and a relieving force under Brig Gen Sir Henry Havelock defeats rebels at Fatehpur and by 16th July Nana Sahib is under attack. Havelock registers success at Unao, Bithur. John Nicholson and Wilson begins assault on Delhi by mid September. After a week of intense battle Delhi was captured on 20th September and cleared of rebels and Nicholson loses his life. John Nicholson, the much idolized British Army officer is subject of a new book by Stuart Flinder's ‘Cult of a Dark Hero’ Nicholson of Delhi variously called “The Lion of Punjab” and compared to Gen Wolfe of Quebec, he was taken prisoner in the First Afghan War (1839-42). He was reviled for his unforgiving and excessive cruelty to the rebel's of 1857. He infamously ordered and oversaw the hanging without trial of a whole body of regimental cooks, when soup they were preparing, were found to be peppered with poison. As the Delhi assault began news of siege of Lucknow came and it was not until 25th Sep that Lucknow was relieved by Maj Gen Havelock and Outram. Colin Campbell (Anson's successor) by mid November could relieve Lucknow, from where he marched to Kanpur as a British force under Windham was facing reverses. The addition of Campbell's force with Windham could defeat Tantia Tope the leader of Kanpur revolt on 6 Dec. From there Campbell marched unopposed to Fatehgarh and launches the mopping up ops in Lucknow in the beginning of March 1858. Hugh Rose opens his Central India campaign where he defeats Tantia Tope at Betwa, and on April 3, Jhansi was sacked but the combined strength of Tantia Tope and Rani of Jhansi were giving a torrid time to British and on May 7 the combined rebel armies were routed by Rose. On 17th June in the battle of Kotah-ki-Serai Rani of Jhansi died fighting valiantly and the siege of Gwalior were enfeebled with the arrest of Tantia Tope, who was executed on 18th April 1859. Bahadur Shah II was found guilty and deposed to Rangoon. The immediate cause of the revolt far outweighs the besetting paranoia gripping the armed forces, at the pay disparity, lack of inclusiveness the disastrous Afghan war (1839-43) and the economic hardships imposed by British rule.
Afghan Wars (1839-1919):
Ranjit Singh’s Khalsa Army was the last military force in India which could take on the Company in 1830s, the Company had stationed nearly half the Bengal army, totalling more than 39,000 troops, along the Punjab frontier. North West was always awash with religious fundamentalism from the time of the Sikh Empire. The Wahabbis fought the army of Ranjit Singh. Sayed Ahmed Barelvi in early 19th C born in Rae Bareli (present UP state) began a Sunni Islamic Revivalist movement also known as Wahhabism. It will mean waging holy war (jihad) to establish a Caliphate. He reached Peshawar in 1826 and met Maulana Ismail Dehlvi and together they launched a holy war against Maharaja Ranjit Singh with his Mujahideens but Barelvi was eventually beheaded. The year was 1831 May.
In 1849 after the 2nd Anglo-Sikh war the Sikh power declined. And to defend the North Western frontier a new strategy was required for the British. The Afghan wars of British was the result of power struggle between Sadozais and Barakzais and the bewildering Pashtun tribes men inhabiting the North West Frontier Province. Shah Shuja belonged to the Sadozais the stock from whose rose Ahmad Shah Durrani who invaded India eight times between 1748-1767. Dost Mohammad on the other hand came from the Barakzais. There are seven distinct Pashtun tribes named Barakzai with the Zirak branch of the Durrani tribe being the most important. The Barakzais possessed large tracts of land between Herat and Kandahar. They were previously employed under Ahmad Shah Durrani. Muhammadzai are the powerful sub-tribe of the Barakzai, from which Amanullah Khan traces his lineage. Afhanistan or Khorasan, which Afghans called their land with the forbidding heights of Hindukush mountains, always presented a hardscrabble land which every invader wanted to conquer. The rivalries of its ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hajaras, on one hand and Durrani and Ghilzai Pashtuns on the other make up the maze of inrtigue and bloodstained history. Ghilzai (Pashtu: Ghar-Zai meaning 'hill people') are the largest Pashtun tribal cinfederacy found in Afg-Pak region. They are also known as Ghilji or Khilji. The Afghan state was formed in 1747 when the Ghilzai were defeated by the Durranis. The Ghilzai tribe comes from rural east, while the Durranis elites from the South.
1st Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42):
When the British installed former emir Shah Shuja (Durrani) in place of Dost Muhammad (Barakzai) the first war occured. On 6th January 1842 after both the British diplomats Sir Alexander Burns and Sir William McNaghten were murdered, British troops and civilians numbering 16,000 began to withdraw to Jalalabad some 90 miles away. The banner of revolt in the city was raised by Muhammad Akbar Khan, son of Dost Muhammad. Only one British Dr William Brydon reached Jalalabad alive. The British Army was routed. Dost Muhammad returns from exile to occupy Afghanistan from Shah Shuja.
