Afghan–Sikh Wars

The Afghan–Sikh wars were a series of wars between the Islamic Durrani Empire (centred in present-day Afghanistan), and the Sikh Empire (located in the Punjab region). The conflict had its origins stemming from the days of the Dal Khalsa.

Afghan-Sikh Wars
Date First Phase: November 1748 – May 1765 Second Phase: December 1766 – 1799 Third Phase: 1800 – 1839 Location Punjab, Kashmir, Haryana, Pakistan and Afghanistan Result First Phase: Afghans driven from country; Lahore taken by Sikhs[1] Second Phase: Afghan campaign cut short, return home[2] Third Phase:
Belligerents
Durrani Empire (1751-1826) Emirate of Afghanistan (1823-1837) Afghan tribesmen (1751-1837)	Khalsa (1751-1837) Dal Khalsa (1748-1765) Misldar Army (1765-1800) Sikh Empire (1800-1839) Sikh Khalsa Army (1799-1837)
Commanders and leaders
Ahmad Shah Durrani Timur Shah Durrani Mir Mannu Shah Zaman Fateh Khan Dost Muhammad Khan Nawab Muzaffar Khan  † Azim Khan Syed Akbar Shah  † Sultan Mohammad Shah Akbar Khan	Akali Baba Deep Singh  † Nawab Kapur Singh Sardar Tara Singh Ghaiba & Badesha Sardars Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgharia Sardar Hari Singh Bhangi Sardar Charat Singh Sardar Maha Singh Baba Ala Singh Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab Misr Diwan Chand Jarnail Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa  † Sher Singh Sandhanwalia Kanwar Nau Nihal Singh Sardar Sham Singh Sardar Chattar Singh Sardar Sher Singh Kharak Singh Mahan Singh Mirpuri Akali Phula Singh  † Akali Sadhu Singh  † Akali Naina Singh Sardar Lehna Singh Sardar Ranjodh Singh Jean-Francois Allard Jean-Baptiste Ventura Claude Auguste Court

Background

The Sikh Confederacy had effectively achieved independence from the Mughal Empire in 1716, and expanded at its expense in the following decades, despite the Chhota Ghallughara. The Afsharid Persian emperor Nader Shah's invasion of the Mughal Empire (1738–40) dealt a heavy blow to the Mughals, but after Nader Shah's death in 1747, the Durrani Empire (roughly covering modern Afghanistan and Pakistan) declared its independence from Persia. Four years later, this new Afghan state came into conflict with the Sikh alliance.

First Phase

In 1748, Ahmad Shad Durrani invades, sacks and occupies Lahore.[3] Establishing a governor over Lahore, Ahmad marched his army east taking more territory.[3] The Sikhs would retake Lahore only to lose it to the Afghans by 12 April 1752.[3]

Ahmad raids India in 1757, and at battle of Amritsar, his son Timur Durrani, is defeated by the Sikhs.[3] By February 1758, the Durrani governor of Lahore, General Jahan Khan, is defeated by the Sikhs.[3]

Second Phase

In 1766, Ahmad Shah Durrani, again invaded India, taking Lahore without a fight.[2] The Sikhs withdraw, resorting to guerrilla warfare against the Afghans.[2] Ahmad marched on to Amritsar, massacring the population and destroying the city,[2] however his campaign was short-lived.[2] Faced with unpaid troops and internal strife back home in Kandahar, Ahmad was forced to march back to Afghanistan.[2] Ahmad Shah died in 1772, and by 1799, Sikhs were back in possession of Lahore.[4]

Third Phase

Battle of Attock

In 1813, after demanding the return of the fort at Attock, the Durrani prime minister Wazir Fateh Khan besieged Attock.[5] A Punjabi relief force arrived and for three months the two armies faced each other, neither side moving.[5] As the heat from summer started to affect the armies, Dewan Mokham Chand marched his army to block the Afghans from getting water from the river.[5] Without water the Afghan troops began to suffer dehydration, so they launched attack after attack towards the river, but were unable to break through.[5] Chand, realizing the Afghans were weakened, charged his cavalry at the Afghans who broke and ran, losing two thousand men.[5]

Two months after the victory at Attock, Ranjit Singh launched a campaign to take Kashmir from the Durrani Empire.[6] A late Autumn start postponed the campaign until the next spring.[6] By June, an army of 30,000 men under the command of Ram Dyal, grandson of Dewan Mokham Chand, marched toward Baramulla, with a pincer attack of 20,000 men led by Ranjit Singh marching to Poonch.[6]

Ranjit's force was delayed by torrential rains, while Ram Dyal's army took the fortress of Baramulla on 20 July 1814.[6] When Dyal's army reached Shupaiyan, the governor of Kashmir, Azim Khan blocked his advance.[7] Fighting a delaying action, Dyal waited on a reinforcement of 5,000 men from Ranjit.[8] These reinforcements were forced to a standstill by Afghan snipers.[8]

Ranjit Singh's force made little progress.[8] Faced with a scorched earth from the fleeing populace, food supplies became a major issue for his army, followed by a cholera outbreak.[8] Meanwhile, Ram Dyal, who was entrenched near Srinagar, received a proposal from Azim Khan for a negotiated peace and was able to extricate himself from a difficult situation.[8] Ranjit Singh's campaign ended in failure.[8]

Siege of Multan

Battle of Shopian

Battle of Nowshera

Battle of Jamrud

See also

• Battles fought by Sikhs
• Pashtun tribes

Notes

References

1. Mehta 2005, p. 303.
2. Dupree 1980, p. 339.
3. Lansford 2017, p. 20.
4. Glover 2008, p. 12.
5. Singh 1999, p. 235.
6. Singh 1999, p. 238.
7. Singh 1999, p. 238-239.
8. Singh 1999, p. 239.

Sources

• Dupree, Louis (1980). Afghanistan. Princeton University Press.
• Glover, William J. (2008). Making Lahore Modern: Constructing and Imagining a Colonial City. University of Minnesota Press.
• Grewal, J.S. (1990). The Sikhs of the Punjab. Cambridge University Press. p. 91. ISBN 0-521-63764-3. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
• Lansford, Tom (2017). Afghanistan at War: From the 18th-Century Durrani Dynasty to the 21st Century. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598847604.
• Mehta, Jaswant Lal (2005). Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707-1813. New Dawn Press, Inc.
• Singh, Khushwant (1999). A History of the Sikhs. Vol. 1, 1469–1839. Oxford University Press.