Course of the War:
A British Indian force advanced in March 1838, and entered Kandahar. Shah Shuja was crowned. Dost Mahommed withdrew, and Kabul was entered. The war was brought to an end, but in November 1841 a revolt broke out in Kabul and there were serious massacres. The British garrison in withdrawing was overwhelmed between Kabul and Jalalabad. Reinforcements, in 1842, forced the Kyber Pass, relieved Jalalabad and occupied Kabul. The army finally evacuated Afghanistan in December 1842.
Political Result:
A ruler imposed on a free people by foreign arms is always unpopular. The Afghans considered that Shah Shuja’s rule under the protection of British troops might be fatal to their national independence.
Remarks:
This war has been described as a rash, ill-planned, and hazardous enterprise, and was the immediate cause of further trouble. (See p. [58].)
THE OPIUM WAR IN CHINA
1840–1842
Belligerents:
Great Britain.
China.