Yet the Marquis of Hastings and his successors still carried out the same policy of annexation as had been in existence during the alarms of Napoleon, and the Indian frontiers have ever since been keenly watched and guarded from foreign attack. The second Mahratta War (1817–1819) and the first Burmese War (1824–1826) are instances of British watchfulness over the frontiers.
As was to be expected, Russia appeared on the scene in the place of France, and the drama of the Anglo-Russian struggle in Afghanistan was enacted in 1837.
The Expansion of Russia in Asia.
For some time previously Russia had been gradually advancing into Central Asia. This movement started with Peter the Great, while Alexander I. arranged with Napoleon by the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) to annex whatever he pleased in Central Asia. Hence the Russian boast of Nicholas that “Russia has no boundary in Central Asia.” For some time, however, Turkish affairs occupied the Russian minds, and Asia was left untouched, while for twenty or thirty years after the fall of Napoleon, all the great countries were endeavouring to restore the balance of power in Europe. Then in 1830 Russia began to show her hand, and seized Jaxartes, and in 1837 the siege of Herat by the Persians (no doubt incited by the Russians), which is sometimes called the north-western gate of India, and the failure of negotiations with Dost Mohammed, who was backed by Russian influence, urged the English to take strong measures in order to protect India from Russian invasion, especially through the two Afghan Passes, the Bolon and Khyber.
The first English move was the sending of an expedition to Cabul, and its occupation in 1839. Its intention was to place a ruler over Afghanistan who should be under English influence. This was considered defensive policy.
In 1847 Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord John Russell the following:—
“The roads through Persia are good, and the Caspian gives additional facilities. From Astrabad through Afghanistan are very practicable military roads. A Russian force in occupation of Afghanistan might convert Afghanistan into the advanced post of Russia.”
The annexation of Sind (1843), Punjaub (1849), Oudh (1856), and the second Burmese War (1852), are all policies on the same lines.
Just at this period Russia was warmly engaged with Turkish affairs, and in 1853–1856 was employed in the Crimean War against England, France, and Turkey. She was beaten, and by the Treaty of Paris was driven back from the Danube, and forbidden to put a Russian fleet of any description in the Black Sea, and the fortifications of Sebastopol were dismantled. Thus a Russian advance on the Balkans and Armenia seemed then almost hopeless. Therefore she turned her attention to Central Asia, and vigorously carried out her plans for several years.