Second Anglo-Afghan War in the context of "Russian empire"

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, and China to the northeast and east. Occupying 652,864 square kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kabul is the country's capital and largest city. Afghanistan's population is estimated to be between 40 and 50 million.

Human habitation in Afghanistan dates to the Middle Paleolithic era. Popularly referred to as the graveyard of empires, the land has witnessed numerous military campaigns, including those by the Persians, Alexander the Great, the Maurya Empire, Arab Muslims, the Mongols, the British, the Soviet Union, and a US-led coalition. Afghanistan also served as the source from which the Greco-Bactrians and the Mughals, among others, rose to form major empires. Because of the various conquests and periods in both the Iranian and Indian cultural spheres, the area was a center for Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and later Islam. The modern state of Afghanistan began with the Durrani Afghan Empire in the 18th century, although Dost Mohammad Khan is sometimes considered to be the founder of the first modern Afghan state. Afghanistan became a buffer state in the Great Game between the British Empire and the Russian Empire. From India, the British attempted to subjugate Afghanistan but were repelled in the First Anglo-Afghan War; the Second Anglo-Afghan War saw a British victory. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, Afghanistan became free of foreign political hegemony, and emerged as the independent Kingdom of Afghanistan in 1926. This monarchy lasted almost half a century, until Zahir Shah was overthrown in 1973, following which the Republic of Afghanistan was established.

The Emirate of Afghanistan, known internationally as the Emirate of Kabul until 1855, was an emirate in Central Asia that encompassed present-day Afghanistan, parts of present-day Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. The emirate emerged from its predecessor Durrani Empire, when the Barakzai dynasty prevailed in Kabul.

The history of the Emirate was dominated by the 'Great Game' between the Russian Empire and the British Empire for supremacy in Central Asia. This period was characterized by European influence in Afghanistan. The Emirate of Afghanistan continued the Durrani Empire's war with the Sikh Empire, losing control of the former Afghan stronghold of the Valley of Peshawar at the Battle of Nowshera on 14 March 1823. This was followed in 1838 by the First Anglo-Afghan War with British forces. The war eventually resulted in victory for Afghans, with the British withdrawal in 1842, and Dost Mohammad being reinstalled to the throne. However, during the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880), the British and Afghans signed the Treaty of Gandamak, which allowed the British to assume control of the Afghan territories within modern-day Pakistan as well as of Afghanistan's foreign affairs, on the condition that a subsidy be paid to the Afghans and the British military fully withdraw. Emir Amanullah Khan signed the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 following the Third Anglo-Afghan War, gaining full Afghan autonomy, and the removal of Afghanistan's status of being a de-jure British protectorate. In 1926, Amanullah Khan reformed the country as the Kingdom of Afghanistan, becoming its first King.

Abdur Rahman Khan GCSI (Pashto; Persian: عبدالرحمن خان, between 1840 and 1844 – 1 October 1901), also known by his epithet, The Iron Emir, was Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to his death in 1901. He is known for perpetrating the Hazara genocide, and suppressing Hazara rebels in the most brutal ways, while uniting the country after years of strong centralization, internal fighting, and negotiation of the Durand Line agreement with British India.

Abdur Rahman Khan was the only son of Mohammad Afzal Khan, and grandson of Dost Mohammad Khan, founder of the Barakzai dynasty. Abdur Rahman Khan re-established the writ of the Afghan government after the disarray that followed the second Anglo-Afghan war. He became known as The Iron Amir because of his government's military despotism. This despotism rested upon a well-appointed army and was administered through officials subservient to an inflexible will and controlled by a widespread system of espionage.

The Treaty of Gandamak (Dari: معاهده گندمک, Pashto: د گندمک تړون) officially ended the first phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The Afghan emir Mohammad Yaqub Khan ceded various frontier areas as well as Afghanistan's control of its foreign affairs to the British Raj.

It was signed on 26 May 1879 by King Mohammad Yaqub Khan of Afghanistan and Sir Louis Cavagnari of the British Government of India at a British army camp near the village of Gandamak, about 70 miles (110 km) east of Kabul. The treaty was ratified by Lord Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, Viceroy of India, on 30 May 1879.

Ghazi Mohammad Ayub Khan (Pashto; Persian: محمد ایوب خان, 1857 – 7 April 1914) also known as the Victor of Maiwand or the Afghan Prince Charlie was, for a while, the governor of Herat Province in the Emirate of Afghanistan. He was briefly the Emir of Afghanistan, from 12 October 1879 to 31 May 1880. He also led the Afghan troops during the Second Anglo-Afghan War and defeated the British Indian Army at the Battle of Maiwand. Following his defeat at the Battle of Kandahar, Ayub Khan was deposed and exiled to British India. However, Ayub Khan fled to Persia (now Iran). After negotiations in 1888 with Sir Mortimer Durand, the United Kingdom's ambassador at Tehran, Ayub Khan became a pensioner of the British Raj and traveled to British India in 1888, where he lived in Lahore, Punjab, until his death in 1914. He was buried in Peshawar and had eleven wives, fifteen sons, and ten daughters. Two of his grandsons, Sardar Hissam Mahmud el-Effendi and Sardar Muhammad Ismail Khan, served as brigadiers in the Pakistan Army.

In Afghanistan, he is remembered as the "National Hero of Afghanistan."

Anglo-Afghan Wars may refer to:

• First Anglo-Afghan War (1838–1842)
• Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880)
• Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919)
• Hazara Expedition (1888)
• Expedition of Shah Shujah Durrani (1833–1834)
• Chitral Expedition (1895)
• Tochi Expedition (1897–1898)
• Siege of Malakand (1897)
• Mohmand campaign (1897–1898)
• Tirah Campaign (1897–1898)
• Mahsud Waziri blockade (1900–1902)
• Operations in the Tochi (1914–1915)
• Operations against the Mohmands, Bunerwals and Swatis (1915)
• Mohmand blockade (1916–1917)
• Operations against the Mahsuds (1917)
• Waziristan Campaign (1919–1920)
• Waziristan campaign (1921–1924)
• Pink's War (1925)
• Mohmand Campaign (1935)
• Waziristan campaign (1936–1939)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • Operation Herrick (War in Afghanistan; November 2001 – December 2014)
  • Operation Toral (War in Afghanistan; December 2014 – August 2021)

Amb (Urdu, Hindko: امب) was a princely state within the Hazara Tribal Agency of North-West Frontier Province, British India, ruled by the Tanoli tribe. Together with the neighbouring estate of Phulra, the tract was known as "Feudal Tanawal". Its total area was 203 sq mi (530 km) while population was 48,656 in 1951. The Nawab of Amb Muhammad Farid Khan acceded to Pakistan after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. Today Amb is a part of Mansehra District of Hazara Division.

Amb came under the British suzerainty after the Second Anglo-Sikh War, with Mir Jehandad Khan providing much assistance to the East India Company against the Sikhs. The Amb Nawabs also provided military services to the British Empire in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. At the end of December 1947, the Nawab of Amb acceded to Pakistan while retaining internal self-government. Amb continued as a princely state of Pakistan until 1969, when it was incorporated into the North West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

The Hazara genocide occurred in the Hazarajat area of Afghanistan in the aftermath of Second Anglo-Afghan War when the Afghanistan Emirate signed the Treaty of Gandamak. Afghan Amir Abdur Rahman set out to bring the Turkistan, Hazaristan, and Kafiristan regions under Afghan control. He launched several campaigns in the Hazarajat due to resistance to oppression from the Hazaras, culminating in the Battle of Uruzgan and he conducted a widespread genocidal campaign against its population.

The Hazaras are a Shia Muslim minority in predominantly Sunni Muslim countries. This religious difference has contributed to their historic marginalization and made them targets of sectarian violence. Over 60 percent of the total Hazara population was massacred with some being displaced and exiled by migrating to Quetta, British Raj and Mashhad (Iran) and other adjoining areas. The Hazara land was distributed among loyalist villagers of nearby non-Hazaras. The repression after the uprising has been called the most significant case of genocide or ethnic cleansing in the history of modern Afghanistan.

War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to:

• Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC–327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire
• Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries
• Mongol campaigns in Central Asia (1216–1222), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire
• Mughal conquests in Afghanistan (1526), the conquest by the Mughal Empire
• Afghan-Sikh Wars (1748–1837), intermittent wars between the Afghans and the Punjabis.
• Afghan Civil War (1863–1869), a civil war between Sher Ali Khan and Mohammad Afzal Khan's faction after the death of Dost Mohammad Khan
• Panjdeh incident (1885), an incursion into Afghanistan by the Russian Empire during the era of the "Great Game"
• Anglo−Afghan Wars, wars conducted by British India in Afghanistan 1839–1919)
  • First Anglo−Afghan War (1839–1842)
  • Second Anglo−Afghan War (1878–1880)
  • Third Anglo−Afghan War (1919)
• Afghan Civil War (1928–1929), revolts by the Shinwari and the Saqqawists; the Saqqawists take over Kabul for a 9-month period
• Red Army intervention in Afghanistan (1929), an invasion by the Soviet Union against the Saqqawists in support of the royalists
• Afghanistan–Pakistan skirmishes (1947–present)
  • Bajaur Campaign (1960–1961)
• Afghan conflict
• 1973 Afghan coup d'état
• 1975 Panjshir Valley uprising
• Afghan coup d'état (1976)
• Saur Revolution (1978)
• Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989)
• Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)
• Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)
• Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • Taliban insurgency
• Islamic State–Taliban conflict (2015–present)
• Republican insurgency in Afghanistan (2021–present)
• Afghanistan–Pakistan skirmishes (1947–present)
  • Afghanistan–Pakistan clashes (2024–present)
    • 2025 Afghanistan–Pakistan conflict