Wars of Afghan Expansion
The Wars of Afghan Expansion refer to a series of military campaigns in the 18th century, primarily under the leadership of Aḥmad Shāh Durrānī, who emerged as a pivotal figure following the power vacuum in Afghanistan after the death of Nādir Shāh. Aḥmad declared Afghanistan's independence from the Persian Empire in 1747 and established the Durrānī Empire, unifying various Afghan tribes while building a formidable military structure. His campaigns involved several invasions of India, where he aimed to assert Afghan dominance over the declining Mughal Empire, capturing key regions such as Punjab and Lahore.
Aḥmad's military strategies were characterized by the use of a combined regular army and tribal levies, allowing him to achieve significant victories and expand his territory from Persia to the Indian subcontinent. However, his reign also faced constant challenges from both external enemies and internal tribal dissent. The Durrānī Dynasty, while prominent during Aḥmad's rule, struggled with the enduring tensions between centralized authority and independent tribalism, a dynamic that would shape Afghanistan's political landscape for years to come. The aftermath of Aḥmad's death in 1772 saw a decline in centralized power, continuing the historical pattern of conflict and fragmentation in the region.
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Wars of Afghan Expansion
At issue: The unification of Afghanistan and control of adjoining regions
Date: 1747–1773
Location: Afghanistan, Persia, Hindustan
Combatants: Afghanis vs. forces of the Mogul Empire, Persia, and various khanates
Principal commander: Afghani, Aḥmad Khan, later Aḥmad Shāh Durrānī (1722?-1772)
Principal battles: Sirhind, Pānīpat, Second Battle of Sirhind
Result: Afghanistan acquired a relative sense of unity and nationalist identity
Background
The rugged and remote region of Afghanistan has served as a natural buffer zone for great powers of the region throughout history. Its warlike tribes, difficult to subdue, were often used as military vassals, paying tribute to conquerors in the form of military service. In 1722, a confederation of Afghani tribes defeated the Persian Safavid Dynasty at Gulanbad and occupied the Iranian plateau. The Safavid’s successor, Nādir Shāh, subdued them and used Afghani warriors as auxiliaries in his army when he invaded Hindustan and defeated the Moguls. Upon Nādir’s death in 1747, Persia slipped into chaos, and a regional power vacuum loomed. Aḥmad Khan, a young Afghan clan leader of the Abdālī (Durrānī) tribe who had served as an officer under Nādir, emerged as a talented and charismatic leader, declaring Afghanistan’s independence from the Persian Empire. Aḥmad began a campaign of conquest and unification within Afghanistan and was elected king by a council of tribal chiefs in 1747. He assumed the title Aḥmad Shāh Durrānī and inaugurated the Durrānī Empire.
Action
Wisely eschewing any attempt to rule his unruly subjects in an absolutist manner, Aḥmad Shāh established a military feudal state with a council of nine senior chieftains. He formed an efficient regular army that was three-quarters cavalry, the balance being infantry with some artillery. At its peak, this force numbered some 40,000. The regular army was augmented by irregular tribal levies, in the same proportion of cavalry to infantry, numbering some 80,000. Aḥmad set out to liberate the heartland of Afghanistan from foreign domination and consolidate power in the region.
Aḥmad campaigned in India eight times beginning in 1748, when he invaded Punjab with a cavalry force of 12,000, avoided a Mogul army, and captured Lahore. In March, the Mogul army, outnumbering Aḥmad Shāh’s forces two to one, met and defeated him in a bitterly fought battle near Sirhind, forcing Aḥmad to retreat. The Mogul Empire was in decline, however, and the old emperor Muḥammad Shāh died soon after. When Aḥmad returned, he recaptured Lahore and most of Punjab. The new Mogul emperor at Delhi ceded all his territories west of the Indus to Aḥmad Shāh. In addition, all khanates in the region swore fealty to Aḥmad Shāh, but he was forced to suppress a plot against him when he returned to his capital at Kandahar, which became a pattern almost every time he left the country.
In 1749, Aḥmad turned west and captured the city of Herat, still under Persian control, in a long siege. He next captured the provinces of Khorāsān and Neyshābūr, in the spring of 1751, after a setback. From 1751 to 1757, Aḥmad invaded India twice to reassert his authority over the Punjab when local nobles rebelled and attempted to rejoin the Mogul Empire. In January, 1757, Aḥmad captured the Mogul capital of Delhi, but allowed the emperor to continue to rule as long as he recognized Durrānī suzerainty over Kashmir, Punjab, and Sind. A confederation of Mathra potentates formed to oppose him, which he defeated at the Second Battle of Sirhind in late 1760 and then at Panipat in January, 1761. In both battles, Aḥmad utterly destroyed his opponents and captured enormous amounts of booty, including jewels and hard currency. At its peak, Aḥmad’s empire stretched from central Persia, in the east, to Delhi, in the west, and from the Indian Ocean, in the south, to Amu Darya, in the north. Aḥmad appointed his son Timur as his successor in February, 1772, and died in April.
Aftermath
The Durrānī Dynasty was a Muslim power second only to the Ottomans in the last half of the eighteenth century and ruled until 1793. It was but a brief intermission, however, in the perennial Afghani conundrum of central authority versus belligerent, independent tribalism, an issue that was to continue.
Bibliography
Adamec, Ludwig W. Dictionary of Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies. Lanham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press, 1996.
Dupree, Louis. Afghanistan. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973.
Fletcher, Arnold. Afghanistan: Highway of Conquest. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1965.
Ganda, Singh. “Ahmad Shah: The Man and His Achievements.” Afghanistan 8, no. 1 (1953): 1–19.