nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47
Two subsequent paintings helped to transform the bungled disaster
into an act of Imperial heroism. William Barnes Wollen’s Last Stand of Her
Majesty’s 44th Regiment at Gundamuck (1898) and Lady Butler’s Remnants
of an Army (1879), which depicts Dr Brydon’s arrival at Jalalabad, both
reinforce the myth of Britannia’s implacable resolve. The indomitable spirit
of Dr Brydon and the 44th Foot, even in defeat, is contrasted starkly with
the barbarism of the Afghans and Afghanistan, symbolized by the cruel
faces and knives of the Ghilzais who surround the 44th Foot, and the
barren, infertile, frost-bound landscapes that are the backdrop to both
paintings. In Butler’s painting, composed just before British forces invaded
Afghanistan for a second time, the Union Jack is shown flying defiantly,
and at full mast, from the Jalalabad fort.
Seven officers faced a military tribunal to answer to the charge of
‘conduct disgraceful to the character of an officer’, but all were acquit-
ted on the grounds that they were obeying General Elphinstone’s orders.
Only Brigadier Shelton and Colonel Palmer were subject to a full court
martial. Palmer, who had surrendered Ghazni, was honourably acquit-
ted, while Shelton faced four minor charges: ordering preparation for a
retreat without authority; using disrespectful language to a superior within
the hearing of troops; entering into a clandestine correspondence with
the enemy; and suffering himself to be taken prisoner by not taking due
care and precaution. His incompetent leadership on Tepa-yi Behmaru, his
refusal to attend council meetings even when ordered to do so by a superior
officer and his persistent advocacy of withdrawal were not even mentioned.
Shelton was found guilty on a single and very minor charge, that of enter-
ing into a clandestine correspondence with Akbar Khan. Despite this, he
was not cashiered because of his military record in the Napoleonic Wars
and Shelton resumed command of his regiment, only to die in 1845 when
his horse stumbled and fell on him.
The wider political fallout from the Afghan disaster raised serious
concerns about the impact the defeat would have on India’s Muslim popula-
tion in particular. Eldred Pottinger prophetically wrote that ‘if government
does not take some decided steps to recover the affection of the army...
a single spark will blow the Sepoys into a Mutiny’. 49 Another concern was
the negative impact the failure of the Afghan war would have on Britain’s
role as a European superpower, and no doubt in the corridors of power
in St Petersburg there was a great deal of smug satisfaction at Britain’s
bloody nose. Following the defeat, the Russian government showed far
less concern about continuing its expansionist policies in Central Asia,
counting on the fact that Britain would think twice before risking any
nandana
(Nandana)
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