About the Book: Return Of A King: An Indian Army In Afghanistan
In the spring of 1839, the British invaded Afghanistan for the first time. Led
by lancers inscarlet cloaks and plumed shakos, nearly 20, 000 British and East
India Companytroops poured through the high mountain passes and re-established
on the throneShah Shuja ul-Mulk.
On the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of
occupation, theAfghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and the
country exploded into violentrebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War ended in
Britains greatest military humiliation ofthe nineteenth century: an entire army
of the then most powerful nation in