| Anglo-Persian War | |||||||
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British-Indian forces attacking at the Battle of Kooshab |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
British EmpireAfghanistan |
Persia |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Major General Sir James Outram | Nasser al-Din Shah | ||||||
The Anglo-Persian War lasted between November 1, 1856 and April 4, 1857, and was fought between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Persia (which was at the time ruled by the Qajar dynasty). In the war, the British opposed an attempt by Persia to reacquire the city of Herat. Though Herat had been part of Persia under the Qajar dynasty, at the time the war broke out it was nominally part of western Afghanistan (Afghanistan was then a very loose entity). The campaign was successfully conducted under the leadership of Major General Sir James Outram in two theatres - on the southern coast of Persia near Bushehr and in southern Mesopotamia (the old name for the region now forming the nation of Iraq). The war resulted in Persia withdrawing from Herat and signing a new treaty in which it surrendered its claims on the city.
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In the context of the Great Game — the Anglo-Russian contest for influence in Central Asia — the British wished for Afghanistan to remain an independent country friendly to Britain as a buffer against Russian expansion towards India. They opposed an extension of Persian influence in Afghanistan because of the perception that Persia was unduly influenced by the Russians. The Persians had repeatedly attempted to acquire Herat by force, most recently in 1838 and 1852; both times British opposition had convinced them to back down prior to war. They made a fresh attempt in 1856, and succeeded in taking the city on 25 October, with Russian encouragement and in violation of the existing Anglo-Persian treaty. In response, the British Governor-General in India, acting on orders from London, declared war on 1 November.
Separate from and in many ways prior to the dispute over Herat was an incident concerning one Meerza Hashem Khan, whom the British ambassador hoped to appoint as a secretary in the mission in Teheran. The Persians objected, creating a dispute that escalated when rumours appeared that the British ambassador had improper relations with the man's wife, who was the sister of the Shah's principal wife. The dispute escalated still further when the Persians arrested the woman; the British ambassador broke relations when they refused to release her. Indeed, the initial mobilisation of British forces began in response to this incident, although it is unlikely that the British would have gone beyond the occupation of one or two islands in the Persian Gulf had the issue of Herat not arisen.
Two courses of action were available to the British, to mount an overland expedition through Afghanistan or attack the Persian empire from the south through the Persian Gulf; the aim being punitive and also force the Shah to ask for terms. The British Government decided to attack in the general area of Bushire, a small city near the southern coast of Persia and ordered the Government in India to launch a maritime expeditionary force.[1] In the aftermath of the disastrous First Afghan War, the British were reluctant to send a force through Afghanistan to relieve Herat directly. Instead, they elected to attack the Persians on the Persian Gulf coast.
Initially a division, under Major General Foster Stalker, was organised comprising 2300 British soldiers and 3400 Indian sepoys of the Bombay Presidency army which landed in Persia in early December 1856. This included two companies of the Bombay Sappers & Miners. These were:[2]
The two companies were accompanied by the headquarters of the Corps of Bombay Sappers and Miners, under Captain W.R. Dickinson, (Bombay Engineers). Major J. Hill, the erstwhile Commandant of the Bombay Sappers and Miners, who had handed the Corps over to Dickinson, was appointed as the Commanding Engineer for this expedition. After the expedition he resumed the post of Commandant of the Bombay Sappers once again.[2]
Soon after the induction of the force, it was considered to be inadequate for the task and a second division under Brigadier General Henry Havelock was formed and the entire expedition placed under command of Major General Sir James Outram. This force inducted in January 1857.[2]
During the hostilities, 'B' Company of the Madras Sappers & Miners under Brevet-Major A.M. Boileau, Madras Engineers[4], embarked at Coconada on 19 January and reached the force just in time for participating in operations in Southern Mesopotamia.[2]
The first division under Stalker set sail from Bombay in November after the declaration of war, on a squadron or flotilla of seven steamships under Commodore Young, towing thirty sailing vessels. The British landed a force and captured the island of Kharag on 4 December and landed ashore on 9 December on the coast a few miles south of Persia's primary port of Bushire.[2] Immediately on landing, the first division advanced on Bushire. They stormed the old fort at Reshire (also called Rishahr or Rashir) and after a short naval bombardment went on to capture the city on 10 December, ably assisted by the two companies of Bombay Sappers & Miners. There was then a delay as the British waited for reinforcements. Reconnaissance inland revealed a Persian force of 4000 troops at Shiraz and the first division was considered too weak to venture inland away from its maritime base of operations. This led to the formation and induction of a second division from India, which landed in Persia in late January and reached Bushire, preceded by Outram on the 20th of January.[2]
The British resumed their march back to Bushire, but in deplorable conditions; torrential rains which created mud so deep as to pull a man's boots of his feet. The troops went through a harrowing ordeal finally reaching Bushire on the 10th of February, about which is written:[2]
The troops had covered 46 miles in 41 hours to meet the enemy, a further 20 miles over the most difficult country during the night after the battle, and after a rest of 6 hours, another 24 miles to Bushire.—E.W.C. Sandes in the Indian Sappers and Miners (1948).
The Persians later published their own version of the battle of Khoosh-Ab claiming that the British had been defeated with losses of 1000 killed and wounded with own losses of 500. They claimed to have broken the British boxes twice and that the battle had been relinquished only when both sides were forced to abandon their guns in the mud. In this manner, the Persians attempted to minimise the political effects of their defeat on the battlefield.[5]
Once reinforcements arrived, an Army expeditionary force of three brigades under Major General Sir James Outram advanced on Brazjun/Borazjan (en route to Shiraz), which the Persians abandoned without a fight. The British appropriated or destroyed the supplies at the site and then halted on 5 February near the village of Khoosh-Ab where good water was available. Outram advanced further on the 6th and 7th, but seeing the enemy retreat into the mountains beyond his reach and being short of rations, he decided not to risk a mountain pursuit but instead to fall back to the wells near Khoosh-Ab or Khushab for a logistic pause, before returning to Bushire. The Persians, encouraged by the retreat of Havelock's forces, occupied with 8000 men a position dominating Outram's camp, catching the British in a potentially dangerous situation. Outram attacked this position on 7-8 February in the Battle of Khushab, ultimately managed to inflict a defeat on the Persians in what turned out to be the largest battle of the war, with 700 Persian dead.[2]. Pursuit of the defeated Persian army was deemed impracticable, and thus the British returned to Bushire.
The British then shifted their focus north up the Persian Gulf, invading Southern Mesopotamia by advancing up the Shatt Al Arab waterway to Mohammerah (future Khorramshahr) at its junction with the Karun River, short of Basra. The force collected for this sortie consisted of 1500 British and 2400 Indian soldiers. The engineers grouped with this force included 2nd Company, Bombay Sappers & Miners (with 109 troops under Captain Haig) and B Company, Madras Sappers & Miners (with 124 troops under Brevet-Major Boileau)[5]. The transfer of forces was delayed by the separate deaths by suicide of two high-ranking British officers, which occasioned a shuffling of commands and forced Outram to leave Brigadier John Jacob in command in Bushire.
On March 19 the expedition entered the Shatt al Arab. On the 24th they were in sight of the strong defences of Mohammerah. The engineer officers were part of the close reconnaissance of the Persian guns in a small canoe. They first planned to erect a battery on an island in the Shatt al Arab, but the island proved to be too swampy. They then towed the mortars on a raft and moored it behind the island from where fire support was provided. Two days later, warships sailed up the Shatt al Arab and silenced the Persian battery. The troops landed and advanced though the date groves. These were punctuated with irrigation channels which the sappers rapidly bridged with palm trees. The Madras Sappers were also aboard the S.S. Hugh Lindsay assisting the 64th Regiment to fire the ship's carronades[5]
Besides its defences, Muhammarah was further protected by the political requirement that the British not violate Ottoman territory, as the city lay right on the border. In the event, however, the Persians abandoned the city to a British force under Brigadier Henry Havelock, which captured it on 27 March. The 13,000 Persians and Arabs under the command of Khanlar Mirza withdrew to Ahvaz[5], a hundred miles up the Karun River. The sappers were now continually employed in destroying Persian batteries, making roads, landing stages and huts in the unhealthy climate and so could not be spared for the sortie to Ahvaz, where the Royal Navy and forces from the 64th Foot and 78th Highlanders attacked the Persian force. The town fell to the British on 1 April 1857. On returning to Muhammarah on 4 April the force learned that peace had been signed in Paris on the 4 March and hostilities ceased. At the time that news of peace arrived, Outram was planning an invasion into the Persian interior that likely would have significantly escalated the war. The expeditionary force had thus successfully carried out its purpose by capturing Bushire, defeating the Persians at Khoosh-Ab and capturing a foothold in southern Mesopotamia thus forcing the Persians to sue for terms and over the next few months, the force returned to India.[5] The British later also vacated both Kharag island and Bushire. Most of these forces were soon inducted into operations in Central India to quell the Indian Mutiny, in which both Havelock and Outram would later distinguish themselves at the siege of Lucknow.[6]
The Persians apparently hoped that the British would not contest their acquisition of Herat — they recognised that they could not expect to win a war against the British army — and thus once British opposition became clear they attempted to back down. Negotiations in Constantinople between Persian ambassador Ferukh Khan and British ambassador Lord Stratford de Redcliffe ultimately broke down over British demands that the Persians replace their prime minister (the sadr-i a'zam). News of the onset of fighting resulted in a formal rupture of talks, but discussions soon began again in Paris, and the two sides signed a peace treaty on 4 March, in which the Shah agreed to withdraw from Herat and refrain from further interference in the affairs of Afghanistan.[7] In the treaty, the Persians agreed to withdraw from Herat, to apologise to the British ambassador on his return, to sign a commercial treaty, and to cooperate in suppressing the slave trade in the Persian Gulf; the British agreed not to shelter opponents of the Shah in the embassy, and they abandoned the demand to replace the prime minister as well as one requiring territorial concessions to the Imam of Muscat, a British ally.
The Persians faithfully withdrew from Herat, permitting the British to return their troops to India, where they were soon needed for combat in the Indian Mutiny. Herat returned to more direct Afghan control when it was retaken by Dost Mohammed Khan in 1863.
Three Victoria Crosses were awarded during the expedition, to Captain J.A.Wood, Captain J.G.Malcolmson, and Lieutenant A.T.Moore.
A total of four battle honours were awarded for this campaign, namely, 'Persia', 'Reshire', and 'Koosh-Ab' in 1858 and 'Bushire' in 1861.
The battle honour 'Persia' was awarded to all units which had participated in the campaign vide Gazette of the Governor General 1306 of 1858. The units were:
The honour was awarded to the units which participated in the attack on the old Dutch redoubt of Reshire on 7 December 1856. the Governor surrendered the fortifications on 8 December. The division now waited for the arrival of the C-in-C with the remainder of the army. The battle honour was awarded vide GOGG 1306 of 1858 to the following:-
The first division of the expedition disembarked in the neighbourhood of the city of Bushire on 5 December 1856. After a naval bombardment of the fortifications, Bushire was occupied unopposed. The honour was awarded vide Boinbay GO 191 of 1861, after India had passed under the Crown. Other honours for this campaign were awarded by the Company in 1858.
After the arrival of the C-in-C, the force advanced inland and defeated the Persian field army at Koosh-Ab on 8 February 1857. The Poona Horse carries a Standard surmounted by a silver hand and bearing a Persian inscription captured at Koosh-Ab, in commemoration of the brilliant charge of the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry which broke into enemy infantry and decided the fate of the day. The honour was awarded vide GOGG 1306 of 1858 and spelling changed from Kooshab vide Gazette of India No 1079 of 1910.