22 episodes listed below
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The First Anglo–Afghan War was fought between British India and Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst setbacks inflicted on British power in the region after the consolidation of British Raj by the East India Company. (Summary by Phil)
Royal salutes, empty public arena: you know which part of Shah Suja's welcome to trust.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
An imperial march reaches Kandahar, where ceremony gives way to exhaustion, resentment, and fragile control.
The episode frames the First Afghan War as a campaign shaped as much by distance, weather, and political bargaining as by arms. Lord Auckland's plan to relieve or recover Herat and place Shah Suja on the Afghan throne gives the movement its imperial logic, while Sir Harry Fane's…
A steady opening on the treaties, financial distress, and ignored warnings behind the 1839 invasion of Afghanistan.
Archibald Forbes begins the First Afghan War through diplomacy rather than battlefield drama, setting the British complications with Persia as the path toward the 1839 invasion of Afghanistan.
A victory in Kabul hardens into an occupation whose comforts mask its exposed position.
The first year of occupation comes through as a study in declared success turning into exposed control. Archibald Forbes sets Sir John Key's and Durand's confidence beside Lord Auckland's promise that Shah Suja would return through his own subjects and that the British army…
A battered garrison repairs its walls, rejects evacuation, and wins relief after the later sally against Akbar Khan.
Jalalabad comes through as a battered fortress held together by practical skill, stubborn discipline, and a refusal to treat abandonment as settled fact.
A promised withdrawal becomes an exposed occupation shaped by bad judgment.
An occupation framed as an honourable withdrawal hardens into the routines of a vulnerable military outpost. Archibald Forbes keeps the focus on the distance between Lord Auckland's promise of Shah Suja restored by his own subjects and the reality of a throne sustained by…
A taut account of retribution, siege defense, and the hard push toward Kabul.
This single episode tracks the British effort to regain position after the Kabul outbreak and the disaster in the passes, shaping its drama around the Army of Retribution and Pollock's appointment to lead the advance.
Outnumbered units, remembered under fire.
Battle maps, war films, and patient context.
War news, tested against military reality.
Antique European history, read aloud.
This episode recounts the disastrous evacuation of British forces from Kabul during the First Anglo-Afghan War.
This episode narrates the political intrigues and military disasters leading to the British retreat during the First Anglo-Afghan War.
This episode narrates the deceptive quietude in Afghanistan in September 1841 and MacNaughton's preparations to leave, highlighting the British government's concerns over costs.
This episode recounts the events of the First Anglo-Afghan War, focusing on the uprising in Kabul and the killing of British envoy Sir Alexander Burnes.
Archibald Forbes’s preliminary chapter traces how the 1814 treaty between England and Persia, the 1825–27 Persian-Russian war, and the siege of Herat shaped British concerns before the First Afghan War.
Archibald Forbes examines the first year after British forces restored Shah Suja in Kabul, arguing that British troops—not Shah Suja’s own adherents—kept him on the throne.
Archibald Forbes describes the first year after Shah Suja's restoration, when British troops remained in Kandahar, Kabul, and other Afghan positions because his authority was not secure.
Archibald Forbes’s “The Siege and Defence of Jellalabad” recounts how Captain George Broadfoot repaired Jalalabad’s dilapidated fortifications after Sales Brigade arrived on 12 November 1841.
Archibald Forbes’s “The March to Kabul” follows the 1838–39 British-led expedition from Ferozepore toward Afghanistan after the Persian retreat from Herat removed its stated objective.
Archibald Forbes's "The Beginning of the End" follows the British occupation of Afghanistan in September and October 1841, as Sir William MacNaughton expects to leave for the Bombay Presidency.
Archibald Forbes describes the 1838-39 British expedition whose original objective at Herat disappeared after the Persian retreat, leaving the campaign focused on placing Shah Suja on Afghanistan's throne.
Archibald Forbes's chapter recounts the British response to the Kabul outbreak and the destruction of the Kabul force during the First Afghan War.
Archibald Forbes examines how British complications with Persia, Russian influence, and the 1837 siege of Herat helped provide a pretext for the First Afghan War.
Archibald Forbes’s “Retribution and Rescue” follows Lord Auckland’s appointment of Pollock to lead a British army after the Kabul outbreak and catastrophe in the passes.