Treaty of Gandamak signed, ending the first phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War
- When
- 1879
- Where
- British army camp near Gandamak; India
- Episodes
- 2
The Treaty of Gandamak, signed on 26 May 1879, concluded the first phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. It was an agreement between the British Raj and Afghan Emir Mohammad Yaqub Khan, not Russia. The treaty ceded frontier areas and foreign affairs control to Britain, establishing a British mission in Kabul.
Episodes
- Signing of the Treaty
Mohammad Yaqub Khan signed the treaty at a British camp near Gandamak, ceding territory and foreign policy control to the British Raj.
- Ratification by Viceroy
Lord Lytton, Viceroy of India, ratified the treaty on 30 May 1879, formalizing the British acceptance of the terms.
Background and detail
Background. The conflict arose from tensions in the Great Game. Russian envoys arrived in Kabul on 22 July 1878, and on 14 August the British demanded that Emir Sher Ali accept a British mission too. Unable to offer effective military resistance, Sher Ali left Kabul for Turkestan on 23 December 1878, intending to seek Russian aid for the defence of his domains. He died on 21 February 1879 near Balkh, and his son Mohammad Yaqub Khan declared himself Emir of Afghanistan, immediately suing for peace.
Treaty Terms. Mohammad Yaqub Khan ceded various frontier areas and control of foreign affairs to the British Raj. The agreement provided for increased commercial contacts and the establishment of a telegraph line between Kabul and British India. It was considered humiliating, essentially making the Afghan emir a feudatory of the British Crown.
People involved
- Mohammad Yaqub Khan · Emir of Afghanistan
- Sir Louis Cavagnari · British Representative
- Lord Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton · Viceroy of India
Sources
- Treaty of Gandamak Wikipedia, revision of 2024-11-20
- Second Anglo-Afghan War Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.