Afghanistan

Question 1

When was the First Anglo-Afghan War?

Answer 1

1839-1842

Question 2

What was the name of the British force during the First Anglo-Afghan War?

Answer 2

Army of the Indus

Question 3

How many camels did the Army of the Indus bring?

Answer 3

30,000

Question 4

How much fodder did the camels of the Army of the Indus require?

Answer 4

300-600 tonnes per day

Question 5

What proportion of their camels did the Army of the Indus lose on the 57 miles from the Bolan Pass to Kandahar?

Answer 5

2/3rds

Question 6

When was the Russian Khiva expedition?

Answer 6

1839

Question 7

How many camels did the Russian Khivan expedition bring?

Answer 7

10,000

Question 8

What percentage of their camels did the Russian Khivan expedition (1839) lose?

Answer 8

90%

Question 9

Robert Sale wrote what about Afghan ambushes in his letters?

Answer 9

‘until they commenced firing, not a man was known to be there’

Question 10

What was the effective range of the Brown Bess musket?

Answer 10

150 yards

Question 11

What was the effective range of the Jezail?

Answer 11

800 yards

Question 12

What did Arnold Keppel describe the Afridi tribe as in 1911?

Answer 12

‘the finest natural [skirmishers] in the world’

Question 13

Which regions have the strongest tribal groupings?

Answer 13

Rural areas: mountains, arid provinces, northern steppeland

Question 14

What is the Anthropological term for the form of tribal organisation in Afghanistan?

Answer 14

Segmentary Lineage Organisations

Question 15

What do rural Afghan tribes tend to eschew?

Answer 15

hereditary succession

Question 16

Which regions have tribal aristocracies ruling over a local underclass?

Answer 16

Swat, Dir, Bajaur, Kunar Valley

Question 17

Which peoples have entrenched internal stratifications?

Answer 17

Ghilzai and Mohmand (approaches to Kabul)

Question 18

Which regions did Afghan states rely on for tax receipts prior to 1834?

Answer 18

Kashmir, Punjab and Peshawar

Question 19

When did the Sikh empire rise to threaten the Afghans?

Answer 19

early 19th century

Question 20

What event represented the culmination of Ranjit Singh’s expansion of the Sikh empire?

Answer 20

the capture of Peshawar (1834)

Question 21

When did Dost Muhammed attempt to take back territory from the Sikhs?

Answer 21

1836

Question 22

When was Dost Muhammed crowned emir?

Answer 22

1826

Question 23

When Dost Muhammed became Emir in 1826, what percentage of revenues was going straight to the Jagirs?

Answer 23

50%

Question 24

When did Abdur Rahman’s son rebel against him?

Answer 24

1881

Question 25

How did Abdur Rahman secure the loyalty of the Ghilzai's against the rebellion of his son in 1881?

Answer 25

liberality of food and cash

Question 26

How much did British occupation cost in 1841?

Answer 26

£2 million

Question 27

What was the tax receipts of Afghanistan in 1841?

Answer 27

1.5 million rupees

Question 28

What did the Earl of Auckland write in March 1841?

Answer 28

'money is our first, our second and our last want'

Question 29

In which month did the Earl of Auckland complain of the costs of occupation?

Answer 29

March 1841

Question 30

What inflation rate was caused by the influx of British cash?

Answer 30

500%

Question 31

By what percentage did Britain cut tribal subsidies?

Answer 31

25%

Question 32

What institution did the British abolish?

Answer 32

feudal cavalry

Question 33

What was the total cost of the First Anglo-Afghan War?

Answer 33

£17 million

Question 34

When was the Second Anglo-Afghan War?

Answer 34

1878-1880

Question 35

When was Dost Muhammed given 4000 muskets and 500,000 rupees to resist Persian invasion of Herat?

Answer 35

1856

Question 36

What assistance did Britain give to Dost Muhammed in 1856?

Answer 36

4000 muskets and 500,000 rupees (to resist Persian invasion of Herat)

Question 37

What assistance did the British give to Sher Ali in 1869?

Answer 37

12 artillery pieces, 6500 muskets, 600,000 rupees

Question 38

What was Afghanistan's tax revenue in 1869?

Answer 38

2.2 million rupees

Question 39

What did Lord Lytton offer to Sher Ali in 1876?

Answer 39

training, fortification and annual subsidy in exchange for control of foreign policy

Question 40

How much did the British pay Abdur Rahman in 1883?

Answer 40

1.2 million rupees per annum

Question 41

How much did the British pay Abdur Rahman following the Durand Agreement (1893)?

Answer 41

1.8 million rupees per annum

Question 42

When was the Durand Agreement?

Answer 42

1893 (agreed through threat of sanctions)

Question 43

What did the British give to Amir Habibullah in 1905?

Answer 43

confirmation of subsidies, right to purchase British weapons

Question 44

What system (1870s-1947) consisted of paying local tribes to self-police?

Answer 44

Sandeman System

Question 45

Who is the Sandeman System named after

Answer 45

Robert Sandeman, chief administrator in Balochistan

Question 46

When did the British install the puppet Shah Shuja?

Answer 46

1839

Question 47

In what year did religion serve as the basis for risings against the Shah?

Answer 47

1841

Question 48

In what month did Safdar Jand write to Rawlinson about the 'country of Islam'?

Answer 48

February 1842

Question 49

What did Safdar Jand call Afghanistan in his letter to Rawlinson (Feb 1842)?

Answer 49

'country of Islam'

Question 50

What phrase did Akhbar Khan use in letters to tribes, persuading them to join the rebellion?

Answer 50

'Muslim nation'

Question 51

Who used the phrase 'Muslim nation' in their pro-rebellion letters to tribes?

Answer 51

Akhbar Khan

Question 52

In which years did Abdur Rahman write his religious tracts?

Answer 52

1883-1889

Question 53

What did Abdur Rahman emphasise in his religious tracts?

Answer 53

unified leadership for defensive jihad

Question 54

What proliferated in Kabul following British occupation?

Answer 54

prostitution

Question 55

What sparked the Afghan uprising in 1841?

Answer 55

Alexander Burnes refusing to return an escaped slave girl

Question 56

How did Dost Muhammed tax Afghanistan?

Answer 56

1000 cavalry sent out to tax at sword point

Question 57

What did Dost Muhammed write about his country's economic prospects?

Answer 57

Afghanistan produces 'nothing but men and stones'

Question 58

How many uprisings did Abdur Rahman endure in his 21 year reign?

Answer 58

40