"Russian Invasion of Afghanistan 1878" Topic

From Brian Robson's Road to Kabul, page 47:
"The deepening of the Near Eastern crisis in the early months of 1878 could not fail to affect affairs in Central Asia. If Britain could bring pressure to bear on Russia by sending Indian troops to Malta, and the Mediterranean fleet to Constantinople, Russia could retaliate by moving troops towards India. At the beginning of June, three Russian columns began to move towards Afghanistan and a Russian mission under General Stolietov left Tashkent for Kabul."
Imagine the possibilities…

Flashman scuppered an earlier plan…

We did a magazine article on the Russian Eastern Manifest Destiny and all of their conflicts in Central Asia. A lot more than just the afghan operation.

Supplies dominated every campaign and ended most.

Sorry, 'we'?

Doug

+1

"Sorry, "We?'"

They were in Time Portal Passages which was available on theMagweb site. Now I just send them to whoever asks for them. Lol

It's a great 'what if' Nick – and would make an excellent campaign. Or the Pyandzh incident of seven years later? That's some fighting that actually happened…
EC

Eclaireur – thanks for the info! I was not aware of the Pyandzh, also spelled Panjdeh, Incident. Had the Russians seriously invaded Afghanistan and the British sent troops to meet them, how do think the Afghan tribes would have reacted? They still had scores to settle with the British from the recent war, but from what I've read, the Russians were also very unpopular with the peoples of their colonial conquests.

Ahhhhh… a long-time dream of mine, my friends -- a miniature campaign of a full-scale Russian invasion of Afghanistan c.1878 – 1885! Still need to raise a 28mm Czarist Russian army for that purpose, though.

There is a great artist's drawing of the one Russian-Afghan battle in 1885 (probably by a British artist correspondent but I'm not sure), which I have somewhere. If I can dig it up I'll come back and post it to this thread.

RE: what would the Afghans have done vis-a-vis both empires.. of course it's hard to say. I think it would depend on some details. IF the Russians could convince the Afghans that they only wanted to use a route or routes through their country in order to invade and devastate and/or somehow conquer British India… maybe the Afghans would have gone along with it, at least for a while. But I actually think the Afghans would have focused more on fighting the Russians, for a number of reasons, foremost being what they knew of the experiences of their neighbors to the North, in Central Asia, dealing with the relatively merciless Russians, contrasted with their own experience and that of the Indians to their South-East, dealing with the British. It's true, the British invaded Afghanistan twice in the 19th Century, but they also negotiated treaties and maintained diplomatic relations, and left Afghanistan on its own under the rule of Afghan monarchs after both wars ended. The Central Asian Khanates experiences with the Russians were more not only more brutal, but always led to permanent conquest and incorporation into the expanding Russian Empire.

Not to say that the Afghans liked (or still like) any foreigners, but I think from their POV it would be a question of the lesser of two evils, but coordinating with the British to a greater or lesser extent in order to repel an invading Russian army or armies, would probably have been by them as the lesser evil.

Another option would be for the Afghans to hang back and watch to see who came out victorious. Meanwhile plundering the lines of communication of both sides.

Mad Guru – Hehe.I have 180+ painted Russian infantry plus Cossacks and artillery just itching to invade your peaceful Afghan villages.

Eclaireur,

Would you please contact me about 40lb colonial guns?

stewartwt at gmail dot com

Thanks,

Bill.

Nick,

What figures are you using for the Russians?

Alan

If your looking at this in 28mm then Outpost Wargames Servjces and Askari Miniatures for Russians are s good bet

If your looking at this in 28mm then Outpost Wargames Services and Askari Miniatures for Russians are s good bet

I am using Russians from Eureka. Years ago, Milton Soong and I ponied up the money for their "300 Club". They are nice figures, smaller than the current 28MM+ figures out there. Which mean they fit in perfectly with the Foundry Afghan regular figures.

Nick,
sorry for slow response. The Russians faced off with the Afghans at Pyandzh. Had the British got involved, it would most likely have been in support of the Afghans. Despite the recent unpleasantness, the halting of Russian expansion into Afghanistan would have been Britain's first concern.
EC

Nick, are those Eureka Russians the ones from their "Russo-Turkish War" range, as pictured here…?

Hi Mad Guru. Yes, those are the ones. I have seen contemporary illustrations of the Central Asia troops with and without the rolled overcoat over the shoulder. Askari does his without, but I think they look fine with. And these are a perfect size match for the Foundry Afghan regs.

Thanks, Nick! I agree they look good.

What did you do for cavalry & artillery…?

(I only saw the above infantry pack and one command pack on the catalogue page)

Oh the gaming possibilities!!!! I've always wanted to game this ficticious campaign.

I've added a couple of Russian Cossack advisors to my Afghan cav unit. I've got a bunch of unpainted Askari Minis Russians waiting for the painting table…….

We could have an awesome campaign on Mad Guru's terrain.

Cheers,
JB
Http://sgtguinness.blogsot.com

SgtGuinness,

I have over 200 Eureka Russians for Central Asia painted. I need to paint up my Askari Russian artillery and then we can see what happens when the Russians go toe to toe with the Punjab Field Force in the Khyber Pass!

Nick, That sounds like a great plan! You know the Mad Guru will be happy to oblige. I have about 60 of the Askari Russians with 2 gun crews and one MG with crew, unfortunately all unpainted.

Happy painting buddy…..

Cheers,
JB
Http://sgtguinness.blogsot.com

As the Sgt. suggests, I will indeed happily provide terrain and additional Afghan regular/Tribal/Anglo-Indian troops for the occasion!

In fact, as I think I mentioned somewhere above in this same thread, the one major battle fought between the Afghans and Russians in 1885, I believe took place on a battlefield somewhat reminiscent of Maiwand, with ravines and nullahs.