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Return of a King

by William Dalrymple

First published 2012

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4.4(7,324)

Return of a King reconstructs the First Anglo-Afghan War, when British and East India Company forces invaded Afghanistan in 1839 to restore Shah Shujah Durrani. The occupation of Kabul depended on an unpopular ruler, uncertain intelligence and expensive political subsidies, while resistance gathered around Afghan leaders including Dost Mohammad Khan and Mohammad Akbar Khan.

The uprising of 1841 and the disastrous winter retreat from Kabul exposed the strategic failures of the occupation. Using Afghan, Persian, Indian and British sources, Dalrymple presents the campaign as a contest between competing Afghan factions as well as an imperial invasion, and traces the human consequences of miscalculation on all sides.

Historical Periods

Early Victorian Britain1837–1851 CE First Anglo-Afghan War1839–1842 CE

Genres

Biographical Fiction Court & Political Fiction Exploration & Survival Fiction Historical Sagas War Fiction

Historical people

Dost Mohammad Khan1793–1863 Shah Shujah Durrani1780–1842 Mohammad Akbar Khan1816–1845 William George Keith Elphinstone1782–1842 William Brydon1811–1873

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