1966/10/01 by J. F. Standish · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East #Islamic Studies and History #Turkey's Politics and Society
paper · doi:10.1080/00263206608700060
openalex publication_date 1966/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
In making a brief military appreciation of this Persian campaign Colonel Wylly stated that with much truth it had been said that it 'arose out of circumstances so complicated that it is difficult to bear in mind the relations of one to another. The existence of intrigues among contending parties in the State of Herat; the frequent strife between the Afghans of Kabul and Kandahar and those of Herat; the well-remembered and never-abandoned claims of Persia upon the lastnamed State; the open desire of Russia to obtain a hold over the Persian Court... the tendency of Persia to disregard those courtesies to Western nations which oriental potentates have never willingly conceded all were current causes in bringing about the British expedition to the Persian Gulf in 1856'.1 This is an admirably succinct appraisal of the varied and manifold motives which led to an obscure war owing its formal inception to the Persian assault upon Herat whereby, as Sir Henry Rawlinson observed, 'the object was accomplished at which Persia had laboured for twenty years and which we had as persistently opposed.'2 This short war, occasioned by the investment and capture of Herat, was resolved nearly a thousand miles away in the Persian Gulf; and thus, by repeating itself, history shows that so often that Gulf has been the Achilles' heel of Persia. Nor was this episode an isolated affair, for it stemmed from the events which had preceded it for a generation or more; its roots are found to have their depth in earlier times, since the Qajar Shahs had long cherished the illusion that they were the heirs to the Safavid kings whose realm extended into Afghan territories, whilst those roots were watered