Retreat from Kabul

Date: January 13, 1842 • Location: Kabul, Afghanistan

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1842.

First Anglo-Afghan War: William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British Army, was the sole European of the 14,000 people retreating from Kabul to Jalalabad who evaded capture or death.

The First Anglo-Afghan War was fought between the Durranis backed by the British Empire and the Sikh Empire, and the Barakzais of Kabul and Kandahar, alongside their regional allies, from 1838 to 1842. The British intervened in a succession dispute stemming from the Durrani succession struggle and backed former king Shuja Shah Durrani, whom they restored to the throne after occupying Kabul in August 1839. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between Britain and Russia.