Battle of Attock | |||||||
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Part of the Afghan-Sikh Wars | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
10,000 [3] | 15,000 [4] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | 2,000 [5] |
The Battle of Attock (also known as the Battle of Chuch or the Battle of Haidru) took place on 13 July 1813 between the Sikh Empire and the Durrani Empire. [6] The battle was the first significant Sikh victory over the Durranis. [2]
In 1811–12, Ranjit Singh invaded the hill states of Bhimber, Rajauri, and Kullu in preparation for an invasion of Kashmir. [7] In late 1812, Fateh Khan, the Vizier of Kabul, crossed the Indus river under orders from Mahmud Shah Durrani to raid Kashmir and to free Shuja Shah Durrani from its renegade vizier, Atta Muhammad Khan. In an 1812 interview with Ranjit Singh, Fateh Khan agreed to a joint invasion of Kashmir. He could not invade Kashmir if he was opposed by the Sikh Empire, [8] and agreed that a small Sikh force under Dewan Mokham Chand Kochhar would receive one third of the plunder.
Both invasions began at Jhelum, but once the armies reached the Pir Panjal Range, Fateh Khan used a heavy snowfall to double march his veteran mountain troops through the range. [9] However, Dewan Mokham Chand offered the Rajauri raja a large jagir if he could find a path through the range that would allow the Sikhs to reach the valley of Kashmir at the same time as the Afghan troops and was able to have a small body of troops under Jodh Singh Kalsia and Nihal Singh Attari present at the captures of Hari Parbat and Shergarh. The vizier of Kashmir, Atta Muhammad Khan, had offered no resistance to either army but Fateh Khan refused to share the spoils. [9] Shuja Shah Durrani chose to be escorted by Dewan Mokham Chand Kochhar to Lahore, the capital of the Sikh Empire, out of fear of becoming a prisoner at Kabul. [8]
Ranjit Singh became annoyed at Fateh Khan's refusal to share the plunder and opened negotiations with the renegade governor of Attock, Jahandad Khan, brother to the recently deposed Atta Muhammad Khan of Kashmir, [9] and took control of the fort at Attock. [8] After Jahandad Khan accepted his jagir, Dia Singh, a Sardar with a small contingent of troops in the area, took control of Fort Attock including 3,510 Maunds of grain, 439 rounds of cannon shot, 70 cannon and small mortars, and 255 Maunds of rock salt. [10] Hari Singh Nalwa arrived with Dewan Devi Das and a detachment of cavalry to support the garrison at an unknown date. [11]
Fateh Khan set off from Kashmir in April 1813 and invested Attock Fort. [12] At the same time Ranjit Singh rushed Dewan Mokham Chand and Karam Chand Chahal from Burhan with a force of cavalry, artillery, and a battalion of infantry to meet the Afghans. [10]
Dewan Mokham Chand encamped 8 miles (13 km) from the Afghan camp, [13] unwilling to risk a decisive engagement, although both sides engaged in numerous skirmishes and took losses. On 12 July 1812, the Afghans' supplies were exhausted and Dewan Mokham Chand marched 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from Attock to Haidaru, on the banks of the Indus River, to offer battle. On 13 July 1812, Dewan Mokham Chand split the cavalry into four divisions, giving command of one division to Hari Singh Nalwa (and to Sardar Gurmukh Singh Lamba <<see Sir Lepel Griffin book>>), and taking command of one division himself. The lone battalion of infantry formed an infantry square protecting the artillery, with Gouse Khan commanding the artillery. [10] The Afghans took up positions opposite the Sikhs, with a portion of their cavalry under the command of Dost Mohammad Khan.
Fateh Khan opened the battle by sending his Pathans on a cavalry charge which was repulsed by heavy fire from the Sikh artillery. [10] The Afghans rallied under Dost Mohammad Khan, and according to Griffin, led a "brilliant" cavalry charge which threw one wing of the Sikh army into disarray and captured some artillery. [12] When it appeared the Sikhs had lost the battle, Dewan Mokham Chand led a cavalry charge atop a war elephant that repulsed the Afghans "at all points", [13] and routed the remaining Afghan troops. [2] Fateh Khan, fearing his brother, Dost Mohammad Khan, had died, escaped to Kabul and the Sikhs captured the Afghan camp, including the lost artillery pieces. [14]
Amritsar, Lahore, and other large cities across the Sikh Empire were illuminated for two months afterwards in rejoicing over the victory. [15] After his defeat at Attock, Fateh Khan made further multiple attempts to get Attock back, even writing a letter to Dewan Mokham Chand, asking to return Attock which could lead to good relations between the two parties, but Mokham Chand refused and warned that the conquer-ship of Kashmir would be next. [16] In 1814, Yar Mohammad Khan, governor of Peshawar, attacked Attock but was repulsed, following which Fateh Khan again sent a letter in 1815, asking to hand over Attock and restore it under Mahmud Shah's authority in exchange for Multan and paying the tax revenue of Kashmir. [17] During the last five years of his life from 1813 to 1818, Fateh Khan remained distressed over the loss of Attock. [18]
Emir Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai, nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, was the founder of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War. With the decline of the Durrani dynasty, he became the Emir of Afghanistan in 1826. An ethnic Pashtun, he belonged to the Barakzai tribe. He was the 11th son of Payinda Khan, chief of the Barakzai Pashtuns, who was killed in 1799 by King Zaman Shah Durrani.
Sardar Mohammad Azim Khan Barakzai was a Pashtun noble who served as Afghan governor of Kashmir (1812–1819). He was the second son of the Barakzai chief Payinda Sarfaraz Khan, while his elder brother Fateh Khan was kingmaker and Vizier to Mahmud Shah Durrani. He was one of 21 brothers from eight mothers including his half-brother Dost Mohammad Khan who would later become Emir of Afghanistan.
The Sikh Empire or The Kingdom of Punjab was a regional power based in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the British East India Company in the Second Anglo-Sikh War. It was forged on the foundations of the Khalsa from a collection of autonomous misls. At its peak in the 19th century, the empire extended from Gilgit and Tibet in the north to the deserts of Sindh in the south and from the Khyber Pass in the west to the Sutlej in the east as far as Oudh. It was divided into four provinces: Lahore, which became the Sikh capital; Multan; Peshawar; and Kashmir from 1799 to 1849. Religiously diverse, with an estimated population of 4.5 million in 1831, it was the last major region of the Indian subcontinent to be annexed by the British Empire.
Hari Singh Nalwa was the commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Fauj, the army of the Sikh Empire. He is known for his role in the conquests of Kasur, Sialkot, Attock, Multan, Kashmir, Peshawar and Jamrud. Hari Singh Nalwa was responsible for expanding the frontier of Sikh Empire to beyond the Indus River right up to the mouth of the Khyber Pass. At the time of his death, Jamrud constituted the western boundary of the Empire.
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The Standoff at the Khyber Pass (1834–1835) was a short conflict from May 1834 to May 1835 between the Sikh forces led by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the Afghan forces led by Dost Mohammad Khan. The conflict began as the Sikh Empire expanded into Peshawar, deposing the Peshawar Sardars, while also supporting the deposed Durrani dynasty in their attempts to return to the throne of Afghanistan under Shah Shuja Durrani.
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