| Battle of Ramkani | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Afghan-Sikh Wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Sikh Empire |  Barakzais Assisted by Ghazis | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Maharaja Ranjit Singh Misr Sukh Raj | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 3,000–4,000 [2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
The Battle of Ramkani was fought on 4 May 1835 by the Sikh forces led by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and some Barakzai and Ghazi forces.
In the beginning of 1835, Dost Mohammad Khan mobilized 40,000 Afghans, alongside 37 cannons to reclaim Peshawar, which was a part of the Sikh territory after the capture of Peshawar. [3] [1]
At Ramkani, 3,000-4,000 Ghazis and Barakzais came to check Ranjit Singh's advance. A fierce battle lasted for 12 hours at Ramkani. [2] The enemy waged guerilla warfare, which made Ranjit Singh fight a defensive battle. The Afghans however decided to withdraw during the night. Misr Sukh Raj played a role of bravery which made him earn 10,000 rupees yearly by the Maharaja. [1]
After this battle, the Sikhs entered the city of Peshawar and Sultan Mohammad Khan, the ruler of the city allied up with the Maharaja already. [4] The Maharaja also wanted to ally up with Dost Mohammad Khan and upon Dost Mohammad's refusal, both sides began preparing for war, leading to the standoff at the Khyber pass. [5]
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.
Josiah Harlan, Prince of Ghor was an American adventurer who travelled to Afghanistan and Punjab with the intention of making himself a king. During his travels, he became involved in local politics and factional military actions. He claimed he was awarded the title Prince of Ghor in exchange for military aid. Rudyard Kipling's short story The Man Who Would Be King is believed to have been partly based on Harlan.
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.
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The Sikh Empire, officially known as Sarkār-i-Khālsa and Khālasa Rāj, 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.
The Battle of Jamrud was fought between the Emirate of Afghanistan under Emir Dost Mohammad Khan and the Sikh Empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh on 30 April 1837. Afghan forces confronted the Sikh forces at Jamrud. The garrisoned army was able to hold off the Afghans till Sikh reinforcements arrived to relieve them.
The Jamrud Fort is located beside Bab-e-Khyber at the entrance to the Khyber Pass from the Peshawar side in the district of Khyber in KPK, Pakistan. After the death of Sardar General Hari Singh Nalwa, Khalsa Sarkar Wazir Jawahar Singh nominated General Gurmukh Singh Lamba as chief administrative and military commander to restore and consolidate the Khalsa army gains.
Diwan Mokham Chand was one of the chief commanders of the Sikh Empire. He conquered Attock from the Durrani Afghans in 1813 and subdued the Rajputs in the Hills of Himachal and in Jammu at Jasrota, Chamba, and Basroli. He also commanded one of the early Sikh expeditions to conquer Kashmir that ended in failure due to bad weather blocking the passes to the valley. Mokham Chand was born in a Hindu Khatri family.
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The Battle of Attock took place on 13 July 1813 between the Sikh Empire and the Durrani Empire. The battle was the first significant Sikh victory over the Durranis.
The siege of Multan began in March 1818 and lasted until 2 June 1818 as part of the Afghan–Sikh Wars, and saw the Sikh Empire capture Multan from the Durrani Empire.
The Capture of Peshawar, or more appropriately, the Sikh occupation of Peshawar, took place on 6 May 1834, when the Sikh Empire formally annexed the territory. Peshawar was governed by the Barakzai Sardars — Yar Mohammed Khan, Sultan Mohammed Khan, Sayeed Mohammed Khan and Pir Mohammed Khan. They were collectively referred to as the Peshawar Barakzais. The Peshawar Barakzais had broken free of their half-brothers ruling Kabul.
Akali Phula Singh Nihang was an Akali Nihang Sikh leader. He was a saint soldier of the Khalsa Shaheedan Misl and head of the Budha Dal in the early 19th century. He was also a senior general in the Sikh Khalsa Army and commander of the irregular Nihang of the army. He played a role in uniting Sikh misls in Amritsar. He was not afraid of the British who at many times ordered for his arrest but were not successful. During his later years he served for the Sikh Empire as a direct adviser to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He remained an army general in many famous Sikh battles up until his martyrdom in the battle of Nowshera. He was admired by the local people and had a great influence over the land and his settlement was always open to help the poor and helpless. He was well known and was a humble unique leader and prestigious warrior with high character. He was also known for his effort to maintain the values of Gurmat and the Khalsa panth.
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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.
The Battle of Hasan Abdal took place on June 7, 1813, between the Sikhs led by Bhayya Ram Singh and Afghans led by Fateh Khan Barakzai at Hasan Abdal.
The Kashmir expedition took place in 1814 after the battle of Attock. Ranjit Singh began planning to invade Kashmir, leading to the Sikh invasion led by Hari Singh Nalwa and Ram Dayal.
Beginning in January 1833, Shah Shujah Durrani, the deposed Afghan emperor, led an expedition to re-claim his throne. Raising a force while in exile in the Sikh Empire, he marched through Sindh to Kandahar, besieging it from 10 May 1834 until 1 July 1834. Shah Shujah would be defeated by the Barakzai rulers of Kandahar and Kabul.
Fateh Khan Barakzai or Wazir Fateh Khan or simply, Fateh Khan, was Wazir of the Durrani Empire during the reign of Mahmud Shah Durrani until his torture and execution at the hands of Kamran Shah Durrani, the son of the ruler of the Durrani Empire, and Mahmud Shah Durrani, and other prominent conspirators such as Ata Mohammad Khan. Fateh Khan was of the Barakzai tribe, and his death led to his tribe revolting and the eventual deposition of Mahmud Shah Durrani.
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