Niedermayer-Hentig Expedition
Encyclopedia
Diplomatic mission
A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one state or an international inter-governmental organisation present in another state to represent the sending state/organisation in the receiving state...
sent by the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
in 1915-1916. The purpose was to encourage Afghanistan to declare full independence from the United Kingdom
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, enter World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
on the side of the Central Powers, and attack India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
. The expedition was sent as a part of the Indo-German efforts to provoke a nationalist revolution in India. Nominally headed by the exiled Indian prince
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was a freedom fighter, journalist, writer and revolutionary social reformist of India. He was popularly known as the Aryan Peshwa. He was born in Thenua gotra Jat Hindu princely family of state of Mursan in Hathras District of Uttar Pradesh on 1 December 1886. He was...
, the expedition was a joint operation of Germany
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
and Turkey
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and was led by the German Army officers Oskar Niedermayer and Werner Otto von Hentig
Werner Otto von Hentig
Werner Otto von Hentig was a German diplomat from Berlin. He was the elder brother of criminal psychologist Hans von Hentig and the father of Hartmut von Hentig....
. Other participants included members of the Indian nationalist organisation called the Berlin Committee
Berlin Committee
The Berlin Committee, later known as the Indian Independence Committee after 1915, was an organisation formed in Germany in 1914 during World War I by Indian students and political activists residing in the country. The purpose of the Committee was to promote the cause of Indian Independence...
, including Maulavi Barkatullah
Maulavi Barkatullah
Maulavi Abdul Hafiz Mohamed Barakatullah or Maulana Barkatullah was a staunch anti-British Indian revolutionary with sympathy for the Pan-Islamic movement. Barkatullah was born on 7 July 1854 at Itwra Mohalla Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, India...
and C. R. Pillai
Champakaraman Pillai
Chempakaraman Pillai was an Indian revolutionary during the Indian Independence Movement, who went abroad to organise an army to declare war against the British for India's freedom.-Early life:...
, while the Turkish effort was represented by Kazim Bey, a close confidante of Enver Pasha.
Britain saw the expedition as a serious threat. Britain and its ally Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
unsuccessfully attempted to intercept it in Persia during the summer of 1915. Britain waged a covert intelligence and diplomatic offensive, including personal interventions by the Viceroy Lord Hardinge and King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, to maintain Afghan neutrality.
The mission failed in its main task of rallying Afghanistan, under Emir Habibullah Khan, to the German and Turkish war effort, but it influenced other major events. In Afghanistan, the expedition triggered reforms and drove political turmoil, culminating in the assassination of the Emir in 1919, precipitating the Third Afghan War. It influenced the Kalmyk Project
Kalmyk Project
The Kalmyk Project was the name given to Soviet plans to launch a surprise attack on the northwest frontier of India via Tibet and other Himalayan buffer states in 1919-1920. It was a part of Soviet plans for destabilising Britain and the Western European powers through unrest in the Colonial...
of nascent Bolshevik Russia
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
to propagate socialist revolution in Asia, with one goal being the overthrow of the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
. Other consequences included formation of the Rowlatt Committee
Rowlatt Committee
The Rowlatt committee was a Sedition Committee appointed in 1918 by the British Indian Government with Mr Justice Rowlatt, an English judge, as its president. The purpose of the committee was to evaluate political terrorism in India, especially Bengal and Punjab, its impact, and the links with the...
to investigate sedition in India
Revolutionary movement for Indian independence
The Revolutionary movement for Indian independence is often a less-highlighted aspect of the Indian independence movement -- the underground revolutionary factions. The groups believing in armed revolution against the ruling British fall into this category. The revolutionary groups were...
as influenced by Germany and Bolshevim, and changes in the Raj's approach to the Indian independence movement
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
immediately after World War I.
Background
In August 1914, World War I began when alliance obligationsTriple Alliance (1882)
The Triple Alliance was the military alliance between Germany, Austria–Hungary, and Italy, , that lasted from 1882 until the start of World War I in 1914...
arising from the war between Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
brought Germany and Russia to war, while Germany's invasion of Belgium
Rape of Belgium
The Rape of Belgium is a wartime propaganda term describing the 1914 German invasion of Belgium. The term initially had a figurative meaning, referring to the violation of Belgian neutrality, but embellished reports of German atrocities soon gave it a literal significance...
directly triggered Britain's entry. In November, after a series of military events
Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau
The pursuit of Goeben and Breslau was a naval action that occurred in the Mediterranean Sea at the outbreak of the First World War when elements of the British Mediterranean Fleet attempted to intercept the German Mittelmeerdivision comprising the battlecruiser and the light cruiser...
and political intrigues
Ottoman-German Alliance
The Ottoman–German Alliance was established between the Ottoman Empire and the German Empire on August 2, 1914. It was this binding alliance that ultimately led the Ottoman Empire to enter the First World War on the side of the Central Powers....
, Russia declared war on Turkey, causing Turkey to join the Central Powers in fighting the Entente Powers. In response to war with Russia and Britain, and further motivated by alliance with Turkey, Germany accelerated plans to weaken its enemies by targeting their colonial empires, including Russia in Turkestan
Turkestan
Turkestan, spelled also as Turkistan, literally means "Land of the Turks".The term Turkestan is of Persian origin and has never been in use to denote a single nation. It was first used by Persian geographers to describe the place of Turkish peoples...
and Britain in India, for political agitation.
Germany nurtured prewar links with Indian nationalists. For years, Indian nationalists had used Germany, Turkey, Persia, the United States, and other countries as bases for anti-colonial work directed against Britain. As early as 1913, revolutionary publications in Germany regularly referred to the approaching war between Germany and Britain and the possibility of Germany supporting Indian nationalists. In the war's early months, German newspapers devoted considerable coverage to Indian distress, social problems, and British colonial exploitation.
German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg encouraged this activity. This German effort was led by prominent archaeologist and historian Max von Oppenheim
Max von Oppenheim
Max Freiherr von Oppenheim was a German ancient historian, and archaeologist, "the last of the great amateur archaeological explorers of the Near East."....
, who headed the new Intelligence Bureau for the East
Intelligence Bureau for the East
The Intelligence Bureau for the East was a German intelligence organisation established on the eve of World War I dedicated to promoting and sustaining subversive and nationalist agitations in the British Indian Empire and the Persian and Egyptian satellite states...
and formed the Berlin Committee
Berlin Committee
The Berlin Committee, later known as the Indian Independence Committee after 1915, was an organisation formed in Germany in 1914 during World War I by Indian students and political activists residing in the country. The purpose of the Committee was to promote the cause of Indian Independence...
, which was later renamed the Indian Independence Committee. The Berlin Committee offered money, arms, and military advisors according to plans made by the German foreign office and Indian revolutionaries in exile such as the Ghadar Party
Ghadar Party
The Ghadar Party was an organization founded by Punjabi Indians, in the United States and Canada with the aim to liberate India from British rule...
in North America. From elsewhere in Asia and from the United States, clandestine shipments of arms and men reached India with which the planners hoped to trigger a nationalist mutiny.
Sardar Ajit Singh
Sardar Ajit Singh Sindhu was an Indian dissident and nationalist during the time of British rule in India. He was an early protester in the Punjab region of India who challenged British rule, and openly criticized the Indian colonial government...
and Sufi Amba Prasad
Sufi Amba Prasad
Amba Prasad, also known as Sufi Amba Prasad, was an Indian nationalist and pan-Islamist leader notable for his involvement in the agrarian unrest in Punjab in 1900s and subsequently in the Revolutionary movement for Indian independence....
. Reports from 1910 indicate that Germany was already contemplating efforts to threaten India through Turkey, Persia, and Afghanistan. Germany had built close diplomatic and economic relationships with both Turkey and Persia from the late 19th century. Von Oppenheim had mapped Turkey and Persia while working as German secret agent. The Kaiser toured Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
and Jerusalem in 1898 to bolster the Turkish relationship and to portray solidarity with Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, a religion professed by millions of subjects of the British Empire, in India and elsewhere. The German Intelligence Bureau for the East spread propaganda through the region referring to the Kaiser as Haji
Hajji
Hajji or El-Hajj, is an honorific title given to a Muslim person who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca, and is often used to refer to an elder, since it can take time to accumulate the wealth to fund the travel. The title is placed before a person's name...
Wilhelm, fostered rumours that the Kaiser had converted to Islam following a secret trip to Mecca, and portrayed him as a savior of Islam.
In Turkey in 1913, a coup
Coup of 1913
The Coup of 1913 in the Ottoman Empire resulted in the grand vizier Kamil Pasha being driven from power and the replacement of Minister of War Nazim Pasha by İsmail Enver...
led by Enver Pasha sidelined Sultan Mehmed V and concentrated power in the hands of a junta. Despite the secular nature
Young Turks
The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...
of the new government, Turkey retained its traditional influence over the Muslim world
Muslim world
The term Muslim world has several meanings. In a religious sense, it refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, it refers to Islamic civilization, inclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization...
. Turkey ruled Hejaz
Hejaz
al-Hejaz, also Hijaz is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. Defined primarily by its western border on the Red Sea, it extends from Haql on the Gulf of Aqaba to Jizan. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina...
until the Arab Revolt
Arab Revolt
The Arab Revolt was initiated by the Sherif Hussein bin Ali with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Turks and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.- Background :...
of 1916 and controlled the Muslim holy city of Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
throughout the war. Its Sultan's title of Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
was recognised as legitimate by most Muslims, including in Afghanistan and India.
Once at war, Turkey joined Germany in taking aim at the opposing Entente Powers and their extensive empires in the Muslim world. Enver Pasha had the Sultan proclaim Jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
. His hope was to provoke and aid a vast Muslim revolution against the Entente Powers, particularly by Muslims in India. Translations of the proclamation were also sent to Berlin for propaganda and distribution to Muslim troops of the Entente Powers. However, while widely heard, the proclamation did not have the intended effect of mobilising global Muslim opinion on behalf of Turkey or the Central Powers.
Early in the war, the Emir of Afghanistan declared neutrality. The Emir feared the destabilizing influence on his subjects of the Sultan's call to jihad as Turkey's entry aroused widespread nationalist and pan-Islamic sentiments in Afghanistan and Persia. The Anglo-Russian entente of 1907 designated Afghanistan to the British sphere of influence. Britain nominally controlled Afghanistan's foreign policy
Anglo-Russian Entente
Signed on August 31, 1907, in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 brought shaky British-Russian relations to the forefront by solidifying boundaries that identified respective control in Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet...
and the Emir was granted a monetary subsidy by Britain. However, in reality, Britain had almost no effective control over Afghanistan. For Britain, Afghanistan was perceived as the only state capable of invading India, and remained a serious threat.
First Afghan expedition
In the first week of August 1914, the German Foreign Office and military, including von Moltke, suggested attempting to use the pan-Islamic movement to destabilise the British Empire and begin an Indian revolution. The argument was reinforced by GermanophileGermanophile
A Germanophile is a person who is fond of German culture, German people, and Germany in general, exhibiting as it were German nationalism in spite of not being an ethnic German or a German citizen. Its opposite is Germanophobia...
explorer Sven Hedin
Sven Hedin
Sven Anders Hedin KNO1kl RVO was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, and travel writer, as well as an illustrator of his own works...
in Berlin two weeks later. General Staff memoranda in the last weeks of August confirmed the perceived feasibility of the plan, predicting that an invasion by the Emir of Afghanistan could cause a revolution in India.
With war, revolutionary unrest increased in India. Some Hindu and Muslim leaders secretly left to seek help of the Central Powers for an Indian revolution. The pan-Islamic movement in India, particularly the Darul Uloom Deoband
Darul Uloom Deoband
The Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic school in India where the Deobandi Islamic movement was started. It is located at Deoband, a town in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It was founded in 1866 by several prominent Islamic scholars , headed by Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi...
, also made plans for an insurrection in the North-west India with support from Afghanistan and the Central Powers. Mahmud al Hasan, the principal of the Deobandi
Deobandi
Deobandi is a movement of Sunni Islam. The movement began at Darul Uloom Deoband in Deoband, India, where its foundation was laid on 30 May 1866.-History:...
school, left India to seek the help of Galib Pasha, the Turkish governor of Hijaz. Another Deoband leader, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi
Ubaidullah Sindhi
Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi was a noted pan-Islamic leader a political activist of the Indian independence movement...
, traveled to Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
to seek the support of the Emir of Afghanistan. They initially planned to raise an Islamic army headquartered at Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
, with an Indian contingent at Kabul. Mahmud al Hasan was to command this army. While at Kabul, Maulana came to the conclusion that focusing on the Indian Freedom Movement would best serve the pan-Islamic cause. Ubaidullah proposed to the Afghan Emir that he declare war against Britain. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
Maulana Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed was an Indian Muslim scholar and a senior political leader of the Indian independence movement, who lived from 11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958. He was one of the most prominent Muslim leaders to support Hindu-Muslim unity, opposing the partition of India on...
is known to have been involved in the movement prior to his arrest in 1916.
Enver Pasha conceived an expedition to Afghanistan in 1914. He envisioned it as part of a pan-Islamic venture, directed by Turkey, with some German participation. The German delegation to this expedition, chosen by Oppenheim and Zimmermann, included Oskar Niedermayer and Wilhelm Wassmuss
Wilhelm Wassmuss
Wilhelm Wassmuss was a German diplomat, also known as the "Wassmuss of Persia". He attempted to foment trouble for the British in the Persian Gulf in the First World War.- Birth and schooling :...
. An escort of nearly a thousand Turkish troops and German advisers were to accompany the delegation through Persia into Afghanistan, hoping to rally local tribes to jihad.
The mission faltered from conception. In an ineffective ruse, the Germans attempted to reach Turkey by traveling overland through Austria-Hungary in the guise of a traveling circus, eventually reaching neutral Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. Their equipment, arms, and mobile wireless stations were confiscated by Romania after Romanian officials discovered the wireless aerials sticking out through the packaging of the "tent poles". Replacements could not be arranged for weeks, while the delegation waited at Constantinople. To reinforce the Islamic identity of the expedition, it was suggested that the Germans wear Turkish army uniforms, but this Germans refused. Differences between Turkish and German officers, including the reluctance of the Germans to accept Turkish control, further compromised the effort. Eventually, the expedition was aborted.
The attempted expedition had a significant consequence. Wassmuss left Constantinople to organise the tribes in south Persia to act against British interests. While evading British capture in Persia, Wassmuss inadvertently abandoned his codebook. Its recovery by Britain allowed the Allies to decipher German communications, including, eventually, the Zimmermann Telegram
Zimmermann Telegram
The Zimmermann Telegram was a 1917 diplomatic proposal from the German Empire to Mexico to make war against the United States. The proposal was caught by the British before it could get to Mexico. The revelation angered the Americans and led in part to a U.S...
. Oskar Niedermayer led the group following Wassmuss's departure.
Second expedition
In 1915, a second expedition was organised mainly through the German Foreign Office and the Indian leadership of the Berlin Committee. Germany was now intricately involved in the Indian revolutionary conspiracy and provided it with arms and funds. Lala Har Dayal was prominent among the Indian radicals liaising with Germany and was expected to lead the expedition. When Har Dayal declined, the exiled Indian prince Raja Mahendra PratapRaja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was a freedom fighter, journalist, writer and revolutionary social reformist of India. He was popularly known as the Aryan Peshwa. He was born in Thenua gotra Jat Hindu princely family of state of Mursan in Hathras District of Uttar Pradesh on 1 December 1886. He was...
became the leader.
Composition
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
s of Mursan
Mursan
Mursan is a town and a Nagar Panchayat in Mahamaya Nagar district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.Mursan was a state located in the Hathras district. The most well-known ruler of this estate was the Jat nobleman, Raja Mahendra Pratap , who was popularly known as Aryan Peshwa...
and Hathras
Hathras
Hathras is a city and a municipal board in Mahamaya Nagar district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the district that was created on 3 May 1997 by incorporating parts of Aligarh, Mathura and Agra districts. It forms a part of Aligarh Division...
. He had been involved with the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
in the 1900s, attending the Congress session of 1906. Pratap toured the world in 1907 and 1911, and in 1912 contributed substantial funds to Gandhi's South African movement. Pratap left India for Geneva at the beginning of the war, where Virendranath Chattopadhyaya
Virendranath Chattopadhyaya
Virendranath Chattopadhyaya alias Chatto was a prominent Hindu Indian revolutionary who aimed to overthrow the British Raj in India by using violence as a tool...
of the Berlin committee met him. Chattopadhyaya's efforts, along with a letter from the Kaiser, was able to convince Pratap to lend his support to the Indian nationalist cause. Pratap agreed to lend his weight on the condition that the arrangements were made with the Kaiser himself. A private audience with the Kaiser was arranged, at which Pratap agreed to nominally head the expedition.
Prominent among the German members of the delegation were Niedermayer and von Hentig. Von Hentig was a Prussian military officer who had served as the military attaché to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
in 1910 and Constantinople in 1912. Fluent in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, von Hentig was appointed secretary of the German legation to Tehran in 1913. In the early months of the war, von Hentig was serving on the Eastern front as a lieutenant with the Prussian 3rd Cuirassiers when he was recalled to Berlin for the expedition.
Like von Hentig, Niedermayer had served in Constantinople before the war and spoke fluent Persian and other regional languages. A Bavarian artillery officer and a graduate in Geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, Geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and Philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
from the University of Erlangen, Niedermayer had traveled from Persia to India in the two years preceding the war. He returned to Persia to await further orders after the first Afghan expedition was aborted. Niedermayer was tasked with the military aspect of this new expedition as it proceeded through the dangerous Persian desert between British and Russian areas of influence in Persia
Anglo-Russian Entente
Signed on August 31, 1907, in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 brought shaky British-Russian relations to the forefront by solidifying boundaries that identified respective control in Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet...
. The German delegation further included the German officers Günter Voigt and Kurt Wagner.
Champakaraman Pillai
Chempakaraman Pillai was an Indian revolutionary during the Indian Independence Movement, who went abroad to organise an army to declare war against the British for India's freedom.-Early life:...
and the Islamic scholar and Indian nationalist Maulavi Barkatullah
Maulavi Barkatullah
Maulavi Abdul Hafiz Mohamed Barakatullah or Maulana Barkatullah was a staunch anti-British Indian revolutionary with sympathy for the Pan-Islamic movement. Barkatullah was born on 7 July 1854 at Itwra Mohalla Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, India...
. Barkatullah had behind him a long association with the Indian revolutionary movement, having worked with the India House
India House
India House was an informal Indian nationalist organisation based in London between 1905 and 1910. With the patronage of Shyamji Krishna Varma, its home in a student residence in Highgate, North London was launched to promote nationalist views among Indian students in Britain...
in London and in New York from 1903. In 1909, he moved to Japan, where he continued his anti-British activities. Taking the post of Professor of Urdu at Tokyo University, he visited Constantinople in 1911. However, his Tokyo tenure was terminated under diplomatic pressure from Britain. He returned to the United States in 1914, later proceeding to Berlin, where he joined the efforts of the Berlin committee. Barkatullah had as early as 1895 been acquainted with Nasrullah Khan, the brother of the Afghan Emir, Habibulla Khan.
Pratap chose six Hindu Afridi and Pathan
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
volunteers from the prisoner-of-war camp at Zossen
Zossen
Zossen is a German town in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg, south of Berlin, and next to the B96 highway. Zossen consists of several smaller municipalities, which were grouped together in 2003 to form the city.-Geography:...
. Before the mission left Berlin, two more Germans joined the group: Major Dr. Karl Becker, who was familiar with tropical diseases and also spoke Persian, and Walter Rohr, a young merchant fluent in Turkish and Persian.
Organisation
The titular head of the expedition was Mahendra Pratap, while Von Hentig was nominated the Kaiser's representative. He was to accompany and introduce Mahendra Pratap and was responsible for the German diplomatic representations to the Emir. For the mission, an account with 100,000 pounds sterling in gold was deposited at the Deutsche BankDeutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
in Constantinople. Before it left Berlin, the expedition was also given gold plus gifts for the Emir, including jeweled watches, gold fountain pens, ornamental rifles, binoculars, cameras, cinema projectors, and an alarm clock.
Supervision was assigned to the German ambassador to Turkey. The Ambassador was Hans von Wangenheim
Hans Freiherr von Wangenheim
Baron Hans Freiherr von Wangenheim - German diplomat. Ambassador Extraordinary to Mexico. German Minister at Athens, 1909-12. During World War I, from 1912 to October 25, 1915 was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire....
, but as he was ill, his functions were delegated to Prince zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Following Wangenheim's death in 1915, Count von Wolff-Metternich was designated his successor. He had little contact with the expedition.
Journey
To evade British and Russian intelligence, the group split up, beginning their journeys on different days and separately making their ways to Constantinople. Pratap and von Hentig, with a German orderly and an Indian cook, began their journey in early spring 1915, travelling via ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
and Adrianople to reach Constantinople. At Vienna, they were met briefly by the deposed Khedive
Khedive
The term Khedive is a title largely equivalent to the English word viceroy. It was first used, without official recognition, by Muhammad Ali Pasha , the Wāli of Egypt and Sudan, and vassal of the Ottoman Empire...
of Egypt, Abbas Hilmi
Abbas II of Egypt
HH Abbas II Hilmi Bey was the last Khedive of Egypt and Sudan .-Early life:...
.
Persia and Ishafan
Reaching Constantinople on 17 April, the party waited at the Pera Palace HotelHotel Pera Palace
Pera Palace Hotel is an historic special category hotel and museum hotel located in the Beyoğlu district in Istanbul, Turkey. It was built in 1892 for the purpose of hosting the passengers of the Orient Express and was named after the place where it is located...
for three weeks while further travel arrangements were arranged. During this time, Pratap and Hentig met with Enver Pasha and enjoyed an audience with the Sultan. On Enver Pasha's directions, a Turkish officer, Lieutenant Kasim Bey, was deputed to the expedition as the Turkish representative, bearing official letters addressed to the Afghan Emir and the Indian Princely states. At Constantinople, two Afghans from the United States joined.
The group, now approximately twenty people, left Constantinople in early May 1915. It crossed the Bosphorus to take the unfinished Baghdad Railway
Baghdad Railway
The Baghdad Railway , was built from 1903 to 1940 to connect Berlin with the Ottoman Empire city of Baghdad with a line through modern-day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq....
to Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. The Taurus mountains
Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...
were crossed on horseback taking — as von Hentig reflected — the same route taken by Alexander the Great, Paul the Apostle, and Frederick I
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
. The group crossed the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
at high flood to finally reach Baghdad towards the end of May.
As Baghdad raised the spectre of an extensive network of British spies, the group again split. Pratap and von Hentig's party left Baghdad on 1 June 1915 to make their way towards the Persian border. Eight days later they were received by the Turkish military commander Raouf Bey
Rauf Orbay
Hüseyin Rauf Orbay was a Turkish naval officer and statesman, born in Istanbul.As an officer in the Ottoman Navy, he achieved fame for his actions as the captain of the cruiser Hamidiye during the First Balkan War...
at the Persian town of Krynd. Leaving Krynd, the party reached Turkish-occupied Kermanshah
Kermanshah
Kermanshah is a city in and the capital of Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 784,602, in 198,117 families.The overwhelming majority of Kermanshahi people are Shi'a Muslims...
on 14 June 1915. Some members were sick with malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
and other tropical diseases. Leaving them under the care of Dr. Becker, von Hentig proceeded towards Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
to decide on the subsequent plans with Prince Heinrich Reuss and Oskar Niedermayer.
Persia at the time was divided into British and Russian spheres of influence
Anglo-Russian Entente
Signed on August 31, 1907, in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 brought shaky British-Russian relations to the forefront by solidifying boundaries that identified respective control in Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet...
with a neutral zone in between. Germany exercised influence over the central parts of the country through the consulate in Ishafan. The local population and the clergy, opposed to Russian and British semi-colonial designs on Persia, offered support. Through the end of June, Niedermayer and von Hentig's groups reconnoitered Ishafan. The Viceroy of India was already receiving reports of pro-German sympathies among Persian and Afghan tribes. Details of the progress of the expedition were being keenly sought by British intelligence. By now, British and Russian columns close to the Afghan border, including the Seistan Force
Seistan Force
The Seistan Force, originally called East Persia Cordon, was a force of British Indian Army troops set up to prevent enemy infiltration from Persia into Afghanistan during World War I. The force was established to protect British interests in Persia from subversion by German agents, most notably...
, were hunting for the expedition. If the expedition was to reach Afghanistan, it would have to outwit and outrun its pursuers in the extreme heat of the Persian desert over thousands of miles, through natural hazards and evading brigands and ambushes.
By early July, the sick at Kermanshah had recovered and rejoined the expedition. Camels and water bags were purchased, and the parties left Ishafan separately on July 3, 1915 for the journey through the desert, hoping to rendezvous at Tebbes, half way to the Afghan border. Von Hentig's group travelled with twelve pack horses, twenty four mules, and a camel caravan
Camel train
A camel train is a series of camels carrying goods or passengers in a group as part of a regular or semi-regular service between two points. Although they rarely travelled faster than the walking speed of a man, camels' ability to handle harsh conditions made camel trains a vital part of...
. Through the march, efforts were made to throw off the British and Russian patrols. False dispatches spread disinformation on the group's numbers, destination, and intention. To avoid extreme daytime heat, they travelled by night. Food was found or bought by Persian messengers sent ahead of the party. These scouts also helped identify hostile villages and helped find water. The group crossed the Persian desert in forty nights. Dysentery and delirium plagued the party, some Persian guides attempted to defect, and camel drivers had to be constantly vigilant for robbers. On 23 July, the group reached Tebbes – the first Europeans after Sven Hedin
Sven Hedin
Sven Anders Hedin KNO1kl RVO was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, and travel writer, as well as an illustrator of his own works...
. They were soon followed by Niedermayer's party, which included the Africa explorer Wilhelm Paschen and six Austrian and Hungarian soldiers escaped from Russian POW camps in Turkestan. The arrival was marked by a grand welcome by the town's mayor. However, the welcome meant the party was spotted.
East Persian cordon
Seistan Force
The Seistan Force, originally called East Persia Cordon, was a force of British Indian Army troops set up to prevent enemy infiltration from Persia into Afghanistan during World War I. The force was established to protect British interests in Persia from subversion by German agents, most notably...
and Russian patrols. The expedition was still 200 miles from the Afghan border. By September, the German codebook lost by Wilhelm Wassmuss had been deciphered, which further compromised the situation. Oskar Niedermayer, now in charge, emerged a brilliant tactician. He sent three feint patrols, one to northeast to draw away the Russian troops and one to the southeast to draw away the British, while a third patrol of thirty armed Persians, led by a German officer, Lieutenant Wagner, was sent ahead of the main body to find a route. The first group, after leading the Russians astray, was to remain in Persia to establish a secret desert base as a refuge for the main party. The second group, after luring away the British, was to fall back to Kermanshah and link with a separate German force that was in Persia at the time under Lieutenants Zugmayer and Griesinger. All three parties were ordered to spread misleading information about their movements to any nomads or villages they crossed. Meanwhile, the main body headed through Chehar Deh for the region of Birjand
Birjand
Birjand is the east Iranian provincial capital of South Khorasan and the centre of the county Birjand resp. Quhestan, known for its saffron, barberry, rug and handmade carpet exports....
, closest to the Afghan frontier. The party covered forty miles before it reached the next village, where Niedermayer halted to await word from Wagner's patrol. The villagers were meanwhile barred from leaving. Word from Wagner, however, was bad. His patrol had run into a Russian ambush, eliminating the desert refuge. The expedition proceeded towards Birjand with forced marches, keeping about one day ahead of the British and Russian patrols. Other problems still confronted Niedermayer, among them the opium addiction of his Persian camel drivers. He had to stop the Persians a number of times from lighting up tufts of dry grass to light their pipes for fear of being spotted. Men who fell behind were left. Some of the Persian drivers attempted to defect, with gold and gifts. On one occasion, a driver was shot while he attempted to flee and betray the group.
Dasht-e Kavir
Dasht-e Kavir , also known as Kavir-e Namak or Great Salt Desert is a large desert lying in the middle of the Iranian plateau. It is about 800 kilometers long and 320 kilometers wide with a total surface area of about 77,600 square kilometers , making it the Earth's 23rd largest desert...
. On 19 August 1915 the expedition reached the Afghan frontier. Mahendra Pratap's memoirs describes the group as left with approximately fifty men, less than half the number who set out from Ishafan seven weeks earlier. Dr. Becker's camel caravan was lost and he was later captured by Russians. Only seventy of the 170 of the horses and baggage animals survived.
Afghanistan
Crossing into Afghanistan, the group found fresh water in an irrigation channel by a deserted hamlet. Albeit teeming with leeches, the water saved the group from dying of thirst. Marching for another two days, it reached the vicinity of HeratHerat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
, where they were able to make their first contact with Afghan authorities. Unsure what reception awaited them, Barkatullah
Maulavi Barkatullah
Maulavi Abdul Hafiz Mohamed Barakatullah or Maulana Barkatullah was a staunch anti-British Indian revolutionary with sympathy for the Pan-Islamic movement. Barkatullah was born on 7 July 1854 at Itwra Mohalla Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, India...
, as an Islamic scholar of some fame, was sent ahead by von Hentig to advise the governor about the expedition's arrival with the Kaiser's message and gifts for the Emir. The governor sent a grand welcome, with noblemen bearing cloths and gifts, a caravan of servants, and a column of hundred armed escorts to invite the expedition into the city as guests of the Afghan government. On 24 August, the expedition entered Herat, with von Hentig in the lead in his Curassiers uniform, in a procession welcomed by Turkish troops headed by a Turkish captain. They were housed at the Emir's provincial palace. They were officially met by the governor a few days later when, according to British agents, von Hentig showed him the Turkish Sultan's proclamation of Jihad and announced the Kaiser's promise to recognise Afghan sovereignty and provide German assistance. The Kaiser also promised to grant Afghanistan territory as far north as Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
in Russian Turkestan and as far into India as Bombay.
The Viceroy of India had already warned the Emir of approaching "German agents and hired assassins". The Emir had promised the Viceroy to arrest the expedition if it managed to reach Afghanistan. However, under a close watch, the expedition members were given the freedom of Herat. The governor promised to arrange for the 400-mile trip east to Kabul in another two weeks. Suits were tailored and horses given new saddles so they were presentable to the Emir. The trip was arranged to avoid the southern route through Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
, possibly because Afghan officials wished to avoid fomenting unrest in the Pathan region close to India. On 7 September, the group left Herat for Kabul with Afghan guides, in a 24-day trip through the northern, harsher, Hazarajat
Hazarajat
The Hazarajat is the original homeland of the Hazara people, and lies in the central highlands of Afghanistan, among the Koh-i-Baba mountains and the western extremities of the Hindu Kush. Its physical boundaries, however, are roughly marked by the Bamiyan Basin to the north, the headwaters of...
route over the barren mountains of Central Afghanistan. Enroute the expedition was again careful to spend enough money and gold to ensure popularity amongst the local people. Finally, on October 2, 1915, the expedition reached Kabul. It was received by a "salaam" by the local Turkish community and a Guard of honour
Guard of honour
A guard of honour is a ceremonial event practice in military and sports as a mark of respect.-Military:In the military a guard of honour is a ceremonial practice to honour visiting foreign dignitaries, or the fallen in war, or a ceremony for public figures who have died.The commander is three paces...
by Afghan troops in Turkish uniform. von Hentig describes receiving cheers and a grand welcome from the local inhabitants of Kabul.
Afghan intrigues
At Kabul, the group was housed at the Emir's palace at Bagh-e BaburBagh-e Babur
The Gardens of Babur, locally called Bagh-e Babur , is a historic park in Kabul, Afghanistan, and also the last resting-place of the first Mughal emperor Babur...
accommodated as Guests of State and their provisions arranged for. Despite the comfort and the welcome, however, it was soon clear that they were all but confined. Armed guards were placed around the palace, ostensibly for "the group's own danger from British secret agents" and armed guides escorted them on their journeys. Meanwhile Emir Habibullah, reportedly in his summer palace at Paghman
Paghman
Paghman is a town in the hills near Kabul, Afghanistan. See also Paghman Gardens. It is center of the Paghman District which has a total population of 120,000 people, and another 20,000 returnees are expected , of which 70% are Pashtuns and 30% Tajiks.. Paghman District is situated in the western...
, responded for nearly three weeks with only polite non-committal replies to requests for audience. An astute politician, it was clear that the Emir was in no hurry to receive his guests while he found out as much as he could about the members and liased with British authority at New Delhi. It was only after Niedermayer and von Hentig threatened Hunger Strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
that anything moved. In the meantime, von Hentig learnt as much as he could about his eccentric host. Emir Habibullah was, by all measures, the lord of Afghanistan. He considered it his divine right to rule and the land his property. He owned the only newspaper,Siraj-al-Akbar; the only drug store; all the automobiles in the country (Rolls Royce
Rolls-Royce (car)
This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
s all of them) and only allowed himself to collect stamps and be photographed.
The Emir's brother, prime minister Nasrullah Khan, on the other hand was a man of religious convictions. Unlike the Emir, he spoke the local language Pashto fluently, dressed in traditional Afghan robes, and interacted more closely with border tribes. While the Emir humoured British India, Nasrullah Khan held more pro-German sympathy. Nasrullah's views were shared by his nephew, Amanullah Khan
Amanullah Khan
Amanullah Khan was the King of the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1919 to 1929, first as Amir and after 1926 as Shah. He led Afghanistan to independence over its foreign affairs from the United Kingdom, and his rule was marked by dramatic political and social change...
, the youngest and most charismatic amongst the Emir's sons. The eldest son Inayatullah Khan was in charge of the Afghan army. In this political situation, the mission expected more sympathy and consideration from Nasrullah and Amanullah.
Meeting Emir Habibullah
He expressed surprise that a task as important as the expedition's was entrusted to such young men. von Hentig had to convince the Emir that the mission did not consider themselves merchants, but instead brought word from the Kaiser, the Ottoman Sultan and from India, wishing to recognise Afghanistan's complete independence and sovereignty. The Kaiser's typewritten letter, compared to the handsome Ottoman greeting failed to settle the Emir's suspicions, who doubted its authenticity. von Hentig's explanations that this was the only available instrument at the Kaiser's field headquarters before the group's hurried departure may not have convinced him entirely. von Hentig forwarded the invitation to join the war on Central side, explaining the war situation as favourable, and invited the Emir to declare independence. This was followed by a presentation from Kasim Bey explaining the Ottoman Sultan's declaration of Jihad, Turkey's desire to avoid a fratricidal war between Islamic people, and her message to Afghanistan, which was similar to the Kaiser's. Subsequently, Barkatullah invited Habibullah to declare war against the British empire and to come to the aid of India's Muslims. It was Barkatullah, further, who proposed to the Emir that he allow Turco-German forces to cross Afghanistan for a campaign towards the Indian frontier, to which he hoped the Emir would join forces. Barkatullah and Mahendra Pratap, both eloquent speakers, further pointed out the rich territorial gains the Emir stood to acquire by joining the central powers.
The Emir's reply was, however, shrewd but frank. He noted Afghanistan's vulnerable strategic position between the two Allied nations of Russia and Britain, and the difficulties of any possible Turco-German assistance to Afghanistan, especially given the presence of the Anglo-Russian East Persian cordon. Further, he was financially vulnerable, depending on British subsidy and institutions for his fortunes and the finance of his army and kingdom. The mission had no immediate answers to his questions on strategic assistance, arms, and funds. Merely tasked to provoke the Emir to join a holy war, it had not the authority from Europe to promise anything. Nonetheless, it expressed hopes of an alliance in near future with Persia (which Prince Henry of Reuss and Wilhelm Wassmuss worked on) which would bridge the Emir's needs. This first meeting, although it reached no firm outcome, has however been noted by historians as a cordial one which helped open communications with the Emir and allowed the mission to hope for success.
This meeting was followed by another eight hour meeting in October 1915 at Paghman, followed by more audiences between the Emir and the mission at Kabul. The messages were the same as those in the first audience. The meetings would typically begin with Habibullah opening the conference describing his daily routine, followed by words from von Hentig on politics and history before it veered to discussions on Afghanistan's position on the proposition from the Central powers allowing right of passage for Central troops, breaking with Britain, and declaring independence. The expedition expected a Persian move on the Central side, holding out on hopes that this would convince the Emir. Further Niedermayer argued in these meetings that German victory was imminent, outlining the compromised and isolated position Afghanistan would find herself if she was still allied to Britain. The Emir at times met with the Indian and German delegates separately, promising to consider the propositions but never committing himself to it. He wished to seek concrete proof that Turco-German reassurance of military and financial assistance was feasible. In a letter to Prince Henry of Reuss in Tehran (which the messenger delivered to Russians instead), von Hentig asked for Turkish troops, while Walter Röhr wrote to the prince later that a thousand Turkish troops armed with machine guns along with another German expedition headed by himself should be able to draw Afghanistan into the war. Meanwhile, Niedermayer advised Habibullah on reforming his army with mobile units equipped with more modern weaponry.
Meetings with Nasrullah
Through the months that the expedition stayed in Kabul, Habibullah fended off pressures to commit to the Central effort with what has been described as "masterly inactivity". He waited for the outcome of the war to be predictable, announcing to the mission his sympathy for Central powers, and asserting his willingness to lead an army into India— if and when Turco-German troops were able to support him. Hints that the mission would leave if nothing could be achieved were placated with adulations and invitations to stay on. Meanwhile, they were allowed to venture into Kabul freely, which the members put to good use on a successful Hearts and Minds
Military operations other than war
Military Operations Other Than War focus on deterring war, resolving conflict, promoting peace, and supporting civil authorities in response to domestic crises. The phrase and acronym was coined by the United States military during the 1990s, but it has since fallen out of use. The UK military...
campaign, spending plenty of money on local goods and paying cash. Two dozen Austrian prisoners of war who had escaped from Russian camps were used by Niedermayer to construct a Hospital. Kasim Bey, meanwhile, acquainted himself with the local Turkish community and sought to further Enver Pasha's message of Pan-Turanian Jihad and unity of Turkish tribes. Habibullah tolerated the increasingly anti-British and pro-Central tone being taken by his newspaper Siraj al Akhbar, whose editor— his own father-in-law Mahmud Tarzi
Mahmud Tarzi
Mahmūd Bēg Tarzī was one of Afghanistan's greatest intellectuals. He is known as the father of Afghan journalism...
— took Barkatullah as an officiating editor in early 1916. Tarzi published a series of inflammatory articles by Raja Mahendra Pratap and printed anti-British and pro-Central articles and propaganda. By May 1916, the tone in the paper was deemed serious enough for the Raj to intercept the copies to India.
Through German links with Ottoman Turkey, the Berlin Committee at this time established contact with Mahmud al Hasan at Hijaz while the expedition itself was now met at Kabul by Ubaidullah Sindhi's group.
Political developments
A number of political events and progress took shape in December 1915, allowing the mission to celebrate some success on Christmas Day that year at Kabul with wine and cognac left behind from the Durand mission forty previously which Habibullah lay at their disposal. These events included the foundation of the Provisional Government of IndiaProvisional Government of India
Provisional Government of India was a provisional government-in-exile established by Indian Nationalists in Afghanistan during World War I with support from the Central Powers. Its purpose was to enroll support from both the Afghan Emir, as well as Tsarist Russia, China and Japan for the Indian...
that same month, and a shift from the Emir's usual avertive stance to offer discussions on a German-Afghan treaty of friendship.
In November, the Indian members decided to take a political initiative which they believed would convince the Emir to summon for Jihad, and if that was unlikely, have his hand forced by his advisors. On December 1, 1915, the Provisional Government of India
Provisional Government of India
Provisional Government of India was a provisional government-in-exile established by Indian Nationalists in Afghanistan during World War I with support from the Central Powers. Its purpose was to enroll support from both the Afghan Emir, as well as Tsarist Russia, China and Japan for the Indian...
was founded at Habibullah's Bagh-e-Babur palace in the presence of the Indian, German and Turkish members of the expedition and friends. It was declared a revolutionary government-in-exile which was to take charge of independent India when British authority had been overthrown. Mahendra Pratap was proclaimed President, Barkatullah the Prime minister, the Deobandi
Deobandi
Deobandi is a movement of Sunni Islam. The movement began at Darul Uloom Deoband in Deoband, India, where its foundation was laid on 30 May 1866.-History:...
leader Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi
Ubaidullah Sindhi
Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi was a noted pan-Islamic leader a political activist of the Indian independence movement...
the Minister for India, Maulavi Bashir its war Minister, and Champakaran Pillai the Foreign Minister. Support was obtained from Galib Pasha proclaiming Jihad against Britain, while recognition was sought from Tsarist Russia, Republican China and Japan. The Government would later attempt to obtain support from Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
leadership. After the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
in Russia in 1917, Pratap's government corresponded with the nascent Soviet government. In 1918, Mahendra Pratap met Trotsky in Petrograd before meeting the Kaiser in Berlin, urging both to mobilise against British India.
Draft Afghan-German friendship treaty
December 1915 also saw concrete progress on the mission's Turco-German objective. The Emir informed von Hentig he was ready to discuss a treaty of Afghan-German friendship. This however, the Emir told von Hentig, would take time and require extensive historical research. Work on the treaty began with drafts proposed by von Hentig himself. This draft was finalised on 24 January 1916. Amongst its ten articles were clauses recognising Afghan independence, declaration of friendship with Germany and establishment of diplomatic relations— von Hentig himself accredited the "Embassy secretary of the German Empire". In addition, the treaty would guarantee German assistance against Russian and British threats if Afghanistan joined the war on the Central side. The Emir's army was to be modernised, with Germany providing 100,000 modern rifles, 300 artillery pieces, other equipments for modern warfare. The Germans were to be responsible for maintaining advisors and engineers, and was to maintain a supply route overland through Persia for arms and ammunition. Further, the Emir was to be paid £10,00,000. Historians have pointed out that the German guarantees were dubious. In spite of this however, Hentig and Niedermayer both signed this document. It granted, as von Hentig argued in a telegram to the foreign office, an initial basis to begin work in Afghanistan in preparation for an Afghan invasion of India. Oskar Niedermayer explained that the Emir intended to begin his campaign as soon as Germany could make available 20,000 troops to protect Afghan—Russian front, and asked for urgent provisions for wireless sets and substantial shipment of arms. Further, Niedermayer required at least a million pounds initial funding. He judged the condition an offensive into India ideal, and informed General staff to expect the campaign to begin in April.Mission's conclusion
At the end however, Emir Habibullah went back to his vacillating inactivity. He was aware the mission was finding support within his own council and had excited his volatile subjects. A Durbar was called by Habibullah four days after signing the draft treaty, where the grand meeting expected a call to Jihad. Instead, he reaffirmed his neutrality to the large crowd, explaining that the war's outcome was still unpredictable and he stood for national unity instead. Through the spring of 1916, he continuously deferred the mission's overtures and gradually increased the stake, demanding that India rise in revolution before he began his campaign. Further, it was clear to Habibullah that the treaty required the Kaiser's signature before it held any value and that for Germany to even attempt to honour the treaty, she would have to be in a strong position in the war. It was a good insurance policy for Habibullah.Meanwhile, British intelligence reports worried him that he himself may be assassinated and his country may face a Coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
. His tribesmen were unhappy at Habibullah's perceived subservience to the British, and his council and relatives openly spoke of their suspicion at his inactivity. Habibullah began purging his court of officials who were known to be close to his brother Nasrullah and his son Amanullah. He recalled emissaries he had sent to Persia for talks with Germans and Turks for military aid. Meanwhile, the war itself took turn for the worse for the Central powers. The Arab revolt
Arab Revolt
The Arab Revolt was initiated by the Sherif Hussein bin Ali with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Turks and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.- Background :...
against Turkey and the Fall of Erzerum to the Russians ended hopes of sending a Turkish division to Afghanistan. German influence in Persia also declined rapidly, ending hopes that Goltz Pasha
Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz
Wilhelm Leopold Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz also known as Goltz Pasha, was a Prussian Field Marshal and military writer.-Military career:...
could lead a Persian volunteer division to Afghanistan. The mission itself came to realise that the Emir deeply mistrusted them. A further attempt by British intelligence to feed false information to the mission, purportedly originating from Goltz Pasha, convinced von Hentig that they made attractive presents from the Emir to the Viceroy if it came to that. A last offer was made by Nasrullah in May 1916 to remove Habibullah from power and take charge of frontier tribes in a campaign against British India. von Hentig, however, knew by now it would be fruitless. With the Indian members choosing to stay behind, persisting in their attempts at alliance with regional powers, the Germans ultimately left Kabul on May 21, 1916. Curt Wagner was instructed by Niedermayer to stay behind at Herat and act as a Liaison officer.
Ancient rules of hospitality had protected the expedition in Afghanistan. They knew however that once out of the Emir's lands, the Anglo-Russian forces as well as the marauding tribesmen of Persia would chase them mercilessly. The party split up into multiple groups, each making its own way back to Germany independently. Niedermayer headed west, attempting to run the Anglo-Russian cordon and escape through Persia, while von Hentig made for the route over the Pamir Mountains
Pamir Mountains
The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range in Central Asia formed by the junction or knot of the Himalayas, Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains and since Victorian times they have been known as the "Roof of the World" a probable...
towards Chinese Central Asia. Having served in Peking before the war, von Hentig was familiar with the region and planned to make Yarkand a base from which to make a last attempt for local Muslim unrest against Anglo-Russian interests in the region, which would force the dispatch of troops for protection. He later escaped over the Hindu Kush
Hindu Kush
The Hindu Kush is an mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. The highest point in the Hindu Kush is Tirich Mir in the Chitral region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.It is the westernmost extension of the Pamir Mountains, the Karakoram Range, and is a...
, avoiding his pursuers for 130 days as he made his way on foot and horseback through Chinese Turkestan, over the Gobi desert
Gobi Desert
The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...
, and subsequently through China and Shanghai. From there, he stowed away on an American vessel to Honolulu where, following the American declaration of war, he was exchanged as a diplomat via San Francisco, Halifax and Bergen, finally reaching Berlin on 9 June 1917. Niedermayer meanwhile escaped through Russian Turkestan towards Persia. In Turkestan, he was robbed and left for dead, and a wounded Niedermayer was at times reduced to begging before he reached friendly lines, finally arriving in Tehran on 20 July 1916. Kurt Wagner finally left Herat on October 25, 1917, making his way through northern Persia to reach Turkey on January 30, 1918. At Chorasan in Persia, he tried to rally Persian democrat and nationalist leaders, who promised to raise an army of 12,000 if Germany provided military assistance.
Mahendra Pratap, meanwhile, attempted to seek alliance with Tsar Nicholas II from February 1916, but his messages remained unacknowledged. The 1917 Kefrensky Government also refused visa to Pratap, aware that he was considered a "dangerous seditionist" by the British Government. It was Lenin's Bolshevik government with whom Pratap was able to correspond more closely. He visited Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
in February 1918 at the invitation of Turkestan authorities followed by a visit to Red Petrograd where he met Trotsky. He and Barkatullah remained in touch with the German government and with the Berlin Committee through the latter's secret office in Stockholm,. After Lenin's coup, he acted at times as liaison between the Afghan government and the Germans, hoping to revive the Indian cause. In 1918, Pratap suggested to Trotsky, at Petrograd, a joint German-Russian invasion of Indian frontiers. He recommended a similar plan to Lenin at Moscow in 1919, whom the Narkomindel
Narkomindel
The Ministry of External Relations of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , formed on 16 July 1923, was one of the most important government offices in the Soviet Union. It was known as the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs , or Narkomindel, until 1946. The Ministry was known as the...
arranged for Pratap to meet while the latter was on his way to Berlin to seek the Kaiser's assistance. He was accompanied at Moscow by Indian revolutionaries of the Berlin committee who were at the time turning to communism.
Sistan force
Seistan Force
The Seistan Force, originally called East Persia Cordon, was a force of British Indian Army troops set up to prevent enemy infiltration from Persia into Afghanistan during World War I. The force was established to protect British interests in Persia from subversion by German agents, most notably...
was established in the Sistan province of southeast Persia to prevent the Germans from crossing into Afghanistan and to protect British supply caravans in Sarhad from Damani, Reki and Kurdish Balushi tribes who may be tempted by German gold. The small force of 2nd Quetta Brigade maintained in Western Balochistan since the beginning of the war was expanded in July 1915 and became the East Persia Cordon stretching from Russian Turkestan to Baluchistan. A similar Russian cordon was established to prevent infiltration into north-west Afghanistan. From March 1916 the force became the Seistan Force under the direction of General Kirkpatrick, the Chief of General Staff in India. The cordon was initially under the command of a Colonel J.M.Wilkeley before it was taken over by Reginald Dyer
Reginald Dyer
Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer CB was a British Indian Army officer who as a temporary Brigadier-General was responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar ....
in February, 1916. The cordon's task was to "intercept, capture or destroy and German parties attempting to enter Sistan or Afghanistan", and to establish intelligence system and watch for the Birjand-Merked road. Persian subjects were ordered not to be targeted as long as Persia remained neutral so long as they were not accompanying the Germans or serving as German courier. Following the Revolution in Russia
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
, the Malleson Mission
Malleson Mission
The Malleson Mission was a military action by a small autonomous force of British Soldiers, led by General Wilfred Malleson, operating against Bolshevik forces over large distances in Transcaspia between 1918 and 1919.- Background :...
was sent to Trans-Caspia
Trans-Caspia
Trans-Caspia is the seldom used name for the region east of the Caspian sea. It can mean either Turkmenistan in particular or Central Asia in general...
and the Seistan Force became the Lines of Communication for the Mission from September 1918 under the orders of the 4th (Quetta) Division
4th (Quetta) Division
The 4th Division was an infantry division of the British Indian Army. It was formed by General Kitchener while he was Commander-in-chief of India. During World War I the division remained in India...
. With the withdrawal of the force from Trans-Caspia
Trans-Caspia
Trans-Caspia is the seldom used name for the region east of the Caspian sea. It can mean either Turkmenistan in particular or Central Asia in general...
, the troops in Persia were withdrawn and the last elements left in November 1920.
Intelligence efforts
British efforts against the conspiracy and subsequently the expedition began in Europe itself. Even before Mahendra Pratap met the Kaiser, attempts were made by British intelligence to assassinate V.N. Chatterjee while on his way to Geneva to invite Pratap to Berlin. British agents where known to be present in Constantinople, Cairo, and in Persia. The main efforts were however directed at intercepting the expedition before it managed to reach Afghanistan, and thence to exert pressure to ensure that the Emir maintained his neutrality. British intelligence in Persia, under the efforts of Sir Percy SykesPercy Sykes
Brigadier-General Sir Percy Molesworth Sykes KCIE, CB, CMG was a soldier, diplomat and scholar, with a considerable literary output. He wrote historical, geographical, and biographical works, as well as describing his travels in Persia. Sykes was born in Brompton, Kent, England the only son of Rev...
, also intercepted communication between the expedition and Prince Reuss in Tehran through various means. Among these were letters from von Hentig captured in November 1915 detailing the meetings with the Emir as well as messages from Walter Röhr detailing the requirements for arms, ammunition and men.The most dramatic intelligence coup however was a message from von Hentig asking for a thousand Turkish troops and the necessity for "internal revulsions" in Afghanistan if need be. This message found its way to Russian intelligence and through them to the Viceroy who passed on an inflated summary and warned the Emir of the possibility of a coup funded by the Germans and the threat to his life. In summer 1916, intelligence captured in Pujab letters sent by the Indian provisional government's Ubaidullah Sindhi
Ubaidullah Sindhi
Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi was a noted pan-Islamic leader a political activist of the Indian independence movement...
to Mahmud al Hasan, which were addressed to the Turkish authority and the Sherif of Mecca. The letters, written in Persian on Silk cloth, were found sewn into the messenger's clothes when he was betrayed in th Punjab, earning the name the Silk Letter Conspiracy
Silk Letter Conspiracy
The Silk Letter Conspiracy refers to a conspiracy by Deobandi leaders to attempt to begin a Pan-Islamic insurrection in British India during World War I by seeking support from Ottoman Turkey, Imperial Germany, and Afghanistan...
. Mahendra Pratap's private secretary Harish Chandra was captured in Europe in October 1915. In August 1915, Harish Chandra had returned to Switzerland after a visit to India when he had carried messages from Mahendra Pratap to Indian princes. Chandra now divulged details of the Provisional government of India and of the expedition and further passed on to British intelligence letters from Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg and Mahedra Pratap addressed to Indian princes. Subsequently, Chandra was sent as a double agent to the United States in 1917 to investigate and report on the finances of the Ghadar Party and the revolutionary movement in Washington. Also used as a double agent was a man by the name of Sissodia who, claiming to be from a Royal family of Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
, attempted to infiltrate the Germans and Berlin committee
Berlin Committee
The Berlin Committee, later known as the Indian Independence Committee after 1915, was an organisation formed in Germany in 1914 during World War I by Indian students and political activists residing in the country. The purpose of the Committee was to promote the cause of Indian Independence...
through Zurich.
Diplomatic measures
The Afghan Emir was warned by New Delhi of the approach of the expedition even while efforts were underway to intercept it in the Persian desert. After it crossed into Afghanistan, the Emir was asked to arrest the members. However, Habibullah humoured British pressure without obliging the Viceroy's requests. He assured the Viceroy that he intended to remain neutral, but he could not take any action that were overtly pro-British. Indian intelligence also became aware— after the expedition had been Kabul for sometime— that they carried with them highly inflammatory letters from the Kaiser and the Turkish sultan. Russians further voiced through British channels their concerns at the Emir's tolerance of the German presence and their intrigues with Pro-German Afghan counsels.By December 1915, New Delhi felt it necessary to put more weight on the Afghans. Communications between the British empire and Kabul had been hitherto through the Viceroy at Delhi. Acutely aware the pressure on Habibullah from his pro-German relatives and the strong anti-British feeling among his tribes, Hardinge
Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst
Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst, was a British diplomat and statesman who served as Viceroy of India from 1910 to 1916.-Background and education:...
now suggested that a letter from King George
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
himself may help Habibullah maintain his neutrality. Accordingly, a personal handwritten letter addressed personally to Habibullah, written on Buckingham Palace stationery, was sent by George V praising the Emir for his steadfast neutrality and promising to increase his subsidy. The letter, which addressed Habibullah as "Your Majesty", was intended to encourage Habibullah and make him feel an equal partner to the empire. It had its intended effect. Habibullah sent verbal communication through British agents in Kabul that he could not acknowledge the letter formally because of political pressure, but he nonetheless sent reassurances he would remain neutral.
Following the draft treaty January 1916, apprehensions grew in Delhi of trouble from Frontier tribes. Indian Intelligence received rumours of letters from Habibullah to his tribal chiefs in Spring 1916 exhorting holy jihad. An alarmed Hardinge called a grand Jirga
Jirga
A jirga is a tribal assembly of elders which takes decisions by consensus, particularly among the Pashtun people but also in other ethnic groups near them; they are most common in Afghanistan and among the Pashtuns in Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan...
of 3000 tribal chiefs in Peshawar, where an impressive bombing displays were put on using aircraft. Hardinge further announced the British empires goodwill by increasing the subsidies to the chiefs. These measures too helped convince the frontier tribes that Britain remained in a strong position in the war and that Indian defences were impregnable.
On Afghanistan
At the time, the expedition greatly disturbed the Russian and British influences in Central and South Asia, and raised concerns among the two European powers for the safety of their interests in the region. Further, it nearly succeeded in propelling Afghanistan into the war. After the war, the pre-war offers and liaisons of the mission with figureheads of Afghan politics influenced the political and social situation in the country, starting a process of political change that culminated in the 1919 assassinationAssassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of Habibullah and transfer of power to Nasrullah and subsequently Amanullah. This was followed closely by the Third Anglo-Afghan War
Third Anglo-Afghan War
The Third Anglo-Afghan War began on 6 May 1919 and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. It was a minor tactical victory for the British. For the British, the Durand Line was reaffirmed as the political boundary between the Emirate of Afghanistan and British India and the Afghans agreed not to...
that led to Afghan Independence.
Historians have pointed out that in its political objectives, the expedition was three years premature. However, it planted the seeds of sovereignty and reform in Afghanistan, and its main themes of encouraging Afghan independence and breaking away from British influence were gaining ground in Afghanistan by 1919. Habibullah's steadfast neutrality alienated a substantial proportion of his family members and council advisors, and further fed discontent among his subjects. Further, his communications to the Viceroy in early February 1919 demanding complete sovereignty and independence over foreign policy was rebuffed by Britain. Two weeks later, Habibullah was assassinated during a hunting trip. The Afghan crown passed to Nasrullah Khan before Habibullah's younger son Amanullah Khan assumed power. Both had been staunch supporters of the expedition. The immediate effect of this upheaval was the precipitation of the Third Anglo-Afghan War
Third Anglo-Afghan War
The Third Anglo-Afghan War began on 6 May 1919 and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. It was a minor tactical victory for the British. For the British, the Durand Line was reaffirmed as the political boundary between the Emirate of Afghanistan and British India and the Afghans agreed not to...
, in which a number of brief skirmishes were followed by the Rawalpindi treaty, and Britain finally recognised Afghan independence. Amanullah proclaimed himself the king. Among the first countries to recognise the independent Afghan Government was Germany.
Through the next decade, Amanullah Khan instituted a number of social and constitutional reforms which had been first advocated by the Niedermayer-Hentig expedition. The reforms were instituted under a ministerial cabinet, and the first steps towards female emancipation began with women of the royal family taking off their veils. Educational institutions were opened to women and the education system itself was reformed, with a secular emphasis and with teachers from outside Afghanistan. Among these was a German School that opened in Kabul which at one point offered the von Hentig Fellowship devoted to Postgraduate study in Germany. Medical services in Afghanistan was reformed and a number of Hospitals built during this time. Amanullah Khan also embarked on an industrialisation drive and nation building projects which received substantial German collaboration. By 1929, Germans were the largest European group in Afghanistan, German corporations like Telefunken
Telefunken
Telefunken is a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft...
and Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
were amongst the most prominent firms involved in Afghanistan, and the German Flag carrier
Flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...
Deutsche Luft Hansa
Deutsche Luft Hansa
Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and throughout the Third Reich.-1920s:Deutsche Luft Hansa was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin...
became the first European airline to start a service to Afghanistan.
Soviet Eastern policy
Kalmyk Project
The Kalmyk Project was the name given to Soviet plans to launch a surprise attack on the northwest frontier of India via Tibet and other Himalayan buffer states in 1919-1920. It was a part of Soviet plans for destabilising Britain and the Western European powers through unrest in the Colonial...
, the name given to Soviet plans to launch a surprise attack on the northwest frontier of India via Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
and other Himalayan buffer states, may have been prompted by Mahendra Pratap's efforts and his advice to the Soviet leadership, People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, and to Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
in 1919 when, along with other Indian revolutionaries, he pressed for a joint Soviet-Afghan campaign into India.
Soviet Russia herself intended to nurture political upheaval in British India in its strategy against British imperialism. In 1919, she sent a diplomatic mission headed by an "orientalist" by the name of N.Z. Bravin. Among other works, this Bravin expedition established links at Herat with the Austrian and German remnants of the Niedermayer-Hentig expedition and liaised with the Indian revolutionaries in Kabul. Bravin proposed to Amanullah a military alliance against British India and a campaign for which Soviet Turkestan would bear the costs. These negotiations however failed to reach concrete conclusions before the Soviet advances were detected by British Indian intelligence. A later soviet plan considered raising a force of nearly forty thousand cavalry from Turkestan or the Urals, which would advance to India through Afghanistan with help from Afghan tribes who may rally against Amanullah. However, these plans presented their own problems. Amongst other routes to India that were explored were plans to foment unrest in Tibet and the Himalayan buffer states of Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
, Sikkim
Sikkim
Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Burma through the Buddhist Kalmyk
Kalmyk people
Kalmyk people is the name given to the Oirats, western Mongols in Russia, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist government...
people, and use these places as a staging ground for revolution in India. This offered the shortest route to the revolutionary heartland of Bengal. It was to proceed under the cover of a scientific expedition to Tibet under Indologist Fyodor Shcherbatskoy
Fyodor Shcherbatskoy
Fyodor Ippolitovich Shcherbatskoy or Stcherbatsky , often referred to in the literature as F. Th. Stcherbatsky, was a Russian Indologist who, in large part, was responsible for laying the foundations in the Western world for the scholarly study of Buddhist philosophy...
, and arm the indigenous people in the North-East Indian region with modern weaponry before a regular supply could be arranged. The project had the approval of Lenin. Pratap himself had a strong obsession with Tibet, and made efforts as early as 1916 to penetrate into the Himalayan Kingdom to cultivate anti-British propaganda. His efforts were resumed after his return from Moscow in 1919. Pratap, further, was close to Fyodor Shcherbatskoy
Fyodor Shcherbatskoy
Fyodor Ippolitovich Shcherbatskoy or Stcherbatsky , often referred to in the literature as F. Th. Stcherbatsky, was a Russian Indologist who, in large part, was responsible for laying the foundations in the Western world for the scholarly study of Buddhist philosophy...
and Sergey Oldenburg
Sergey Oldenburg
Sergey Fyodorovich Oldenburg was a Russian orientalist who specialized in Buddhist studies. He is remembered as the founder of Russian Indology and the teacher of Fyodor Shcherbatskoy....
. Privy to the organisation's designs in the region, he intended to participate in the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs' planned expedition to Tibet in summer 1919.
However, the Kalmyk project was ultimately shelved following the Czech uprising in the Trans-Siberian railway. Pratap himself set out alone to unsuccessfully pursue his goal in Tibet.
British India
The war-time conspiracy which initially led to the conception of the expedition, the presence of Pratap's Kabul mission in Afghanistan and its overtures to Bolshevik Russia, and the active revolutionary movement that still existed in Punjab and Bengal led to the appointment in British India of a Sedition committeeRowlatt Committee
The Rowlatt committee was a Sedition Committee appointed in 1918 by the British Indian Government with Mr Justice Rowlatt, an English judge, as its president. The purpose of the committee was to evaluate political terrorism in India, especially Bengal and Punjab, its impact, and the links with the...
in 1918 chaired by Sydney Rowlatt, an English judge. In the midst of a worsening civil unrest throughout India, it was tasked to evaluate German and Bolshevik links to the Indian militant movement, especially in Punjab and Bengal. On the recommendations of the committee, the Rowlatt Act
Rowlatt Act
The Rowlatt Act was a law passed by the British in colonial India in March 1919, indefinitely extending "emergency measures" enacted during the First World War in order to control public unrest and root out conspiracy...
, an extension of the Defence of India act of 1915, was enforced in India.
A number of events followed the passage of the Rowlatt Act in 1919 which were influenced by the conspiracy. At the time, British Indian Army troops were returning from the battlefields of Europe and Mesopotamia to an economic depression in India. The Ghadar Conspiracy
Ghadar Conspiracy
The Ghadar Conspiracy was a conspiracy for a pan-Indian mutiny in the British Indian Army in February 1915 formulated by the Ghadar Party...
of 1915 and the Lahore conspiracy trials were still in public attention. News was also beginning to reach India of the Indian Voluntary corps who, influenced by Ghadarites, fought on behalf of the Turkish Caliphate, as did reach news of Indian communists. Mahendra Pratap himself was shadowed by British agents through Central Asia during his journeys to and from Germany via Soviet Union, among them Frederick Marshman Bailey. The third Anglo-Afghan war
Third Anglo-Afghan War
The Third Anglo-Afghan War began on 6 May 1919 and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. It was a minor tactical victory for the British. For the British, the Durand Line was reaffirmed as the political boundary between the Emirate of Afghanistan and British India and the Afghans agreed not to...
began in 1919 in the wake of Amir Habibullah's assassination and institution of Amanullah
Amanullah
Amanullah or Amanallah is a male Muslim given name meaning the trust or protection of God. It may refer to:*Amānullāh Khān , ruler of Afghanistan from 1919 to 1929*Amanullah Khan , several other people called Amanullah Khan...
in a system blatantly influenced by the Kabul mission. Pratap, who had been in Berlin at the time the war broke out, returned to Kabul at the news of the war, for which the Germans provided him air transport.
It was at this time that the pan-Islamic Khilafat movement
Khilafat Movement
The Khilafat movement was a pan-Islamic, political campaign launched by Muslims in British India to influence the British government and to protect the Ottoman Empire during the aftermath of World War I...
began in India and Gandhi, until then relatively unknown in the Indian political scene, began emerging as a mass leader. His call for protest against the Rowlatt act achieved an unprecedented response of furious unrest and protests. The situation, especially in Punjab, deteriorated rapidly with disruptions of rail, telegraph and communication systems. The movement was at its peak before the end of the first week of April, with some recording that "practically the whole of Lahore was on the streets, the immense crowd that passed through Anarkali was estimated to be around 20,000." In Amritsar, over 5,000 people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh. This situation deteriorated perceptibly over the next few days. The British authority feared a more sinister conspiracy for rebellion brewing under the veneer. Michael O'Dwyer is said to have been of the firm belief that these were the early and ill-concealed signs of a conspiracy for a coordinated uprising around May, on the lines of the 1857 revolt, at a time when British troops would have withdrawn to the hills for the summer. The Amritsar massacre, as well as responses preceding and succeeding it, contrary to being an isolated incident, was the end result of a concerted plan of response from the Punjab administration to suppress such a conspiracy. James Houssemayne Du Boulay
James Houssemayne Du Boulay
Sir James Houssemayne Du Boulay KCIE ; CSI was a British civil servant in India.-Life and career:...
is said to have ascribed a direct relationship between the fear of a Ghadarite uprising in the midst of an increasingly tensed situation in Punjab, and the British response that ended in the massacre.
Epilogue
The Provisional Government of India, after 1919, sought help from Communist Russia. A number of its members as well as Indian revolutionaries of the Berlin committee sought Lenin's help for the Indian movement. Some were involved in the early Indian communist movement. With a price on his head, Mahendra Pratap himself travelled under Afghan nationality for a number of years before his return to India after 1947. He was subsequently elected to the Indian parliament. Barkatullah and C.R. Pillai returned to Germany after a brief period in Russia. Barkatullah subsequently moved back to the United States, where he died in San Francisco in 1927. Pillai was associated with the League against imperialismLeague against Imperialism
The League against Imperialism was founded in the Egmont Palace in Brussels, Belgium, on February 10, 1927, in presence of 175 delegates, among which 107 came from 37 countries under colonial rule. The Congress aimed at creating a "mass anti-imperialist movement" at a world scale, and was...
in Germany, where he was witness to the Nazi rise to power. Pillai was killed in 1934. Ubaidullah proceeded to Soviet Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
, where he spent seven months at the invitation of the Soviet leadership, and was afforded official treatment as a guest of the state. During this period, he studied the ideology of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
. Sindhi was impressed by Communist ideals during his stay in Russia. In 1923, Ubaidullah left Russian for Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, where he initiated the third phase of the Waliullah Movement
Shah Waliullah
Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlvi was an Islamic scholar and reformer. He was born during the reign of Aurangzeb. He worked for the revival of Muslim rule and intellectual learning in South Asia, during a time of waning Muslim power...
in 1924. He issued the Charter for the Independence of India from Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. Ubaidullah travelled through the holy lands of Islam before permission for his return was requested for by the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
. In 1936, the Indian National Congress requested his return to India, and was subsequently permitted to return. He undertook considerable work in interpretation of Islamic teachings. Ubaidullah died on 22 August 1944 at Deen pur, near Lahore.
Both Oskar Niedermayer and Werner Otto von Hentig returned to Germany and subsequently enjoyed celebrated careers. On von Hentig's recommendation, Niedermayer was knighted and bestowed with the Military Order of Max Joseph
Military Order of Max Joseph
The Military Order of Max Joseph was the highest purely military order of the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded on 1 January 1806 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, the first king of Bavaria...
upon his return to Germany. He was asked to lead a third expedition to Afghanistan in 1917, but declined. Niedermayer subsequently joined the Reichswehr
Reichswehr
The Reichswehr formed the military organisation of Germany from 1919 until 1935, when it was renamed the Wehrmacht ....
at Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
before retiring from service in 1933 and joining the University of Berlin. He was recalled to active service during World War II, serving in Ukraine. He was taken prisoner at the end of the war, and died in a Soviet PoW camp in 1948.
Werner von Hentig himself was honoured with the Hohenzollern House Order by the Kaiser himself. He was considered for the Pour le Merite
Pour le Mérite
The Pour le Mérite, known informally as the Blue Max , was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order for German soldiers until the end of World War I....
by the German Foreign office, but the rules of recommendation meant Bothmann-Hollweg, von Hentig's superior in the mission, was not eligible to recommend him since the latter did not hold the honour himself. He subsequently embarked on a diplomatic career, serving as German consul-general to a number of countries. He influenced the decision to limit the German war effort into middle-east during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 1969, von Hentig was invited by Afghan King Mohammed Zahir Shah
Mohammed Zahir Shah
Mohammed Zahir Shah was the last King of Afghanistan, reigning for four decades, from 1933 until he was ousted by a coup in 1973...
as a guest of honour to the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Afghan independence, where he was given a red carpet reception by those who remembered him. von Hentig also penned in German his memoirs of the expedition.