Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42

I have read a lot of Dalrymple's books - most before I reviewed on GR, and have enjoyed them. There is no risk of criticism of his research, as it is always thorough, and in depth. This is even more the case here, in this great tome of a book.

Here Dalrymple presents a tale of such incompetency, ego and mismanagement that he really needed to be accurate to avoid any backlash. Auckland and Macnaghten in particular are shown to make decisions against advice, to the point where reports are simply labelled as ‘exaggeration'. Alexander Burnes, who for the first half of the book seems maligned by Macnaghten and ignored by Auckland gains much sympathy, until the Afghan perspective show his fraternising with and corruption of Afghan women shows a negative side of him. Elphinstone was shown as a terrible appointment made by Auckland, as he was physically unfit for command, and as such was responsible for terrible military and humanitarian decisions (or lack thereof).

On the Afghan side, Dalrymple shows a complex and ever changing group of leaders who make alliances as quickly as they break them, and who are no more trustworthy than the British. Shar Shuja was shown as incompetent in the first half of the book, but was the only leader on the British side to come through with any dignity in the war.

Such a level of incompetence was shown by the occupying British in their absolute destruction when Pollocks ‘Army of Retribution' was able, with accurate planning and preparation, enter Afghanistan and sweep to victory with out setback. Revenge however for the British humiliation appeared to be the driving force, when at one point Ellenborough's command was to withdraw and abandon those British hostages/prisoners that Akbar Khan had taken, although this command was retracted in time.

This is book is an incredible undertaking. It is presented in chronological order, taking in the events across Afghanistan, in a single narrative - which is perhaps more complicated than it sounds. It reads very well, is generally well paced and interesting, and doesn't appear to leave too many loose ends. Often time the names do become complex due to the similarities, but Dalrymple does a good job of maintaining the characters in a way they remain present in the narrative and not forgotten.

Dalrymple's use of Afghan source material as well as the British (personal letters and journals as well as official source) provides two sides of the story and works to validate the true events and rule out those based on untruth or inaccuracy.

4 stars.