The Hazara Expedition of 1888, also known as the Black Mountain Expedition or the First Hazara Expedition, was a military campaign by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

against the tribes of

Kala Dhaka Torghar District ( ps, تور غر ولسوالۍ, ur, ) formerly also known as Kala Dhaka ( hnd, ) is the smallest district in Pakistan of Abaseen Division in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It was officially separated from Mansehra District in 2 ...

(then known as the Black Mountains of Hazara) in the Hazara region of what is now Pakistan. On 18 June 1888, two British officers and four

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...

soldiers were killed in an altercation between British reconnaissance patrols and antagonistic tribes. As a response, the Hazara Field Force was assembled and began its march on 4 October 1888, after an ultimatum had not been satisfied by the tribes by October 2, 1888.Raugh, Harold E
''The Victorians at War, 1815-1914: An Encyclopedia of British Military History''
Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004, pp. 163-164, . The first phase of the campaign ended with the

Hassanzai The Hassanzai is a sub-clan of Yousafzai, which is a Pakhtoon/Pashtoon/Pathan tribe. It is one of the divisions of the Isazai clan of the Yousafzai tribe. Yousafzai tribe is regarded as one of the most powerful, famous, and respected tribes of Pasht ...

and

Akazai Akazai is a Pakhtoon (or Pashtoon; Pathan) tribe of northern Pakistan. It is a division of the Isazai clan within the Yousafzai tribe, which is regarded as one of the most powerful, famous, and respected tribes of Pashtoons. Military historian Col ...

tribes requesting an

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

on October 19, 1888. The second phase of the campaign targeted the tribes that lived north of Black Mountain such as the

Allaiwals The Allaiwal is a tribe of Swati origin which inhabits the lands north of Nandhiar ( Batagram) and south of Kohistan - in Pakistan. In the 19th century they fought battles against the British with the Hazara Expedition of 1888 The Hazara Exped ...

. The campaign ended when the Allaiwal village of Pokal was occupied and destroyed by the British on November 2 and 3, 1888. The then Commander in Chief in India General Sir Frederick Roberts viewed the Black Mountain Expedition as:

a success from a military point of view, but … the determination of the Punjab Government to limit the sphere of action of the troops, and to hurry out of the country, prevented our reaping any political advantage. We lost a grand opportunity for gaining control over this lawless and troublesome district; no survey was made, no roads opened out, the tribesmen were not made to feel our power, and, consequently, very soon another costly expedition had to be undertaken.

1891 expedition

The failure of the tribes to honour the agreements that ended the 1888 campaign led to a further two-month expedition by a Hazara Field Force in 1891. General Roberts observed that

the Black Mountain tribes, aving beenquite unsubdued by the fruitless expedition of 1888, had given trouble almost immediately afterwards. he second expeditionwas completely successful in political results as in its military conduct. The columns were not withdrawn until the tribesmen had become convinced that they were powerless to sustain a hostile attitude towards us, and that it was in their interest, as it was our wish, that they should henceforth be on amicable terms with us.

British and Indian Army forces who took part in these expeditions received the India General Service Medal with the clasps Hazara 1888 and Hazara 1891 respectively.

References

{{British colonial campaigns Battles involving British India Expeditionary units and formations Military history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1888 in India Conflicts in 1888 Punitive expeditions