![PGRS 1 096 Khrulyov - crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/PGRS_1_096_Khrulyov_-_crop.jpg)
The Khrulev plan was a proposed
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
invasion of
British-ruled India during the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
, in which Russia was fighting
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. The plan was proposed in 1855 by General and would have seen 30,000 Russian troops marching on the
North-West Frontier via
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. The majority of the men would be recruited from Central Asian tribesmen, with a small reserve of regular Russian troops. The plan was not put into effect before the war ended in Russian defeat in 1856.
Background
Russia had been at war with the Ottoman Empire since 1853 and with Britain and France since March 1854 in the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
. Britain had a relatively small standing army and in 1854 Russian General
proposed an invasion of India to divert British troops from the Crimean theatre. Duhamel's invasion would have been via Persia and Afghanistan, but permission was refused due to the war requiring all available Russian troops.
Plan
General was a veteran of the fighting in the Crimea who was wounded during the
Siege of Sevastopol. He returned to Russia and in 1855 proposed a new plan for the invasion of India.
Khrulev considered that there were only around 25,000 European soldiers in the
Presidency armies
The presidency armies were the armies of the three presidencies of the East India Company's rule in India, later the forces of the British Crown in India, composed primarily of Indian sepoys. The presidency armies were named after the presidenc ...
and the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
in India. The remainder of the British and East India Company forces consisted of some 300,000 native soldiers, led by 7,300 British officers.
Khrulev considered this element of the army to be fragile and liable to flee if their officers were killed. He also thought the British defenders were spread thinly along the
North-West Frontier between India and Afghanistan.
He considered that a Russian invasion might not take India on its own but that a strong presence in the North-West Frontier would affect the balance of power and require significant British forces to be moved to their rear areas in case of an Indian rebellion. Khrulev's proposal noted that "we may make compromises with our other foes; but England's bearing towards us, which tends to the weakening of our power, does not justify us in leaving her at peace. We must free the people who are the sources of her wealth, and prove to the world the might of the Russian Czar".
[
Khrulev's plan called for a force of 30,000 men to be raised. The majority of these would be drawn from the tribal population native to Central Asia, supported by a small reserve of regular Russian troops. This would allow the Russians to escape international embarrassment in case the invasion failed.][ Khrulev intended the expedition to assemble at the ancient fortress of Akkala (near modern ]Konye-Urgench
Konye-Urgench ( tk, Köneürgenç / Көнеүргенч; fa, کهنه گرگانج, ''Kuhna Gurgānj'', literally "Old Gurgānj"), also known as Old Urgench or Urganj, is a city of about 30,000 inhabitants in north Turkmenistan, just south fro ...
, Turkmenistan) and advance to Afghanistan via Meshed
Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of Razavi Khorasan Province and has a po ...
in Persia (or alternatively via Astrabad, modern Gorgan
Gorgan ( fa, گرگان ; also romanized as ''Gorgān'', ''Gurgān'', and ''Gurgan''), formerly Esterabad ( ; also romanized as ''Astarābād'', ''Asterabad'', and ''Esterābād''), is the capital city of Golestan Province, Iran. It lies appro ...
in Iran). The Russian force would then progress through Afghanistan by way of Herat, Kandahar and Kabul.[ Khrulev did little in the way of detailed logistical planning.][ A Russian officer, Captain Blaremberg, had been attached to the Persian expedition of ]Mohammad Shah Qajar
Mohammad Shah (; born Mohammad Mirza; 5 January 1808 – 5 September 1848) was the third Qajar dynasty, Qajar ''shah'' of Qajar Iran, Iran from 1834 to 1848, having succeeded his grandfather Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, Fath-Ali Shah. From a young age, M ...
against Afghanistan in the late 1830s. Based on Blaremberg's reports Khrulev expected that the region could support an army of tens of thousands living off the land, that the roads were passable to artillery and supply wagons and that ample quantities of water, rice, barley and sheep could be obtained locally.[ Khrulev maintained Duhamel's assumption of an average daily progress of for the invasion force and anticipated they would reach Herat 35 days after leaving Akkala.][
Khrulev's plan required that assurances of neutrality were received from Persia and that a means of protecting against Khivan, Bukharan and Kokandian attack during the Central Asia leg was found. Upon reaching Afghanistan the expedition would send envoys to Kabul to seek Afghan support and begin training tribesmen for war against the British.][ Khrulev thought that the presence of the Russian force in the country would "excite the national antipathy of the Afghans to the English" and "shake the power of the English in India".][ Khrulev considered that the British might attempt to foil the invasion by launching a pre-emptive attack on Afghanistan but thought that this would be to his advantage by causing outrage among the Afghans who would join his forces.
]
Impact
The Khrulev plan was never put into action and the Crimean War ended with Russian defeat in 1856. Khrulev and Duhamel were right about the vulnerability of India to rebellion: the Indian Mutiny
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
broke out there in 1857.[ Russia lent no assistance to the rebels and concentrated instead on securing its position in Central Asia; Bukhara was annexed in 1868, Khiva in 1873 and Kokand in 1876.]
See also
* Indian March of Paul
The Indian March of Paul () was a secret project of a planned allied Russo- French expedition against the British Company rule in India. It was scuttled following the assassination of Emperor Paul I of Russia in March 1801.
Russia and Britain wer ...
(Napoleonic era)
References
{{Reflist
1855 in British India
Cancelled military operations involving the Russian Empire
Military history of British India
Russia–United Kingdom relations