Hunza–Nagar Campaign

The Hunza–Nagar Campaign was fought in 1891 by troops of the British Raj against the princely states of Hunza and Nagar in the Gilgit Agency (now part of the Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan). It is known in Pakistan as the "Anglo-Brusho War".

The Hunza-Nagar Expedition was ostensibly due to the defiant attitude of the Hunza and Nagar chiefs towards the British agent at Gilgit. Towards the end of the 19th century just as imperial troops began consolidating territory in tribal areas - these tribes began to acquire rifles and ammunition. The British suspected Russian involvement "with the Rulers of the petty States on the northern boundary of Jammu and Kashmir" (see Great Game). The immediate cause of the conflict of 1889 was the visit of Bronislav Grombchevsky to the region.

The forts at Nilt

Colonel Algernon George Arnold Durand, commanded a force of approximately a thousand rifles and two guns. The British gained control of Nagar during a battle at Nilt Nagar (Jangir-e-Laye) in 1891. The fort at Nilt was stormed, and after a fortnight's delay the cliffs beyond it were also carried by assault. Hunza and Nagar were occupied, the chief of Nagar was reinstated on making his submission, and the half-brother of the raja of Hunza was installed as chief in the place of his brother.

The British awarded three Victoria Crosses during this campaign.

See also

• Francis Younghusband

Further reading

• Charles Welsh (editor), Famous Battles of the Nineteenth Century, (1905), (Wessels).
• Algernon George Arnold Durand, The Making of a Frontier: Five Years' Experiences and Adventures in Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar, Chitral, and the Eastern Hindu-Kush, (2002), (Adamant Media Corporation).

External links

• Francis Younghusband