Panjdeh incident
| Panjdeh incident | |||||||||
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| Part of the Russian conquest of Central Asia and Great Game | |||||||||
Painting by Franz Roubaud depicting the battle | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Russian Empire | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Aleksandr Komarov |
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| Strength | |||||||||
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Disputed 1,660 or 2,500 or 4,000 4 cannons |
Disputed 600 or 4,000 to 4,700 or 2,000 8 cannons | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 27 to 42 killed and wounded | 373 to 1,000 | ||||||||
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The Panjdeh incident (spelled Penjdeh in older accounts, and known in Russian historiography as the battle of the Kushka) was an armed engagement between the Emirate of Afghanistan and the Russian Empire in 1885 that led to a diplomatic crisis between Great Britain and the Russian Empire regarding the Russian expansion south-eastwards towards the Emirate of Afghanistan and the British Raj (India). After nearly completing the Russian conquest of Central Asia (Russian Turkestan), the Russians captured an Afghan border fort, threatening British interests in the area. Seeing this as a threat to India, Britain prepared for war but both sides backed down and the matter was settled diplomatically, with the Russians and Afghans exchanging territories. The incident halted further Russian expansion in Asia, except for the Pamir Mountains, and resulted in the definition of the north-western border of Afghanistan.