Amritsar to Kargil: Wargaming South Asian conflicts 1919-1999

The session I co-presented at VCOW2024 was entitled AMRITSAR TO KARGIL – WARGAMING SOUTH ASIAN CONFLICTS 1919-1999 and looked at the variety of conflicts that took place in South Asia from just after the Great War until the end of the twentieth century.

I prepared a PowerPoint presentation and split the slides into separate decades.

South Asia in 1919

South Asia in 1919. The British-controlled areas are shown in pink, China and Tibet in yellow, Russian in red, Afghanistan in dark green, and Persia in light green.

• In 1919, South Asia was almost entirely part of the British Empire.
• To the northeast was China and Tibet, to the northwest was Russia and Afghanistan, and to the west was Persia.

South Asia 1919 to 1929

• Almost as soon as the Great War ended, the region began to see a series of conflicts break out.
• 1919: 3rd Anglo-Afghan War began on 6th May 1919 when Afghanistan invaded British India.
• Fighting ended when an armistice was signed on 8th August 1919.
• The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 resulted in the Afghans gaining control of their own foreign affairs from Britain and the British recognizing the Durand Line as the border between Afghanistan and British India.
• The Afghan invasion sparked off a tribal rising in Waziristan on the borders of modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• This lasted from 1919 to 1920, and the use of airpower featured prominently during the campaign.
• On 13th April 1919, a pro-independence rally in Amritsar in the Punjab was ‘dispersed’ by Gurkha and Sikh troops under the command of Brigadier Dyer.
• The troops opened fire on the peaceful crowd, and it is estimated that over 2,000 people were killed or wounded.
• The so-called ‘Amritsar Massacre’ (also known as the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre) gave great impetus to the non-cooperation movement that was launched 0n 4th September 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi.
• From then on this was a growing thorn in the side of the administration of British India as those seeking a peaceful route to independence coalesced around the movement.
• The period also saw episodes of violent rioting that was usually suppressed by equally violent means and mass arrests.
• The non-cooperation movement ended on 12th February 1922 after an incident at Chauri Chaura.
• On 4th February, a mob had attacked and burnt to the ground police station containing 22 police officers in response to police violence against a group picketing a liquor shop.
• Widespread violence was only just averted thanks to the Gandhi’s intervention, but this did not stop him being arrested and jailed for six years for sedition.
• This splits the Congress Party and saw the rise of a nationalist movement that saw violence as the only path to independence.

South Asia 1929 to 1939

• Peaceful protests continued and culminated in the Salt Satyagraha.
• This led to the Government of India Act (1935) which recognised the Congress Party as representing the political views of the Indian people …
• … but there were a growing number of violent incidents as the number of those who favoured violence to achieve independence grew in strength.

South Asia 1939 to 1949

• The outbreak of the Second World War was seen by many Indians as the opportunity to win independence for India, both peacefully and by violence.
• British Indian Army troops initially served alongside the BEF in France and then played a valuable role in the fighting in North and East Africa.
• When the Japanese declared war on the British Empire in December 1941, units of the British Indian Army fought against them in both South and Southeast Asia.
• At the same time, Subhas Chandra Bose and Thakin Aung San raised and led Indian and Burmese troops who fought alongside the Japanese against the British Empire forces.
• By 1945 and despite being on the losing side, these troops – particularly the Burmese – were battle-hardened and remained committed to the liberation of their countries.
• Before the war ended – and in the face of a growing threat from Communist-led Burmese forces – the latter changed sides in the belief that this would help gain Burma independence once the war ended.
• Once the war ended, the British agreed that the BIA (Burmese Independence Army) would form part of the new Burmese Army and sent a Training Mission to Burma to assist in this process.
• At the same time, the newly-constituted Burmese Army began a counterinsurgency campaign against Communist guerrillas and dacoits (bandits) that rumbled on for many years afterwards.
• The new army and Burmese politics were riven by rivalries, and this culminated in the assassination of Aung San and most of the Burmese Cabinet on 19th July 1947.
• During 1947 and 1948, British rule in South Asia came to an end as India, Pakistan, and Burma all gained independence.
• This process was not achieved without serious outbreaks of violence between different religious groups, and saw mass migrations of millions of Hindus, Sikhs, and Moslems.

South Asia 1949 to 1959

South Asia in 1949. India is shown in pink, Pakistan in blue, the disputed Kashmir and Jammu area in grey. Burma in light green, Nepal in orange, Bhutan in gold, Sri Lanka in light grey, China and Tibet in yellow, Russian in red, Afghanistan in dark green, and Persia in light green.

• The period following independence was not with its difficulties for the newly-formed nations.
• The counterinsurgency in Burma continued unabated, and saw the growth of semi-independent, tribe-based ‘nations’ ruled by local warlords and financed by the production of drugs. 
• At the same time Communists – supported by the Chinese government – also sought to overthrow the Burmese government.
• Fighting broke out between India and Pakistan almost as soon as they gained independence, and the 1st Indo-Pakistan War was fought from 22nd October 1947 until 1st January 1949.
• The war was fought for the control of the Kashmir and Jammu area and led to the de facto division of that area by the Indians and Pakistanis.
• In September 1948, Indian troops ‘invaded’ Hyderabad (Operation Polo) to ensure it integration into the new state of India.
• Its Moslem ruler (the Nizam) and his predominately Moslem army had wanted to remain independent, much against the wishes of the almost entirely Hindu population.
• The invasion began on 13th September and by 17th a ceasefire was announced, and Hyderabad was subsequently integrated into India.
• However, the period of integration saw a lot of inter-communal violence that the Indian government seemed unable to curb with any great success.

South Asia 1959 to 1969

• Operation Polo was the first of several such military operations to ensure the integration of minor states and European colonies into India.
• The most important of these was Operation Vijay (1961), which saw the Portuguese colonies of Goa, Daman, and Diu invaded by overwhelming Indian forces and resulted in their ‘liberation’ and integration into India.
• 1962 also saw the Indian Army in action against the Communist Chinese Red Army along the border of the North-East Frontier Agency Area to the west of Bhutan and east of Nepal in what was termed the Sino-Indian War.
• The fighting lasted just over a month and was resolved by the signing of a treaty that supposedly formalised the boundary between the two nations.
• The Indian Army’s performance was not regard as being as good as it could have been and led to recriminations between the leadership of the army and the government.
• Emboldened by the apparent weaknesses exposed by the Sino-Indian War, Pakistan began to infiltrate troops in the disputed areas of Kashmir and Jammu.
• This led to the outbreak of the 2nd Indo-Pakistan War, which was fought between 5th August and 23rd September 1965.
• After a series of land, sea, and air battles, neither side was able to gain an ascendency, and a ceasefire ended the fighting with no territory changing hands.
• Indian troops were also involved in a series of counterinsurgency operations in the Northeast of the country as well as fighting against the Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency in east-central India.
• The latter conflict is still ongoing and shows no sign of resolution.

South Asia 1969 to 1979

• Growing tension between the Bengali population in East Pakistan and the predominately West Pakistani government of Pakistan led to growing tensions in East Pakistan.
• This led to the outbreak of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, which saw many examples of atrocities committed by both sides in East Pakistan.
• India intervened in support of the Bengalis and sent troops into the area.
• This – in turn – led to the outbreak of the 3rd Indo-Pakistan War, which lasted from 3rd December to 16th December 1971.
• The Indians and Bangladeshis achieved a resounding victory which guaranteed the independence of Bangladesh.
• During the fighting, the Indians captured territory in West Pakistan as well as Kashmir and Jammu.
• As an act of goodwill, the former was handed back to Pakistan … but the latter was retained.
• After gaining independence, Bangladesh did not enjoy a very long period of peace.
• Between 1972 and 1975 they had to contend with a Communist-led insurgency, and between 1975 and 1977 there were three coup d-état and two major mutinies!
• 1971 also saw the Communist-led JVP insurrection in the previously untroubled Sri Lanka … but this proved to be the opening shots of what was going to be a much more important conflict.
• In 1973, the King of Afghanistan was overthrown in a coup d-état.
• This marked the beginning of a period of instability in the country that resulted in an invasion by the Russians in 1979, who installed a puppet regime.
• Efforts by the Russians to impose a Soviet-style government on the country was resisted, initially by local warlords and later by the Mujahedeen.
• 1974 saw the underground explosion of a nuclear device (The Smiling Buddha) by the Indians.

South Asia 1979 to 1989

South Asia in 1979. India is shown in pink, Pakistan in blue, Bangladesh in purple, the disputed Kashmir and Jammu area in grey. Burma in light green, Nepal in orange, Bhutan in gold, Sri Lanka in light grey, China and Tibet in yellow, Russian in red, Afghanistan in dark green, and Persia/Iran in light green.

• Other than in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, this decade saw very little large-scale military action in most of South Asia other than the ongoing insurgencies in Burma, Kashmir and Jammu and central-east India.
• The Afghan Mujahedeen received support from overseas (e.g. Charlie Wilson’s War) and in 1989 the Russians eventually withdrew after suffering 68,000 casualties.
• The Afghans suffered between one and two million killed, thee million wounded, and seven million became refugees.
• The Mujahedeen then began an offensive whose goal was the overthrow of the Afghan government.
• Between 1st and 6th June 1984, units of the Indian Army mounted Operation Blue Star to remove Sikh militants from the Harmandar Sahib Complex in Amritsar.
• During the fighting, the Golden Temple in Amritsar was damaged, and on 31st October that year, the Prime Minister of India – Indira Gandhi – was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.
• Over the following few days, 8,000 Sikhs were killed in retaliatory attacks.
• In 1983, the Sri Lankan Civil war started, and this rumbled on until its conclusion in 2009.
• Indian intervened in 1987, initially as a peacekeeper but later took an active role in fighting the Tamil Tigers.
• 1984 saw the forces of Pakistan and India clashing over control of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir.
• This situation gradually escalated in intensity over the next 15 years.

South Asia 1989 to 1999

• During 1992 the Mujahedeen finally captured Kabul and took over government of Afghanistan.
• They were – in turn – overthrown by the Taliban in 1996, and Usama bin Laden moved into the country.
• It then became the base from which Al Qaida mounted its campaign of terrorism against the West.
• In 1998, in retaliation for Al Qaida attacks on US embassies in East Africa, the United States mounted a series of cruise missile strikes on Al Qaida bases in Afghanistan.
• The last decade of the twentieth century saw a mutiny (1994), an attempted coup d’état (1996), and a successful coup d’état (1998) in Bangladesh.
• In 1996, civil war broke out in Nepal which resulted in the overthrow of the monarchy and the creation of a republic.
• The fighting lasted until 2006 and was marked with numerous atrocities on both sides.
• Growing tension between India and Pakistan saw both countries stage several underground nuclear tests (India: 5; Pakistan: 6).
• In 1999 it was Pakistan’s turn to experience a coup d’état.
• In the same year, the confrontation between India and Pakistan in Kashmir and Jammu erupted into what has become known as the Kargil War, which has ended in what can best be described as a stalemate.

It wasn’t until I did the research in preparation for this presentation that I realised the sheer range of conflicts that took place, including conventional wars, counter-insurgencies, civil wars, and coup d'états.

Over the years I’ve wargamed several battles set during the earlier Indo-Pakistan Wars and designed wargames about Operation Polo (the military operation that resulted in the integration of Hyderabad into India) and Operation Vijay (the military operation that resulted in the annexation of the Portuguese colonies of Goa, Daman, and Diu into India). It would appear, however, that there are still lots of conflict that as yet remain to be wargamed.