{"product_id":"return-of-a-king-the-battle-for-afghanistan","title":"William Dalrymple: Return of a King [2013] hardback","description":"In the spring of 1839, the British invaded Afghanistan for the first  time. Led by lancers in scarlet cloaks and plumed shakos, nearly 20,000  British and East India Company troops poured through the high mountain  passes and re-established on the throne Shah Shuja ul-Mulk.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn  the way in, the British faced little resistance. But after two years of  occupation, the Afghan people rose in answer to the call for jihad and  the country exploded into violent rebellion. The First Anglo-Afghan War  ended in Britain's greatest military humiliation of the nineteenth  century: an entire army of the then most powerful nation in the world  ambushed in retreat and utterly routed by poorly equipped tribesmen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReturn of a King is  the definitive analysis of the First Afghan War, told through the lives  of unforgettable characters on all sides and using for the first time  contemporary Afghan accounts of the conflict. Prize-winning and  bestselling historian William Dalrymple's masterful retelling of  Britain's greatest imperial disaster is a powerful and important parable  of colonial ambition and cultural collision, folly and hubris, for our  times.","brand":"Dalrymple, William","offers":[{"title":"Very Good","offer_id":47142189269331,"sku":"XV81408818305","price":3.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false},{"title":"New","offer_id":44456297431330,"sku":"9781408818305","price":4.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0616\/4001\/6057\/files\/dalrymple-william-william-dalrymple-return-of-a-king-2013-hardback-60084334199123.jpg?v=1731822438","url":"https:\/\/chaptersbookstore.com\/products\/return-of-a-king-the-battle-for-afghanistan","provider":"Chapters Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}