Editing Great Game (section)

== Second Anglo-Afghan War ==
{{further|Second Anglo-Afghan War}}
[[File:Elephant and Mule Battery ("Dignity & Impudence") WDL11496.png|thumb|left|Elephant and Mule Battery, [[Second Anglo-Afghan War]]]]
[[File:The Khyber Pass with the fortress of Alimusjid - lithograph by James Rattray - 1848 (1).jpg|thumb|[[Khyber Pass]] with [[Ali Masjid Fort|Ali Masjid fort]] - lithograph by James Rattray (1848)]]
In 1878, Russia sent troops on an uninvited diplomatic mission to [[Kabul]]. [[Sher Ali Khan]], the [[Amir of Afghanistan]], tried unsuccessfully to keep them from entering Afghanistan, the Russians arrived in Kabul on 22 July 1878. As a reaction, on 14 August the British demanded that Sher Ali also accept a British mission. The Amir not only refused to receive a British mission under [[Neville Bowles Chamberlain]] but also threatened to stop it if it attempted to enter his country. [[Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton|Lord Lytton]], the Viceroy of British India, ordered an envoy to set out on a diplomatic mission for Kabul in September 1878. The mission was turned back as it approached the eastern entrance of the [[Khyber Pass]], triggering the Second Anglo–Afghan War.<ref name="barthorp2002" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Second Afghan War |url=https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/second-afghan-war |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=www.nam.ac.uk |language=en |archive-date=2 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102152242/https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/second-afghan-war |url-status=live }}</ref> In November 1878, 40,000 men led by the [[British Raj]], invaded Afghanistan from British India.<ref name=":1" /> Warfare had been settled for a while through diplomatic negotiations in 1879, in 1880 however the fighting was reignited after a British envoy on a mission to Kabul was massacred.