Afghanistan, to the 1930s

Officially, Afghanistan remained neutral during the Great War, while receiving subsidies from the British. Soon after the war, Afghanistan's monarch, Amir Habibullah Khan was assassinated while on a hunting trip. At the time of the assassination, his son, Amanullah Khan, was the governor of Kabul and was in control of the army and the treasury. He is suspected of having organized his father's death. He seized power and imprisoned relatives with competing claims to the succession, and he won the allegiance of most of the tribal leaders. Amanullah Khan had other ambitions. On May 3, 1919, he led a surprise attack against the British on Afghanistan's frontier with India -- while the British were under pressure from unrest in India and suffering from the costs of the Great War.

Afghanistan, to the 1930s