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218-686: The Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition , also known as the Kabul Mission , was a diplomatic mission to Afghanistan sent by the Central Powers in 1915–1916. The purpose was to encourage Afghanistan to declare full independence from the British Empire , enter World War I on the side of the Central Powers, and attack British India . The expedition was part of the Hindu–German Conspiracy ,

436-521: A one-year volunteer in the military before entering on his career path. On 17 June 1889 Bethmann Hollweg married Martha von Pfuel, the niece of Prussian Minister President Ernst von Pfuel . The marriage produced four children, one of whom died young. Their oldest son August Friedrich was killed on the eastern front on 9 December 1914. Bethmann Hollweg began his career as a royal government assessor in December 1884. The next year, after his father expressed

654-680: A British-Russian naval agreement, it cast a shadow over Bethmann Hollweg's foreign policy. Disappointed in his confidence in British Foreign Minister Edward Grey, he wrote to the German embassy in Constantinople that it was a matter of muddling through without any major conflicts. A few days later, after a disagreement with the Chief of the Army's General Staff Helmuth von Moltke , he left for

872-600: A Persian move to the Central side, and held out on hopes that this would convince the Emir to join as well. Niedermayer argued that German victory was imminent; he outlined the compromised and isolated position Afghanistan would find herself in if she was still allied to Britain. At times the Emir met with the Indian and German delegates separately, promising to consider their propositions, but never committing himself. He sought concrete proof that

1090-441: A campaign which he hoped the Emir would join. Barkatullah and Mahendra Pratap, both eloquent speakers, pointed out the rich territorial gains the Emir stood to acquire by joining the Central Powers. The Emir's reply was shrewd but frank. He noted Afghanistan's vulnerable strategic position between the two allied nations of Russia and Britain, and the difficulties of any possible Turco-German assistance to Afghanistan, especially given

1308-562: A cement factory,a mechanised bakery, a five-lane highway from Kabul to the Soviet border and dams, including the Salang Pass to the north of Kabul. During the 1960s, Soviet-style microrayon housing estates were built, containing sixty blocks. The government also built many ministry buildings in the brutalist architecture style. In the 1960s the first Marks & Spencer store in Central Asia

1526-651: A daily basis, and the Soviet Army stopped patrolling the city in January 1981. A major uprising against the Soviet presence broke out in Kabul in February 1980 in what is called the 3 Hut uprising . It led to a night curfew in the city that would remain in place for seven years. The Soviet Embassy also, was attacked four times with arms fire in the first five years of the war. A Western correspondent revisiting Kabul in December 1983 after

1744-684: A daughter of the wealthy Frankfurt am Main banking family of Bethmann . His mother, Isabella de Rougemont, was a French Swiss and his grandmother Auguste Wilhelmine Gebser came from the Prussian noble family of Gebesee . He was educated at the Schulpforta boarding school in the Prussian province of Saxony and studied law at the Universities of Strasbourg and Leipzig and at the Humboldt University of Berlin from 1875 to 1879. He then served as

1962-407: A frontier city for the empire; Abul Fazl , Emperor Akbar's chronicler, described it as one of the two gates to Hindustan (the other being Kandahar ). As part of administrative reforms under Akbar, the city was made capital of the eponymous Mughal province, Kabul Subah . Under Mughal governance, Kabul became a prosperous urban centre, endowed with bazaars such as the non-extant Char Chatta . For

2180-535: A hospital. Meanwhile, Kasim Bey acquainted himself with the local Turkish community, spreading Enver Pasha's message of unity and Pan-Turanian jihad. Habibullah tolerated the increasingly anti-British and pro-Central tone being taken by his newspaper, Siraj al Akhbar , whose editor—his father-in-law Mahmud Tarzi —had accepted Barkatullah as an officiating editor in early 1916. Tarzi published a series of inflammatory articles by Raja Mahendra Pratap and printed anti-British and pro-Central articles and propaganda. By May 1916,

2398-456: A legend, one could find a lake in Kabul, in the middle of which the so-called "Island of Happiness" could be found, where a joyous family of musicians lived. According to this same legend, the island became accessible by the order of a king through the construction of a bridge (i.e. "pul" in Persian) made out of straw (i.e. "kah" in Persian). According to this legend the name Kabul was thus formed as

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2616-472: A member of the Reichstag in 1890. The experience left him unsympathetic to the party system and an independent for the remainder of his political life. Emperor Wilhelm II appointed him chancellor in 1909, in part because he approved of his conciliatory political style. His eight years as chancellor showed him to be cautiously supportive of some liberalization but also a firm believer that a parliamentary monarchy

2834-586: A nationalist rebellion using clandestine shipments of men and arms sent to India from elsewhere in Asia and from the United States. In Turkey and Persia, nationalist work had begun by 1909, under the leadership of Sardar Ajit Singh and Sufi Amba Prasad . Reports from 1910 indicate that Germany was already contemplating efforts to threaten India through Turkey, Persia, and Afghanistan. Germany had built close diplomatic and economic relationships with Turkey and Persia from

3052-530: A neutral zone in between. Germany exercised influence over the central parts of the country through their consulate in Isfahan . The local populace and the clergy, opposed to Russian and British semi-colonial designs on Persia, offered support to the mission. Niedermayer and von Hentig's groups reconnoitred Isfahan until the end of June. The Viceroy of India , Lord Hardinge , was already receiving reports of pro-German sympathies among Persian and Afghan tribes. Details of

3270-531: A new election in which Bethmann Hollweg did not participate. It was the end of his brief career both as a member of the Reichstag for the Free Conservative Party and as a party politician. For the remainder of his life he was an independent and unsympathetic to the party system. In 1896, after ten years as a district administrator, he received two rapid promotions and then in 1899, at the age of 43, became

3488-406: A premature commitment, since the question of redeeming the pledge would arise only at the end of the war. It was thus a rhetorical weapon against annexationist claims. Bethmann Hollweg probably never retracted his 4 August 1914 statement admitting guilt for the "injustice to Belgium", although some historians think he did. In May 1917 he told his friend Karl von Weizsäcker that he had wanted to bind

3706-600: A rabbi in her home throughout the first Islamic Emirate, lived in Morad Khane , Kabul for decades. While she was married to a Muslim man as a child, she still covertly attended synagogue and tried to teach her children what Hebrew prayers she could remember from her childhood. As of her departure in November 2021, there are believed to be no Jews in Afghanistan. The Islamic conquest reached modern-day Afghanistan in 642 AD, at

3924-470: A rescue attempt at the Serena Hotel. There were conflicting reports of who abducted Dubs and what demands were made for his release. Several senior Soviet officials were in the lobby of the hotel during a standoff with the kidnappers, who were holding Dubs in room 117. Afghan police, acting on the advice of Soviet advisors and over the objections of U.S. officials, launched a rescue attempt, during which Dubs

4142-508: A result of these two words combined, i.e. kah + pul . The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names argues that the "suggestion that the name is derived from the Arabic root qbl 'meeting' or 'receiving' is unlikely". It remains unknown when the name "Kabul" was first applied to the city. It "came into prominence" following the destruction of Kapisa and other cities in what is present-day Afghanistan by Genghis Khan (c. 1162–1227) in

4360-474: A secret desert base as a refuge for the main party. After luring away the British, the second group was to fall back to Kermanshah and link with a separate German force under Lieutenants Zugmayer and Griesinger. All three parties were ordered to spread misleading information about their movements to any nomads or villagers they met. Meanwhile, the main body headed through Chehar Deh for the region of Birjand , close to

4578-632: A series of Indo-German efforts to provoke a nationalist revolution in India. Nominally headed by the exiled Indian prince Raja Mahendra Pratap , the expedition was a joint operation of Germany and Turkey and was led by the German Army officers Oskar Niedermayer and Werner Otto von Hentig . Other participants included members of an Indian nationalist organisation called the Berlin Committee , including Maulavi Barkatullah and Chempakaraman Pillai , while

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4796-579: A speech to soldiers and called for rebellious Alsatians to be stabbed. He was only minimally held to account by his colonel, and after protests by Alsatians, the military had some citizens arrested illegally. When Bethmann Hollweg declared in the Reichstag on 3 December 1913 that the Kaiser's uniform must be respected under all circumstances, he gave the impression that he was fully behind Minister of War Erich von Falkenhayn . The parties that had hitherto supported Bethmann Hollweg because of his progressive policies –

5014-506: A summer capital, during which time it prospered and increased in significance. It briefly came under the control of the Afsharids following Nader Shah's invasion of India , until finally coming under local rule by the Afghan Empire in 1747. Kabul became the capital of Afghanistan in 1776 during the reign of Timur Shah Durrani (a son of Ahmad Shah Durrani ). In the 19th century the city

5232-689: A summer vacation at his home in Hohenfinow. It was abruptly ended shortly after his arrival by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary on 28 June 1914. After the assassination of the presumptive heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Wilhelm II issued the famous "blank check" to László Szőgyény , Austria-Hungary's ambassador in Berlin. It affirmed that Germany would uphold its alliance obligations with Austria-Hungary and stand at its side. Bethmann Hollweg later wrote in his Reflections on

5450-564: A telegram to the Foreign Office—an initial basis to prepare for an Afghan invasion of India. Niedermayer explained that the Emir intended to begin his campaign as soon as Germany could make available 20,000 troops to protect the Afghan-Russian front, and asked for urgently for wireless sets, a substantial shipment of arms, and at least a million pounds initial funding. He judged conditions to be ideal for an offensive into India, and informed

5668-547: A time when Kabul was independent. Until then, Kabul was considered politically and culturally part of the Indian world. A number of failed expeditions were made to Islamise the region. In one of them, Abdur Rahman bin Samara arrived in Kabul from Zaranj in the late 600s and converted 12,000 inhabitants to Islam before abandoning the city. Muslims were a minority until Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar of Zaranj conquered Kabul in 870 from

5886-457: A vast town, the site of which is now occupied by a village inhabited by a tribe of Persians called Afghans. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen. Their principal mountain is called Kuh Sulayman . In the 14th century, Kabul became a major trading centre under the kingdom of Timur ( Tamerlane ). In 1504, the city fell to Babur from the north and made into his headquarters, which became one of

6104-544: A year, said that the city was "converted into a fortress bristling with weapons". Contrastingly, that same year American diplomat Charles Dunbar commented that the Soviet troops' presence was "surprisingly modest", and an author in a 1983 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article thought that the Soviet soldiers had a "friendly" atmosphere. Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg Theobald Theodor Friedrich Alfred von Bethmann Hollweg (29 November 1856 – 1 January 1921)

6322-582: A young merchant fluent in Turkish and Persian. The titular head of the expedition was Mahendra Pratap, while von Hentig was the Kaiser's representative. He was to accompany and introduce Mahendra Pratap and was responsible for the German diplomatic representations to the Emir. To fund the mission, 100,000 pounds sterling in gold was deposited in an account at the Deutsche Bank in Constantinople. The expedition

6540-461: Is only possible with the free participation of all circles of the people". When the House dealt with the question of Prussia's three-class franchise that weighted votes by amount of taxes paid, Bethmann Hollweg opposed Prussia's adoption of the national Reichstag's universal manhood suffrage. He warned against "democratic egalitarianism" but praised the "tremendous aspirations of our working class". In

6758-525: Is said to be over 3,500 years old, and was mentioned at the time of the Achaemenid Persian Empire . Located at a crossroads in Asia —roughly halfway between Istanbul, Turkey , in the west and Hanoi, Vietnam , in the east—the city is situated in a strategic location along the trade routes of Central Asia and South Asia . It was a key destination on the ancient Silk Road and was traditionally seen as

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6976-467: Is the capital city of Afghanistan . Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province . The city is divided for administration into 22 municipal districts . In 2025 its population is estimated to be 6.74 million people. In contemporary times, Kabul has served as Afghanistan's political, cultural and economical center. Rapid urbanisation has made it

7194-457: Is unknown, but "certainly pre-dates the advent of Islam when it was an important centre on the route between India and the Hellenic world ". In Sanskrit , it was known as Kubha , whereas Greek authors of classical antiquity referred to it as Kophen , Kophes or Koa . The Chinese traveler Xuanzang (fl. 7th century CE) recorded the city as Koafu (高附). The name "Kabul" was first applied to

7412-596: The Balkan countries' support for a German alliance with the Ottoman Empire . Although Bethmann Hollweg was critical of naval expansion, in April 1912 he pushed forward a Reichstag bill providing for a buildup of the army. A year later he submitted the next defense bill which asked for a 136,000 man increase in the army and almost 1.3 billion marks in additional funds for it and for arms purchases. The SPD spoke out vigorously against

7630-511: The Durand mission forty years previously, which Habibullah lay at their disposal. These events included the foundation of the Provisional Government of India that month and a shift from the Emir's usual aversive stance to an offer of discussions on a German-Afghan treaty of friendship. In November, the Indian members decided to take a political initiative which they believed would convince

7848-457: The Hindu Shahis and established the first Islamic dynasty in the region. It was reported that the rulers of Kabul were Muslims with non-Muslims living close by. Iranian traveller and geographer Istakhri described it in 921: Kábul has a castle celebrated for its strength, accessible only by one road. In it there are Musulmáns , and it has a town, in which are infidels from Hind . Over

8066-569: The Kabul River before being applied to the area situated between the Hindu-Kush and Sindh (present-day Pakistan ). This area was also known as Kabulistan . Alexander Cunningham (died 1893) noted in the 19th century that Kaofu, as recorded by the Chinese was in all likelihood the name of "one of the five Yuchi or Tukhari tribes". Cunningam added that this tribe gave its name to the city after it

8284-555: The Muslim world . Turkey ruled Hejaz until the Arab Revolt of 1916 and controlled the Muslim holy city of Mecca throughout the war. The Sultan's title of Caliph was recognised as legitimate by most Muslims, including those in Afghanistan and India. Once at war, Turkey joined Germany in taking aim at the opposing Entente Powers and their extensive empires in the Muslim world. Enver Pasha had

8502-731: The Social Democratic Party (SPD) Bethmann Hollweg represented just another chancellor loyal to the Emperor. But the benevolent neutrality of the overall party spectrum resulted from Bethmann Hollweg's many facets. He was not a Junker in the true sense of the word, which the leftists took as a positive sign. His family history made him appreciated by the National Liberals and the Centre, and his activity as an administrative official had created trust among conservatives. The response from abroad

8720-449: The Soviet invasion in 1979. As of 1992, there were believed to be two Jews remaining in Afghanistan, both living in a synagogue in Kabul. The congregation's Torah scroll was confiscated during the first Islamic Emirate . Zebulon Simontov was believed and widely reported to be Afghanistan's last Jew, until Tova Moradi fled months after him, with her grandchildren. Moradi, who harbored

8938-611: The Soviet–Afghan War , and while fighting was mostly taking place in the countryside, Kabul was widely disturbed. Political crime and guerrilla attacks on military and government targets were common, and the sound of gunfire became commonplace at night in the outskirts. Large numbers of PDPA party members and Soviet troops were kidnapped or assassinated, sometimes in broad daylight, with acts of terrorism committed by civilians, anti-regime militias and also Khalqists . By July 1980, as many as twelve party members were being assassinated on

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9156-479: The Tibetan Empire between 801 and 815. Jews had a presence in Afghanistan from ancient times until 2021. There are records of religious correspondence establishing the presence of Jews in Kabul since the 8th century, though it is believed that they were present centuries or even millenia earlier. The 12th century Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi wrote down his observations of a Jewish quarter in Kabul. In

9374-524: The ghettoization of their communities in Kabul and Herat . Most of Afghanistan's Jews fled the country or congregated in these urban hubs. After the establishment of the state of Israel , the Jewish community requested permission from King Zahir Shah to migrate there. Afghanistan was the only country that allowed its Jewish residents to migrate to Israel without relinquishing their citizenship. Most of those remaining, approximately 2,000 in number, left after

9592-440: The "most important tasks of the present". Reichstag deputy Friedrich Naumann , who liked the state secretary's style, later particularly emphasized Bethmann Hollweg's positive influence on the Emperor. Emperor Wilhelm II appointed Bethmann Hollweg Reich chancellor on 7 July 1909. He had been deputy to Chancellor von Bülow during his time in office, and the Emperor knew Bethmann Hollweg's willingness to compromise in order to calm

9810-514: The 1913 German military mission to the Ottoman Empire had been overcome in spite of the pan-Slav sentiment in the Russian Empire . The Reich Chancellor's statements from the time reveal that he was anxious to prevent a major European war. Russia's actions in northern Persia also brought Britain temporarily closer to Germany. When in the early summer of 1914 the German government learned of

10028-528: The 1940s and 1950s, urbanisation accelerated and the built-up area was increased in size to 68 km by 1962, an almost fourteen-fold increase since 1925. The Serena Hotel opened in 1945 as the first Western-style luxury hotel. In the 1950s, under the premiership of Mohammad Daoud Khan , foreign investment and development increased. In 1955, the Soviet Union forwarded $ 100 million in credit to Afghanistan which financed public transportation, airports,

10246-509: The Afghan Emir and the Indian princely states. Two Afghans from the United States also joined the expedition. The group, now numbering approximately twenty people, left Constantinople in early May 1915. They crossed the Bosphorus to take the unfinished Baghdad Railway to Baghdad . The Taurus Mountains were crossed on horseback, using—as von Hentig reflected—the same route taken by Alexander

10464-536: The Afghan frontier. The party covered forty miles before it reached the next village, where Niedermayer halted to await word from Wagner's patrol. The villagers were meanwhile barred from leaving. The report from Wagner was bad: His patrol had run into a Russian ambush and the desert refuge had been eliminated. The expedition proceeded towards Birjand using forced marches to keep a day ahead of the British and Russian patrols. Other problems still confronted Niedermayer, among them

10682-545: The Allies later recovered, and allowed the British to decrypt the Zimmermann telegram. In August 1914, World War I began when alliance obligations arising from the war between Serbia and Austria-Hungary brought Germany and Russia to war, while Germany's invasion of Belgium directly triggered Britain's entry. After a series of military events and political intrigues , Russia declared war on Turkey in November. Turkey then joined

10900-676: The Avesta, the primary canon of texts of Zoroastrianism, refer to the Kabul River and to a settlement called Kubha . The Kabul valley was part of the Median Empire (c. 678–549 BC). In 549 BC, the Median Empire was annexed by Cyrus The Great and Kabul became part the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC). During that period, Kabul became a center of learning for Zoroastrianism, followed by Buddhism and Hinduism . An inscription on Darius

11118-502: The British Empire and begin an Indian revolution. The argument was reinforced by Germanophile explorer Sven Hedin in Berlin two weeks later. General Staff memoranda in the last weeks of August confirmed the perceived feasibility of the plan, predicting that an invasion by Afghanistan could cause a revolution in India. With the outbreak of war, revolutionary unrest increased in India. Some Hindu and Muslim leaders secretly left to seek

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11336-782: The British Raj. Other consequences included the formation of the Rowlatt Committee to investigate sedition in India as influenced by Germany and Bolshevism, and changes in the Raj's approach to the Indian independence movement immediately after World War I. The decryption of the Zimmermann telegram was possible after the failure of the Niedermayer-Hentig Expedition to Afghanistan , when Wilhelm Wassmuss abandoned his codebook, which

11554-464: The British and Russian patrols. False dispatches spread disinformation on the group's numbers, destination, and intention. To avoid the extreme daytime heat, they travelled by night. Food was found or bought by Persian messengers sent ahead of the party. These scouts also helped identify hostile villages and helped find water. The group crossed the Persian desert in forty nights. Dysentery and delirium plagued

11772-414: The British declaration of war, Bethmann Hollweg appeared before the Reichstag to stress that Germany had not wanted the war and that the Russian military had ignited the blaze. The "injustice to Belgium" must be righted by the Empire, he said, but those who were so threatened could think only of how to cut their way through. He had a conversation with the British ambassador to Germany Sir Edward Goschen on

11990-442: The Central Powers in fighting the Entente Powers . In response to the war with Russia and Britain, and further motivated by its alliance with Turkey, Germany accelerated its plans to weaken its enemies by targeting their colonial empires, including Russia in Turkestan and Britain in India, using political agitation. Germany began by nurturing its pre-war links with Indian nationalists, who had for years used Germany, Turkey, Persia,

12208-411: The Centre, the Progressive People's Party , the National Liberals and the Social Democrats – united in introducing a motion of censure against him. When Philipp Scheidemann (SPD) pointed to the exemplary constitutional conditions in Great Britain and the Netherlands, Bethmann Hollweg responded with dismissive, angry heckling. The Chancellor of the center seemed to have moved to the right even though he

12426-432: The Chancellor about his trip to Russia. Rathenau noted in his diary that Bethmann Hollweg wanted to "maintain the modus vivendi in the Russian question as well". In foreign policy matters, Rathenau proposed to Bethmann Hollweg a European customs union, a halt to British imperialism in the Mediterranean, then an alliance with Great Britain for the purpose of understanding and colonial acquisitions for Germany. The ideas were not

12644-445: The Chancellor let the Austrians have their way. The Reich Chancellery stated when asked, "We cannot comment on the formulation of the demands to Serbia, since it is Austria's affair." Believing in Great Britain's neutrality, Bethmann Hollweg telegraphed to the London Foreign Office: "Since Austria is safeguarding vital interests in its action, any interference by Germany as its ally is out of the question. ... Only if forced will we take up

12862-436: The Chancellor's, but he signed the list of proposals with "generally agreed". Bethmann Hollweg's second foreign policy problem was the expansion of the German fleet that Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz wanted. The Chancellor intended to use dialogue with the United Kingdom to facilitate a cautious expansion of the fleet and at the same time to improve relations through honesty. Due to threatening speeches by German conservatives in

13080-405: The East spread propaganda throughout the region, fostering rumours that the Kaiser had converted to Islam following a secret trip to Mecca and portraying him as a saviour of Islam. Led by Enver Pasha, a coup in Turkey in 1913 sidelined Sultan Mehmed V and concentrated power in the hands of a junta. Despite the secular nature of the new government, Turkey retained its traditional influence over

13298-414: The Emir of approaching "German agents and hired assassins", and the Emir had promised he would arrest the expedition if it managed to reach Afghanistan. However, under a close watch, the expedition members were given the freedom of Herat. The governor promised to arrange for the 400-mile trip east to Kabul in another two weeks. Suits were tailored and horses given new saddles to make everything presentable for

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13516-402: The Emir received a monetary subsidy from Britain. In reality, however, Britain had almost no effective control over Afghanistan. The British perceived Afghanistan to be the only state capable of invading India, which remained a serious threat. In the first week of August 1914, the German Foreign Office and members of the military suggested attempting to use the pan-Islamic movement to destabilise

13734-419: The Emir that the mission did not consider themselves merchants, but instead brought word from the Kaiser, the Ottoman Sultan, and from India, wishing to recognise Afghanistan's complete independence and sovereignty. The Kaiser's typewritten letter, which he compared to the handsome greeting received from the Ottomans, failed to settle the Emir's suspicions; he doubted its authenticity. Von Hentig's explanation that

13952-425: The Emir to declare jihad, and if that proved unlikely, to have his hand forced by his advisors. On 1 December 1915, the Provisional Government of India was founded at Habibullah's Bagh-e-Babur Palace, in the presence of the Indian, German, and Turkish members of the expedition. This revolutionary government-in-exile was to take charge of an independent India when the British authority had been overthrown. Mahendra Pratap

14170-478: The Emir's palace at Bagh-e Babur . Despite the comfort and the welcome, it was soon clear that they were all but confined. Armed guards were stationed around the palace, ostensibly for "the group's own danger from British secret agents", and armed guides escorted them on their journeys. For nearly three weeks, Emir Habibullah, reportedly in his summer palace at Paghman , responded with only polite noncommittal replies to requests for an audience. An astute politician, he

14388-470: The Emir's provincial palace. They were officially met by the governor a few days later when, according to British agents, von Hentig showed him the Turkish Sultan's proclamation of jihad and announced the Kaiser's promise to recognise Afghan sovereignty and provide German assistance. The Kaiser also promised to grant territory to Afghanistan as far north as Samarkand in Russian Turkestan and as far into India as Bombay . The Viceroy of India had already warned

14606-419: The Foreign Office Gottlieb von Jagow telegraph Prince Lichnowsky , the German ambassador in London, that "everything must be avoided that could give the appearance that we are inciting the Austrians to war". Thinking that he could localize the conflict, Bethmann Hollweg endorsed the continuation of the Emperor's absence aboard his yacht. The Chancellor gave Austria a free hand, although not without criticism, as

14824-421: The French ambassador in Vienna testified. His confidant Kurt Riezler noted that Bethmann Hollweg expressed early fears that if Austria adopted too expansionist a tone, the conflict could no longer be contained in the Balkans and "could lead to world war". Even when the Foreign Office finally knew in July 1914 that Austria-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia was to be formulated in a way that Serbia could not accept,

15042-428: The General Staff Paul von Hindenburg threatened to resign if he was not replaced as chancellor, Bethmann Hollweg submitted his resignation to the Emperor. In his Reflections on the World War that remained unfinished when he died in 1921, Bethmann Hollweg stressed Germany's difficult geographical position, admitted that the government and the Emperor had made mistakes leading up to the war and that Germany bore some of

15260-409: The German and Turkish war effort, but it influenced other major events. In Afghanistan, the expedition triggered reforms and drove political turmoil that culminated in the assassination of the Emir in 1919, which in turn precipitated the Third Anglo-Afghan War . It influenced the Kalmyk Project of nascent Bolshevik Russia to propagate socialist revolution in Asia, with one goal being the overthrow of

15478-421: The German members of the delegation were Niedermayer and von Hentig. Von Hentig was a Prussian military officer who had served as the military attaché to Beijing in 1910 and Constantinople in 1912. Fluent in Persian , he was appointed secretary of the German legation to Tehran in 1913. Von Hentig was serving on the Eastern front as a lieutenant with the Prussian 3rd Cuirassiers when he was recalled to Berlin for

15696-709: The Great 's tombstone lists Kabul as one of the 29 countries of the Achaemenid Empire. When Alexander the Great annexed the Achaemenid Empire, the Kabul region came under his control. After his death, his empire was seized by his general Seleucus , becoming part of the Seleucid Empire . In 305 BC, the Seleucid Empire was extended to the Indus River which led to friction with the neighbouring Mauryan Empire . During

15914-528: The Great , Paul the Apostle , and Frederick I . The group crossed the Euphrates at high flood, finally reaching Baghdad towards the end of May. As Baghdad raised the spectre of an extensive network of British spies, the group again split. Pratap and von Hentig's party left on 1 June 1915 to make their way towards the Persian border. Eight days later they were received by the Turkish military commander Rauf Orbay at

16132-547: The Indian revolutionary movement, having worked with the India House in London and New York from 1903. In 1909, he moved to Japan, where he continued his anti-British activities. Taking the post of Professor of Urdu at Tokyo University , he visited Constantinople in 1911. However, his Tokyo tenure was terminated under diplomatic pressure from Britain. He returned to the United States in 1914, later proceeding to Berlin, where he joined

16350-419: The Kaiser had written the letter using the only instrument available at his field headquarters before the group's hurried departure may not have entirely convinced him. Passing along the Kaiser's invitation to join the war on the side of the Central Powers, von Hentig described the war situation as favourable and invited the Emir to declare independence. This was followed by a presentation from Kasim Bey explaining

16568-565: The Mauryan period, trade flourished because of uniform weights and measures. Irrigation facilities for public use were developed leading to an increased harvest of crops. People were also employed as artisans, jewelers, and carpenters. The Greco-Bactrians took control of Kabul from the Mauryans in the early 2nd century BC, then lost the city to their successors in the Indo-Greek Kingdom around

16786-534: The Morocco issue. The Morocco crisis was settled with a Franco-German agreement in which the Empire relinquished its claims to Morocco in return for New Cameroon ( Neukamerun ), a land extension of German Cameroon ( Kamerun ). Conservative Colonial State Secretary Friedrich von Lindequist protested strongly and resigned in November 1911. Instead of appointing the successor Lindequist proposed, Bethmann Hollweg chose

17004-476: The Ottoman Sultan's declaration of jihad and Turkey's desire to avoid a fratricidal war between Islamic peoples. He passed along a message to Afghanistan similar to the Kaiser's. Barkatullah invited Habibullah to declare war against the British Empire and to come to the aid of India's Muslims. He proposed that the Emir should allow Turco-German forces to cross Afghanistan for a campaign towards the Indian frontier,

17222-423: The Persian town of Krynd . Leaving Krynd, the party reached Turkish-occupied Kermanshah on 14 June 1915. Some members were sick with malaria and other tropical diseases. Leaving them under the care of Dr. Becker, von Hentig proceeded towards Tehran to decide on the subsequent plans with Prince Heinrich Reuss and Niedermayer. Persia at the time was divided into British and Russian spheres of influence , with

17440-468: The Reichstag and British conservatives in the Houses of Parliament, the efforts were unsuccessful. In the 1912 Haldane Mission – an attempt by the British diplomat Richard Haldane to come to an agreement on the naval arms race between Great Britain and Germany – Bethmann Hollweg failed again to reach a settlement. Germany wanted Britain to pledge neutrality in any future war while Britain sought to slow down

17658-449: The Reichstag he pushed forward the reform of the constitutional status of Alsace–Lorraine , which had been taken from France after its defeat in the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War . It was given its own constitution with a bicameral parliament, the lower house of which was elected under Reichstag suffrage (universal manhood suffrage). The Reich Chancellor's bill was adopted on 23 March 1911 in the face of strong protests from conservatives and

17876-739: The Russian court, the Tsar saw a belligerent involvement with Germany as "receding into the far distance". In 1912 the Reich Chancellor took advantage of a meeting between the Emperor and the Tsar in Baltischport (now Paldiski, Estonia ) for a friendly discussion. After talks with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Kokovtsov and Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov , Bethmann Hollweg wrote that he had been able to establish "trusting and friendly relations". On 25 July 1912 Walther Rathenau stayed at Hohenfinow to talk to

18094-407: The Soviet manner. Education was modified into the Soviet model, with lessons focusing on teaching Russian , Marxism–Leninism and learning of other countries belonging to the Soviet bloc. Amid growing internal chaos and heightened cold war tensions, the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs , was kidnapped on his way to work at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on 14 February 1979 and killed during

18312-519: The Sultan proclaim jihad . His hope was to provoke and aid a vast Muslim revolution, particularly in India. Translations of the proclamation were sent to Berlin for propaganda purposes, for distribution to Muslim troops of the Entente Powers. However, while widely heard, the proclamation did not have the intended effect of mobilising global Muslim opinion on behalf of Turkey or the Central Powers. Early in

18530-578: The Turco-German assurances of military and financial assistance were feasible. In a letter to Prince Henry of Reuss in Tehran (a message that was intercepted and delivered to the Russians instead), von Hentig asked for Turkish troops. Walter Röhr later wrote to the prince that a thousand Turkish troops armed with machine guns—along with another German expedition headed by himself—should be able to draw Afghanistan into

18748-688: The Turks were represented by Kazim Bey , a close confidante of Enver Pasha . Britain saw the expedition as a serious threat. Britain and its ally, the Russian Empire , unsuccessfully attempted to intercept it in Persia during the summer of 1915. Britain waged a covert intelligence and diplomatic offensive, including personal interventions by the Viceroy Lord Hardinge and King George V , to maintain Afghan neutrality. The mission failed in its main task of rallying Afghanistan, under Emir Habibullah Khan , to

18966-604: The United States after the American-led invasion of Afghanistan which followed the September 11 attacks in the US in 2001. In 2021, Kabul was re-occupied by the Taliban following the withdrawal of American and NATO-led military forces from Afghanistan . Kabul is also spelled as Cabool , Cabol , Kabol , or Cabul . Kabul was known by different names throughout its history. Its meaning

19184-580: The United States, and other countries as bases for anti-colonial work directed against Britain. As early as 1913, revolutionary publications in Germany began referring to the approaching war between Germany and Britain and the possibility of German support for Indian nationalists. During the early months of the war, German newspaper devoted considerable coverage to social problems in India and instances of British economic exploitation. German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg encouraged this activity. The effort

19402-665: The World War Bethmann Hollweg conceded that saying "scrap of paper" had been a faux pas ( Entgleisung , lit.   ' derailment ' ), but he held to his opinion that Belgian neutrality was as nothing compared to the approaching world war. Bethmann Hollweg remained largely unaffected by the patriotic enthusiasm in Germany in August 1914 (the so-called " spirit of 1914 "). A letter he sent to his friend Wolfgang von Oettingen on 30 August 1914 bears witness: "Work and hope have been sundered in my hands. But I feel innocent of

19620-568: The World War that "the Emperor's views coincided" with his own. On 6 July 1914, during the July Crisis that led up to the outbreak of World War I, the Reich Chancellor again assured the Austrian embassy that Germany would fight faithfully alongside its ally. Austria-Hungary's aggressive demands against Serbia thus took place with Bethmann Hollweg's backing. At the same time, he had State Secretary of

19838-875: The Yuezhi and based in Bactria . Around 230 AD, the Kushans were defeated by the Sassanid Empire and replaced by Sassanid vassals known as the Indo-Sassanids . During the Sassanian period, the city was referred to as "Kapul" in Pahlavi scripts . Kapol in the Persian language means Royal (ka) Bridge (pol), which is due to the main bridge on the Kabul River that connected the east and west of

20056-426: The authority to promise anything. Nonetheless, they expressed hopes of an alliance with Persia in the near future (a task Prince Henry of Reuss and Wilhelm Wassmuss worked on), which would help meet the Emir's needs. Although it reached no firm outcome, this first meeting has been noted by historians as being cordial, helping open communications with the Emir and allowing the mission to hope for success. This conference

20274-408: The barren Dasht-e Kavir . On 19 August 1915 the expedition reached the Afghan frontier. Mahendra Pratap's memoirs describe the group as left with approximately fifty men, less than half the number who had set out from Isfahan seven weeks earlier. Dr. Becker's camel caravan was lost and he was later captured by Russians. Only 70 of the 170 horses and baggage animals survived. Crossing into Afghanistan,

20492-636: The beginning of Afghanistan. By this time, Kabul had lost its status as a metropolitan city, and its population had decreased to 10,000. Interest in the city was renewed when Ahmad Shah's son Timur Shah Durrani , after inheriting power, transferred the capital of the Durrani Empire from Kandahar to Kabul in 1776. Kabul experienced considerable urban development during the reigns of Timur Shah and his successor Zaman Shah ; several religious and public buildings were constructed, and diverse groups of Sufis , jurists, and literary families were encouraged to settle

20710-554: The beginning of the war, where he was met by Virendranath Chattopadhyaya of the Berlin Committee. Chattopadhyaya's efforts—along with a letter from the Kaiser—convinced Pratap to lend his support to the Indian nationalist cause, on the condition that the arrangements were made with the Kaiser himself. A private audience with the Kaiser was arranged, at which Pratap agreed to nominally head the expedition. Prominent among

20928-485: The best thing to do. But under the enormous pressure coming from the military, which was clamoring for annexations ("That cursed sentiment at Headquarters"), it was not possible at the time, he said, and politics, as Otto von Bismarck had remarked, was the art of the possible. Instead the Chancellor spoke of a "pledge" ( Faustpfand ) to Belgium and France. For him the formulation had the advantage that it did not lead to

21146-577: The city as Kaofu in the 7th century AD, which is the appellation of one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi who had migrated from across the Hindu Kush into the Kabul valley around the beginning of the Common Era . It was conquered by Kushan Emperor Kujula Kadphises in about 45 AD and remained Kushan territory until at least the 3rd century AD. The Kushans were Indo-European-speaking peoples related to

21364-473: The city through land grants and stipends. Kabul's first visitor from Europe was Englishman George Forster , who described 18th-century Kabul as "the best and cleanest city in Asia". In 1826, the kingdom was claimed by Dost Mohammad Khan , but in 1839 Shujah Shah Durrani was re-installed with the help of the British Empire during the First Anglo-Afghan War . In 1841 a local uprising resulted in

21582-560: The city's new-found tourism, western-style accommodations were opened in the 1960s, notably the Spinzar Hotel. Western, American and Japanese tourists visited the city's attractions including Chicken Street and the National Museum that contained some of Asia's finest cultural artifacts. Lonely Planet called it an upcoming "tourist trap" in 1973. Pakistanis visited to watch Indian movies that were banned in their own country. Kabul

21800-613: The city. In 420 AD, the Indo-Sassanids were driven out of Afghanistan by the Xionite tribe known as the Kidarites , who were then replaced in the 460s by the Hephthalites . It became part of the surviving Turk Shahi Kingdom of Kapisa , also known as Kabul-Shahan . According to Táríkhu-l Hind by Al-Biruni , Kabul was governed by princes of Turkic lineage. It was briefly held by

22018-474: The conflict. In his memoirs, Admiral Tirpitz described the Chancellor's situation in those days as that of a "drowning man". Germany declared war on Russia and began mobilization on 1 August 1914. Bethmann Hollweg, in contrast to representatives of the Prussian Ministry of War, had insisted on formal declarations in order "to have affirmation under international law". His profound desire for guidelines in

22236-549: The country and maintained high schools and lycees in the capital, providing education for the children of the city's elite families. Kabul University opened in 1932, and by the 1960s the majority of teachers were western educated Afghans and the majority of instructors at the university had degrees from Western universities. Kabul's only railway service, the Kabul–Darulaman Tramway , operated for six years from 1923 to 1929. When Zahir Shah took power in 1933, Kabul had

22454-505: The country's primate city and the 75th-largest city in the world . The modern-day city of Kabul is located high in a narrow valley in the Hindu Kush mountain range, and is bounded by the Kabul River . At an elevation of 1,790 metres (5,873 ft), it is one of the highest capital cities in the world . The center of the city contains its old neighborhoods, including the areas of Khashti Bridge, Khabgah, Kahforoshi, Deh-Afghanan, Chandavel, Shorbazar, Saraji and Baghe Alimardan. Kabul

22672-534: The death of Genghis Khan's grandson. As a result, many natives of Afghanistan fled south toward the Indian subcontinent where some established dynasties in Delhi . The Chagatai Khanate and Kartids were vassals of Ilkhanate until the dissolution of the latter in 1335. Following the era of the Khalji dynasty in 1333, the famous Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta was visiting Kabul and wrote: We travelled on to Kabul, formerly

22890-516: The deposed Khedive of Egypt, Abbas Hilmi . Reaching Constantinople on 17 April, the party waited at the Pera Palace Hotel for three weeks while further travel arrangements were made. During this time, Pratap and Hentig met with Enver Pasha and enjoyed an audience with the Sultan. On Enver Pasha's orders, a Turkish officer, Lieutenant Kasim Bey , was deputed to the expedition as the Turkish representative, bearing official letters addressed to

23108-431: The early 19th century, Kabul and other major Afghan cities became sites of refuge for Jews fleeing persecution in neighboring Iran. Jews were generally tolerated for most of their time in Afghanistan, up until the passage of anti-Jewish laws in the 1870s. Jews were given a reprieve under the rule of King Nadir Shah until his assassination in 1933. The influence of Nazi propaganda led to increased violence against Jews and

23326-427: The efforts of the Berlin Committee. Barkatullah had as early as 1895 been acquainted with Nasrullah Khan , the brother of the Afghan Emir, Habibullah Khan . Pratap chose six Afghan Afridi and Pathan volunteers from the prisoner of war camp at Zossen . Before the mission left Berlin, two more Germans joined the group: Major Dr. Karl Becker, who was familiar with tropical diseases and spoke Persian, and Walter Röhr,

23544-455: The entire day, began on an uncomfortable note, with Habibullah summing up his views on the expedition in a prolonged opening address: I regard you as merchants who will spread out your wares before me. Of these goods, I shall choose according to my pleasure and my fancy, taking what I like and rejecting what I do not need. He expressed surprise that a task as important as the expedition's was entrusted to such young men. Von Hentig had to convince

23762-460: The evening of 4 August. In tears the Chancellor poured out his soul to him. For a "scrap of paper" (meaning the 1839 Treaty of London guaranteeing Belgium's neutrality), he said, Britain wanted to wage war against a kindred nation that wished to live in peace with it. All efforts had collapsed before his eyes like a house of cards. In the end the Reich Chancellor and ambassador are said to have been weeping in each other's arms. In his Reflections on

23980-529: The exiled Indian prince Raja Mahendra Pratap was named leader. Mahendra Pratap was head of the Indian princely states of Mursan and Hathras . He had been involved with the Indian National Congress in the 1900s, attending the Congress session of 1906. He toured the world in 1907 and 1911, and in 1912 contributed substantial funds to Gandhi 's South African movement. Pratap left India for Geneva at

24198-524: The expedition was aborted. The attempted expedition had a significant consequence. Wassmuss left Constantinople to organise the tribes in south Persia to act against British interests. While evading British capture in Persia, Wassmuss inadvertently abandoned his codebook. Its recovery by Britain allowed the Allies to decipher German communications, including the Zimmermann Telegram in 1917. Niedermayer led

24416-463: The expedition. Like von Hentig, Niedermayer had served in Constantinople before the war and spoke fluent Persian and other regional languages. A Bavarian artillery officer and a graduate from the University of Erlangen , Niedermayer had travelled in Persia and India in the two years preceding the war. He returned to Persia to await further orders after the first Afghan expedition was aborted. Niedermayer

24634-480: The famous Persian couplet , which states: اگرفردوس روی زمین است همین است و همین است و همین است Transliteration: Agar fardus rui zamayn ast', hameen ast', o hameen ast', o hameen ast'. (If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, and it is this, and it is this!) Kabul remained in Mughal control for the next 200 years. Though Mughal power became centred within the Indian subcontinent , Kabul retained importance as

24852-570: The first time in its history, Kabul served as a mint centre, producing gold and silver Mughal coins up to the reign of Alamgir II . It acted as a military base for Shah Jahan's campaigns in Balkh and Badakhshan . Kabul was also a recreational retreat for the Mughals, who hunted here and constructed several gardens. Most of the Mughals' architectural contributions to the city (such as gardens, fortifications, and mosques) have not survived. During this time,

25070-509: The following centuries, the city was successively controlled by the Samanids , Ghaznavids , Ghurids , Khwarazmshahs , Qarlughids , and Khaljis . In the 13th century, the invading Mongols caused major destruction in the region. Report of a massacre in the close by Bamiyan is recorded around this period, where the entire population of the valley was annihilated by the Mongol troops as revenge for

25288-559: The foreign office. British Foreign Secretary Grey warned Germany that if the conflict was not limited to Austria and Russia but also involved France and the Reich, Britain could not stand aside either. Bethmann Hollweg then informed the German ambassador in Vienna that Austria should not resist negotiations with the Russian Empire. Although Germany was prepared to fulfill its alliance obligation, it

25506-431: The general staff to expect the campaign to begin in April. In the end, Emir Habibullah returned to his vacillating inactivity. He was aware the mission had found support within his council and had excited his volatile subjects. Four days after the draft treaty was signed, Habibullah called for a durbar , a grand meeting where a jihad was expected to be called. Instead, Habibullah reaffirmed his neutrality, explaining that

25724-490: The group following Wassmuss's departure. In 1915, a second expedition was organised, mainly through the German Foreign Office and the Indian leadership of the Berlin Committee. Germany was now extensively involved in the Indian revolutionary conspiracy and provided it with arms and funds. Lala Har Dayal , prominent among the Indian radicals liaising with Germany, was expected to lead the expedition. When he declined,

25942-428: The group found fresh water in an irrigation channel by a deserted hamlet. Albeit teeming with leeches, the water saved the group from dying of thirst. Marching for another two days, they reached the vicinity of Herat , where they made contact with Afghan authorities. Unsure what reception awaited them, von Hentig sent Barkatullah , an Islamic scholar of some fame, to advise the governor that the expedition had arrived and

26160-695: The guilt for it but that only a "common guilt" could have led to such a great catastrophe. Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg was born at Hohenfinow in Brandenburg , then part of the Kingdom of Prussia , the largest state within the German Empire . He was the son of Prussian official Felix von Bethmann Hollweg. His grandfather August von Bethmann-Hollweg had been a prominent law scholar, president of Frederick William University in Berlin and Prussian minister of culture. His great-grandfather Johann Jakob Hollweg had married

26378-499: The halt-in-Belgrade proposal combined with Austrian renunciation of annexation of Serbia. But he knew that it would be considered unsatisfactory by the Russians. When the Emperor "threatened to weaken again", the Chancellor and the Foreign Office undermined the proposal calling for restraint by forwarding the letter from the German ambassador in London belatedly and not entirely correctly to Vienna. The last (here italicized) sentence

26596-659: The help of the Central Powers in fomenting revolution. The pan-Islamic movement in India, particularly the Darul Uloom Deoband , made plans for an insurrection in the North-West Frontier Province , with support from Afghanistan and the Central Powers. Mahmud al Hasan , the principal of the Deobandi school, left India to seek the help of Galib Pasha, the Turkish governor of Hijaz , while another Deoband leader, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi , travelled to Kabul to seek

26814-476: The interior by Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow immediately after the 1907 Reichstag elections . Bethmann Hollweg was again reluctant to take on the post, but since he viewed the appointment as an imperial order, he ultimately saw no alternative but to accept. In October 1907 he attended the German Workers' Congress, a general meeting of Christian trade unions, where the appearance of an imperial state secretary

27032-474: The interior. He accepted the task only reluctantly, as he held views that "did not fit into Prussian schematism". Noting early on the slow drifting apart of Wilhelmine society into an increasingly nationalistic, militaristic right and an increasingly radical republican left, he tried to steer a conciliatory course in domestic policy. He wanted, as he himself often said, to find a "policy of the diagonal" between Germany's conservative and liberal-radical currents. To

27250-550: The invasion of Belgium as necessary given Germany's threatened position, he saw it from the first as an injustice that would need to be righted. He fought against the implementation of unrestricted submarine warfare but in the end bowed to pressure from the military and the conservatives in the Reichstag and approved its use. As the war progressed, many who had supported him in parliament felt that he had been in his position too long to be able to negotiate an acceptable peace. When both Quartermaster General Erich Ludendorff and Chief of

27468-463: The killing of the British resident and loss of mission in Kabul and the 1842 retreat from Kabul to Jalalabad , in which 4,500 regular British troops and 14,000 civilians were killed by Afghan tribesmen. In 1842 the British returned to Kabul, demolishing the city's main bazaar in revenge during the Kabul Expedition (1842) before returning to British India (now Pakistan). Akbar Khan took to

27686-433: The land his property. He owned the only newspaper, the only drug store, and all the automobiles in the country (all Rolls-Royces ). The Emir's brother, Prime Minister Nasrullah Khan , was a man of religious convictions. Unlike the Emir, he fluently spoke Pashto (the local language), dressed in traditional Afghan robes, and interacted more closely with the border tribes. While the Emir favoured British India, Nasrullah Khan

27904-468: The late 19th century. Von Oppenheim had mapped Turkey and Persia while working as a secret agent. The Kaiser toured Constantinople , Damascus , and Jerusalem in 1898 to bolster the Turkish relationship and to portray solidarity with Islam, a religion professed by millions of subjects of the British Empire in India and elsewhere. Referring to the Kaiser as Haji Wilhelm, the Intelligence Bureau for

28122-508: The liberal governor of Samoa , Wilhelm Solf . Solf was one of the few foreign policy makers in the Empire to fully support Bethmann Hollweg. German-Russian relations had moved in a positive direction before the Moroccan crisis. In 1910 Tsar Nicholas I I had been in Potsdam , which Bethmann Hollweg described in a letter as a "stepping stone to an understanding with England". According to records of

28340-441: The maintenance of peace". In January 1910 Bethmann Hollweg wrote that the government faced the "great task of the political education of the people, eliminating the rule of slogans and superficial evaluations". He saw the basic task of a statesman as a "kind of listening to developments". In 1910 he submitted a bill to reform Prussia's three-class electoral law, but it was rejected by the Prussian state parliament ( Landtag ). In

28558-840: The meeting point between Tartary , India and Persia . Over the centuries Kabul has been under the rule of various dynasties and empires, including the Seleucids , Bactrian Greeks , Mauryans , the Kushans , the Hindu Shahis , Western Turks , the Turk Shahis , the Samanids , the Khwarazmians , the Timurids , the Mongols and the Arman Rayamajhis. In the 16th century, the Mughal Empire used Kabul as

28776-401: The meeting with the Emir. The southern route and the city of Kandahar were avoided, possibly because Afghan officials wished to prevent fomenting unrest in the Pathan region close to India. On 7 September, the group left Herat for Kabul with Afghan guides on a 24-day trip via the harsher northern route through Hazarajat , over the barren mountains of central Afghanistan. En route the expedition

28994-405: The mid-2nd century BC. Buddhism was greatly patronised by these rulers and the majority of people of the city were adherents of the religion. Indo-Scythians expelled the Indo-Greeks by the mid 1st century BC, but lost the city to the Kushan Empire about 100 years later. It is mentioned as Kophes or Kophene in some classical Greek writings. The Chinese Buddhist monk Hsuan Tsang refers to

29212-438: The military buildup. Bethmann Hollweg combined the bill with a cover bill that provided for an "extraordinary defense contribution" from all assets over 10,000 marks. Since the SPD had always called for direct taxes on the wealthy, it agreed to the bill after a contentious debate. In late 1913 the Zabern Affair shook German politics and public opinion. In Zabern ( Saverne ) in Alsace, a young German lieutenant insulted Alsatians in

29430-404: The military. Unlike in Prussia, Bethmann Hollweg was not opposed by any influential conservatives, which allowed his democratic constitutional initiative to pass. In foreign policy Bethmann Hollweg from the beginning attached great importance to an understanding with Great Britain. He considered German-Austrian relations to be so problem-free that he thought it more important to prove friendly to

29648-448: The mission would leave if nothing could be achieved were placated with flattery and invitations to stay on. Meanwhile, expedition members were allowed to freely venture into Kabul, a liberty which was put to good use on a successful hearts and minds campaign, with expedition members spending freely on local goods and paying cash. Two dozen Austrian prisoners of war who had escaped from Russian camps were recruited by Niedermayer to construct

29866-516: The mission, purportedly originating from Goltz Pasha, convinced von Hentig of the Emir's lack of trust. A last offer was made by Nasrullah in May 1916 to remove Habibullah from power and lead the frontier tribes in a campaign against British India. However, von Hentig knew it would come to nothing, and the Germans left Kabul on 21 May 1916. Niedermayer instructed Wagner to stay in Herat as a liaison officer . The Indian members also stayed, persisting in their attempts at an alliance. Kabul Kabul

30084-698: The mission. Amanullah Khan gave the group reasons to feel confident, even as rumours of these meetings reached the Emir. Messages from von Hentig to Prince Henry, intercepted by British and Russian intelligence, were subsequently passed on to Emir Habibullah. These suggested that to draw Afghanistan into the war, von Hentig was prepared to organise "internal revulsions" in Afghanistan if necessary. Habibullah found these reports concerning, and discouraged expedition members from meeting with his sons except in his presence. All of Afghanistan's immediate preceding rulers save Habibullah's father had died of unnatural causes. The fact that his immediate relatives were pro-German, while he

30302-417: The months that the expedition remained in Kabul, Habibullah fended off pressure to commit to the Central war effort with what has been described as "masterly inactivity". He waited for the outcome of the war to be predictable, announcing to the mission his sympathy for the Central Powers and asserting his willingness to lead an army into India—if and when Turco-German troops were able to offer support. Hints that

30520-463: The nascent Bolshevik government in an attempt to gain their support. In 1918, Mahendra Pratap met Trotsky in Petrograd before meeting the Kaiser in Berlin, urging both to mobilise against British India. December 1915 also saw concrete progress on the mission's Turco-German objective. The Emir informed von Hentig he was ready to discuss a treaty of Afghan-German friendship, but said it would take time and require extensive historical research. Work on

30738-399: The new king was assassinated during an award ceremony in a school in Kabul. The throne was left to his 19-year-old son, Zahir Shah , who became the last King of Afghanistan . Unlike Amanullah Khan, Nader Khan and Zahir Shah had no plans to create a new capital city, and thus Kabul remained the country's seat of government . During the inter-war period , France and Germany helped to develop

30956-407: The newly appointed Chief of the Reich Chancellery he wrote: The elements to be reconciled no longer have any inner relationship on which to base mutual political views. They stand with respect to each other like members of different worlds. Hopefully you will succeed in having a balancing effect, for without gradual assimilation we will arrive at conditions that are quite untenable. His focus early on

31174-472: The nickname " Paris of Central Asia". This period of tranquility ended in 1978 with the Saur Revolution , and the subsequent Soviet military intervention in 1979 which sparked a 10-year Soviet–Afghan War . The 1990s were marked by civil wars between splinter factions of the disbanded Afghan mujahideen which destroyed much of the city. In 1996, Kabul was captured by the Taliban after four years of intermittent fighting. The Taliban-ruled city fell to

31392-461: The north. His feints and disinformation were taking effect. The pursuing forces were spread thin, hunting for what they believed at times to be a large force. At other times they looked for a second, non-existent German force heading east from Kermanshah. The group now moved both day and night. From nomads, Niedermayer learnt the whereabouts of the British patrols. He lost men through exhaustion, defection, and desertion. On occasions, deserters would take

31610-568: The only 10 kilometers (6 miles) of rail and the country had few internal telegraphs, phone lines or roads. Zahir turned to the Japanese, Germans and Italians for help in developing a modern transportation and communications network. A radio tower built in Kabul by the Germans in 1937 provided communication with outlying villages. A national bank and state cartels were organised to allow for economic modernisation. Textile mills, power plants, carpet and furniture factories were built in Kabul, providing much-needed manufacturing and infrastructure. During

31828-505: The opium addiction of his Persian camel drivers. Fearful of being spotted, he had to stop the Persians a number of times from lighting up their pipes. Men who fell behind were abandoned. Some of the Persian drivers attempted to defect. On one occasion, a driver was shot while he attempted to flee and betray the group. Although the town of Birjand was small, it had a Russian consulate. Niedermayer correctly guessed additional British forces were present. He therefore had to decide whether to bypass

32046-601: The other powers" in his 1909 speech from the throne, Kiderlen-Waechter's diplomacy in connection with the 1911 Second Moroccan Crisis – when he sent a German gunboat to the African nation over which France had political control – was not in keeping with the Emperor's words. Bethmann Hollweg was often reproached for his passivity during the crisis. The fact that he gave Kiderlen-Waechter a free hand in spite of his misgivings about his approach can be explained by his feeling that he lacked expertise in foreign policy and did not consider himself competent to stand up to Kiderlen-Waechter on

32264-429: The other powers. He appointed Alfred von Kiderlen-Waechter as state secretary for foreign affairs. It was initially seen as a good appointment but later proved to be a disappointment. The impulsive Swabian contrasted with the Reich Chancellor not only in his temperament but above all in foreign policy matters. Although Wilhelm II had called for the Empire to increase its advocacy of "peaceful and friendly relations with

32482-414: The packaging of the "tent poles". Replacements could not be arranged for weeks; the delegation waited at Constantinople. To reinforce the Islamic identity of the expedition, it was suggested that the Germans wear Turkish army uniforms, but they refused. Differences between Turkish and German officers, including the reluctance of the Germans to accept Turkish control, further compromised the effort. Eventually,

32700-424: The party's spare water and horses at gunpoint. Nonetheless, by the second week of August the forced march had brought the expedition close to the Birjand- Meshed road, eighty miles from Afghanistan. Here the Kaiser's bulkier and heavier gifts to the Emir, including the German wireless sets, were buried in the desert for later retrieval. Since all caravans entering Afghanistan must cross the road, Niedermayer assumed it

32918-405: The party. Some Persian guides attempted to defect, and camel drivers had to be constantly vigilant for robbers. On 23 July, the group reached Tebbes – the first Europeans after Sven Hedin . They were soon followed by Niedermayer's party, which now included explorer Wilhelm Paschen and six Austrian and Hungarian soldiers who had escaped from Russian prisoner of war camps in Turkestan. The arrival

33136-507: The people themselves, not among the people's representatives". It was therefore necessary to "make room for the new views that have emerged from the changed economic and social conditions". On Bethmann Hollweg's advice, the Emperor announced electoral reform in the Kingdom of Prussia in his speech from the throne of 20 October 1908. (The Prussian electoral system was in fact not finally reformed until 12 November 1918.) Wilhelm II promised "organic further development", which he described as one of

33354-419: The plans originated with Bethmann Hollweg cannot be proven. His associate Kurt Riezler is generally considered to have been the author. Riezler wrote on 20 September 1914 that the Chancellor would "never do more than listen on the issue of war aims." Nevertheless, Bethmann Hollweg signed the September Program. Bethmann Hollweg admitted in 1918 that demanding the restoration of Belgium would probably have been

33572-591: The population was about 60,000. Under later Mughal Emperors , Kabul became neglected. The empire lost the city when it was captured in 1738 by Nader Shah , who was en route to invade the Indian subcontinent . Nine years after Nader Shah and his forces invaded and occupied the city as part of the more easternmost parts of his Empire, he was assassinated by his own officers, causing its rapid disintegration. Ahmad Shah Durrani , commander of 4,000 Abdali Afghans , asserted Pashtun rule in 1747 and further expanded his new Afghan Empire . His ascension to power marked

33790-440: The population was concentrated on the south side of the river. The city was modernised throughout the regime of King Habibullah Khan , with the introduction of electricity, telephone, and a postal service. The first modern high school, Habibia , was established in 1903. In 1919, after the Third Anglo-Afghan War , King Amanullah Khan announced Afghanistan's independence in foreign affairs at Eidgah Mosque in Kabul. Amanullah

34008-399: The presence of the Anglo-Russian East Persian Cordon. Further, he was financially vulnerable, dependent on British subsidies and institutions for his fortune and the financial welfare of his army and kingdom. The members of the mission had no immediate answers to his questions regarding strategic assistance, arms, and funds. Merely tasked to entreat the Emir to join a holy war, they did not have

34226-401: The principal cities of his later Mughal Empire . In 1525, Babur described Kabulistan in his memoirs by writing that: There are many differing tribes in the Kābul country ; in its dales and plains are Turks and clansmen and 'Arabs ; and in its town and in many villages, Sārts ; out in the districts and also in villages are the Pashāi , Parājī , Tājik , Bīrkī and Afghān tribes. In

34444-441: The progress of the expedition were being keenly sought by British intelligence. By now, British and Russian columns close to the Afghan border, including the Seistan Force , were hunting for the expedition. If the expedition was to reach Afghanistan, it would have to outwit and outrun its pursuers over thousands of miles in the extreme heat and natural hazards of the Persian desert, while evading brigands and ambushes. By early July,

34662-421: The rivalry between parties. His modest appearance and successes as an advisor to Wilhelm had also put him in the Emperor's good graces. Bethmann Hollweg's appointment had previously been suggested in political circles, including by Friedrich von Holstein in the Foreign Office. Overall there was a positive response from all parties to the appointment, although the Catholic Centre Party had reservations, and for

34880-493: The rivers of blood that now flow. Our people [ Volk ] is glorious and cannot perish." In what would later be called the September Program , the Empire formulated concrete war aims for the first time. The program contained demands for territory in Europe directed primarily against Russia, as well as the creation of a European customs union that would smooth the way for German economic interests in neighboring countries and secure German supremacy in central Europe. Whether or not

35098-412: The role of mediator; we have to pass the British proposal on to Vienna for consideration, especially since London and Paris are continuously using their influence on Petersburg. AIso, the whole world here is convinced, and I hear the same from my colleagues, that the key to the situation lies in Berlin, and that if Berlin seriously wants peace, it will prevent Vienna from following a foolhardy policy. At

35316-424: The same time, Italy, a supposed ally of the Triple Alliance , demanded compensation for Austria's actions in the Balkans. Vienna responded by offering to divide Serbia between Russia, which had not previously made any territorial claims in Serbia, and Austria. The proposal was rejected with loud protest in Berlin. For the first time Bethmann Hollweg was openly furious at the Danube monarchy and telegraphed his views to

35534-429: The same year, Polish-speaking schoolchildren in the Province of Posen , supported by the Catholic clergy, went on strike demanding that religion lessons be given in Polish again. The conservatives wanted to increase military presence in the province but Bethmann Hollweg rejected the idea. Instead he authorized that in the future religious instruction be given in Polish. Bethmann Hollweg was appointed state secretary of

35752-407: The sick at Kermanshah had recovered and rejoined the expedition. Camels and water bags were purchased, and the parties left Isfahan separately on 3 July 1915 for the journey through the desert, hoping to rendezvous at Tebbes , halfway to the Afghan border. Von Hentig's group travelled with twelve pack horses, twenty-four mules, and a camel caravan . Throughout the march, efforts were made to throw off

35970-421: The situation. Niedermayer, now in charge, proved to be a brilliant tactician. He sent three feint patrols, one to north-east to draw away the Russian troops and one to the south-east to draw away the British, while a third patrol of thirty armed Persians, led by a German officer—Lieutenant Wagner—was sent ahead to scout the route. After leading the Russians astray, the first group was to remain in Persia to establish

36188-427: The support of the Emir of Afghanistan. They initially planned to raise an Islamic army headquartered at Medina , with an Indian contingent at Kabul. Mahmud al Hasan was to command this army. While at Kabul, Maulana came to the conclusion that focusing on the Indian Freedom Movement would best serve the pan-Islamic cause. Ubaidullah proposed to the Afghan Emir that he declare war against Britain. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

36406-532: The support of the Social Democrats for most of the war. On 3 August Bethmann Hollweg assured British Foreign Minister Grey that the Russian mobilization of 30 July was what had put Germany in such straits that it had demanded that Belgium allow its troops to pass through the country. He had tried everything, he said, to avoid the breach of international law and to prevent "the madness of the self-destruction of Europe's nations of culture [ Kulturnationen ]". On 4 August German troops invaded Belgium. While awaiting

36624-412: The sword." Serbia's reply to the Austrian ultimatum accepted almost all of Austria-Hungary's demands. When it arrived in Berlin on 27 July 1914, the Emperor saw no need for war. He suggested that Austria should occupy Belgrade with the aim of furthering negotiations towards a permanent solution to the Balkan question. Bethmann Hollweg, seeing the threat of British entry into the war, briefly advocated

36842-409: The thirteenth century. The centrality of the city within the region, as well as its cultural importance as a nexus of ethnic groups in the region, caused Kabul to become known as the Paris of Central Asia in the late 20th century. The origin of Kabul, who built it and when, is largely unknown. The Hindu Rigveda , composed between 2000 and 1500 BC and one of the four canonical texts of Hinduism , and

37060-483: The throne from 1842 to 1845 and was followed by Dost Mohammad Khan. The Second Anglo-Afghan War broke out in 1879 when Kabul was under Sher Ali Khan 's rule, as the Afghan king initially refused to accept British diplomatic missions and later the British residents were again massacred. During the war, Bala Hissar was partially destroyed by a fire and an explosion. In Kabul, an established bazaar city, leather and textile industries developed by 1916. The majority of

37278-470: The tone in the paper was deemed serious enough for the Raj to intercept the copies intended for India. Through German links with Ottoman Turkey, the Berlin Committee at this time established contact with Mahmud al Hasan at Hijaz, while the expedition itself was now met at Kabul by Ubaidullah Sindhi's group. Political events and progress attained during December 1915 allowed the mission to celebrate at Kabul on Christmas Day with wine and cognac left behind by

37496-442: The town by the northern route, patrolled by Russians, or the southern route, where British patrols were present. He could not send any reconnaissance. His Persian escort's advice that the desert north of Birjand was notoriously harsh convinced him that this would be the route his enemies would least expect him to take. Sending a small decoy party south-east to spread the rumour that the main body would soon follow, Niedermayer headed for

37714-440: The treaty began with drafts proposed by von Hentig. The final draft of ten articles presented on 24 January 1916 included clauses recognising Afghan independence, a declaration of friendship with Germany, and establishment of diplomatic relations. Von Hentig was to be accredited the Embassy Secretary of the German Empire. In addition, the treaty would guarantee German assistance against Russian and British threats if Afghanistan joined

37932-643: The treaty, she would have to be in a strong position in the war. It was a good insurance policy for Habibullah. Meanwhile, he had received worrying British intelligence reports that said he was in danger of being assassinated and his country may face a coup d'état. His tribesmen were unhappy at Habibullah's perceived subservience to the British, and his council and relatives openly spoke of their suspicions at his inactivity. Habibullah began purging his court of officials who were known to be close to Nasrullah and Amanullah. He recalled emissaries he had sent to Persia for talks with Germany and Turkey for military aid. Meanwhile,

38150-427: The two countries' race to expand their navies. Bethmann Hollweg nevertheless enjoyed a good reputation with British Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey : "So long as Bethmann Hollweg is chancellor, we will cooperate with Germany for the peace of Europe." Bethmann Hollweg negotiated treaties over an eventual partition of the Portuguese colonies and the projected Berlin–Baghdad railway , the latter aimed in part at securing

38368-489: The villages and spoke with both landlords and workers. His work was based on the principle of voluntary participation by the bourgeoisie rather than on authoritarian instructions. The approach made him one of the most progressive district administrators of his time. A coalition of three parties put Bethmann Hollweg forward as a joint candidate for the 1890 Reichstag election . He won by a majority of one vote, but protests by opposing candidates over alleged irregularities led to

38586-462: The war on the Central side. The Emir's army was to be modernised, with Germany providing 100,000 modern rifles, 300 artillery pieces, and other modern warfare equipment. The Germans were to be responsible for maintaining advisors and engineers, and to maintain an overland supply route through Persia for arms and ammunition. Further, the Emir was to be paid £1,000,000. Both von Hentig and Niedermayer signed this document which created—as von Hentig argued in

38804-413: The war that were always applicable was met with surprise in Berlin. He rejected the Tsar's proposal to bring the Serbian question before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague because Russian general mobilization had already taken place the day before. Waiting to mobilize until after Russia had done so allowed the German government to claim that it was the victim of Russian aggression and won it

39022-479: The war took a turn for the worse for the Central Powers. The Arab revolt against Turkey and the loss of Erzurum to the Russians ended the hopes of sending a Turkish division to Afghanistan. The German influence in Persia also declined rapidly, ending the hopes that Goltz Pasha could lead a Persian volunteer division into Afghanistan. The mission came to realise that the Emir deeply mistrusted them. A further attempt by British intelligence to feed false information to

39240-415: The war's outcome was still unpredictable and that he stood for national unity. Throughout the spring of 1916, he continuously deflected the mission's overtures and gradually increased the stakes, demanding that India rise in revolution before he began his campaign. It was clear to Habibullah that for the treaty to hold any value, it required the Kaiser's signature, and that for Germany to even attempt to honour

39458-424: The war, the Emir of Afghanistan declared neutrality. The Emir feared the Sultan's call to jihad would have a destabilising influence on his subjects. Turkey's entry into the war aroused widespread nationalist and pan-Islamic sentiments in Afghanistan and Persia. The Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907 designated Afghanistan to the British sphere of influence. Britain nominally controlled Afghanistan's foreign policy and

39676-441: The war. Meanwhile, Niedermayer advised Habibullah on how to reform his army with mobile units and modern weaponry. While the Emir vacillated, the mission found a more sympathetic and ready audience in the Emir's brother, Prime Minister Nasrullah Khan, and the Emir's younger son, Amanullah Khan. Nasrullah Khan had been present at the first meeting at Paghman. In secret meetings with the "Amanullah party" at his residence, he encouraged

39894-416: The western mountains are the Hazāra and Nikdīrī tribes, some of whom speak the Mughūlī tongue. In the north-eastern mountains are the places of the Kāfirs , such as Kitūr and Gibrik . To the south are the places of the Afghān tribes . Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat , a poet from Hindustan who visited at the time wrote: "Dine and drink in Kabul: it is mountain, desert, city, river and all else." It

40112-413: The wish to give up his post as district administrator ( Landrat ), Theobald took over the office on an interim basis and in January 1886 secured it by official appointment. At the age of 29, he became the youngest district administrator in the province of Brandenburg. While Bethmann Hollweg's father had conducted his office in the more autocratic style of the Prussian landed Junkers , Theobald drove to

40330-413: The year 1913/1914, the European atmosphere had calmed, and Bethmann Hollweg felt a new optimism in foreign policy. It seemed to him that the Treaty of Bucharest , which concluded the Second Balkan War , had solved the problems in the Balkans in the medium term, and a recent exchange of letters with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov had stabilized the situation in the east. The diplomatic crisis over

40548-424: The youngest provincial governor ( Oberpräsident ) in Prussia as the head the province of Brandenburg. His rapid professional success had been made possible by his talent for statesmanship, his grandfather's prestige, and by the intercession of Reich Chancellor Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst , who had been watching his rise for some time. On 21 March 1905 Bethmann Hollweg was appointed Prussian minister of

40766-425: Was a German politician who was chancellor of the German Empire from 1909 to 1917. He oversaw the German entry into World War I and played a key role during its first three years. He was replaced as chancellor in July 1917 due in large part to opposition to his policies by leaders in the military. Between 1884 and 1899 Bethmann Hollweg rose rapidly through positions in the Prussian government and served briefly as

40984-474: Was a stop on the Hippie trail from Bamyan to the west towards Peshawar . The city was known for its street sales of hashish and became a major attraction for western hippies . On 28 April 1978, President Daoud and most of his family were assassinated in Kabul's Presidential Palace in what is called the Saur Revolution . Pro-Soviet PDPA under Nur Muhammad Taraki seized power and slowly began to institute reforms. Private businesses were nationalised in

41202-402: Was allied with Britain, gave him justifiable grounds to fear for his safety and his kingdom. Von Hentig described one audience with Habibullah where von Hentig set off his pocket alarm clock. The action, designed to impress Habibullah, instead frightened him; he may have believed it was a bomb about to go off. Despite von Hentig's reassurances and explanations, the meeting was a short one. During

41420-415: Was also involved in the movement prior to his arrest in 1916. Enver Pasha conceived an expedition to Afghanistan in 1914. He envisioned it as a pan-Islamic venture directed by Turkey, with some German participation. The German delegation to this expedition, chosen by Oppenheim and Zimmermann, included Oskar Niedermayer and Wilhelm Wassmuss . An escort of nearly a thousand Turkish troops and German advisers

41638-433: Was also provided with gold and other gifts for the Emir, including jewelled watches, gold fountain pens, ornamental rifles, binoculars, cameras, cinema projectors, and an alarm clock. Supervision of the mission was assigned to the German Ambassador to Turkey, Hans von Wangenheim , but as he was ill, his functions were delegated to Prince zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Following Wangenheim's death in 1915, Count von Wolff-Metternich

41856-423: Was bearing the Kaiser's message and gifts for the Emir. The governor sent a grand welcome, with noblemen bearing cloths and gifts, a caravan of servants, and a column of hundred armed escorts. The expedition was invited into the city as guests of the Afghan government. With von Hentig in the lead in his Cuirassiers uniform, they entered Herat on 24 August, in a procession welcomed by Turkish troops. They were housed at

42074-450: Was built in the city. Kabul Zoo was inaugurated in 1967, which was maintained with the help of visiting German zoologists . During this time, Kabul experimented with liberalisation, notably the loosening of restrictions on speech and assembly, which led to student politics in the capital and demonstrations by Socialist, Maoist, liberal or Islamist factions. Foreigners flocked to Kabul as the nation's tourism industry expanded. To accompany

42292-428: Was careful to spend enough money and gold to ensure popularity amongst the local people. Finally, on 2 October 1915, the expedition reached Kabul. It was received with a salaam from the local Turkish community and a Guard of honour from Afghan troops in Turkish uniform. Von Hentig later described receiving cheers and a grand welcome from the inhabitants of Kabul. At Kabul, the group was accommodated as state guests at

42510-430: Was deleted before it was sent: If we rejected every attempt at mediation, the whole world would hold us responsible for the conflagration and represent us as the real warmongers. That would also make our position impossible here in Germany, where we have got to appear as though the war had been forced on us. Our position is the more difficult because Serbia seems to have given way very extensively. We cannot therefore reject

42728-478: Was designated his successor. He had little contact with the expedition. To evade British and Russian intelligence, the group split up, beginning their journeys on different days and separately making their way to Constantinople. Accompanied by a German orderly and an Indian cook, Pratap and von Hentig began their journey in early spring 1915, travelling via Vienna , Budapest , Bucharest , Sofia , and Adrianople to Constantinople. At Vienna, they were met briefly by

42946-491: Was directed at the Social Democratic Party's commitment to the existing state structure. In his inaugural speech in the Prussian House of Representatives on 6 April 1905, on the subject of the left's proposal for the creation of a people's welfare office, he described public welfare as "the most important and serious task of the present day". Bethmann Hollweg promised to consider the application thoroughly and sympathetically, pointing out that "liberation from bureaucratic fetters

43164-430: Was exclusively friendly. The French Journal des Débats spoke of a "reassuring sign" for Franco-German relations. The French ambassador in Berlin, Jules Cambon , sent the new Reich chancellor an official letter of congratulations, something that had never happened before. The German Embassy in London under Paul Wolff Metternich wrote that British King Edward VII considered the new chancellor an "important partner for

43382-502: Was followed by an eight-hour meeting in October 1915 at Paghman and more audiences at Kabul. The message was the same as at the first audience. The meetings would typically begin with Habibullah describing his daily routine, followed by words from von Hentig on politics and history. Next the discussions veered towards Afghanistan's position on the propositions of allowing Central Powers troops the right of passage, breaking with Britain, and declaring independence. The expedition members expected

43600-417: Was from here that Babur began his 1526 conquest of Hindustan, which was ruled by the Afghan Lodi dynasty and began east of the Indus River in what is present-day Pakistan . Babur loved Kabul due to the fact that he lived in it for 20 years and the people were loyal to him, including the weather that he was used to. His wish to be buried in Kabul was finally granted. The inscription on his tomb contains

43818-416: Was heard loudly saying: " Kabul must burn! Kabul must burn! ", and mastered the idea of proxy war in Afghanistan. Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq authorised this operation under General Rahman, which was later merged with Operation Cyclone , a programme funded by the United States and carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency . The Soviets turned the city of Kabul into their command centre during

44036-462: Was in no hurry to receive his guests; he used the time to find out as much as he could about the expedition members and liaised with British authorities at New Delhi. It was only after Niedermayer and von Hentig threatened to launch a hunger strike that meetings began. In the meantime, von Hentig learnt as much as he could about his eccentric host. Emir Habibullah was, by all measures, the lord of Afghanistan. He considered it his divine right to rule and

44254-458: Was led by prominent archaeologist and historian Max von Oppenheim , who headed the new Intelligence Bureau for the East and formed the Berlin Committee , which was later renamed the Indian Independence Committee. The Berlin Committee offered money, arms, and military advisors according to plans made by the German Foreign Office and Indian revolutionaries-in-exile such as members of the Ghadar Party in North America. The planners hoped to trigger

44472-401: Was marked by a grand welcome by the town's mayor. However, the welcome meant the party had been spotted. Still 200 miles from the Afghan border, the expedition now had to race against time. Ahead were British patrols of the East Persia Cordon (later known as the Seistan Force) and Russian patrols. By September, the German codebook lost by Wassmuss had been deciphered, which further compromised

44690-498: Was more pro-German in his sympathies. Nasrullah's views were shared by his nephew, Amanullah Khan , the youngest and most charismatic of the Emir's sons. The eldest son, Inayatullah Khan, was in charge of the Afghan army. The mission therefore expected more sympathy and consideration from Nasrullah and Amanullah than from the emir. On 26 October 1915 the Emir finally granted an audience at his palace at Paghman , which provided privacy from British secret agents. The meeting, which lasted

44908-405: Was nicknamed the Paris of Central Asia . According to J. Bruce Amstutz , an American diplomat in Kabul: [Before the 1978 Marxist coup d'etat] Kabul was a pleasant city [..] Though poor economically, it was spared the eyesore slums so visible in other Asian cities. The Afghans themselves were an imposing people, the men tall and self-assured and the women attractive. Until the late 1970s, Kabul

45126-485: Was not prepared to be "recklessly dragged ... into a world conflagration". Meanwhile, the military of Austria-Hungary and Russia were on the move, and Chief of the General Staff Moltke called for the Chancellor to initiate German general mobilization. Austria must not be abandoned, he said. The General Staff's strategic route through Belgium (a key part of the Schlieffen Plan for the German attack on France) ultimately undermined all of Bethmann Hollweg's efforts to localize

45344-417: Was occupied by the British : after establishing foreign relations and agreements, they withdrew from Afghanistan and returned to British India . Kabul is known for its historical gardens, bazaars , and palaces such as the Gardens of Babur , Darul Aman Palace and the Arg . In the second half of the 20th century, the city became a stop on the hippie trail undertaken by many Europeans and gained

45562-511: Was occupied by them in the 2nd century BCE. This "supposition seems likely" as the Afghan historian Mir Ghulam Mohammad Ghobar (1898–1978) wrote that in the Avesta (sacred book of Zoroastrianism ), Kabul was known as Vaekereta , whereas the Greeks of antiquity referred to it as Ortospana ("High Place"), which corresponds to the Sanskrit word Urddhastana , which was applied to Kabul. The Greek geographer Ptolemy (died c.  170 CE ) recorded Kabul as Καβουρα ( Kabura ). According to

45780-450: Was proclaimed president, Barkatullah the prime minister, the Deobandi leader Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi the minister for India, Maulavi Bashir the war minister, and Champakaran Pillai the foreign minister. Support was obtained from Galib Pasha for proclaiming jihad against Britain, while recognition was sought from Russia, Republican China , and Japan . After the February Revolution in Russia in 1917, Pratap's government corresponded with

45998-472: Was reform-minded and he had a plan to build a new capital city on land 6 km from Kabul. This area, named Darulaman , consisted of the famous Darul Aman Palace , where he later resided. Many educational institutions were founded in Kabul during the 1920s. In 1929 King Amanullah left Kabul after a local uprising orchestrated by Habibullah Kalakani , but he was imprisoned and executed after nine months in power by King Nader Khan . Three years later, in 1933,

46216-410: Was reviled as a democrat in national-conservative circles. In his Reichstag speech, he had spoken against his convictions in order to preserve the neutrality of the government and to underpin his loyalty to the Emperor. Ultimately, though, he had given in to the military and fallen into a position of weakness. For the first time he confessed that he regretted not having a party behind him. At the turn of

46434-424: Was seen as a major step forward. In December he opposed the creation of a Reich labor office but rejected the claim that in sociopolitical matters the government would not act. "I have never discovered even a trace of tired skepticism in this activity; in it, albeit far removed from the parliamentary arena, our present-day Germany has been formed." He felt that the "searching and groping for the new takes place among

46652-429: Was shot in the head from a distance of six inches and killed. Many questions about the killing remain unanswered. On 24 December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and Kabul was heavily occupied by Soviet Armed Forces . In Pakistan, Director-General of the ISI Akhtar Abdur Rahman advocated for the idea of covert operation in Afghanistan by arming Islamic extremists who formed the mujahideen. General Rahman

46870-447: Was tasked with the military aspect of this new expedition as it proceeded through the dangerous Persian desert between British and Russian areas of influence . The delegation also included German officers Günter Voigt and Kurt Wagner. Accompanying Pratap were other Indians from the Berlin Committee, notably Champakaraman Pillai and the Islamic scholar and Indian nationalist Maulavi Barkatullah . Barkatullah had long been associated with

47088-426: Was the best form of government for Germany. During World War I , Bethmann Hollweg thought that Germany was so threatened that it needed to take all necessary measures to survive. He assured Austria-Hungary of Germany's full backing and supported its aggressive demands against Serbia . He held back on German mobilization until after Russia's so that Germany would not appear to be the aggressor. Although he supported

47306-433: Was to accompany the delegation through Persia into Afghanistan, where they hoped to rally local tribes to jihad. In an ineffective ruse, the Germans attempted to reach Turkey by travelling overland through Austria-Hungary in the guise of a travelling circus, eventually reaching neutral Romania. Their equipment, arms, and mobile radios were confiscated when Romanian officials discovered the wireless aerials sticking out through

47524-509: Was watched by British spies. An advance patrol reported seeing British columns. With scouts on the lookout, the expedition crossed under the cover of night. Only one obstacle, the so-called "Mountain Path", remained before they were clear of the Anglo-Russian cordon. This heavily patrolled path, thirty miles further east, was the site of Entente telegraph lines for maintaining communication with remote posts. However, even here, Niedermayer escaped. His group had covered 255 miles in seven days, through

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