I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
I've been reading a history of the First Afghan War, which I will review later. There has been some criticism of the amount of baggage the British took with them. Famously, during the invasion of 1839, the officers of one regiment had two camels just for their cigars.
However, after they occupied Kabul, but before regular commerce started up, there was a shortage of such things as wine, port, spirits and indeed cigars, to the extent that at one point they were selling for a rupee a piece. Moral of the story: Not Enough Cigars.
(The real problem was that camels, excellent beasts of burden throughout most of the British Raj at the time, were very poor in the cooler, wetter, higher and rockier conditions in Afghanistan. Mules, ponies or donkeys should have been carrying those cigars)
However, after they occupied Kabul, but before regular commerce started up, there was a shortage of such things as wine, port, spirits and indeed cigars, to the extent that at one point they were selling for a rupee a piece. Moral of the story: Not Enough Cigars.
(The real problem was that camels, excellent beasts of burden throughout most of the British Raj at the time, were very poor in the cooler, wetter, higher and rockier conditions in Afghanistan. Mules, ponies or donkeys should have been carrying those cigars)
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