‘Fortress of Ghuznee’, 1839 circa (coloured lithograph)

‘Fortress of Ghuznee’, 1839 circa. Coloured lithograph from ‘Views in Affghaunistaun from sketches taken during the Campaigns of the Army of the Indus’, by W L Walton after Captain Sir Keith A Jackson, Bt, 4th (Queen’s Own) Light Dragoons, published by W H Allen and Co and T McLean. Protected by thick, 60-feet high walls, the fort at Ghazni presented a major problem for the British who lacked heavy artillery. They were only able to capture it on 23 July 1839 because Mohan Lal, a Kashmiri interpreter, spy and assistant to the political officer Captain Sir Alexander Burnes, managed to discover that one of the gates was poorly defended. This was subsequently stormed by columns of Indian troops from the Army of the Indus.