Anglo - Persian War The Anglo – Persian War lasted between November 1 , 1856 and April 4 , 1857 , and was fought between the United Kingdom and Persia ( which was at the time ruled by the Qajar dynasty ) . In the war , the British opposed an attempt by Persia to press its claim on the city of Herat . Though Herat had been part of Persia under the Qajar dynasty at the time the war broke out , it had declared itself independent under its own rebellious emir and placed itself under the protection of the British in India and in alliance with the Emirate of Kabul ( the forebear of the modern state of Afghanistan ) . The campaign was successfully conducted under the leadership of Major General Sir James Outram in two theatres — on the southern coast of Persia near Bushehr and in southern Mesopotamia . The war resulted in Persia withdrawing from Herat and signing a new treaty in which it surrendered its claims on the city . Origins . In the context of the Great Game — the Anglo – Russian contest for influence in Central Asia — the British wished for Afghanistan to remain an independent country friendly to Britain as a buffer against Russian expansion towards India . They opposed an extension of Persian influence in Afghanistan because of the perception that Persia was unduly influenced by the Russians . The Persian influence on Central Asia had caused the creation of Greater Iran ; while knowing of the influence , the British had never attacked Persia . Persia had over 12 foreign provinces under its imperial control . The Native - British forces struggled most as to influence of Iranian - India in the North - West further causing the dispute between India and Great Britain . They made a fresh attempt in 1856 , and succeeded in taking Herat on 25 October , with Russian encouragement and in violation of the existing Anglo - Persian treaty . In response , the British Governor - General in India , acting on orders from London , declared war on 1 November . Separate from and preceding the dispute over Herat was an incident concerning one Meerza Hashem Khan , whom the British ambassador hoped to appoint as a secretary in the mission in Teheran . The Persians objected , creating a dispute that escalated when rumours appeared that the British ambassador had improper relations with the man ' s wife , who was the sister of the Shah ' s principal wife . The dispute escalated still further when the Persians arrested the woman ; the British ambassador broke relations when they refused to release her . Indeed , the initial mobilisation of British forces began in response to this incident , although it is unlikely that the British would have gone beyond the occupation of one or two islands in the Persian Gulf had the issue of Herat not arisen . 1856 . Two courses of action were available to the British , to mount an overland expedition through Afghanistan or attack the Persian empire from the south through the Persian Gulf ; the aim being both punitive , and to force the Shah to ask for terms . The British Government decided to attack in the general area of Bushire , a small city near the southern coast of Persia and ordered the Government in India to launch a maritime expeditionary force . In the aftermath of the disastrous First Afghan War , the British were reluctant to send a force through Afghanistan to relieve Herat directly . Instead , they elected to attack the Persians on the Persian Gulf coast . Initially a division , under Major General Foster Stalker , was organised comprising 2300 British soldiers and 3400 Indian sepoy s of the Bombay Presidency army which landed in Persia in early December 1856 . This included two companies of the Bombay Sappers & Miners . These were : The two companies were accompanied by the headquarters of the Corps of Bombay Sappers and Miners , under Captain W . R . Dickinson , ( Bombay Engineers ) . Major J . Hill , the erstwhile Commandant of the Bombay Sappers and Miners , who had handed the Corps over to Dickinson , was appointed as the Commanding Engineer for this expedition . After the expedition he resumed the post of Commandant of the Bombay Sappers once again . Artillery commanded by Brevet Lieutenant - Colonel Sinclair Trevelyan , Bombay Artillery Soon after the induction of the force , it was considered to be inadequate for the task and a second division under Brigadier General Henry Havelock was formed and the entire expedition placed under command of Major General Sir James Outram . This force inducted in January 1857 . During the hostilities , ' B ' Company of the Madras Sappers & Miners under Brevet - Major A . M . Boileau , Madras Engineers , embarked at Coconada on 19 January and reached the force just in time to participate in operations in Southern Mesopotamia . The first division under Stalker set sail from Bombay in November after the declaration of war , on a squadron or flotilla of seven steamships under Commodore Young , towing thirty sailing vessels . The British landed a force and captured the island of Kharag on 4 December and landed on 9 December on the coast a few miles south of Persia ' s primary port of Bushire . Battle of Bushire . The first division of the expedition disembarked in the neighbourhood of the city of Bushire on 5 December 1856 . They stormed the old fort at Reshire ( also called " Rishahr " or " Rashir " ) and after a short naval bombardment went on to capture the city on 10 December , ably assisted by the two companies of Bombay Sappers & Miners . There was then a delay as the British waited for reinforcements . Reconnaissance inland revealed a Persian force of 4000 troops at Shiraz and the first division was considered too weak to venture inland away from its maritime base of operations . This led to the formation and induction of a second division from India , which landed in Persia in late January and reached Bushire , preceded by Outram on 20 January . 1857 . Once reinforcements arrived , an Army expeditionary force of three brigades under Major General Sir James Outram advanced on Brazjun / Borazjan ( en route to Shiraz ) , which the Persians abandoned without a fight . The British appropriated or destroyed the supplies at the site and then halted on 5 February near the village of Khoosh - Ab where good water was available . Battle of Khushab . Outram advanced further on the 6th and 7th , but seeing the enemy retreat into the mountains beyond his reach and being short of rations , he decided not to risk a mountain pursuit but instead to fall back to the wells near Khoosh - Ab or Khushab for a logistic pause , before returning to Bushire . The Persians , encouraged by the retreat of Havelock ' s forces , occupied with 8000 men a position dominating Outram ' s camp , catching the British in a potentially dangerous situation . Outram attacked this position on 7 – 8 February in the Battle of Khushab , ultimately managed to inflict a defeat on the Persians in what turned out to be the largest battle of the war , with 700 Persian dead . The British resumed their march back to Bushire , but in deplorable conditions ; torrential rains which created mud so deep as to pull a man ' s boots from his feet . The troops went through a harrowing ordeal , finally reaching Bushire on 10 February , about which is written : Battle of Mohammerah . The British then shifted their focus north up the Persian Gulf , invading Southern Mesopotamia by advancing up the Shatt Al Arab waterway to Mohammerah ( future Khorramshahr ) at its junction with the Karun River , short of Basra . The force collected for this sortie consisted of 1500 British and 2400 Indian soldiers . The engineers grouped with this force included 2nd Company , Bombay Sappers & Miners ( with 109 troops under Captain Haig ) and B Company , Madras Sappers & Miners ( with 124 troops under Brevet - Major Boileau ) . The transfer of forces was delayed by the separate deaths by suicide of two high - ranking British officers , which occasioned a shuffling of commands and forced Outram to leave Brigadier John Jacob in command in Bushire . On March 19 the expedition entered the Shatt al Arab . On 24th they were in sight of the strong defences of Mohammerah . The engineer officers were part of the close reconnaissance of the Persian guns in a small canoe . They first planned to erect a battery on an island in the Shatt al Arab , but the island proved to be too swampy . They then towed the mortars on a raft and moored it behind the island from where fire support was provided . Two days later , warships sailed up the Shatt al Arab and silenced the Persian battery . The troops landed and advanced through the date groves . These were punctuated with irrigation channels which the sappers rapidly bridged with palm trees . The Madras Sappers were also aboard the S . S . Hugh Lindsay assisting the 64th Regiment to fire the ship ' s carronade s Besides its defences , Muhammarah was further protected by the political requirement that the British not violate Ottoman territory , as the city lay right on the border . In the event , however , the Persians abandoned the city to a British force under Brigadier Henry Havelock , which captured it on 27 March . The 13 , 000 Persians and Arabs under the command of Khanlar Mirza withdrew to Ahvaz , a hundred miles up the Karun River . Battle of Ahvaz . The sappers were now continually employed in destroying Persian batteries , making roads , landing stages and huts in the unhealthy climate and so could not be spared for the sortie to Ahvaz , where the Royal Navy and forces from the 64th Foot and 78th Highlanders attacked the Persian force . The town fell to the British on 1 April 1857 . Treaty of Paris ( 1857 ) . On returning to Muhammarah on 4 April the force learned that peace had been signed in Paris on 4 March and hostilities ceased . At the time that news of peace arrived , Outram was planning an invasion into the Persian interior that likely would have significantly escalated the war . The expeditionary force had thus successfully carried out its purpose by capturing Bushire , defeating the Persians at Khoosh - Ab and capturing a foothold in southern Mesopotamia thus forcing the Persians to sue for terms and over the next few months , the force returned to India . The British later also vacated both Kharag island and Bushire . Most of these forces were soon inducted into operations in Central India to quell the Indian Mutiny , in which both Havelock and Outram would later distinguish themselves at the siege of Lucknow . Diplomacy . The Persians apparently hoped that the British would not contest their acquisition of Herat — they recognised that they could not expect to win a war against the British army — and thus once British opposition became clear they attempted to back down . Negotiations in Constantinople between Persian ambassador Ferukh Khan and British ambassador Lord Stratford de Redcliffe ultimately broke down over British demands that the Persians replace their prime minister ( the sadr - i a ' zam ) . News of the onset of fighting resulted in a formal rupture of talks , but discussions soon began again in Paris , and the two sides signed a peace treaty on 4 March , in which the Shah agreed to withdraw from Herat and refrain from further interference in the affairs of Afghanistan . In the treaty , the Persians agreed to withdraw from Herat , to apologise to the British ambassador on his return , to sign a commercial treaty , and to cooperate in suppressing the slave trade in the Persian Gulf ; the British agreed not to shelter opponents of the Shah in the embassy , and they abandoned the demand to replace the prime minister as well as one requiring territorial concessions to the Imam of Muscat , a British ally . The Persians faithfully withdrew from Herat , permitting the British to return their troops to India , where they were soon needed for combat in the Indian Mutiny . Herat returned to more direct Afghan control when it was retaken by Dost Mohammed Khan in 1863 . Gallantry awards . Three Victoria Cross es were awarded during the expedition , to Captain J . A . Wood , Captain J . G . Malcolmson , and Lieutenant A . T . Moore . Battle honours . A total of four battle honour s were awarded for this campaign , namely , ' Persia ' , ' Reshire ' , and ' Koosh - Ab ' in 1858 and ' Bushire ' in 1861 . Persia . The battle honour ' Persia ' was awarded to all units which had participated in the campaign vide " Gazette of the Governor General 1306 " of 1858 . The units were : Reshire . The honour was awarded to the units which participated in the attack on the old Dutch redoubt of Reshire on 7 December 1856 . the Governor surrendered the fortifications on 8 December . The division now waited for the arrival of the C - in - C with the remainder of the army . The battle honour was awarded vide GOGG 1306 of 1858 to the following : Bushire . The first division of the expedition disembarked in the neighbourhood of the city of Bushire on 5 December 1856 . After a naval bombardment of the fortifications , Bushire was occupied unopposed . The honour was awarded by Bombay GO 191 of 1861 , after India had passed under the Crown . Other honours for this campaign were awarded by the Company in 1858 . Koosh - Ab . After the arrival of the C - in - C , the force advanced inland and defeated the Persian field army at Koosh - Ab on 8 February 1857 . The Poona Horse carries a Standard surmounted by a silver hand and bearing a Persian inscription captured at Koosh - Ab , in commemoration of the brilliant charge of the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry which broke into enemy infantry and decided the fate of the day . The honour was awarded vide GOGG 1306 of 1858 and spelling changed from Kooshab vide Gazette of India No 1079 of 1910 . References . Endnotes Texts