PC/WI - Russians enact the Duhamel Plan (Invasion of India during the Crimean War)

[trixofthetrade]

The Duhamel Plan was the proposed Russian invasion of India during the Crimean War. It is… ambitious to say the least. The idea was to threaten the British-controlled India by invading through either Central Asia or Persia.

The invasion force would consist of nearly 30,000 Russian soldiers, leaving from Astrakhan & traveling over the Caspian, then would land and continue overland. The army then would attempt to gather local support along the way. Ideally, local Afghans & Sikhs would join the Russians on the march to India, having been promised lands & a guarantee of autonomy from the British. The Persians would be promised much of Ottoman-held Iraq if they joined in the invasion, as well as opening a second front against the Turks.

In short, was this invasion plan completely implausible? The Russians were already struggling on the defensive in Crimea, & their experience in expeditionary warfare at this time is limited. Would they actually be able to get Persian & Afghan support & turn the Crimean War into a miniature World War (Britain, France, Ottomans vs. Russia, Persia, & Afghanistan)? At the very least, a threatened invasion could draw British attention towards defending India rather than attacking Crimea. How would a theoretically successful version of this plan be enacted, and what would the immediate & long-term consequences be?

 

[Coivara]

Worth noting that the Indian Mutiny was an year later.

The plan is to pretty much gather an expeditionary army of russians and central asian tribesmen to make British India revolt.

This seems kinda bad, viability-wise. They would need good agreements with Persians and Afghanis, which would take years of planning and talking.

 

[AltoRegnant]

This seems kinda bad, viability-wise. They would need good agreements with Persians and Afghanis, which would take years of planning and talking

I mean, wouldn't it be reasonable to believe if they were drafting plans like this they were already talking to the countries involved? Even Germany tried to woo belgium prior to ww1 afaik

 

[TRH]

I mean, wouldn't it be reasonable to believe if they were drafting plans like this they were already talking to the countries involved? Even Germany tried to woo belgium prior to ww1 afaik

Not with Afghanistan certainly. Dost Mohammad was a staunch British ally who bore surprisingly little ill-will for getting overthrown the last time he tried cutting a deal with the Russians. Also, he went to war with Persia for the city of Herat with British support, so you’re not getting him to cooperate with the Persians either.

As for India, I suspect a foreign invasion would harden the resolve of loyalists more than anything.