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British expedition to Tibet
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British expedition to Tibet
The British expedition to Tibet, also known as the Younghusband expedition, began in December 1903 and lasted until September 1904. The expedition was effectively a temporary invasion by British Indian Armed Forces under the auspices of the Tibet Frontier Commission, whose purported mission was to establish diplomatic relations and resolve the dispute over the border between Tibet and Sikkim. In the nineteenth century, the British had conquered Burma and Sikkim, with the whole southern flank of Tibet coming under the control of the British Indian Empire. Tibet was ruled by the 13th Dalai Lama under the Ganden Phodrang government as a Himalayan state nominally under the protectorate (or suzerainty) of the Chinese Qing dynasty until the 1911 Revolution, after which a period of de facto Tibetan independence (1912–1951) followed.
The invasion was intended to counter the Russian Empire's perceived ambitions in the East and was initiated largely by Lord Curzon, the head of the British Indian government. Curzon had long held deep concerns over Russia's advances in central Asia and now feared a Russian invasion of British India. In April 1903, the British government received clear assurances from Russia that it had no interest in Tibet. "In spite, however, of the Russian assurances, Lord Curzon continued to press for the dispatch of a mission to Tibet," a high level British political officer noted.
The expeditionary force fought its way to Gyantse and eventually reached Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in August 1904. The Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, had fled to safety, first to Mongolia and then to China proper. The poorly trained and equipped Tibetans proved no match for the modern equipment and training of the British Indian forces. At Lhasa, the Commission forced remaining Tibetan officials to sign the Convention of Lhasa, before withdrawing to Sikkim in September, with the understanding the Chinese government would not permit any other country to interfere with the administration of Tibet.
The mission was recognized as a military expedition by the British Indian government, which issued a campaign medal, the Tibet Medal, to all those who took part.
The British ruled India came in contact with Tibet after the annexation of Kumaon and Garhwal in 1815, and it expanded further with their reach into Punjab and Kashmir. However, the British were unable to carry out any negotiations or trade with Tibet. After Sikkim came under British protection in 1861, its border with Tibet needed to be defined. Sikkim also appeared to the British as an ideal route to conduct trade with Tibet.
The presence of Chinese ambans in Tibet led the British to assume that China possessed authority over Tibet and they began to negotiate with China regarding relations with Tibet. However, the Tibetans rejected the results of these negotiations, including the border settlement and the trade agreement. Tibetan troops erected a stone fortress across the trade route on Sikkimese territory. Protests to China obtained no relief. Boundary pillars erected by the British and Chinese commissioners were removed by the Tibetans. The British trade commissioner was told that Tibet did not recognise the concessions made by China. British efforts to directly negotiate with the Tibetans were also rebuffed. The Chinese inability to implement the concessions exposed their "impotence" in Tibet. The British Governor-General came to the conclusion that Chinese suzerainty over Tibet was a "constitutional fiction", which was maintained only for mutual convenience and had no effect in practice.
On top of this, there were rumours and suspicions in the British colonial government that the Tibetans had reached a secret understanding with the Russians over Tibet, and that Russia was providing arms and fighting forces to Tibet against the British Raj. Russian influence in Tibet would afford them a direct route to British India, breaking the chain of quasi-autonomous buffer-states that separated the Raj from the Russian Empire to the north. These rumours were supported by the Russian exploration of Tibet and the presence of a Siberian-born courtier and Mongolian Buddhist lama named Agvan Dorzhiev, who knew and tutored the 13th Dalai Lama. While the Dalai Lama declined to have dealings with the British, he established contact with the Tsar of Russia through Dorzhiev. In 1900, he sent an appeal for Russian protection through Dorzhiev, who met the Tsar at the imperial summer residence in Livadia on 30 September 1900. Gifts were exchanged and the possibility of a Russian consulate in Tibet was discussed. In 1901 Dorzhiev and other representatives met with the Tsar at Peterhof. A Russo-Tibetan treaty was drafted but not adopted due to fears of conflict with the British and Qing regimes. Russia sent back arms and ammunition, as well as a set of Russian Episcopal robes, to the Dalai Lama.
These events reinforced the Governor-General Lord Curzon's belief that the Dalai Lama intended to place Tibet firmly within a sphere of Russian influence and end its neutrality. In 1903, Curzon sent a request to the governments of China and Tibet for negotiations, to be held at Khampa Dzong, a tiny Tibetan village north of Sikkim to establish trade agreements. The Chinese were willing, and ordered the thirteenth Dalai Lama to attend. However, the Dalai Lama refused, and also refused to provide transport to enable the Amban, Yu Tai, to attend.
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British expedition to Tibet
The British expedition to Tibet, also known as the Younghusband expedition, began in December 1903 and lasted until September 1904. The expedition was effectively a temporary invasion by British Indian Armed Forces under the auspices of the Tibet Frontier Commission, whose purported mission was to establish diplomatic relations and resolve the dispute over the border between Tibet and Sikkim. In the nineteenth century, the British had conquered Burma and Sikkim, with the whole southern flank of Tibet coming under the control of the British Indian Empire. Tibet was ruled by the 13th Dalai Lama under the Ganden Phodrang government as a Himalayan state nominally under the protectorate (or suzerainty) of the Chinese Qing dynasty until the 1911 Revolution, after which a period of de facto Tibetan independence (1912–1951) followed.
The invasion was intended to counter the Russian Empire's perceived ambitions in the East and was initiated largely by Lord Curzon, the head of the British Indian government. Curzon had long held deep concerns over Russia's advances in central Asia and now feared a Russian invasion of British India. In April 1903, the British government received clear assurances from Russia that it had no interest in Tibet. "In spite, however, of the Russian assurances, Lord Curzon continued to press for the dispatch of a mission to Tibet," a high level British political officer noted.
The expeditionary force fought its way to Gyantse and eventually reached Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in August 1904. The Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, had fled to safety, first to Mongolia and then to China proper. The poorly trained and equipped Tibetans proved no match for the modern equipment and training of the British Indian forces. At Lhasa, the Commission forced remaining Tibetan officials to sign the Convention of Lhasa, before withdrawing to Sikkim in September, with the understanding the Chinese government would not permit any other country to interfere with the administration of Tibet.
The mission was recognized as a military expedition by the British Indian government, which issued a campaign medal, the Tibet Medal, to all those who took part.
The British ruled India came in contact with Tibet after the annexation of Kumaon and Garhwal in 1815, and it expanded further with their reach into Punjab and Kashmir. However, the British were unable to carry out any negotiations or trade with Tibet. After Sikkim came under British protection in 1861, its border with Tibet needed to be defined. Sikkim also appeared to the British as an ideal route to conduct trade with Tibet.
The presence of Chinese ambans in Tibet led the British to assume that China possessed authority over Tibet and they began to negotiate with China regarding relations with Tibet. However, the Tibetans rejected the results of these negotiations, including the border settlement and the trade agreement. Tibetan troops erected a stone fortress across the trade route on Sikkimese territory. Protests to China obtained no relief. Boundary pillars erected by the British and Chinese commissioners were removed by the Tibetans. The British trade commissioner was told that Tibet did not recognise the concessions made by China. British efforts to directly negotiate with the Tibetans were also rebuffed. The Chinese inability to implement the concessions exposed their "impotence" in Tibet. The British Governor-General came to the conclusion that Chinese suzerainty over Tibet was a "constitutional fiction", which was maintained only for mutual convenience and had no effect in practice.
On top of this, there were rumours and suspicions in the British colonial government that the Tibetans had reached a secret understanding with the Russians over Tibet, and that Russia was providing arms and fighting forces to Tibet against the British Raj. Russian influence in Tibet would afford them a direct route to British India, breaking the chain of quasi-autonomous buffer-states that separated the Raj from the Russian Empire to the north. These rumours were supported by the Russian exploration of Tibet and the presence of a Siberian-born courtier and Mongolian Buddhist lama named Agvan Dorzhiev, who knew and tutored the 13th Dalai Lama. While the Dalai Lama declined to have dealings with the British, he established contact with the Tsar of Russia through Dorzhiev. In 1900, he sent an appeal for Russian protection through Dorzhiev, who met the Tsar at the imperial summer residence in Livadia on 30 September 1900. Gifts were exchanged and the possibility of a Russian consulate in Tibet was discussed. In 1901 Dorzhiev and other representatives met with the Tsar at Peterhof. A Russo-Tibetan treaty was drafted but not adopted due to fears of conflict with the British and Qing regimes. Russia sent back arms and ammunition, as well as a set of Russian Episcopal robes, to the Dalai Lama.
These events reinforced the Governor-General Lord Curzon's belief that the Dalai Lama intended to place Tibet firmly within a sphere of Russian influence and end its neutrality. In 1903, Curzon sent a request to the governments of China and Tibet for negotiations, to be held at Khampa Dzong, a tiny Tibetan village north of Sikkim to establish trade agreements. The Chinese were willing, and ordered the thirteenth Dalai Lama to attend. However, the Dalai Lama refused, and also refused to provide transport to enable the Amban, Yu Tai, to attend.
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