The battle of Candahar was an effective finale to the latest of our
Afghan wars, and it is in this sense that it is chiefly memorable. The
gallant men who participated in the winning of it must have been the
first to smile at the epithets of 'glorious' and 'brilliant' which were
lavished on the victory. In truth, if it had not been a victory our arms
would have sustained a grave discredit. The soldiers of Roberts and
Stewart had been accustomed to fight and to conquer against heavy
numerical odds, which were fairly balanced by their discipline and the
superiority of their armament. But in the battle of Candahar the
numerical disparity was non-existent, and Ayoub had immensely the
disadvantage as regarded trained strength. His force according to the
reckoning ascertained by the British general, amounted all told to 12,800
men. The strength of the British force, not including the detail of
Bombay troops garrisoning Candahar, was over 12,000. But this army 12,000
strong, consisted entirely of disciplined soldiers of whom over one-fifth
were Europeans. The accepted analysis of Ayoub's army shows it to have
consisted of 4000 regular infantry, 800 regular cavalry, 5000 tribal
irregular infantry of whom an indefinite proportion was no doubt ghazees,
and 3000 irregular horsemen. In artillery strength the two forces were
nearly equal.
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