ABSTRACT
Even before the annexation of Punjab and the extension of their hold to the Frontier tribal areas, the British had started feeling concerned about, what they regarded as the declining Sikh rule, and the developing resistance movements in that area. The Wahhabis had been fighting against the British since 1852, and the Rising of 1857 presented them with better opportunities of continuing their struggle. The significance of this development was not lost upon the chroniclers of the British military expeditions to the Frontier area. This chapter presents an account of the wars fought by the Wahhabis on the North-Western Frontier against the British government, and the military expeditions sent against them. The British authorities considered the Wahhabis, even in their weakened state, a threat to the stability of their rule in India, and subjected them to constant military blows ever since the Annexation of the Punjab, which brought them into direct contact with the latter.
