British expedition to Tibet

British expedition to Tibet
Part of the Great Game
British officers with Qing amban and Tibetans
Date December 1903 – September 1904 Location Tibet, Qing Empire 26°05′20″N 89°16′37″E / 26.08889°N 89.27694°E / 26.08889; 89.27694 Result British victory Convention of Lhasa Return to status quo ante bellum British occupation of Chumbi Valley until 1908 for Chinese payment of indemnities
Belligerents
United Kingdom  British India	Qing dynasty Tibet
Commanders and leaders
James Macdonald Francis Younghusband	13th Dalai Lama Dapon Tailing
Strength
3,000 soldiers 7,000 support troops	Unknown, several thousand peasant conscripts
Casualties and losses
202 killed in action 411 non-combat deaths	2,000–3,000 killed[1]

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History of Tibet
Neolithic Tibet Zhangzhung Yarlung dynasty Tibetan Empire Era of Fragmentation Yuan rule Phagmodrupa dynasty Rinpungpa dynasty Tsangpa dynasty Khoshut Khanate Ganden Phodrang Ming–Tibet relations Qing rule 13th and 14th Dalai Lama PRC rule
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The British expedition to Tibet, also known as the Younghusband expedition,^[2] 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.^[3] 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 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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7]

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.^[8][9]