In Saint Petersburg, having received the peace signals released by the British, Alexander III let out a helpless sigh.
This Afghan War had begun like a tiger and ended like a snake. For the Russian Empire, it had been a kingly opening that nearly ended with a bronze-tier performance.
At first, with the Afghan guerrillas working alongside them, the Russian Army had pummeled the British all the way. Unfortunately, Afghanistan was no smooth road. As the front kept advancing, the Russian Army's logistical pressure grew ever greater.
Moreover, British reinforcements kept arriving, and the Russian Army lost its numerical advantage. The situation on the battlefield gradually began to shift.
By now, the Afghan War had evolved into a war of attrition. Facing the wealthy and powerful British, the cash-strapped Tsarist Government was clearly unable to hold up.
Though the Russian Army appeared to hold the upper hand on the Afghan battlefield, the Tsarist Government had hardships it could not voice.
By this point in the war, the Russian Army had suffered nearly five hundred thousand casualties and spent several billion Rubles in war expenditures, yet the fabled India remained visible but beyond reach.
Casualties were only a minor issue. After all, they had recovered Central Asia and occupied three quarters of Afghanistan, and the exchange ratio between the two sides had even reached an astonishing 1.1 to 3.7. It could be called the Russian Army's best record in nearly fifty years.
Of course, that record included the Central Asian Khanates and the Indian colonial troops. In a straight fight against the main British Army, the Russian Army still could not gain much of an advantage.
It did not matter if the figures were watered down. That did not stop the Tsarist Government from using them for political propaganda. In any