Britain had sent a peace mission to…

The dzongpon of Punakha—who had emerged victorious—had broken with the central government and set up a rival Druk Desi while the legitimate druk desi had sought the protection of the ponlop of Paro and was later deposed.

The British mission deals alternately with the rival ponlop of Paro and the ponlop of Tongsa (the latter acts on behalf of the druk desi), but Bhutan rejects the peace and friendship treaty it offers.

Britain declares war in November 1864.

Bhutan has no regular army, and what forces exist are composed of dzong guards armed with matchlocks, bows and arrows, swords, knives, and catapults.

Some of these dzong guards, carrying shields and wearing chain mail armor, engage the well-equipped British forces.

The Bhutanese in the eighteenth century had invaded and occupied the kingdom of Cooch Behar to the south.

In 1772, Cooch Behar had appealed to the British East India Company, which had assisted them in ousting the Bhutanese and later in attacking Bhutan itself in 1774.

A peace treaty had been signed in which Bhutan had agreed to retreat to its pre-1730 borders.

The peace is tenuous, however, and border skirmishes with the British have to continued for the past several decades.

The skirmishes eventually lead to the Duar War, a confrontation for control of the Bengal Duars, the floodplains and foothills of the eastern Himalayas in North-East India around Bhutan.

Duar means door in Assamese, Nepali, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magahi and Bengali languages, and the region forms the gateway to Bhutan from India.

There are eighteen passages or gateways through which the Bhutanese people can communicate with the people living in the plains.

Bhutan, taking advantage of the weakness of the Koch Kingdom, has again taken possession of the Duars.