Mesopotamian campaign

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Part of Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

British troops entering Baghdad, March 1917.

Date	November, 1914 - November 14, 1918
Location	Iraq
Result	British victory.
Territorial changes	Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire

Belligerents

United Kingdom

British India

Ottoman Empire

Commanders

General Nixon,
General Maude

Khalil Pasha,
General von der Goltz

Strength

112,000

90,000 ?

Casualties and losses

92,000

100,000 ?

v • d • e Mesopotamian Campaign
Fao Landing – Basra – Qurna – Es Sinn – Ctesiphon – Umm-at-Tubal –1st Kut –Shiekh Sa'ad – Wadi – Hanna – Dujaila – 2nd Kut – Baghdad – Samarrah Offensive – Jebel Hamlin – Istabulat – Ramadi – Sharqat

v • d • e Theatres of World War I
European Balkans – Western Front – Eastern Front – Italian Front Middle Eastern Caucasus – Mesopotamia – Sinai and Palestine – Gallipoli – Persia African South-West Africa – West Africa – East Africa Asian and Pacific Other Atlantic Ocean – Mediterranean – Naval – Aerial

The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of the Great War fought between Allied Powers represented by the British Empire, mostly troops from the Indian Empire, and Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire.

1 Background
2 The First Year
3 The Siege of Kut
4 Back to Baghdad
5 The End of the War
6 Sources
7 Battles of the campaign
8 See also

[edit] Background

Work had started on a Berlin to Baghdad Railroad as early as 1888, by the start of 1915 there were four gaps in the tracks and it took 21 days to travel from Constantinople to Baghdad.

The British interests were to protect their oil refinery at Abadan and to defend their allies in the area (Persia and Kuwait). At this point The Ottoman empire had entered into the Ottoman-German alliance.

Shortly after the war started in Europe, the British sent a military force to protect Abadan, one of the world's earliest oil refineries. The British didn't use much oil at the start of the war but they had already started building warships which would be fueled by oil instead of coal by 1912.

[edit] The First Year

Main article: Battle of Ctesiphon (1915)

On November 6, 1914, the British force, which consisted mostly of the British Indian Army, attacked and took the Turkish fort at Fao Landing. Two weeks later, the British occupied the city of Basra. The main Turkish army, under the over-all command of Khalil Pasha was located 275 miles north-west around Baghdad and made only weak efforts to dislodge the British from the southern end of Mesopotamia.

Initial British conquest of Basra.

British offensive into Southern Mesopotamia, 1915.

Battle of Ctesiphon, 1915.

In April of 1915, a new British commander, General Nixon was sent to Mesopotamia. He ordered his commander in the field, General Townshend to advance to Kut or Baghdad if possible. Townshend and his small army advanced up the Tigris river, defeating several Ottoman forces sent to halt him. Worried about the possible fall of Baghdad, Enver Pasha sent an old German general, Baron von der Goltz, to take command of the Ottoman army in the field.

Townshend and Goltz fought a battle at Ctesiphon, 25 miles south of Baghdad. The battle was inconclusive as both the Ottomans and the British ended up retreating from the battlefield. However, Townshend concluded a full scale retreat was necessary so he withdrew in good order back to Kut, then halted and fortified the position.

[edit] The Siege of Kut

Main article: Siege of Kut

Defending Kut as opposed to retreating back to Basra was a mistake. Kut was isolated, and while it could be defended, it could not be resupplied. Baron Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz was a famous military historian who had written several classic books on military operations, he had also spent 12 years working with the Ottoman army. Under his expert direction the Turkish forces built defensive positions around the land side of Kut, laid siege to the British, and built fortified positions down river designed to fend off any attempt to rescue Townshend.

The siege of Kut lasted from December 7, 1915 until April 29, 1916. The British made three major attempts to break the siege, but each effort was unsuccessful. After the first failure, General Nixon was replaced by General Lake. All told, the British suffered 23,000 casualties. Townshend surrendered April 29, 1916 and his 8,000 soldiers became captives of the Ottomans. More than half of the British prisoners died as they were forced to do hard labor for the remainder of the war.

Baron von der Goltz died just before the surrender of Kut, supposedly of typhus. With the loss of Baron von der Goltz, the Ottomans never won another battle against the British in Mesopotamia.

The British viewed the loss of Kut as a humiliating defeat. It had been many years since such a large body of British Army soldiers had surrendered to an enemy. Also this loss followed only four months after the British defeat at the Battle of Gallipoli. Nearly all the British commanders involved in the failure to rescue Townshend were removed from command. The Turks proved they were good at holding defensive positions against superior forces.

[edit] Back to Baghdad

Main article: Fall of Baghdad (1917)

General Maude's Army captures Kut, 1917.

The British refused to let this defeat stand and so the new commander, General Maude was given additional reinforcements and equipment. For the next six months he trained and organized his army. His offensive was launched on December 13, 1916. The British advanced up both sides of the Tigris river, forcing the Ottoman army out of a number of fortified positions along the way. General Maude's offensive was methodical, organized, and successful. The British recaptured Kut in February of 1917, destroying most of the Mesopotamian-based Ottoman army in the process.

By early March, the British were at the outskirts of Baghdad, and the Baghdad garrison, under the direct command of the Governor of Baghdad province Khalil Pasha, tried to stop them. General Maude outmanoeuvered the Turkish forces, destroyed a Turkish regiment and captured the Turkish defensive positions. Khalil Pasha retreated in disarray out of the city. On March 11, 1917 the British entered Baghdad where they were greeted as liberators.(CITATION NEEDED) The British Indian Army played a significant role in the liberation of Baghdad. Amidst the confusion of the retreat a majority of the Ottoman army (some 9,000 soldiers) were captured. A week after the city fell, General Maude issuing the oft-quoted Proclamation of Baghdad, which contained the famous line "our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators".

[edit] The End of the War

Further small scale attacks were made by the British towards the north and east but General Maude died from cholera in November of 1917 and his successor, General William Marshall halted operations for the winter. The British resumed their offensive in late February 1918 capturing Kifri and Hit (previously called Khanaqin). General Marshall's forces supported General Lionel Dunsterville's operations in Persia during the summer of 1918 but his very powerful army was "astonishingly inactive, not only in the hot season but through most of the cold" (Cyril Falls, "The Great War" pg. 329). In October the British went on the offensive for the last time and fought a battle at the Battle of Sharqat, routing the Turkish army. General Marshall accepted the surrender of Khalil Pasha and the Turkish 6th Army on October 30, 1918. British troops marched unopposed into Mosul on the 14 November 1918.

The British lost 92,000 soldiers in the Mesopotamian campaign. Turkish losses are unknown but the British captured a total of 45,000 prisoners of war. By the end of 1918 the British had deployed 410,000 men into the area though only 112,000 of them were combat troops. The vast majority of the British empire forces in this campaign were recruited from India.

[edit] Sources

The Campaign in Mesopotamia by Brigadier-General F. J. Moberly (4 vols, 1923-27, HMSO, official history)
A. J. Barker (1967) The Neglected War. Faber and Faber.

Mesopotamia Campaign - from The Long, Long Trail website, downloaded January, 2006.
Strachan, Hew (2003). The First World War, pp 123-125. Viking (Published by the Penguin Group)
Fromkin, David (1989). A Peace to End All Peace. Avon Books.
U.S. Military Academy map of the 1915 Campaign
U.S. Military Academy map of the Siege of Kut
Esposito, Vincent (ed.) (1959). The West Point Atlas of American Wars - Vol. 2; map 53. Frederick Praeger Press.
Briton Cooper Busch (1971) Britain, India, and the Arabs 1914-1921. University of California Press.
Wilcox, Ron (2006) Battles on the Tigris. Pen and Sword Military
The Royal Navy in Mesopotamia
The Secrets of a Kuttite: An Authentic Story of Kut, Adventures in Captivity and Stamboul Intrigue by Captain E. O. Mousley R.F.A. (1922; John Lane, The Bodley Head, London & New York)