Military History of the First World War
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Mesopotamia
The Viceroy of India (Lord Hardinge) ordered attacks on the Turkish empire in Mesopotamia, first taking Basra and then Abadan. By September 1915 General Nixon and Major General Townshend took Kut. But the Germans were now organising Turkish forces and Townshed's forces were besieged by the Turks and had to surrender on 19th April 1916 - 13,500 men were taken captive. The British sent out Lieutenant General Sir F. S. Maude with three British divisions and he successfully recaptured Kut on 24th February 1917, after which Turkish resistance was weak, and the British took Baghdad in March. The British sustained about 90,000 casualties, the Turkish about twice that number. General Sir Archibald Murray attacked the Turkish from Egypt taking the Sinai Peninsula in February 1916. However, he was heavily defeated when he attempted to advance into Gaza and was replaced by General Sir Edmund Allenby who was assigned seven infantry and three cavalry divisions. He defeated the Turks at Beersheba and also at Gaza and entered Jerusalem on 9th December, 1917. The British were also aided by Arab revolts against Turkish rule in Hejaz, who were supported by British weapons and the inspiration of T.E. Lawrence. The first half of 1918 saw less activity in the region as the German attack on the Western front diverted men away from the area. In September 1918, however, another British offensive inflicted a defeat on the Turks at Megiddo and Damascus was taken on 1st October.
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Contents of
Military History of the First World War
1 The Central Powers and the Entente
2 The run-up to the war: The July Crisis, 1914
3 Military Planning in Advance of the War
4 Serbia and the Eastern Front, 1914
5 The Battle for the Marne
6 The Race to the Sea and the First Battle of Ypres
7 First Battle of Ypres
8 The Pacific
9 Africa
10 The Eastern Front during 1915
11 Italy enters the war
12 The Balkans
13 The Western Front
14 Gallipoli
15 The Western Front, 1916
16 Verdun
17 The Battle of the Somme
18 The Trentino Offensive
19 The Brusilov Offensive
20 Romania
21 The Russian Front in 1917
22 Mesopotamia
23 The Nivelle Offensive
24 The Third Battle of Ypres (The Battle of Passendaele)
25 Cambrai
26 Caporetto
27 German offensive in Russia, 1918
28 Ludendorff's offensive in the West
29 Allied counter-offensive
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