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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎34r] (72/454)

The record is made up of 1 volume (223 folios). It was created in 1923. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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BRITISH PRE-WAR POLICY
47
waters over which she has enjoyed no formal lordship :
has kept, in strange ports, an open door through which
the traders of every nation might have as free access to
distant markets as her own.”*
While our political relations with Turkey and Persia were
conducted by our Foreign Office in London, those with the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. were to a great extent controlled by the Govern
ment of India.f The British Consular representatives in
Mesopotamia under the Foreign Office were the Consul-General
at Baghdad and the Consuls at Mosul, Karbala and Basra.
The Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. who was under the
Indian Government was also Consul-General at Bushire, and
to that extent he was under the Foreign Office ; he received
His Majesty s Commission as Consul-General for the provinces
of Pars, Khuzistan and Luristan and the district of Lingeh
and for the coasts and islands of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , being within
the dominions of Persia. He resided at Bushire and the cost
of his establishment was divided between Great Britain and
India. His judicial powers and jurisdiction were exercised
by virtue of his commission as Consul-General, under the
Persian Coast and Islands Order in Council A regulation issued by the sovereign of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Privy Council. . He exercised
an undefined but considerable influence upon the political
affairs, more especially external, of Muscat, the Trucial States A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. ,
Bahrein and Kuwait, at which places the representatives of
the Indian Government were under him.
Before concluding this chapter it is necessary to refer briefly
to Persia. Situated, as she was, astride the one main outlet
to the east from the Mesopotamian plain, some parts of northern
Persia suffered during the war somewhat severely from the
Turco-Russian operations. The whole country, moreover, was
traversed by Turco-German emissaries and at one time their
activities appeared to indicate them as the advance agents of
an invading force with an objective still further east; but
their efforts were either frustrated or died out for want of
support. British relations with Persia have been of a friendly
and intimate character for many years and owing to her
geographical situation we have special reasons to regard with
* Mr. Thomas Jewell Bennett’s paper on " The Past and Present Connection
of England with Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,” read before The Society of Arts on
8th May 1902.
f This arrangement was the reason for the division between the General
Staffs at the War Office and in India of the pre-war duties for the collection
of Military Intelligence described in the next chapter. Collection of such
intelligence in peace-time is intimately connected with our political relations
with the areas in question.

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Content

The volume is the first volume of an official government publication compiled at the request of the Government of India, and under the direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence, by Brigadier-General Frederick James Moberly. The volume was printed and published at His Majesty's Stationery Office, London.

The contents provide a narrative of the operations of 1914-1918 in Mesopotamia, based mainly on official documents.

The volume is divided into two parts. The first part, entitled, 'Part I. Before the Outbreak of Hostilities', consists of the following five chapters:

  • General Description of the Country
  • The Turks in Mesopotamia
  • British Pre-War Policy
  • The Army in India and Pre-War Military Policy
  • Inception of the Operations

The second part, entitled, 'Part II. The Campaign in Lower Mesopotamia', consists of the following seven chapters:

  • The Landing in Mesopotamia of Force "D" and the Operations Leading to the Occupation of Basra
  • The Occupation of Basra and the Capture of Qurna
  • Commencement of the Turkish Counter-Offensive
  • Development and Defeat of the Turkish Counter-Offensive
  • Operations in Arabistan and the Capture of Amara
  • Operations on the Euphrates and the Occupation of Nasiriya
  • The battle of Kut and Occupation of Aziziya

The volume also includes nine maps, entitled:

  • The Middle East
  • Lower Mesopotamia
  • Map 1 - To illustrate operations described in Chapter VI
  • Map 2 - To illustrate fighting near Qurna
  • Map 3 - To illustrate fighting round Shaiba
  • Map 4 - To illustrate operations in Persian Arabistan
  • Map 5 - To illustrate operations in the Akaika Channel 27th June to 5th July 1915
  • Map 6 - To illustrate operations near Nasiriya 6th to 24th July 1915
  • Map 7 - To illustrate the Battle of Kut 28th September 1915
Extent and format
1 volume (223 folios)
Arrangement

The volume contains a page of errata (folio 5), a list of contents (folios 6-8), a list of maps and illustrations (folio 9), appendices (folios 185v-192), an index (folios 192v-214v), and eight maps in a pocket attached to the inside back cover (folios 217-224).

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 225; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎34r] (72/454), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/66/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048172213.0x000049> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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