'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎47r] (98/454)

ft
little
sea);
-ising
usal-
ssible
nous
with
nong
flight
ition.
> one
icity.
nt of
upon
) act
ntrol
ough
i the
Gulf
y by
they
y the
sited
both
gress
itary
July
itary
■ the
>erial
idad,
lipoli
ions,
osely
oned
ief of
tend
er in
s in
it be
fected
ARMY IN INDIA : PRE-WAR MILITARY POLICY 73
employed there had been considered. Lord Haig, when Chief
of Staff in India, put forward a memorandum in 1911 suggest-
ing that India might have to furnish an expeditionary force,
armed and equipped, to meet a European army, and he
instanced the possibility of a war with Turkey either alone or
supported by Germany. Lord Hardinge, then Viceroy, did not
approve of the suggestion that such an eventuality should
form part of the basis for fixing the strength of the army in
India; although, as he stated in his evidence before the
Mesopotamia Commission, he had arrived in India with the
conviction that war with Germany was inevitable, he considered
that India was not likely to be implicated to any considerable
extent and that the state of her finances was not such as to
permit of the additional military expenditure involved in such
a policy as was adumbrated ; and he was also aware that
H.M. Government did not approve of the principle of main
taining troops in India for anything but local offence and
defence. At the end of the same year the unfriendly attitude
of the local Turkish officials in Mesopotamia led to a considera
tion of the measures that the Government of India would be
prepared to suggest for the vindication of the position of the
British Government vis-a-vis Turkey in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
and the question was referred to a Committee of four officials
in India: The naval Commander-in-Chief, East Indies
(Admiral Sir E. Slade), the Chief of the General Staff, India
(Lieutenant-General Sir P. Lake), the Foreign Secretary, India
(Lieutenant-Colonel Sir H. McMahon), and 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. (Sir P. Cox). This Committee, among
other recommendations in their report of 15th January 1912,
advocated the occupation of Fao and Basra. The Government
of India, however, did not concur in these proposals, although
in the case of widespread hostilities with Turkey they considered
a descent on Basra might in certain circumstances be useful;
and they considered that to hold Basra effectively would
require more than the one division suggested by the Committee.
Sir O Moore Creagh in his evidence before the Mesopotamia
Commission referring to this question said that at that time
he could get little reliable intelligence of the military position
in that part of Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. , and that he advised that to
occupy Basra three divisions would be required, one of them
being kept in reserve in India. As our relations with Turkey
continued to improve, the matter was dropped, but came up
again in January 1914 in connection with the defence of the
Anglo-Persian oilfields and led to a request from the India