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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎48v] (101/454)

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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76 HISTORY OF THE WAR : MESOPOTAMIA
Governors in Mesopotamia—and possibly elsewhere—for such
intervention as circumstances might permit to further the
plans of the Young Turk party, the general sentiment in Turkey
was pro-British rather than pro-German. The Sultan, the
Heir-apparent, the Grand Vizier, and the majority of the
Cabinet were opposed to war with Great Britain or her Allies,
while Djemal Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , the Minister of Marine, was Francophile
rather than pro-German. Djemal was one of the triumvirate
who exercised the main power in the Turkish Government,
but he had little authority after mobilisation had been decreed,
when the Minister of War became supreme in naval as well as
in military matters. The other two of the triumvirate were
Enver and Talaat. Enver was whole-heartedly for joining
in the war on the side of Germany, and as mobilisation proceeded
his power increased greatly in every direction, and that of
Talaat waned. Before mobilisation, Talaat, as Minister
of the Interior, was the most influential member of the Govern
ment, and at first he appears to have fallen in with many of
Enver’s actions under the impression that they could use
Germany to further Turkey’s aims without losing control
of the situation. There are grounds for thinking that he
realised his error when it was too late to retrieve the position.
It was unfortunate for us that, on the outbreak of war, we
were obliged to retain the two Turkish “ Dreadnoughts ”
building in this country, for we thereby gave the Germans a
handle for anti-British agitation in Turkey, which they exploited
to the utmost; and, though our action was justified by the
subsequent Turkish behaviour in regard to the Goeben and the
Breslau, it accentuated the difficulties against which our
diplomatists had to strive. The loss of these ships by Turkey
was deeply felt and widely resented. One of them had been
paid for by money borrowed at usurious interest and the
other by millions of public subscribers, as the country looked
on them as affording the one chance of retrieving the national
position vis-d-vis Greece.
The mobilisation of the Turkish Army, ordered on the
31st July to commence on the 3rd August, and explained
by the Turkish Government as a precautionary measure
requiring some months to complete, was, in reality, initiated,
controlled and carried out by German agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. . The fact that
the German military mission was remaining in the country
and that their officers employed hitherto in instructional
establishments were taking up active posts in the field army
was counterbalanced by the repeated and emphatic assurances

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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.' [‎48v] (101/454), 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_100048172213.0x000066> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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