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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎149v] (303/454)

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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274 HISTORY OF THE WAR : MESOPOTAMIA
the 28th the Government of India made General Nixon
responsible for the defence of Bushire, and informed him that
the British attitude there should be strictly defensive. He
accordingly reinforced the British garrison* at Bushire with two
captured 13-pounder Turkish guns with four artillery gunlayers
and instructors. At the same time he lodged an objection
to this extension of his responsibilities to a place two hundred
miles in his rear. But the Government of India were very
anxious to avoid anything like a diversion of force to Bushire;
and as General Nixon was much nearer to the scene of action
than they were, and could, therefore, act more rapidly than
they, the Government of India thought it better to place him
in control than to appoint an independent commander who
might develop ambitious tendencies.
Owing to a Russian force having landed recently at Enzeli
on the Caspian, the German activities were now largely trans
ferred from Tehran to Isfahan and South Persia. The German
Consul at Isfahan was said to have raised a body of two hundred
armed retainers, and Wassmuss was intriguing to raise South
Persia against the British, being aided to some extent by some
of the Swedish officers of the Persian Gendarmerie. With
regard to the action of these officers, Mr. (now Sir Charles)
Marling, H.M. Minister at Tehran, reported that most of them
had been led unwittingly by their anti-Russian sentiments,
their ignorance of Persian ways and by German propaganda,
into unneutral action, whose dangers had now been explained
to them ; and he believed that their attitude for the future
would be better.f
In other directions also, there was extended anti-British
action. Parties of Germans—accompanied by locally recruited
and armed men, and strengthened by Austrian prisoners of
war who had escaped in some numbers from Transcaspia—
were moving towards Afghanistan via Meshed, Birjand and
Kerman. To try and prevent these entering Afghanistan,
the Russians moved Cossacks to Meshed and the Indian
authorities moved troops to Robat on the Baluchistan frontier,
thus beginning what was subsequently known as the “ East
Persia Cordon.”
Immediately after the capture of Amara, General Nixon
commenced his arrangements for an advance on Nasiriya;
and, on his arrival at Basra from Ahwaz on the 16th June,
* Consisting of the 96th Infantry.
i In order to keep any order in Persia it was necessary to retain these
Swedish officers, who were not under the Swedish, but under the Persian
Government.

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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.' [‎149v] (303/454), 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_100048172214.0x000068> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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