British Lick Their Wounds from Iraq Defeat, Prepare for a Baghdad Offensive; British War Cabinet is Cautious. Special to The Great War Project. (23-26 September) Despite defeats in Mesopotamia earlier in 1916 – the ignominious collapse at Kut on the Tigris River — the British are determined to reverse their losses in the desert. Some…
Tag Archive for Kut
BAGHDAD: THE NEXT PRIZE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
by Mike Shuster
British Turn Retreat into Advantage With Sights on Baghdad, British Command Hesitates. Special to The Great War Project (28-31 August) The war in the Middle East is now focusing on Baghdad. It is a very complex picture. Here’s what it looks like. The British defense forces capitulate at Kut, on the Tigris River south of…
AFTER 145 DAYS, TURKISH SIEGE AT KUT ENDS
by Mike Shuster
Scale of British Surrender Unprecedented. Soldiers Starving; Locals Hanged; ‘The Trees Dangling With Corpses’ Special to The Great War Project (27-30 April) On this day, April 27th a century ago the British garrison at Kut, on the Tigris River in Iraq, opens negotiations with the Ottoman forces to surrender. Three British officers, including Captain T.E.…
CARVING UP THE GLOBE
by Mike Shuster
Small States Around the World Especially Vulnerable; Endgame at Kut in Iraq, A Humiliation for the British Special to The Great War Project (19-22 April) The war has unleashed deep ethnic hatreds all across Europe, the Middle East and even in the far Pacific. By now, the Ottoman Turks have slaughtered nearly one million ethnic…
CRISIS ON ALL FRONTS
by Mike Shuster
Both Sides Desperate to End War Enormous Preparations at Somme; Russian Front Collapsing; Starvation in Mesopotamia Special to The Great War Project (7-10 April) All the armies locked in battle are exhausted and desperate to end the war. So plans are underway on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, and in the Middle East, for…
BRITISH DESPERATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
by Mike Shuster
Food Stores at Kut All But Gone; A Bribe for the Bey. In Contested Waters, Return of the U-Boats Special to The Great War Project (21-25 March) On this day a century ago, the British introduce a new weapon into the war at sea — the depth charge. A British ship drops an underwater explosive…
OTTOMANS SEEK BRITISH SURRENDER
by Mike Shuster
Kut Siege in Third Month; Chaos Among Allied Reinforcements. A Crucial British Loss Special to The Great War Project (8-11 March) While the meat grinder that is the Verdun battlefield in Western Europe churns on, the plight of the British contingent under siege in the desert Mesopotamian town of Kut on the Tigris River is…
VERDUN BLOODLETTING CONTINUES.
by Mike Shuster
British Reinforcement Fails at Siege of Kut. Russians Advance in Caucasus; Covert War in Persia. Special to The Great War Project (29 February-3 March) “Like a vision of hell.” That’s the way one German general describes the wounded German soldiers streaming past his headquarters on the battlefield at Verdun on the Western Front, 100 years…
RUSSIAN COSSACKS OVERRUN TURKISH CITY
by Mike Shuster
Ottomans Stunned at Fall of Erzurum on Caucasus Front; Relentless Turkish Siege of British at Kut . Special to The Great War Project. (16-19 February) In the Mesopotamian [Iraqi] desert, the Turks tighten their deadly noose around the small and increasingly hungry British and Indian troops at Kut. In mid-February 1916, precisely a century ago,…
ALLIES NEED U.S. MONEY, WEAPONS TO CONTINUE THE WAR
by Mike Shuster
German Limits on U-boat Ops Satisfies Americans. Under Siege in Iraq, British Desperate for American Support Special to The Great War Project (3-6 February) It is now completely obvious that, at this stage in the war a century ago, without American support in munitions and loans, Britain and France will lose the war. Writes historian…