Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

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Middle Eastern theatre

Date	Oct 24, 1914-Aug 10, 1920
Location	Middle East
Result	Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of Batum, Treaty of Sèvres.
Territorial changes	Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire

Combatants

Ottoman Empire,

Military Mission of the German Empire

Russian Empire,

Armenia,

British Empire,

France

Strength

2,850,000 ²,
max strength: 800,000

Casualties

550,000 KIA ³,
891,000 WIA,
240,000 sick,
103,731 MIO,
239,000-250,000 POW ¹,
tens of thousands AWOL⁴

Turkish peasantry of Anatolia drops to 40% of the pre-war levels.^[1]

¹ Ottoman casualties are from Republic of Turkey gov. resources.
² Not active soldiers, but total number registered during the war. Includes units like Kuva-i İnzibatiye that had never fought against the Triple Entente.
³Total (KIA+WIA): 253,000 Gallipoli, 270,000 Caucasus Campaign which 80,000 Sarikamis, 220,000 Mesopotamian Campaign, 200,000 Sinai and Palestine Campaign, 20,000 Aden and Persia.
⁴ Very high in Caucasus Campaign, MIO was reported.

Theatres of World War I
European (Balkans – Western Front – Eastern Front – Italian Front) – Middle Eastern (Caucasus – Mesopotamia – Sinai and Palestine – Gallipoli – Aden – Persia) – African (South-West Africa – West Africa – East Africa) – Asian and Pacific (German Samoa and New Guinea – Tsingtao) – Other (Atlantic Ocean – Mediterranean – Naval – Aerial)

Caucasus Campaign
Sarikamis – Malazgirt – Van – Koprukoy – Erzurum – Erzincan – Bitlis – Kara Killisse – Sardarapat – Bash Abaran – Baku

Gallipoli Campaign
Naval operations – Anzac – Helles – 1st Krithia – 2nd Krithia – 3rd Krithia – Gully Ravine – Sari Bair – Krithia Vineyard – Lone Pine – Suvla – The Nek – Chunuk Bair – Scimitar Hill – Hill 60

Mesopotamian Campaign
Fao Landing – Basra – Qurna – Es Sinn – Ctesiphon – Umm-at-Tubal –1st Kut –Shiekh Sa'ad – Wadi – Hanna – Dujaila – 2nd Kut – Baghdad – Samarrah Offensive – Jebel Hamlin – Istabulat – Ramadi – Sharqat

Sinai and Palestine Campaign
Suez – Romani – Magdhaba – Rafa – 1st Gaza – 2nd Gaza – 3rd Gaza – Beersheba – Mughar Ridge – Jerusalem – Megiddo

The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I was fought between Allied Powers, mostly of the British and Russian Empires, which also included Arab Revolt under Sinai and Palestine Campaign, Democratic Republic of Armenia after Russian Revolution of 1917 and Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire and a Military Mission of the German Empire. The war began on October 29, 1914, hostilities ended on October 30, 1918 and a peace treaty was signed on August 10, 1920. This theatre was the biggest one among all, which was performed within four main campaigns (Sinai and Palestine Campaign, Mesopotamian Campaign, Caucasus Campaign and Dardanelles Campaign) and the minor campaigns of Arabia and Southern Arabia, Aden, and Persia.

1 Prelude
2 Activities
3 Command Structures
4 Casualties
5 Timeline
6 Footnotes
7 Further reading

[edit] Prelude

The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October–November 1914, pursuant to the secret Ottoman-German Alliance^[2] signed on August 2, 1914, threatening Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India and the East via the Suez Canal.

The Ottoman Empire's entry into World War I occurred on October 29, 1914 when ships of the Ottoman navy shelled Odessa.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Activities

[edit] 1914

Mesopotamian Campaign: The first battles were on the Mesopotamian Campaign, which was opened during the 1914. It was fought in Mesopotamia mainly in the Tigris River valley region of what is now Iraq and included battles on the Persian Gulf coast, Basra, numerous struggles around Kut, and Baghdad.

Caucasus Campaign: Caucasus Campaign campaign was fought in the Caucasus and eastern-Anatolia. The Ottoman Empire in Battle of Sarikamis had a defeat in December-November.

[edit] 1915

Mesopotamian Campaign: Initially the Ottomans were successful in repelling enemy incursions. However after the disastrous Siege of Kut things reversed.

Caucasus Campaign: The Russians went on the offense. The mountains were very high, which made the military movement very difficult, but Russians gained significant achievements.

Dardanelles Campaign: April 25 sets the Dardanelles Campaign (tr:Çanakkale Savaşlari) which was also known as in Australia, New Zealand and Newfoundland it is known simply as "Gallipoli". A combined British and French operation was mounted in order to eventually capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul). The campaign started with a Naval attempt to force the Dardanelles. When this failed the decision was taken by the Allies to seize the European side of the Dardanelles. The land campaign took place on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli in 1915 during the First World War. The land attempt failed, and an estimated 131,000 soldiers were killed and 262,000 wounded.

Arab Revolt: Starting in 1915, the British based in Egypt tried to incite the Arabs living near the Red Sea and inland (in modern-day Saudi Arabia) to revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The Ottoman Empire launched an attack across the Sinai with the objective of destroying or capturing the Suez Canal. Attack was unsuccessful.

[edit] 1916

Arab Revolt: In 1916, a combination of diplomacy and genuine dislike of the new leaders of the Ottoman Empire (the Three Pashas) convinced Sherif Hussein ibn Ali of Mecca to begin a revolt. The leadership of this revolt was given to two of his sons: Faisal and Abdullah though the planning and direction for the war was largely the work of Lawrence of Arabia.

Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The Ottoman Empire launched two attacks across the Sinai with the objective of destroying or capturing the Suez Canal. Both attacks (1915, 1916) were unsuccessful, though not very costly by the standards of the Great War. The British then went on the offensive and attacked east into Palestine. Two failed attempts to capture the Ottoman fort of Gaza resulted in sweeping changes to the British command and the arrival of General Allenby, along with many reinforcements.

[edit] 1917

Mesopotamian Campaign: British Empire forces reorganized and captured Baghdad in March 1917.

Caucasus Campaign: When Russia withdrew from the war in 1917 the Ottoman Empire managed to regain the prewar territories under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Arab Revolt: The revolt was a success, aided immensely by General Allenby's conquest of Palestine in 1917 (see the Sinai and Palestine Campaign for details).

Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Late in 1917, Allenby's Egyptian Expeditionary Force smashed the Ottoman defences, captured Gaza and then captured Jerusalem just before Christmas. This victory was widely promoted in the Allied press.

The British capture Jerusalem and the surrounding area: While strategically of minimal importance, this event was key in the creation of Israel as a separate nation in 1948.

[edit] End of hostilities, October 30, 1918

Main article: Armistice of Mudros

The activity in this campaign was ended with the sign of the Armistice of Mudros was signed in aboard of HMS Agamemnon in Mudros port on the island of Lemnos on October 30, 1918.

[edit] Peace Treaty, August 10, 1920

Main article: Treaty of Sèvres

The Treaty of Sèvres of August 10, 1920. The treaty was signed by the Ottoman Government. However, it was rejected by the Turkish national movement, and never came into effect.

[edit] Command Structures

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[edit] Ottoman

The Ottoman Empire fielded a large but ineffective army during World War I. Their offensive operations were failures, their best Generals were in fact Germans (e.g. Liman von Sanders, Baron von der Goltz, Erich von Falkenhayn and Kress von Kressenstein), with only one effective Turkish Commander, Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk), and just about all their modern war equipment (war ships, heavy artillery, machine guns, railroads, and air-planes) were built by Germans or Austrians and were maintained by German and Austrian engineers.

When holding defensive fortified positions the Ottoman Army was often able to beat back major attacks, and tens of thousands of British and Russian soldiers died making fruitless assaults on Turkish positions. However, the only successful Ottoman military operations were defensive and they suffered many defeats when attacking and defending.

Unlike the army of Austria-Hungary which essentially fell apart in 1918, the Ottoman Army was still partially intact and partially effective all the way to the end of the war. While it is true they lost both their armies in Palestine and Mesopotamia in the fall of 1918, there was still a core army based around Istanbul which was combat effective. Also in 1918, the Ottoman Army was able to recapture all their lost territory in Armenia (admittedly against very weak opposition). In fact, the Ottoman Army even managed to reach Baku just before the war ended (the strategic value of this operation is highly questionable, but still, it was a demonstration of some military power).

Despite the occasional successes and sometimes capable leaders, on the whole the Ottoman Army was a weak partner to the German Army during World War I. The Ottoman Empire almost certainly would have been defeated by the middle of 1915 without German military leadership and aid.