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Siege Of Kut
The siege of Kut Al Amara (7 December 1915 – 29 April 1916), also known as the first battle of Kut, was the besieging of an 8,000 strong British Army garrison in the town of Kut, south of Baghdad, by the Ottoman Army. In 1915, its population was around 6,500. Following the surrender of the garrison on 29 April 1916, the survivors of the siege were marched to imprisonment at Aleppo, during which many died. Historian Christopher Catherwood has called the siege "the worst defeat of the Allies in World War I". Ten months later, the British Indian Army, consisting almost entirely of newly recruited troops from Western India, conquered Kut, Baghdad and other regions in between in the Fall of Baghdad. Prelude The 6th (Poona) Division of the Indian Army, under Major-General Charles Townshend, had fallen back to the town of Kut after retreating from Ctesiphon. The British Empire forces arrived at Kut around 3 December 1915. They had suffered significant losses, numbering only 1 ...
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Mesopotamian Campaign
The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, troops from Britain, Australia and the vast majority from British India, against the Central Powers, mostly the Ottoman Empire. Background The Ottoman Empire had conquered the region in the early 16th century, but never gained complete control. Regional pockets of Ottoman control through local proxy rulers maintained the Ottomans' reach throughout Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). With the turn of the 19th century came reforms. Work began on a Baghdad Railway in 1888; by 1915 it had only four gaps, and travel time from Istanbul to Baghdad had fallen to 21 days. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) had obtained exclusive rights to petroleum deposits throughout the Persian Empire, except in the provinces of Azerbaijan, Ghilan, Mazendaran, Asdrabad, and Khorasan.The Encyclopedia Americana, 1920, v.28, p.403 In 1914, months before the war b ...
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6th (Poona) Division
The 6th (Poona) Division was a division of the British Indian Army. It was formed in 1903, following the Kitchener reforms of the Indian Army. World War I The 6th (Poona) Division served in the Mesopotamian campaign. Led by Major General Barrett then Major General Townshend, the division were the first British Indian troops to land in Mesopotamia in November 1914 at the Fao Landing. After a string of early successes, the 6th Division was delivered a setback at the Battle of Ctesiphon in November 1915. Following this engagement, the division withdrew back to Kut, where Townshend made the decision to hold the city. After a lengthy siege by the Ottomans, Townshend surrendered on April 29, 1916. 10,061 troops and 3,248 followers were taken captive. Following the surrender, the garrisoned force conducted a forced march back to Anatolia. The suffering of the enlisted soldiers was particularly egregious, and over 4,000 died in captivity. After the surrender, the Poona Division c ...
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Sheikh Sa'ad (Iraq)
Sheikh Saad or variants may refer to: * Al-Shaykh Saad, a town in Daraa Governorate, Syria * Al-Shaykh Saad, Tartus Governorate, Syria * ash-Sheikh Sa'd, a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem Governorate * Sheykh Saad, a village in Shush County, Khuzestan Province, Iran * Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad, in Mesopotamia, 1916 * Saad Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (15–24 January 2006) See also * Sheikh Said Sheikh Said of Palu, Elazığ, Palu ( ku, شێخ سەعید, translit=Şêx Seîd, 1865 – June 29, 1925) was a Kurds, Kurdish sheikh, the main leader of the Sheikh Said rebellion and a Sheikh of the Naqshbandi Tariqa, order. He was born in ...
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Ali Al Gharbi
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. The issue of his succession caused a major rift between Muslims and divided them into Shia and Sunni groups. Ali was assassinated in the Grand Mosque of Kufa in 661 by the forces of Mu'awiya, who went on to found the Umayyad Caliphate. The Imam Ali Shrine and the city of Najaf were built around Ali's tomb and it is visited yearly by millions of devotees. Ali was a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, raised by him from the age of 5, and accepted his claim of divine revelation by age 11, being among the first to do so. Ali played a pivotal role in the early years of Islam while Muhammad was in Mecca and under severe persecution. After Muhammad's relocation to Medina in 622, Ali married his daughter Fatima and, among others, fathered H ...
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George Younghusband
Major General Sir George John Younghusband, (9 July 1859 – 30 September 1944) was a cavalry officer and major-general in the British Indian Army. Younghusband was commissioned into the 17th Foot in 1878. He later transferred to the British Indian Army's Guides Cavalry and served in several conflicts, including the Second Afghan War, the Mahdist War, the Third Burmese War, the Second Boer War and finally in the First World War. Due to wounds received on the battlefield, he was forced to retire from the army in 1917. In his later life he became a noted author of several books, and the Keeper of the Jewel House at the Tower of London, until his death on 30 September 1944, at Crickhowell in Wales. Early life George John Younghusband was born on 9 July 1859, at Dharamshala in India, the eldest son of Major-General John William Younghusband and Clara Jane Shaw, and the elder brother of Francis Younghusband. He was educated at Clifton College and the Royal Military College ...
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Major-General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a lieutenant general outranking a major general, whereas a major outranks a lieutenant. In the Commonwealth and in the United States, when appointed to a field command, a major general is typically in command of a division consisting of around 6,000 to 25,000 troops (several regiments or brigades). It is a two-star rank that is subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the rank of brigadier or brigadier general. In the Commonwealth, major general is equivalent to the navy rank of rear admiral. In air forces with a separate rank structure (Commonwealth), major general is equivalent to air vice-marshal. In some countries including much of Eastern Europe, major general is the lowest of the general officer ranks, with no ...
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Sir Fenton Aylmer, 13th Baronet
Lieutenant-General Sir Fenton John Aylmer, 13th Baronet (5 April 1862 – 3 September 1935) was an Anglo-Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross. He was in command of the first failed efforts to break the siege of Kut in 1916. From a military background, Aylmer was commissioned into the Indian Army, and immediately involved in fierce fighting on the north-west frontier. In a singularly heroic action, still in his twenties, he helped rescue Townshend's garrison at Chitral, spearheading the relief column. For his valorous conduct he was awarded the Victoria Cross, and rapid promotion through the officer class. Early career Born the son of Captain Fenton John Aylmer and Isabella Eleanor Darling. Aylmer attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, as a Gentleman Cadet and was promoted Lieutenant on 27 July 1880. He took part in the Burma expedition between 1886 and 1887. The Victoria Cross Fenton was 29 years old, and a captain in the Corps of Royal Engineers, British Army ...
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Patrick Hehir
Major-General Sir Patrick Hehir (17 May 1859 – 1 May 1937) was a British military surgeon. He served in the Indian Medical Service (IMS) and as the Principal Medical Officer to the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad. During the 148 day Siege of Kut he suffered alongside the troops and wrote extensively on the topic of prolonged starvation. Life He was born on 17 May 1859, the son of Robert Martin Hehir of Ennis in County Clare, Ireland. He studied at Calcutta University, qualified as a doctor in Brussels's, became a Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians at the University of Edinburgh, obtained a Diploma in Public Health from the University of Cambridge and then received a Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the University of Liverpool.Roll of the Indian Medical Service 1615–1930 by D. G. Crawford, pages 208 & 209 In 1893 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Patrick Doyle, Sir Joseph Fayrer, ...
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Sir John Nixon
General Sir John Eccles Nixon (16 August 1857 – 15 December 1921) was a senior commander of the British Indian Army. He gave the orders for the ultimately disastrous first British Expedition against Baghdad during the First World War. Early career Educated at Rossall School and then the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Nixon was commissioned into the 75th Regiment of Foot in 1875. He transferred to the Bengal Staff Corps in 1878 and was posted to the 18th Bengal Lancers and then served in the Second Anglo-Afghan War where he was mentioned in despatches. He also took part in the Mahsud Waziri expedition in 1881, was promoted to captain on 10 September 1886,Hart´s Army list, 1903 and served in the Chitral Relief Force in 1895, following which he was promoted to major on 10 September 1895. He was Chief Staff Officer of the Tochi Field Force in 1897, and later served as an Assistant Quartermaster General (in charge of intelligence) at Indian Headquarters. Nixon served ...
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Tigris River
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the Persian Gulf. Geography The Tigris is 1,750 km (1,090 mi) long, rising in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey about 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the city of Elazığ and about 30 km (20 mi) from the headwaters of the Euphrates. The river then flows for 400 km (250 mi) through Southeastern Turkey before becoming part of the Syria-Turkey border. This stretch of 44 km (27 mi) is the only part of the river that is located in Syria. Some of its affluences are Garzan, Anbarçayi, Batman, and the Great and the Little Zab. Close to its confluence with the Euphrates, the Tigris splits into several channels. First, the artificial Shatt al-Hayy branches off, to join the Euphrates near Nasiriyah. S ...
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Gerard Leachman
Lieutenant-Colonel Gerard Evelyn Leachman, CIE, DSO (27 July 1880, Petersfield, Hampshire – 12 August 1920, Iraq) was an English soldier and intelligence officer who travelled extensively in Arabia. Career Leachman was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment on 20 January 1900, and the following month left with his battalion for service in South Africa during the Second Boer War. He served there until the end of the war, in June 1902, and left Cape Town in the SS ''Bavarian'' in August, returning to Southampton the following month. He later served in India, but spent most of his career as a political officer in Mesopotamia, where he was instrumental in pacifying warring tribes to bring stability to the new country. Leachman also made various expeditions further south into Arabia, where he contacted Ibn Sa'ud on behalf of the British government. He travelled as a naturalist of the Royal Geographical Society, but was in fact a British agent. With his da ...
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Mesopotamian Campaign 6th Army Siege Of Kut
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia occupies modern Iraq. In the broader sense, the historical region included present-day Iraq and Kuwait and parts of present-day Iran, Syria and Turkey. The Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) originating from different areas in present-day Iraq, dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history () to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. Later the Arameans dominated major parts of Mesopotamia (). Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been ...
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