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Battle Of Ctesiphon (1915)
The Battle of Ctesiphon ( Turkish: ''Selman-ı Pak Muharebesi'') was fought in November 1915 by the British Empire, against the Ottoman Empire, within the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I. Indian Expeditionary Force D, mostly made up of Indian units and under the command of Gen. Sir John Nixon, had met with success in Mesopotamia since it had landed at Al-Faw Peninsula upon the Ottoman Empire's declaration of war on 5 November 1914. One of the primary reasons for initiating the campaign in Mesopotamia was to defend the oil refinery at Abadan at the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab. Adopting a forward defence policy, the British army under General Townshend fought off a series of small Ottoman forces. Then after a year of a string of defeats, the Ottoman forces were able to halt the British advance in two days of hard fighting at Ctesiphon. Battleground Ctesiphon lies on the Western bank of the Tigris River in the barren Iraqi desert, about upstream from Basra, north of K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
