" Just as the Apaches cleared station," " Just as the Apaches cleared station," "My task force was moved from a reserve position." "We came up from the south, crossed into this area, and we attacked to clean up this area from south to north through both the major roads, the road to the east carrying much of the combat service support vehicles..." "A lot of wheels, some tracks..." "And this road to clean up and destroy any remaining operational vehicles." "War in the Middle East." "In the spring of 2003, the United States invaded the country of Iraq and removed its dictator, Saddam Hussein, from power." "This foreign occupation was only the latest episode in a long series of wars, revolts, and foreign occupations that have plagued the Middle East for decades." "As for the war in Iraq, it has happened before." "Port Rutbah, on the oil pipeline from Kirkuk, was occupied by Rashid Ali's forces at the beginning of May." "Our cameraman in Iraq now sends us these pictures of the famous Arab Legion working in conjunction with our forces during the final attack leading to the capture of the fortress." "Exactly when did all of this conflict begin?" "And how did the Western world become so involved in the Middle East?" "To answer these questions, we must go back to a time when the Middle East was known as the Ottoman Empire." "To a time when its armies fought in World War I." "We need to follow the story of that war and its political impact on the Middle East." "We must go back to the year of 1914." "With surprise naval attacks against Odessa," "Sevastopol, Yalta, and other Russian cities, the Ottoman Empire, spanning from the southeastern tip of Europe across modem-day Turkey to the Arabian Desert and the Caucasus Mountains, plunges into the cataclysm of a world war that is already claiming thousands of lives" "on the battlefields of France." "Three men are in control of the Ottoman government in Istanbul..." "Enver Pasha, the minister of war," "Talaat Pasha, the minister of interior, and Jemal Pasha, minister of the navy." "These three leaders rule as dictators over more than 20 million people." "About half of them are Turks." "The other half is made up of Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, and other minorities." "Enver Pasha is determined to join Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in their fight against France, Great Britain, and Russia." "The German emperor, Wilhelm It, has already sent a military mission to Istanbul led by General Liman Von Sanders." "At the time, there was no reason to suppose that the Ottoman Empire would be a part of it or that the Middle East would be involved in it." "It was a European affair and not a Middle Eastern one." "But as a sort of accident, the Ottoman Empire did come into the war." "And though I say an accident, in a sense, it was not an accident because it was the work of a very talented conspirator and plotter, Enver Pasha." "Enver manipulates the government in Istanbul and slowly leads the Ottoman Empire into war." "On October 25, 1914, Enver issues his fateful orders that will send hundreds of thousands to their deaths." "He orders the Turkish fleet into the Black Sea to start a war against Russia." "The mission is accomplished all too well." "After that fateful attack the Ottoman Empire will not live to see another day of peace." "In the east, on the Caucasus Front," "Russian troops advance into the fringes of Anatolia," "Turkish heartland of the Ottoman Empire." "To the south," "British and Indian troops land near Basra in Mesopotamia, modem-day Iraq." "They are sent to protect the precious oil fields that lie in neighboring Persia, now known as Iran." "At the Dardanelles," "British warships bombard the Gallipoli Peninsula, reminding the Turks that this small but strategically important stretch of land must be defended at all costs." "Less than two weeks from the start of hostilities," "Istanbul finds its empire attacked on three wide-ranging fronts." "While General Von Sanders focuses on the defense of Istanbul and the Dardanelles," "Enver Pasha has a more grandiose plan." "He will take command of the Ottoman Third Army and drive the Russians from eastern Anatolia and back over the Caucasus Mountains." "The fact that the Third Army is unprepared to fight a campaign in harsh winter weather doesn't seem to bother Enver in the least." "The Ottoman Empire was unprepared to wage war in 1914." "They had been badly defeated in the Balkan Wars of 1912, 1913." "Their army had been shattered." "They had no money." "Their reserves of equipment were gone," "They'd lost about a quarter-million men already." "So in 1914, when all of Europe was wildly enthusiastic about going to war..." "Marching and bands and flags..." "The Ottomans were not." "Three days before Christmas, the Ottoman Third Army, nearly 120,000 men, launches an attack against the Russians." "The soldiers have no heavy clothing." "They have no tents." "Yet they must endure bitter cold that reaches to 30 degrees below zero." "As the soldiers move through treacherous mountain pathways, some units simply lose their way in the blinding snow." "On December 25th, at a place called Sarikamish, the Turkish force tries to encircle the Russians." "But it doesn't happen that way." "Instead, the Russians counterattack and surround the Turks." "One-third of Enver's forces are eliminated virtually overnight." "By January 7th, the Ottomans are in full retreat toward the west." "The next day, Enver Pasha gathers his troops to congratulate them on their performance in battle." "All told, more than 50,000 Turkish troops are killed, wounded, or taken prisoner by the Russians." "Many of them do not die from enemy fire." "They fall unconscious from the cold and freeze to death." "The disaster at Sarikamish means that eastern Anatolia is now vulnerable to invasion." "But the Russians, too, are exhausted and halt their advance in February 1915." "They will soon be on the march again." "With the fighting hopelessly bogged down in France," "London is determined to open a new front in the Middle East." "Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, proposes a combined land and sea attack against the Dardanelles Straits and the Gallipoli Peninsula." "Once in control of the straits, the Royal Navy can steam into the Bosporus, a narrow strip of ocean separating Europe from Asia, and bring Istanbul under its powerful guns." "At that point, Churchill speculates that the Ottoman government will sue for peace." "Lord Horatio Kitchener, secretary of war for Great Britain, has strong reservations about any plan that will take guns and men away from the Western Front in Europe." "One of England's great military heroes, he believes the Middle East is not important and is reluctant to approve the plan." "Then Churchill sells Kitchener and First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher on the idea of a strictly naval attack." "Admiral Sackville Carden takes command of the invasion fleet, and it leaves for the Dardanelles in March 1915." "Lord fisher still has his doubts when a German wireless message is intercepted by British intelligence." "It reveals that the Turkish forts guarding either side of the Dardanelles are running low on shells for their massive guns." "Suddenly, Fisher becomes very enthusiastic about the operation and its chances for success." "By March 15th, the Anglo-French fleet is crossing the Mediterranean, and its admiral is suffering a nervous breakdown brought on by the strain of commanding a fleet of 16 old warships that London expects to run a very dangerous gantlet." "Admiral Carden is in no shape to lead his fleet into battle." "He turns his command over to Vice Admiral John de Robeck the day before the attack." "On March 18th, at about 10:30 in the morning," "British and French battleships trade salvos with the Turkish fortresses while a line of minesweepers moves into the straits." "De Robeck is well aware that explosive mines have been laid across the passage." "They must be removed before the warships can proceed." "As the fleet turns starboard to let the minesweepers pass, it runs smack into a string of undetected mines." "The French battleship Bouvet is hit and sinks within two minutes." "As it rolls over into the sea, the captain locks himself inside the conning tower." "Nearly the entire crew is lost." "Two British battleships, the Ocean and Irresistible, also go down." "Three other battleships, the British inflexible and the French Gaulois and Suffren, also fall victim to the mines and suffer severe damage." "In a matter of minutes, six Allied warships are the victims of Turkish mines" "Suddenly, the scarcity of Turkish artillery shells doesn't really matter anymore." "At this point, Admiral de Robeck must make a critical decision that will determine the future of the entire war." "He can press forward toward Istanbul and risk losing even more of his fleet." "Or he can withdraw from the straits and come back to fight another day." "Little does he realize that the Turks are so short of mines that they've used the ones captured from the Russians in the Black Sea." "Reflecting on the scene before him, with hundreds of dead and warships burning in the water, he is reported to say, "I suppose I am done for."" "The admiral confers with the landing force commander," "General Ian Hamilton." "They decide that the navy should wait until British troops can land and secure at least one side of the straits." "They transmit their opinion to London, and the Admiralty agrees." "Churchill is appalled by the decision to withdraw." "Winston Churchill, with his gift as a warrior, understood that you've gotta take losses." "And you've got to be ready to take losses to win great rewards." "But despite Churchill's passionate desire to keep on going." "The admiral in charge decided to tum around." "It was heartbreaking for Churchill." "The Turks had just run out of ammunition." "The leaders of the Ottoman Empire were packing their things to flee." "Everyone was ready to surrender." "And the British admiral turned around." "He argues violently against the retreat, with Istanbul only one hour away." "He rallies Kitchener and Prime Minister Herbert Asquith to his cause, then shoots off a strong cable to Admiral de Robeck ordering him to renew the attack immediately." "But the telegram goes nowhere." "First Sea Lord Jackie fisher refuses to send it." "Churchill storms away, anguished in his belief that the war in the Middle East could have been won on that day." "In early January 1915, the Ottoman army begins an advance across the treacherous Sinai Desert to strike the most important possession of the British Empire in the Middle East, the great Suez Canal, the lifeline that connects England" "to its far-off territories and spheres of influence in Iran, Afghanistan, and India." "If the Turks can shut down the canal, they will cripple the British war effort in the Middle East." "Jemal Pasha, the minister of the navy, takes command of the Ottoman Fourth Army in Palestine, and his advance across the Sinai begins." "About 15,000 men have to cross more than a hundred miles of searing desert." "They have to bring artillery, rafts and pontoon boats, water and food for the troops and draft animals." "What he hoped to do... because obviously he can't take Egypt which was defended reasonably well by the British with an army of that size." "But he hoped that he would start some sort of jihad once he got across the canal." "And that would destroy the British position in Egypt." "But he never really gets across the canal, and his army was defeated, and it ruined his reputation." "After two weeks of hard marching," "Jemal Pasha's army arrives near the canal." "The British are still unaware of its presence." "On the night of February 2nd," "Turkish troops advance to the water's edge and launch their boats into the canal." "A small British observation post reacts to the commotion and opens fire." "The Turks, untrained for a water crossing, jump out of their boats or drop them at the shore." "While about 60 men actually make it to the other side of the canal, they are soon killed, wounded, or captured." "When morning arrives, so do British reinforcements." "The Turks continue to attack, trying to hold a bridgehead at the canal." "But they are soon driven away." "The grand plan to capture the vital British waterway has collapsed." "The Turks have no option but to withdraw, back across 120 miles of desert, with nothing to show for their efforts except for about 2,000 casualties." "In the following months, the British send so many troops to defend the Suez Canal that the Turks dare not attack it again." "Lord Kitchener, reluctant to send troops to the Middle East, finally agrees to support Churchill's plan for an invasion by land to capture Istanbul." "On April 22, 1915, a British army made up mostly of Australian and New Zealand troops, along with some French forces, crams into Royal Navy ships for the journey to Gallipoli, a narrow peninsula of land" "on the western side of the Dardanelles Straits." "For three days and three nights, four men lived where one would have been cramped in that iron-cased, floating stink hole, eating badly cooked food and drinking warm water." "By the night of the third day, as we neared Gallipoli, we were in the mood for anything." "We'd fight anybody for anything." "We didn't care what." "General Ian Hamilton, commanding the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, intends to land his troops and drive up the Gallipoli Peninsula to attack and capture Istanbul." "In London, the government anticipates news of a great victory in a few days." "On April 25, 1915, nearly 80,000 British troops come ashore at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles, while French troops land at Kum Kale on the eastern side of the Dardanelles." "Despite all their preparations, the Turkish forces, numbering about 60,000, are taken by surprise." "General Von Sanders cannot be certain exactly where the enemy will land." "Now the battle becomes a critical game of time." "How long will it take for the British to gain the high ground that overlooks the beaches?" "How long will it take for Turkish reinforcements to arrive at those heights and drive the enemy back?" "The Australian-New Zealand troops, called Anzacs, actually land one mile north of their intended beach." "Instead of the gently sloping plain they expected, they face steep slopes." "Beyond lies a rugged landscape of hills and ravines that divide the shoreline into small, unconnected beaches." "The Anzacs rush forward, reaching the heights of the Sari Bair ridge." "On that same ridge stands Colonel Mustafa Kemal and Turkish troops from his 19th Division." "Although he has received no orders from headquarters, he knows that something decisive must be done immediately." "The Turks are retreating." "They've run out of ammunition." "Colonel Kemal orders them to stop, fix their bayonets, and lie on the ground." "The Anzac troops react and also fling themselves to the ground." "Kemal's reinforcements arrive and drive the British off the ridge." "At Cape Helles Beach, the British land in broad daylight and are cut down by devastating fire from the enemy." "Two battalions emerge from the transport ship River Clyde." "Many soldiers are killed before they reach the shore." "An Allied pilot flying overhead reports that the water is red with blood for 50 yards from the shoreline." "As darkness falls at Gallipoli, not a single Allied objective set for that day has been reached." "The critical high ground overlooking the beach is still in Turkish hands." "The Anzacs hold on to their strips of beach for three weeks." "Then the Turks counterattack in a desperate attempt to drive their foe back into the sea." "But they fail." "And so the battle goes on, capturing a hill or a ridge at great sacrifice only to be driven out again." "On August 6th, the British stage a second landing at Suvla Bay, just north of Anzac Carve, in an attempt to outflank the Turkish positions." "Although the landing comes off very quickly with little resistance, the troops fail to seize the high ground along the ridge lines." "A few days later, the Turks counterattack at Suvla Bay, led by the British nemesis Colonel Mustafa Kemal." "He leads one of the attacks himself, and the British cannot hold on." "They are driven back to within a half-mile of the sea." "Once again, the Turks have taken the high ground." "The Allies have failed to advance against an enemy who is supposed to be inferior to Western armies." "The Turkish soldier is excellent fighting material." "Well looked after, sufficiently nourished, properly trained, and calmly led, these men will accomplish the highest aims." "Bravery itself does not win wars." "And the Turks, the Ottoman soldiers, were certainly no braver than, say, the English or the French." "So how is it that they actually won battles?" "And the answer is that they had a very, very proficient army that was trained to a high level of proficiency, although the Allies never really caught on to this." "It was an army that was modeled on the German army." "And although they weren't nearly anywhere near as good as the Germans, simply modeling their army on a successful army carried them a long way." "As summer turns into fall, the bloody stalemate goes on at Gallipoli." "The depressing monotony is broken by sporadic attacks, but nothing changes much." "The Turks still hold all the key terrain." "The British are still pinned with their backs to the sea." "Disease becomes the great killer in the trenches..." "Dysentery, cholera, and typhus." "There was not much sudden death, but there was slow death everywhere." "The body was slowly dying from the inside." "We talked to each other." "We laughed occasionally, but always the thought of death in our minds." "The men contracted dysentery and fever every day." "The bullets did not take a big toll." "It was the death of germs." "In October, London wants General Hamilton's opinion on the feasibility of evacuating all his troops." "He replies that half his men will die trying to leave the beaches." "A few days later," "Hamilton is replaced by General Charles Monro." "He surveys the hopeless situation at Cape Helles," "Anzac Cove, and Suvla Bay, and tells the War Office that the army needs to leave Gallipoli with no more delay." "Hearing about Munro's estimate," "Winston Churchill bitterly comments," ""He came, he saw, he capitulated."" "Lord Kitchener visits Gallipoli himself in November." "After seeing the quagmire with his own eyes, he orders General Monro to prepare for evacuation." "On December 18, 1915," "British forces begin to re-embark on their ships" "By January 9th, the withdrawal from Gallipoli is complete." "Not a single Allied soldier has been killed during the entire evacuation." "Got the news of the evacuation of Anzac." "The more I think of it, the more horrible the whole show seems." "All that sacrifice, all that labor, for nothing at all." "The flower of Australian manhood lies on and below the earth." "The cost of the campaign is horrifying." "A combined total of 1 million men have fought at Gallipoli." "Nearly half of them become casualties." "Never again will the British army attack the Turks from the sea." "So ends Winston Churchill's gamble to win a quick victory against the Ottoman Empire." "He is removed from his post as First Sea Lord and demoted to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a small, insignificant job where he will no longer control the fate of so many lives." "Winston Churchill falls on hard times after the Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaigns because, in some respects, he becomes a scapegoat." "And he's really pushed into the background." "He doesn't really play a role thereafter until 1918, when he is gonna be brought back." "He spends some time on the Western Front." "He's actually given a command on the Western Front during this period." "But again, as far as high policy, it's not until 1918 and 1919 that Churchill makes something of a comeback, that Iloyd George brings him back" "The day after Great Britain declares war on the Ottoman Empire, its first military act is to land troops near Abadan at the southern tip of Iran on November 6, 1914." "Its mission is quite clear..." "Protect the nearby oil fields and make sure their production is not disrupted." "Oil has become the new fuel for the Western world." "The Royal Navy has switched from coal to oil a few years before the war begins." "Great Britain and France have invested a lot of money and manpower to develop the oil fields in southern Iran." "Consequently, the military minds in London believe that an advance into Iraq, right next door to Iran, will be the best way to make sure that oil continues to flow out of the Middle East and into Allied warships, trucks, and aircraft." "One of the complicated stories has to do with oil." "Oil in the Middle East," "In 1911, the British navy had shifted from coal to oil." "And Winston Churchill, who was head of the navy then, did have a real understanding that oil was gonna be of great importance." "Other leaders were slow to figure that one out." "So that oil, during much of the war, was not the factor that it was to become later." "The operational conditions in southern Iraq, the Fertile Crescent region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, seems less than promising." "The area is known for its seasonal flooding, malaria, and swamp fever." "High temperatures are unbearable, sometimes reaching above 150 degrees." "In March 1915, the British begin their advance up the Tigris River, led by General Charles Townshend." "By the end of May, his troops clear out the hostile Turk and Arab forces that threaten the oil fields in Iran." "Although Townshend's superior, General John Nixon, knows all about troop shortages and supply problems, he keeps pushing Townshend for victories." "He even talks about capturing Baghdad before the year is out." "At the city of Kut-el-Amara, on September 28, 1915," "General Townshend's forces attack the Turkish defenses early in the morning and break the enemy lines by noon." "The battles rage all day, and the Turks are in full retreat by nightfall." "But General Nixon isn't satisfied." "He is obsessed with Baghdad and urges Townshend farther upriver into the heart of a sweltering darkness." "By mid-November, British forces, about 11,000 men, stand at the ruins of an ancient city known as Ctesiphon, with its famous arch rising above the featureless landscape." "They are only 25 miles from Baghdad." "Standing in their way are 20,000 soldiers of the Ottoman Sixth Army, led by Nureddin Pasha." "The Battle of Ctesiphon rages over four days in bitter cold, much of it fought in a sandstorm." "When the sky clears," "Townshend has failed to break the Turkish line." "Both sides lose about a third of their troops." "Baghdad will not be taken." "Townshend withdraws 100 miles downriver, back to Kut-el-Amara." "But the Turkish army is on the move again." "That's the conventional wisdom, that they fought hard and well when they were in trenches, backs against the wall." "In fact, they were capable of remarkable offensive movements on foot." "The Sarikamish campaign in particular." "They marched 75 kilometers in three days, whole army corps going through snowy passes in the mountains, in the Caucasus." "And the encirclement of Townshend's army in Kut." "They are relentless in their pursuit of Townshend as he goes downstream from Ctesiphon to Kut." "Arriving at Kut on December 3, 1915, the British have plenty of ammunition and two months of rations." "So when Townshend hears that the Turks are advancing against him, he shows no real concern." "Four days later, the Turks arrive and begin to surround the city." "The disastrous defeat at Sarikamish exposes all of eastern Turkey to an enemy invasion." "In early May 1915, the Russians restart their military machine and move down the Tortum Valley toward the fortress city of Erzurum." "General Yudenich and his army of 80,000 men capture the city of Van to the south, move past Lake Van, and threaten the city of Mus." "About 50,000 Turkish troops fight a holding action, but they are poorly equipped and short on ammunition." "And bringing in reinforcements is out of the question." "The Turkish railroad system is simply too inadequate." "So it's easy to talk about moving troops from Gallipoli or Thrace down to Mesopotamia." "It's another thing entirely to actually do it." "The railways only went part of the way." "And there were big breaks caused by mountains and unconstructed tunnel systems, which were planned but uncompleted." "It would take something like six to eight weeks to move troops from Gallipoli down to Mesopotamia under the best of circumstances." "Battles continue throughout the summer in a seesaw campaign where towns change hands from week to week." "The Turks have lost nearly 60,000 men, and the Russians haven't fared much better." "Then, in September, Grand Duke Nicholas, the uncle of Czar Nicholas It, takes command of the Caucasus Front." "From his headquarters in the city of Kars," "Nicholas and his staff spend the rest of the year planning their next offensive." "By January 1916, they are ready to move." "With nearly twice as many troops, they launch a surprise attack against the Turks and drive them back toward the west." "The Russians break through along the entire Eastern Front." "The Ottoman Third Army is routed and retreats to the fortress at Erzurum." "In mid-February." "The ancient fortress falls to the Russian invaders" "The capture of Erzurum is too painful to make public." "Even the sultan himself does not learn of the defeat for several months." "Another Russian force lands from the Black Sea and takes the city of Rize in March and then Trabzon in April." "Battles rage between the Russians and Turks throughout the spring and summer." "By the end of August, Nicholas has defeated two armies and occupied a massive amount of enemy land." "He is in full control now, and his exhausted troops can finally rest." "The Ottoman Second and Third Armies have suffered mortal blows." "They have lost 100,000 men." "Supplies are nearly gone, and any male from 16 to 50 is being drafted to fill the dwindling ranks." "By the end of 1916," "Turkish soldiers on the Eastern Front are dying by the hundreds of disease, starvation, or exposure to the harsh winter." "Great losses are caused by lack of subsistence and lack of warm clothing." "Many Turkish soldiers are dressed in thin summer garments, have no overcoats and no boots." "The feet are mostly wrapped in rags from which the toes protrude." "All men are badly undernourished." "The land itself is dead and cold." "The few factories stand silent and empty." "The supply system fails" "Food, clothing, and equipment are scarce." "Turkish soldiers aren't the only ones suffering." "A massive amount of refugees are also dying." "Hundreds of thousands also fall victim to starvation, exposure, and disease." "An additional threat comes from marauding bandits, deserters, rebel groups, and hostile soldiers." "Massacres are common throughout the land." "By the end of the war in Turkey, more than one million civilians will be dead." "In late December 1915," "General Townshend and about 13,000 men are surrounded at Kut-el-Amara." "The enemy has somehow amassed a superior force without the benefit of railroads." "They showed up in places that they shouldn't." "The Allies were always mystified why the Turks beat them to certain hills and objectives in certain battles." "It was a highly mobile army." "Our impression of the Turks is that they were only good sitting in a trench." "The fact is that they were tremendously mobile." "They were capable of marches over great distances..." "Hard-marching, tough soldiers who were very, very mobile and agile." "They could shift from the defensive to the offensive in a matter of hours." "Then, from Istanbul," "German Field Marshal Colmar Von der Goltz arrives to supervise operations against the British." "He decides to use an ancient tactic of warfare against the enemy." "He will starve them into submission." "From January to April," "British forces under General F.J. Aylmer try to break the Turkish siege with several attacks." "All of them fail." "General Townshend's men are on half-rations, and they're running out of bullets." "A final effort is made to get food and supplies to Townshend's starving troops." "Under a moonlit night a paddle steamer makes its way up the Tigris with food and provisions." "Its rudder catches on a cable stretched across the river by the Turks eight miles from Kut." "The crew is killed or captured." "The supplies go to the enemy." "On April 27th, the British troops at Kut begin to destroy their guns." "Two days later, 13,000 British and Indian soldiers surrender to the enemy." "During the ill-fated campaign to capture Baghdad," "General Townshend has lost 10,000 men." "General Aylmer loses another 23,000 soldiers trying to break the siege." "The British are mortified by news of the surrender." "With Townshend and his men captured," "London sees little reason to continue the campaign in Iraq." "The Turks move their troops southward and prepare strong defenses on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers." "They know the British will try for Baghdad again." "After the British failure at Gallipoli, another plan is developed to attack the Ottoman Empire from Egypt..." "Advance from the Suez Canal across the Sinai Desert and move up the coast of Palestine." "General Archibald Murray, commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, begins a deliberate and well-supplied advance across the desert." "Thousands of soldiers and Egyptian laborers are set to work building a foot-wide pipeline for water." "And building a railroad for supplies and reinforcements." "The British have erected a complete system of defense to the east of the canal and are awaiting us there with a force many times superior to our small expeditionary force." "The British, with an impregnable defense, now take the initiative in a great strategic maneuver designed for total victory." "General Murray finally decides to advance across the Sinai and attack the enemy in Palestine." "The desert war has begun." "For the soldiers, desert warfare offers a test of endurance that has no equivalent on the Western Front." "It is hard to keep marching in the right direction over a featureless landscape." "The country is built for defense, and the enemy makes great use of their advantage." "The British soldiers march with heavy packs under a burning sun and walk over soft, heavy sand that literally takes the boots right off their feet." "Most of these British soldiers have this thirst that they can never get over." "You can read their memoirs." "They talk about how important water suddenly was." "One says he can't stand a leaky faucet later on." "It's a waste of water." "But the hardships were quite extraordinary." "And I think it's really unfair to these soldiers to think that they had an easy time of it when they obviously don't." "They don't fight the same sort of artillery battles that you have on the Western Front." "And quite frankly, you were more likely to survive the war if you were in this particular theater." "But the physical hardships and the fact that you can't go home in some respects balances all of this out." "It takes six long months for the expeditionary force to move across the Sinai." "The Ottoman Fourth Army has dug in on a strong defensive line running from Gaza by the sea to the town of Beersheba." "General Murray sets his sights on Gaza and orders General Charles Dobell to capture the town and its precious water supply." "Dobell has a massive number of troops at his disposal, including the mounted Desert Column." "While it provides a strong and mobile force to use against the Turks, the Desert Column also creates the tremendous problem of 10,000 horses that also need water to survive." "Water wells are in Gaza." "If the British are to succeed, the town must be taken." "In December 1916," "British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith is voted out of office." "The defeat at Gallipoli and the bloody struggle on the Western Front has taken its toll on public morale." "And they elect David lloyd George to lead the country out of the war." "George has a strong distaste for all things Turkish." "He makes the destruction of the Ottoman Empire a key objective in the war." "In Iraq, the tragedy of General Townshend's surrender brands a harsh lesson upon the British War Office." "This time, General Percy Lake, who has replaced General Nixon, prepares another advance up the Tigris River." "He has 166,000 soldiers for the mission, two-thirds of them Indian." "Lake is depending on General Stanley Maude to capture Baghdad." "Although London is anxious for a victory," "Maude has the foresight to go forward only when his army is fully prepared." "Maude's army moves up the Tigris River early in 1917." "On February 22nd, they fall upon the Turks at Kut-el-Amara." "By the end of the day, the Turkish commanders fear encirclement." "They withdraw their army upriver for the final defense of Baghdad." "Maude pursues the retreating Turks and attacks them again on March 4th." "As the British drive the Turks upriver once again, they take many prisoners." "The enemy moves north of Baghdad, leaving the city defenseless" "March 11,1917." "General Maude's army enters Baghdad unopposed." "The conquering British receive high praise for their conduct from the local citizens." "One Ottoman historian will write..." "Though this was the 30th time that Baghdad had fallen to a conqueror, never before had the event passed off so quietly." "Maude wants to take Baghdad." "And he is able to take Baghdad." "And in some respects, it was a morale-lifting victory for the British." "But he clearly can't go beyond Baghdad." "It's now a problem of holding on to Baghdad." "But by this time, the British have already made a deal with the French to control the oil from Basra to Baghdad." "They had done this as early as 1916, before this city was conquered." "With summer on the way, carrying all of its bugs and diseases, and with supply lines stretched thin," "Maude decides to keep his men dug in around Baghdad." "They will roast in the unbearable heat, but at least they won't be fighting." "In the spring of 1917 on the Palestine Front" "General Murray sends his massive army forward to capture the city of Gaza and its badly needed water wells." "The Ottoman Fourth Army has established a strong defensive position on a line from Gaza to the town of Beersheba, protected on its left flank by the Judean hills" "On March 26th, the British advance and fight hard to gain much ground, losing many troops along the way." "Shrapnel had merged in a writhing white cloud over the advancing men." "They plodded out of a haze of earth and smoke only to disappear into another barrage." "Every yard must have seemed death to them." "Some thousands of the poor chaps bled on that day." "By the afternoon, Gaza is almost completely surrounded, with the Turks preparing to give up the town." "Suddenly, General Philip Chetwode, commanding cavalry of the Desert Column, fears that his men are being surrounded by the enemy and orders them to withdraw." "Without the cavalry, the infantry becomes exposed to counterattack." "So it, too, is ordered to fall back." "The soldiers are bewildered." "In the words of one division history..." "They considered they had captured Gaza and that they had been dragged, like a dog on a leash, from their prize." "On April 17, 1917," "General Murray strikes at Gaza for a second time." "A single British infantry division advances across a two-mile front." "The fighting goes on for three days." "But one division isn't enough, and thousands of soldiers die trying to break the Turkish line." "On making their final charge, the Turks stood up and received them with hand grenades, fleeing then to another line of trenches." "Our poor chaps occupied the trench for a time, and then the Turks attacked with fixed bayonets, killing or capturing nearly every man," "The only reason the Turks do not counterattack is because they are low on ammunition." "In June, Murray is dismissed and replaced by General Edmund Allenby, fresh from the Western Front." "Allenby is a large man with a bad temper." "Behind his back, he is known as "Bull" Allenby." "But he is also a professional in the trade of warfare and makes it clear to London that he will not move against the Gaza-Beersheba line until he gets plenty of reinforcements." "Allenby, in many respects, is sort of a bundle of contradictions." "Because he could be very severe at times, as his famous incident when he dresses down a soldier for not wearing a helmet, only to discover that he's talking to a corpse." "But he does this in France." "And he's really this hard-driving commander with a reputation that was somewhat diminished." "But when he comes to the Palestine Front, he's going to get a brand-new start." "And he turns out to be a first-rate commander because he's everywhere." "In fact, his own men have a signal," ""The Bloody Bull's loose,"" "when he was making his inspection tours." "But he has this really close contact with his men." "Throughout the entire summer of 1917, soldiers endure the heat and other nasty features of the desert war." "Though I keep picking off lice, there are plenty more." "I just can't get rid of them and am itching all over." "My body is covered with red and purple blotches." "By October 1917," "Allenby is ready to move against the enemy line." "On a moonlit night his army moves across the desert toward Gaza, arriving near the battleground at 3:00 in the morning on October 31st." "A few hours later, the British strike simultaneously at Gaza and Beersheba." "Allenby's plan is simple..." "Attack Gaza and hold the enemy's attention." "Then send in a larger force to attack Beersheba on the Turkish left flank, take the city, then concentrate everything against Gaza." "The battles rage the entire day." "But the main event at Beersheba is the famous cavalry charge of the 4th Australian Light Horse Regiment, depicted in the 1987 film "The Lighthorsemen."" "The long lines of cavalry swept forward at racing speed, half obscured in clouds of reddish dust." "Over the Turks they went, leaping the two lines of deep trenches, and flung themselves into the trenches with the bayonet." "The Turkish line is broken, and the enemy retreats to the north." "The loss of Beersheba in a single day stuns the Turkish army." "The next day, Allenby's troops hit the Turks hard at Gaza." "Incredibly, most of the enemy still holds, and the Turks even make some counterattacks." "But they cannot hold out against far superior forces." "After holding solid for nine months, the great Turkish line of defense has been destroyed." "The third battle for Gaza is the beginning of the end for the Ottoman Empire." "The Turkish armies are in retreat, and General Allenby is in hot pursuit." "He wants to destroy as much of the enemy as he can while he has the upper hand." "He knows there is plenty of fight left in the Turks." "They may be retreating, but they are not giving up." "Instead of continuing his drive to the north," "Allenby turns to the east, toward the holy city of Jerusalem." "The symbolic history of that ancient city, sacred to Christians, Muslims, and Jews, is more important at the moment than another great victory against the Turks." "Iloyd George has already told Allenby to take Jerusalem before Christmas." "The religious significance is not lost on Christians among the British troops." "Ford's Tin Lizzies plowed through the sand hills and raced along the coast tracks where Pharaoh's war chariots had traveled." "A derelict tank lay in no-man's-land within rifle-shot of where Samson's primitive weapon of the jawbone of an ass had proved more deadly." "In some respects, it was a Crusade." "But Allenby is really sensitive about this because he doesn't want it to be called a Crusade." "A lot of his soldiers were Muslim." "His labor force, for example." "He also had Indian troops." "And so he doesn't want this Christian-versus-Muslim conflict." "And he just doesn't want it called that at all." "But you couldn't help but be aware, if you were a British soldier, that you were going into Bethlehem or that you were getting closer to Jerusalem." "And so even though Allenby doesn't want it really talked about as a Crusade, some of the rank and file did think that way." "And I think it was some motivation for some of these British soldiers." "On a night of rain and bitter cold," "British forces attack the holy city of Jerusalem on December 7, 1917." "The enemy offers strong resistance at first." "But they are only 15,000 men against overwhelming enemy numbers." "They begin to withdraw from the city." "Four centuries of Ottoman rule have come to an end." "On December 11th," "General Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot out of respect for the city." "He is the 34th conqueror of Jerusalem in its long, volatile past." "After a campaign that has lasted 40 days and 40 nights, with the loss of 18,000 men, the British soldiers have delivered a Christmas present to their nation." "In the city, Allenby delivers a proclamation to the crowd and dignitaries gathered." "Since your city is regarded with affection by the adherents of three of the great religions of mankind, and its soil has become consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people of those three religions for many centuries," "therefore do I make it known to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of the three religions will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs" "of those to whose faiths they are sacred." "The Turks lose 25,000 men in the struggle that began October 31st." "They are down but not out and still hold a strong defensive line from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea." "General Allenby's great victory has no effect on the bloodbath that continues on the Western Front." "In fact, it looks as though the Germans might win the struggle." "Generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff are planning a great offensive for the spring of 1918." "They have many more divisions of troops to use against the British and French, brought in from the fight against Russia, where the revolution of 1917 has toppled the czarist government of Nicholas It." "The Bolsheviks have taken over, led by Vladimir Lenin." "He quickly signs treaties with Berlin and Istanbul that take his new Communist state out of the war." "So Germany is free to concentrate all its strength on the Western Front." "In the United States," "Congress declares war on Germany in April 1917." "President Wood row Wilson promises to send troops in the hundreds of thousands to help Britain and France." "But it takes time to train and organize this massive force and get them over to Europe." "Iloyd George fears the Americans will not arrive in time to do any good against the impending German onslaught, so the prime minister tells General Allenby to send most of his army back to France." "But Iloyd George is also a great supporter of fighting in the Middle East." "He quarrels a lot with his generals about the allocation of resources to these theaters" "And he is determined by late 1917, 1918 that this is going to be the British theater." "That he's just stay on the defensive in the west, basically wait for the American forces to build up in Europe." "He hoped even to substitute" "American soldiers for British soldiers, which he was going to send to the Middle East." "But this was going to be his theater, but the Germans wouldn't play that game." "So when they attack, suddenly, the Western Front is once again first and foremost." "The British offensive in Palestine is stopped cold just when it is poised to capture Damascus and press on to Istanbul itself." "Allenby can do nothing but watch his opportunity slip away and watch the Ottoman army use the time to prepare their defenses for the battles that lie ahead." "Yes, the holy city of Jerusalem is in the crusaders' hands." "But peace still lies somewhere beyond its walls." "Early in the war, Allied agents contact Sharif Hussein, one of the key tribal leaders in Arabia." "The British have heard about a nationalist movement gaining strength across the desert." "They want to use Arab nationalism as a weapon in the war against the Turks." "The British urge Hussein to join the Allies and lead an Arab revolt in the desert." "Hussein is quite clear about what he wants in return for his support in the war..." "Arab independence." "London agrees to help achieve that goal, but their response is appropriately vague." "They don't want the Arabs to be completely free." "What they really want is British influence in Arabia." "On June 10, 1916," "Hussein finally declares a revolt against the Turks." "The British have supplied him with guns and gold." "But the Arabs are undisciplined." "Various tribes and factions argue among themselves." "One British officer says the Arabs are "just looters and murderers." "They would not stand casualties."" "While a revolt has been declared, no one really knows its strength or how reliable information about it really is." "They interrogated a deserter who had come over from the Ottoman side, a young Arab who claimed to be a representative of Arab secret societies that, according to him, honeycombed the Ottoman armies." "Most of the Ottoman troops were, in fact, Arab." "And so this young officer said that there was a very good possibility that as much as half or more of the whole Ottoman Empire would switch sides in the war and come over to the Allied side if they felt that the British" "were going to give Arabs their independence after the war." "And what we know now but they did not know then was it was a hoax." "The young man spoke for nobody but himself." "One fact is clear..." "The Arab revolt lacks effective leadership." "The Arab Bureau in Cairo sends a 28-year-old British captain, Thomas Lawrence, into Arabia to find a man who can bring the tribes together into an effective fighting force." "That man turns outta be Prince Faisal, son of Sharif Hussein." "Faisal has already joined a secret Arab nationalist society." "Lawrence meets him in December 1916, and together they plan a strategy for attacking the Turks." "Lawrence knows the Arab rebels are no good against fortified Turkish positions." "He begins to lead small, mobile detachments across the desert on hit-and-run missions." "One of his favorite targets is the Hejaz Railway that runs from Medina all the way to Damascus in the north." "Lawrence's genius for guerrilla warfare soon emerges." "The exploits of this enigmatic soldier and scholar will be popularized 45 years later in the epic Hollywood film "Lawrence of Arabia."" "Come on, men!" "On July 6,1917," "Lawrence and his Arabs achieve a victory that the British generals in Cairo consider to be impossible." "They capture the strategic port of Aqaba on the Red Sea, attacking across 600 miles of desert." "Lawrence returns to Cairo to report his victory to General Allenby." "Dressed in Arab costume, he creates quite a stir at headquarters." "But Allenby has a liking for the unorthodox and appreciates Lawrence's abilities." "After the victory in Aqaba," "Allenby agrees to supply the Arabs with more guns and more gold." "Throughout 1917 and 1918, the Arab revolt plays havoc with the Turkish line of communications, pinning down about 30,000 enemy troops that cannot be used against Allenby." "But they stay clear of the fortress at Medina." "The idea of assaulting Medina was not in accord with our best strategy." "We wanted the enemy to stay in Medina and in every other harmless place in the largest numbers." "So long as he gave us the other 999-thousandths of the Arab world." "During the first three weeks of May 1918," "Arab rebels blow up the Hejaz Railway 25 times." "Prince Faisal soon becomes London's favorite Arab leader." "By September 1918," "General Allenby is ready for his final push toward Damascus." "Lawrence and his men destroy four miles of Turkish railroad tracks in support of Allenby's advance." "The enemy is clearly demoralized and falling apart." "The Arab revolt gains more energy as other Arab tribes join Faisal's army." "Some of them fight for independence, but most of them fight for the spoils of war." "As the official British history notes," ""They saw their old enemy reeling to destruction."" "They saw a vision of freedom," ""and nearer at hand, a vision of loot."" "At the start of 1918, the British offensive grounds to a halt after the capture of Jerusalem." "The Turks have time to gather reinforcements and strengthen their defensive lines." "From Germany, an elite fighting unit called the Yildirim, or "lightning," group has arrived, led by General Erich Von Falkenhayn." "The fresh German troops join the attack with machine guns, artillery, and a complement of brand-new fighter planes." "In Germany, General Hindenburg and his staff have been planning a great offensive on the Western Front." "On March 21, 1918, they unleash their mighty attack." "Outnumbered by more than 2 to 1, the Allied front collapses." "Fearing that the war might be lost," "London recalls 90,000 of General Allenby's best men from Palestine, along with heavy artillery, to block the German advance." "Here, I have raided the Hejaz Railway 40 miles east of Jordan and have done much damage." "But my little show dwindles now into a very insufficient affair in comparison with events in Europe." "When Allenby's men arrive in France, they are quickly reminded by their comrades-in-arms that the "real war" is in France, not in a far-off desert." "Allen by isn't the only general losing troops in Palestine." "Enver Pasha has decided to begin a grand offensive in the Caucasus, where the Russian army has disintegrated." "He steals some of the best troops from Palestine and doesn't even bother to consult with General Von Sanders." "Without giving me a hearing, orders are issued for the withdrawal of my most valuable troops, without which the front cannot be held, and the withdrawal of the remaining German formations, without which the war cannot be continued by Turkey." "Sanders isn't alone in questioning the wisdom of Enver's new campaign." "General Kemal also argues that Turkish troops should stay on the Palestine Front." "One school of thought, exemplified by Mustafa Kemal, who was the philosophical loser in this sense, was that Turkey should tighten up its defenses, should form strategic reserves and get ready for a defensive battle to retain what they had already conquered" "or held on to in the war." "The other strategic idea was Enver Pasha's." "And that's that the attack should be continued, that the successes of 1916 should be followed up." "There were, in many ways, a surplus..." "A small surplus of forces available in 1917." "By the summer of 1918," "Turkish troops fighting in Palestine are suffering badly." "They have no reserves and few supplies." "Their clothes are in rags, and they are hobbled by disease." "Frequently, the troops aren't even sure if they will have food on the next day." "Hungry, ragged, verminous, comfortless, hopeless, outnumbered." "Is it to be wondered that the Turkish soldiers lost heart?" "It is unlikely that any other troops in the world would have remained without collapse for so long a period of warfare under such conditions." "The German offensive in France is gradually blunted by the Allies." "U.S. soldiers have finally arrived in large numbers, and the tide of battle begins to tum." "By the fall of 1918,the Germans are the ones retreating." "Allenby's forces have been restored, and he strikes the Turks on September 19, 1918, in a series of attacks that will become known as the Battle of Megiddo, the place where, according to the Bible," "the final struggle between good and evil will be waged..." "Armageddon." "Covering his right flank with a small, mobile force and Lawrence's Arab guerrillas," "Allenby sends his cavalry along the coast, where they break the enemy lines and swing to the east." "The Turks, threatened with envelopment, retreat northeast in disorder." "General Von Sanders narrowly avoids being captured." "He is reported to retreat in his pajamas." "In the chaos that follows, the British take many prisoners." "In one incident, 800 Turks surrender to an enemy officer they have just captured." "In another incident, an entire regiment of Arab troops drop their guns and leave the field of battle." "In the retreat toward Damascus," "British planes drop nine tons of bombs on the enemy." "The roads are strewn with dead soldiers, horses, and demolished wagons" "I was more drawn to the idea of learning about people than of killing them." "The only thing I killed all the war was a marauding dog, and I feel sorry about that still." "In two days, the Turkish Seventh and Eighth Armies are virtually destroyed." "The disaster at Megiddo forces the Turkish general staff to realize that the war is lost in Palestine." "It is only a matter of time before the Allies fight their way to Istanbul." "On February 12, 1918," "Enver Pasha sends a Turkish force into eastern Turkey, now void of Russian soldiers." "About 20,000 troops of the Armenian National Army, who had fought alongside the Russians, stand in the way." "They are well-equipped with guns and supplies, but cannot hold out for long against the Turks and begin a fighting retreat toward the Caucasus." "Enver's army quickly captures the port of Trabzon and the strategic city of Erzurum, where the Turks had been routed two years earlier by the Russians." "By the end of April, the Turks control most of the region around Lake Van, including the cities of Van, Bitlis, and Mus." "In Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm and his generals are suspicious of their ally's advance into the Caucasus, where the rich oil fields of Baku are the great prize." "By this time." "All the Great Powers recognize the importance of oil." "Short on fuel," "Germany has a critical need for the oil in Baku." "The Turkish advance must be stopped, and the general staff sends several angry messages to Enver, who ignores all of them." "By the end of July, the Ottoman Third Army stands on the heights overlooking Baku." "The city is defended by an odd combination of Russian, Armenian, and Muslim forces." "The Turks attack several times without success, and then about 2,000 British troops arrive in the city." "Commanded by General Ic." "Dunsterville." "London is also concerned about the Turkish advance." "They would like to add the oil in Baku to their postwar gains and are willing to fight for it." "But the enemy has at least 10 times the number of troops that Dunsterville has cobbled together." "Soon his multinational command begins to fall apart, just as the Turks renew their attack in the middle of September." "This time, unlike Gallipoli, the British know when to quit." "Dunsterville withdraws his troops into Royal Navy transports that have been waiting at the dock on the Caspian Sea." "The British effort to take Baku is short-lived." "And after Turkish artillery bombards the remaining defenders, the city falls to Enver's army on September 15, 1918." "Without the Russian army to stop them, the Turkish campaign in the Caucasus is a great success." "Encouraged by his string of victories," "Enver goes on with his plans to unite all the Muslim people in Turkey, Iran, and Central Asia." "He now calls his soldiers the "Army of Islam,"" "and he leads them farther and farther away from where they are really needed..." "In Palestine, where the British are scoring their own string of victories." "But Enver is caught up in his dream and leads his men forward on a mission that can never be accomplished." "Four years later, the dream ends." "With his Army of Islam reduced to a handful of followers," "Enver is surrounded by Soviet troops in far-off Turkmenistan and killed on August 4, 1922." "In Iraq, things remain fairly quiet after General Maude captures Baghdad in the spring of 1917." "Now, a year and a half later," "General William Marshall commands the theater when the War Office suddenly orders him to advance northward." "London has concluded that the Ottoman Empire is in its death throes and wants to make certain that the large oil reserves around the city of Mosul are in British hands, despite the fact that French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau" "has been promised the region for France." "On October 2, 1918, Marshall receives his orders..." "Occupy as much of the oil-bearing lands as possible." "In a series of attacks," "Marshall's troops drive back the enemy along the Tigris River." "But the Turks haven't much fight left in them." "The Turkish commander is aware that Sultan Mehmed VI is engaged in peace talks with the Allies." "He knows the end is near and surrenders his force of 11,000 men on October 30th." "The next day, an armistice takes effect, and the Ottoman Empire is no longer at war." "In violation of that armistice," "British troops rush to Mosul and occupy it on November 1 st." "Great Britain now controls the oil in Iraq." "On the Palestine Front," "Allenby's army and Prince Faisal's men drive into Syria." "And Damascus falls on October 1, 1918." "Moving farther north, the British take the city of Aleppo, and the great campaign is over," "500 miles from where it started in September." "Throughout the fight, the humble heroes of British victory have been the thousands of camels used to carry supplies and the camel drivers." "The camel, in some respects, saved the British army." "They assembled the largest camel force history has ever known." "Of course, it took tens of thousands of camel drivers." "But camels carried the water." "They also carried the wounded." "Camels could move on sand." "And I think the unsung heroes, in many respects, of the British army were these camel drivers." "They sometimes were recruited by sharp practices." "They were sometimes placed under severe discipline." "They were supposed to be civilians." "But they were basically put under a form of military discipline." "And as fast as they were recruited, a lot of them are leaving." "The Turks are in full retreat." "General Von Sanders and his staff withdraw to Adana in southeastern Turkey." "They will fight no more." "Five days later, Von Sanders is recalled to Istanbul." "He gives a farewell message to his men." "The glorious days of Gallipoli will ever remain unforgotten in the history of all times." "I trust that God may grant to the people peace, tranquility, and recovery from the wounds inflicted by the long war." "Sultan Mehmed VI appeals to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to negotiate a peace agreement with the Allies on behalf of Istanbul." "The United States has not declared war on the Ottoman Empire." "It has no designs on territory in the Middle East." "Wilson refuses to help, and so Istanbul sends another peace envoy," "General Charles Townshend, who surrendered his command at Kut-el-Amara." "After some negotiating, an armistice is signed on board the Royal Navy battleship Agamemnon." "In fact, the document is not just a surrender." "It gives the Allies permission to occupy any piece of enemy territory they wish." "Not only is the Ottoman Empire out of the war, its very existence is threatened." "All Turkish territory is placed at the disposal of the Allies for what is diplomatically called" ""further operations of war."" "Soon after the armistice," "Minister of the Interior Talaat Pasha, along with Enver and Jemal, make their escape from Istanbul." "Power passes to Mehmed VI, who has only been sultan for five months." "He wants to keep his new throne and knows he must satisfy the Allies." "In France, the German military machine on the Western Front collapses." "The German military leaders, who have come so close to victory, now agree to an armistice that begins on November 11 , 1918." "All across France, people take to the streets in a cascade of joy that has been suppressed over four long years of total, bitter warfare that has taken more than 8 million lives." "As Turkish forces lay down their guns all across the Empire, the Allies occupy the Dardanelles Straits and the Gallipoli Peninsula." "Slowly but surely, the Allies start to devour Turkish land." "In the east, Armenian troops march back into Turkey." "In the southeast, French and Armenian troops land at Adana." "In the southwest, Italian forces establish a foothold." "And from the west, a Greek army of occupation lands at the city of Izmir." "Most of the Turkish army, nearly 3 million strong, no longer exists." "One out of every three soldiers has been killed or wounded." "Hundreds of thousands are prisoners of war or have simply deserted." "More than a million citizens in the Ottoman Empire have also died." "Thousands more are starving or dying of disease." "About half the Empire's land is now in enemy hands." "Unproductive land." "And the economy is in ruins." "And yet the Turkish army is not completely destroyed." "It still controls a large part of Turkey." "A cadre of seasoned and committed officers pull their ranks together." "The Western powers are eager to bring even more land under their control." "But some Turkish generals think differently, and one of them is about to change the entire future of his country." "General Mustafa Kemal, who played a key role in the defense of Gallipoli, has been held back in his career by the jealousy of Enver Pasha." "Enver Pasha was a charismatic young man who wanted to make the Ottoman Empire great." "He was aggressive and reckless." "Mustafa Kemal, on the other hand, was, I think smarter." "Also a political animal but was more cautious, was more deliberate in his thinking." "Mustafa Kemal, when he arrived at a conclusion, was then ruthless and relentless in its execution." "He was a fierce fighter." "He was the best commander, certainly, in the Ottoman army, and as Churchill pointed out, one of the best commanders of the whole entire war." "Now, in the spring of 1919, Kemal finally gets his chance." "Outside of Istanbul, the social fabric all across Turkey has broken down." "It is a lawless land with no central authority." "The sultan is controlled by the Allies, but the Allies no longer have enough troops to maintain security in the Middle East." "When civil violence breaks out around the city of Samsun on the Black Sea coast," "Kemal is sent there to restore order." "He is given broad powers as an inspector general for the army." "He arrives in Samsun on May 19, 1919, with a clear mission..." "Galvanize the Turkish nationalist Movement into a political reality, and raise a new army to drive foreign invaders out of the land." "He meets with a small group of like-minded colleagues, and together they draft a declaration of independence." "Kemal travels from city to city throughout 1919, recruiting support from local leaders, army officers, and the Turkish people." "Even the Muslim religious leaders lend their support in the fight to create a new Turkish Republic." "Entire units of troops regroup and seize the weapons they surrendered only recently." "Nationalist leaders converge at the city of Sivas to discuss the future of their country." "More leaders meet at the fortress city of Erzurum, where Kemal argues that the sultan's government is nothing more than a pawn of the Allies." "Istanbul no longer represents the best interests of the Turkish nation." "The Allies know little about 38-year-old Mustafa Kemal, who suddenly emerges at the head of an all-out revolt against European authority." "When Iloyd George makes inquiries about Kemal, neither the foreign office nor the intelligence service can say much about him." "They can't even say whether Kemal is acting for or against the sultan's government." "By the end of 1919," "Turkish nationalists, known as Kemalists, come to power in a series of local elections." "They converge in Ankara, a city in north-central Turkey." "Far from Istanbul," "British battleships, and invading armies, it is a good location for a new government, which is proclaimed in April 1920." "Kemal and his supporters commit themselves to creating an independent Turkish state free of Western occupation." "A few months later, the sultan's government signs the Treaty of Sevres with the Allies." "Under its terms, large parts of Turkey will be handed over to France, Italy, Greece, and Armenia." "Istanbul and the Dardanelles will fall under international control, with a military presence." "Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, and Palestine will belong to London." "And Paris will control Syria and Lebanon." "The treaty is a public version of a secret agreement made between Britain and France back in 1916." "At that time, British diplomat Mark Sykes and French diplomat Francois Picot redrew the map of the Middle East to accommodate Western greed for land and oil." "The Sykes-Picot agreement was an arrangement between Britain and France, arrived at about midway through the war, as to how the Middle East would be divided in terms of their own interests when the war was over." "This was an agreement that was essential to hold," "Sykes felt, because he had been told that by his friends in the Arab Bureau in Cairo..." "That it was of greatest importance that the British should know what they could give away to the supposed Arab leader, Sharif Hussein." "And before they knew what they could give him, they had to know what they were giving the French." "In Ankara, the Kemalist government immediately rejects the Treaty of Sevres." "But the Allies aren't worried." "They hold all the cards, or so they believe." "Prince Faisal and his Arab army make their victorious entrance into Damascus on October 3, 1918." "In return for supporting the Allies," "Faisal expects to rule over an independent Arab republic stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, including Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon." "General Allenby meets with Faisal and Colonel Lawrence, breaking the news that under previous arrangements," "France is to rule in Syria and Lebanon while Britain will take charge in Palestine, where a Jewish homeland will be guaranteed." "Predictably, Faisal objects strongly." "But to no avail." "He is vastly outnumbered." "At the Paris Peace Conference, the victorious Allies dictate peace terms to Germany and Austro-Hungary." "The Treaty of Versailles is signed on June 28, 1919." "During the peace conference," "Iloyd George argues that Great Britain should play a dominant role in the Middle East." "He reminds the delegates that more than a million British soldiers are stationed there and that a quarter-million have died or been wounded there." "French losses in the Middle East are far less, and the United States hasn't even fought there." "One maxim of military doctrine has never changed..." "To control an occupied country, a government needs to have enough troops to do the job." "One million British soldiers can get the job done in the Middle East and maintain order among the civilian populations." "But those troops are about to disappear." "Many have not been home since 1914, and their attitude is verging on mutiny." "General Allenby understands the danger of disgruntled soldiers in foreign lands and in the spring of 1919 convinces the War Office to bring the boys back home." "To fill the void being left by the British," "Iloyd George calls on another ally, Greece." "In Athens, Prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos is more than happy to oblige." "His government has its eyes on Western Turkey anyway, with plans to make it part of Greece." "Sending an army of occupation at London's request will only make the job easier." "And the Greeks can also make sure the Italians in southern Turkey don't take more than they've been promised." "Prince Faisal, the Arab representative to the Paris Peace Conference, finally agrees to exclude Palestine from a new Arab Republic." "Chaim Weizmann and other Jewish Zionist leaders are intent on making Palestine a new homeland for their people around the world." "Lord A.J. Balfour has written a declaration to that effect." "It reads in part..." "His Majesty's government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object." "Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the Zionist leader who was responsible for the issuance of this statement, insisted that it be a public engagement." "It had to be there on the front page of the newspaper." "He correctly saw that only an agreement that was open and public would be considered legitimate in the postwar world." "That the very secrecy with which other agreements were made" "Suggested impropriety." "And that was a very astute observation of Weizmann's, and it made an enormous difference in the Balfour Declaration." "But Faisal and his Arabs still demand control over Syria and Lebanon." "France, intent on dominating both areas, sees Faisal as nothing more than a British puppet and Arab independence as nothing more than British manipulation." "French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau is frustrated by the political intrigue and at one point in the negotiations bursts into a rage and offers Iloyd George the choice of pistols or swords." "Lord Balfour is more cynically detached and describes Wilson, George, and Clemenceau as..." "Three all-powerful, all-ignorant men, sitting there and carving up continents with only a child to lead them." "Lebanon becomes a battleground for French troops, Arab rebels, and British security forces." "Arabs attack the French with frequent raids." "British forces stop the French from retaliating." "Small wonder that Clemenceau has challenged Iloyd George to a duel." "Winston Churchill, rehabilitated from his role in the Gallipoli disaster, becomes the government's new Secretary of War in 1919." "He warns Parliament not to disband its army too soon, lest the new peace cannot be enforced." "Yet by 1920, the British army in the Middle East has shrunk to about 300,000 men." "There was a British army of about a million men in the Middle East." "And there was no other organized armed force in the whole of Asia." "So Britain was in a position to impose her will, to make any settlement she wanted." "But Winston Churchill warned that that situation was, in its nature, a temporary one." "That it was very important for Britain to impose her terms before disbanding her armies." "Because if she disbanded her armies first, she couldn't get her terms." "This advice was unheeded." "And Britain did, indeed, go ahead and dissolve her armies." "And the result was that, within months after the armistice was signed, you had got, one by one, disorders and uprisings in every single country of the Middle East." "London and Paris are the only two governments left to settle matters in the Middle East." "Italy has dropped out in disgust, and the United States has opted for isolationism." "But Iloyd George is undeterred by such realities." "He is determined to redraw the map in the Middle East and to add nearly a million square miles to the British Empire." "In Ankara," "General Kemal monitors the land-grabbing frenzy and bides his time." "The new Turkish government and its army are about to make a reply." "In 1918, after Russian troops have withdrawn, a new Armenian Republic is established in the Caucasus, with its capital in Yerevan." "The Armenian government believes that its people have a historical claim to a large region in eastern Turkey." "After the Ottoman Empire surrenders to the Allies," "Yerevan sends its troops to occupy the area." "But the Turkish nationalists also see the region as part of their traditional homeland." "In the fall of 1919," "Turkish troops commanded by General Kazim Karabekir advance against the Armenians and in a series of battles steadily push them back toward the Caucasus" "As the fighting continues for another year, the Western powers change their minds about helping Armenia and withdraw their support." "In December 1920, the Armenian government signs a treaty with the Turkish nationalists." "The following spring." "Ankara signs another treaty with Vladimir Lenin in Moscow, and the eastern borders of Turkey are secured." "As for the Armenian Republic, its independence is short-lived." "Soviet troops and political commissars take control in Yerevan, and Armenia becomes part of the Soviet Union." "It will not achieve independence again until 1991." "While they drive Armenians out of the east" "Kemalist forces also attack French and Armenian troops that occupy an area in southeastern Turkey known as Cilicia." "From February to April of 1920," "Turkish forces score several victories." "The new French prime minister, Alexandre Millerand, is under pressure to demobilize the French army while still holding on to Syria." "He orders his commanders to find a way out and start negotiating with Kemal." "Iloyd George, on the other hand, rejects conciliation and sends British troops to occupy Istanbul." "Churchill urges him to make peace with Kemal, believing that a solid agreement with Ankara is the best way to stop Communist expansion." "Meanwhile, the Soviets reach an understanding with the Turks." "Moscow fears the growth of British influence in the Middle East, so it decides to support the Kemalist government and begins to funnel money and weapons to the Turkish nationalists." "In the spring of 1921," "French diplomat Henri-Franklin Bouillon goes to Ankara and reaches an accord that ends the conflict in Turkey." "Paris formally recognizes the legitimacy of the Ankara government and will no longer deal with the sultan in Istanbul." "The Treaty of Sevres is canceled, and lloyd George's carefully drawn map of the Middle East is now a meaningless piece of paper." "Britain feels betrayed by this separate peace engineered by the French." "London and Paris, two governments that suffered through the Great War together, are no longer allies in the war that continues in the Middle East." "By October 1921, all French and Armenian forces are evacuated from Turkey." "Now General Kemal and his army can focus on yet another enemy, the Greek army that lies to the west." "In mid-June 1920," "London approaches Greek Prime Minister Venizelos for help in defeating the Turkish nationalists, who have even begun to attack British troops in Istanbul." "The Allies agree to let Greek forces advance from Izmir into Turkey." "And on June 22, the invasion begins." "By the following year," "Greek troops have advanced deep into Turkish territory." "An exultant Iloyd George proclaims, "Turkey is no more."" "But the Turks themselves aren't convinced." "Kemal plans to use the same strategy employed by the Russians against Napoleon in 1812..." "Draw the enemy into the interior, wear them down, and then counterattack." "Arnold Toynbee, a historian who reports on the campaign for the Manchester Guardian, writes the following..." "I began to realize on how narrow a margin the Greeks had gambled for a military decision and how adverse were the circumstances under which they were playing for victory over Kemal." "At the end of March 1921, the Turks repel three strong Greek attacks and hold their ground." "In July, King Constantine of Greece takes personal command of his forces in Turkey and strikes in a brilliant attack that drives the enemy back toward Ankara." "General Kemal calls his national assembly into secret session and offers a desperate solution." "He asks his government to make him supreme commander, with dictatorial powers, for three months." "If he fails to tum back the Greek army, the blame will fall entirely on him." "The assembly agrees." "Kemal and his second-in-command, Ismet Inonu, pull their troops back to within 50 miles of Ankara and build a strong defensive position along the Sakarya River, with concentric rings of trenches." "In late August, Constantine's army attacks again, driving the Turks back at the rate of a mile per day." "The two sides fight savagely for weeks." "Then Kemal sends his cavalry to attack the exposed Greek supply lines." "Constantine fears that his army may be surrounded." "With his troops exhausted and his supply base 350 miles away," "Constantine decides to fall back." "After repelling the enemy tide at the gates of Ankara, the Turkish army takes an entire year preparing for its next move." "The Turkish people have been busy making bullets and hand grenades, putting machine guns together, making uniforms and boots, giving up food and other supplies for the army of Kemal." "Everyone is mobilized for total war against the Greeks." "In late August 1922," "Turkish forces begin their counterattack, moving toward Izmir along the railroad line, and north toward the city of Bursa." "After several days of brutal combat, the Greek army retreats." "Athens appeals urgently to Iloyd George for military assistance." "But the British prime minister can do nothing, replying that he is one of three people in London who support the Greek occupation." "At Izmir, a fleet of ships hastily assembles to evacuate the defeated Greek army." "It has lost 200,000 men since the invasion began." "Masses of soldiers as well as thousands of Greek civilians are taken aboard a hodgepodge of ships from a variety of countries as the Turkish army continues to advance." "In the midst of this chaos, a fire breaks out in the city and quickly spreads." "About half of Izmir is destroyed as thousands die in the flames." "General Kemal's army enters the ruins of a once-beautiful city on September 11, 1922." "But the Greek soldiers are gone." "Even as Izmir still smolders, the Turkish commanders prepare to march against the British in Istanbul." "An army that London has underestimated since 1914 still poses a threat eight years later." "They liked to attack." "The commanders liked to attack." "They liked to encircle their enemies." "They used German models." "They were thought to be a liability." "The British consistently underestimated them." "Two years after Gallipolijn 1917, the British were still underestimating the Turks and unable to batter through the Turkish defenses at Gaza." "As the Turkish army moves closer to Istanbul, the British decide to negotiate after all." "General Charles Harrington arranges a truce, and another war against the Turks is averted." "General Kemal and his troops march into the capital unopposed." "The Turkish people can finally share the joy that was felt in Paris and London four years ago." "The enemy has finally been driven out." "World War I in the Middle East is over." "On July 24,1923, the Great Powers sign a treaty with the Turkish government in the Swiss city of Lausanne." "Now the borders of Turkey and the government in Ankara are recognized by all of Europe." "On October 29, 1923, Mustafa Kemal, who helped to save his nation on the fields of Gallipoli, becomes the first president of the Turkish Republic." "After General Allenby conquers Palestine, he sets up a military administration burdened with the task of creating a Jewish homeland there, despite the strong opposition of Arab nationalists." "In Iraq, Muslim nationalists declare the independence of the Baghdad and Basra provinces, with Faisal's brother, Abdullah, as their king." "British interests focus on Mosul, with its rich oil reserves." "Although it's mainly populated by Kurds," "London works on a plan to make it part of the Iraqi nation." "Complicating the matter further is the fact that most of the 2 million Muslims in the region belong to the Shi'a sect." "One British expert, Arnold Wilson, warns that the Shi'as will never accept domination by the minority Sunni Muslims." "Gertrude Bell, another Arab expert, works on a plan to unify the fragmented Muslim cultures of Iraq into a single Iraqi nation." "An American missionary warns her..." "You are flying in the face of four millenniums of history if you try to draw a line around Iraq and call it a political entity." "By the spring of 1920," "Arab raiding parties infest the Iraqi desert, taking British troops hostage and killing them." "By mid-August." "The Arab rebels declare a provisional government." "The Times of London questions the wisdom of spending millions of pounds in Iraq and Iran in support of what it calls" ""the foolish policy of the government in the Middle East."" "Churchill's number-one priority was to save money, because he didn't have very much, and to have a strategy which used very little manpower because he didn't have big armies." "And that ca me first, ahead of everything else." "He did not approach the Middle East with an ideological bent." "He approached it with a very practical bent." "This had been his job." "He stood a good chance of succeeding to be prime minister someday soon if he made a success of this job." "And that's what he was there to do." "In neighboring Iran, central authority has broken down from British, Russian, and Turkish military operations during the war as well as German political intrigue." "In London, Lord Curzon searches for a way to remove British troops from the region and turn the chaotic territory into a self-supporting nation that can defend itself." "But Iran looks elsewhere for support." "In February 1921, a new government takes over in Tehran." "It denounces the British treaty and signs a new one with the Soviet government in Moscow." "Iran is depending on the Russians to help them eliminate the British presence." "By the end of 1920, nationalist Arabs are rioting in Egypt and Palestine." "King Saud of Arabia and Prince Faisal are fighting the British and French with their own armies." "Sentiment grows in London that Great Britain should withdraw from the Middle East entirely." "The British Foreign Office believes that the new Soviet regime in Moscow is behind much of the unrest." "But it is really Great Britain and France, two Western countries trying to impose their rule on a predominantly Muslim world." "In early 1921, Churchill takes charge of the government's Middle Eastern policy as colonial secretary." "The Arabs want Palestine, but leaders of the Jewish Zionist movement are encouraging Jews around the world to resettle there." "Arab landowners fear that they will be pushed out of their land." "The Zionists point to the Balfour Declaration of 1917 as a justification from the British government itself for a Jewish homeland in Palestine." "In July of 1922," "Churchill argues before the House of Commons that Britain must accept a mandate over Palestine from the League of Nations." "The measure is adopted, and Britain is committed to ensuring the security of a Jewish homeland in the Middle East." "By the end of 1922, the League of Nations has approved a system of mandates that leaves France in charge of Syria and Lebanon, while Great Britain controls Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq." "Prince Faisal, driven from Syria by the French, now rules in Iraq under the influence of London." "His brother, Prince Abdullah, is chosen by the British to rule the new nation of Jordan, while west of the Jordan River the Jewish nation is promised a homeland in Palestine." "A national homeland for the Kurds never materializes, and they are spread to this day across parts of Turkey, Iran, and Iraq." "But British plans go somewhat awry in Arabia." "In a six-year war, from 1919 to 1925, the new kingdom of Saudi Arabia emerges, where huge oil reserves will soon be discovered." "In Syria and Lebanon," "French General Maxime Weygand and his troops fight against Muslim insurrections for several years." "Not until the 1930s will Damascus and Beirut gain real independence." "In redrawing the map of the Middle East for the benefit of Western political and economic aims and in selecting pro-Western leaders to rule Muslims of various cultures and religious beliefs," "Europe guarantees that the future of the Middle East will be plagued by civil strife, regional wars, and foreign occupation." "The key ingredient for political stability, legitimacy, has been largely destroyed by a Western fabrication that has virtually ignored the history and traditions of the Middle East." "The decisions that were made in and after the First World War about the Middle East are responsible for the unending strife and conflict there, for it seeming so hopeless." "On the other hand, for all we know, if some other settlement had been imposed instead of this one, it might have been worse." "That's one of the things that historians are limited in." "We don't know what would have happened if some other decision had been made." "We can guess, but we can't know." "By dividing the Arab world between them and by guaranteeing a Jewish homeland in Palestine," "Britain and France actually accelerate the rise of Arab nationalism and all-too-frequent conflicts in the Middle East." "Even decisive wars create as many new problems as they solve old ones." "Palestine faces decades of political and social strife as Jewish Zionism fights for a new homeland and Arabs fightback." "In 1948," "Britain finally gives up on its mandate in Palestine, as no solution can be found to satisfy both Jewish and Arab nationalists who are fighting a civil war." "The independent state of Israel is declared, and the Israeli Jews wage four separate wars against Arab nations over the next 25 years." "In between wars, the Jewish nation fights a running battle with a variety of Muslim terrorist groups." "By the 1950s," "Iraq and Iran nationalize their oil industries, and Egypt takes the Suez Canal from Great Britain." "The Middle East becomes a major playing field for Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and Western Powers." "Both sides compete for influence among the Arab governments." "How is the battle between our country and the Soviet power complex?" "How is it going in the Middle East?" "Well, sir, I'm going to speak quite truthfully and plainly because I think the American people are entitled to the facts on this situation." "I believe that we are rapidly losing the Cold War in the Near East..." "In the very heart of the Near East, namely the Arab states." "Could you tell us very briefly..." "If we lost the Near East because of this increasing Communist pressure, what would Russia gain and what would we lose?" "Well, everyone knows about the oil." "The Near Eastern countries, the Arab countries, are producing over 2 million barrels a day of petroleum today." "That is more than 25% of what we produce in this country." "If we lost IL" "I suspect it would very shortly mean gasoline rationing and fuel rationing in this country." "In January 1991, the United States and its allies respond to the invasion of oil-rich Kuwait by its bellicose neighbor, Iraq." "In a matter of weeks, the coalition built against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein attacks his army in Kuwait and drives it back toward Baghdad, just as the British had done in World War I." "The Gulf War is a one-sided affair, but the job is left undone." "Saddam Hussein and his army live to fight another day." "Civil violence and foreign invasion still occur all too frequently in the Middle East." "Western economies still depend on the region's oil." "And Western governments still must deal with the fear that oil supplies may be cutoff." "Among the Muslim people, from Istanbul to Tehran, anti-Western sentiment has never been greater." "And terrorist attacks against the West have become more deadly." "The defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 turned out to be a hollow victory for the West." "The seeds of discontent planted at the end of World War I have grown into a fearful harvest." "As the author David Fromkin has written, the treaty forced upon the Muslim world was indeed" ""a peace to end all peace."" "And it is peace that remains elusive in the land of blood and oil."