Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

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Caucasus Campaign
Sarikamis – Malazgirt – 1st Kara Killisse – Van – Koprukoy – Erzurum – Erzincan – 2nd Kara Killisse – Sardarapat – Bash Abaran

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

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

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

The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I was fought between Allied Powers, mostly of the British and Russian Empires, and Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire.

Overview

The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October–November 1914, due to the secret Ottoman-German Alliance^{[#endnote_TGA]} signed on August 2, 1914, threatening Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India and the East via the Suez canal. The Ottoman Empire took the original place of Italy, who joined the Allied Powers.

See also: [The Anglo-Russian Entente:Agreement concerning Persia] 1907; The French, British and Russian [joint declaration] over the situation in Armenia published on May 24, 1915; and [The Sykes-Picot Agreement] 15 & 16 May, 1916.

The Ottoman Empire's entry into World War I occurred on October 29, 1914 when ships of the Ottoman navy shelled Odessa.

Caucasus Campaign

Main article Caucasus Campaign

Dardanelles Campaign

Main articles Dardanelles Campaign

A combined British and French operation was mounted in order to eventually capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul). The campaign started with a Naval attempt to force the Dardanelles. When this failed the decision was taken by the Allies to seize the European side of the Dardanelles. The land campaign took place on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli in 1915 during the First World War. The land attempt failed, and an estimated 131,000 soldiers were killed and 262,000 wounded.

Mesopotamian Campaign

Main article Mesopotamian Campaign

Sinai and Palestine Campaign

Main article Sinai and Palestine Campaign

Arabia and Southen Arabia Campaigns

Command Structures

Ottoman

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

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

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

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

British

• Mediterranean Expeditionary Force
• British Dardanelles Army

Russian

Timeline

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id:Mes value:orange        Legend:Mesepotamia
id:Sina value:purple       Legend:Sinia_&_Palestine
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at:14/10/1914   color:coral
at:30/10/1918	  color:powderblue

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Notes

1. ↑  [The Treaty of Alliance Between Germany and Turkey] 2 August, 1914

Further reading

• [The Middle East during World War One] By Professor David R Woodward for the BBC

World War I
Theatres	Main events	Specific articles	Participants	See also
Prelude: Causes Sarajevo assassination The July Ultimatum Main theatres: Western Front Eastern Front Italian Front Middle Eastern Theatre Balkan Theatre Atlantic Theatre Other theatres: African Theatre Pacific Theatre General timeline: WWI timeline	1914: • Battle of Liège • Battle of Tannenberg • Invasion of Serbia • First Battle of the Marne • Battle of Sarikamis 1915: • First Battle of Arras • Mesopotamian Campaign • Battle of Gallipoli • Italian Campaign • Conquest of Serbia 1916: • Battle of Verdun • Battle of the Somme • Battle of Jutland • Brusilov Offensive • Conquest of Romania • Great Arab Revolt 1917: • Second Battle of Arras (Vimy Ridge) • Battle of Passchendaele • Russian Revolution • Capture of Baghdad • Conquest of Palestine 1918: • Spring Offensive • Hundred Days Offensive • Meuse-Argonne Offensive • Armistice with Germany • Armistice with Ottoman Empire	Military engagements Air warfare Cryptography People Poison gas Railways Technology Trench warfare Civilian impact and atrocities: Armenian Genocide Assyrian Genocide Aftermath: Aftermath Casualties Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Paris Peace Conference Treaty of Versailles Treaty of Saint-Germain Treaty of Neuilly Treaty of Trianon Treaty of Sèvres Treaty of Lausanne League of Nations	Entente Powers •  Russian Empire •  France •  United Kingdom  •  Australia  •  Canada  •  India  •  New Zealand  •  Newfoundland  •  South Africa •  Italy •  Romania •  United States •  Serbia •  Portugal •  China •  Japan •  Belgium •  Montenegro •  Greece •  Armenia • more... Central Powers •  German Empire •  Austria-Hungary •  Ottoman Empire •  Bulgaria	•  • A war to end all wars • Female roles • Naval warfare • Literature • Total war • Spanish flu • Veterans Contemporaneous conflicts: • First Balkan War • Second Balkan War • Maritz Rebellion • Easter Rising • Russian Revolution • Russian Civil War • North Russia Campaign • Wielkopolska Uprising • Polish-Soviet War • Turkish War of Independence More information on World War I: from Wiktionary from Wikibooks from Wikiquote from Wikisource [media] from Commons from Wikinews

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