Events
November5, 1914
British forces launch attack on Basra, Mesopotamia
March 18, 1915
Britain and France attack the Dardanelles
May–JuneBritish forces in Mesopotamia advance up the Tigris
June 27
British forces begin attack on Nasariya
April 25
Invasion of Gallipoli begins
September 28
British forces occupy Kut
November 22
British forces attack Ctesiphon
November 25
British forces retreat after major defeat at Ctesiphon
December 10
British begin evacuation of Gallipoli
January 9, 1916
Last British troops leave Gallipoli
April 29
British forces surrender to Turks after being driven
back to Kut
Key People
-
Winston Churchill
First lord of the British Admiralty; demoted and
eventually resigned after British invasion of Turkey became a quagmire
-
Charles Townshend
Military commander who led British forces in Mesopotamia; forced
to surrender at Kut in April 1916
The Importance of the Dardanelles
If any single piece of real estate was believed
to hold the key to winning the war, it was the lands surrounding
the Dardanelles, the narrow strait separating Europe
from Asia in northwestern Turkey. Control of the only waterway between
the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea was crucial both
economically and militarily. Turkey’s entrance into the war in November 1914 placed
the Dardanelles squarely in German hands, physically separating
the Russian and Allied naval forces and effectively preventing them
from cooperating. German control of the strait also meant that Russian
wheat could not be shipped to Britain and that British military
equipment could be shipped only by means of a treacherous northern
route to the Russian ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk.
Britain’s Plans for the Dardanelles
From the time that Turkey entered the war in
November 1914, Winston
Churchill, first lord of the British Admiralty, began working
on a plan to reopen the Dardanelles. The British military leadership
believed that this goal could be achieved without ground forces,
using naval power alone. Given the significant losses the British
army suffered defending France against the Germans, this idea of a
navy-only campaign for the Dardanelles was politically important.
On November 3, two days after Turkey entered
the war, British and French ships made a brief military demonstration
by firing on the forts guarding the entrance to the Dardanelles—a
symbolic attack that did little actual damage.
Britain and France’s Failed Assault
After months of planning, but with significant disagreement remaining
about objectives, Britain and France launched a naval attack on
the Dardanelles on March 18, 1915.
A fleet led by sixteen British and French battleships attempted
to force its way into the strait, with the goal of opening it by
bombarding the dozens of Turkish coastal forts along the way. Although
minesweeping ships had been sent ahead to clear a path, five battleships
were either sunk or disabled by mines. With about one-third of the
British and French battleships lost before the attack was even under
way, the remaining ships were pulled back. Allied military commanders
changed their objectives and decided instead to send ground forces
to take over the Gallipoli Peninsula bordering the
northern side of the strait.
The Invasion of Gallipoli
After a delay of more than a month, Allied troops—including
major contingents from Australia and New Zealand—launched
this ground attack, aiming to take Gallipoli completely, using ground
forces. The invasion began on April 25, 1915,
and the landing proceeded with relative ease. The first Turkish
regiments the Allied forces encountered quickly fled the scene,
making it seem as if the invasion would be an easy one.
As it turned out, the invasion was far from easy. Turkish
forces returned in overwhelming numbers and pushed the Allied troops back
to the beaches, where they were trapped with their backs to the sea.
They remained entrenched on the beaches until January of the next
year, when Britain finally pulled out in defeat. The battle raged for
the entire time, with neither side making significant headway, and
with losses on both sides in the hundreds of thousands.
Mesopotamia
Meanwhile, a second struggle between the British
and the Turks ensued at the opposite end of the Ottoman Empire,
this time for control of the oil fields of Mesopotamia.
On November 5, 1914,
a force of British and Indian soldiers launched an attack on the major
Ottoman port of Basra. They quickly secured not only
the port but also the oil fields and pipeline at Abadan,
which had been one of the key objectives of the invasion.
