The Egyptian Expeditionary Force’s capture of Damascus in early October, 1918, marks the end of World War I in the Middle East. Some scattered fighting continued around Aleppo, but it took only two weeks after losing Damascus for the Ottoman Empire to undergo a complete political upheaval and reach out to the British government to … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Capture of Damascus (1918)
Tag: world war i
Today in European/Middle Eastern history: Frederick Barbarossa drowns (1190) and more
Some days there are a bunch of little historical anniversaries to commemorate, but none that of themselves seem to warrant their own post. June 10 is one of those days. We’ve got four different anniversaries to note, so let’s take them in chronological order. This is just a placeholder. If you’d like to read the … Continue reading Today in European/Middle Eastern history: Frederick Barbarossa drowns (1190) and more
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Fall of Baghdad (1917)
The First Battle of Kut was virtually a total Ottoman victory, and it stands as one of the lowest points for the British military not just in that war, but ever. Following the disaster, the British army replaced its commander in Mesopotamia, Lt. General Percy Lake, with the newly arrived Lt. General Frederick Stanley Maude. It was … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Fall of Baghdad (1917)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Aqaba (1917)
The World War I Battle of Aqaba took place on this date in 1917.
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Turkish War of Independence begins (1919)
There’s a kind of symmetry in the fact that the Turkish War of Independence began around three years to the date after Britain and France signed the Sykes-Picot agreement on how to divide up the Arab world. Sykes-Picot, for better or worse, has become the symbol for all of the plans the Allies had for … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Turkish War of Independence begins (1919)
Today in Middle Eastern history: Sykes-Picot is signed (1916)
Today is the anniversary of ISIS’s least-favorite arbitrarily-drawn line on a map, the Iraq-Syria boundary delineated by the Sykes-Picot agreement. Al-Jazeera has a pretty handy explainer on the agreement, though I think the headline oversells the content a little bit. Here’s another explainer over at Juan Cole’s Informed Comment that is pretty good. Or you can read my long-ago look … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: Sykes-Picot is signed (1916)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Surrender of Kut (1916)
Today is the anniversary of one of the worst military fiascos in British history, the surrender of the 6th division of the Indian Army to the Ottomans at the Iraqi town of Kut. Kut followed right on the heels of the Battle of Ctesiphon in November 1915, and this epilogue turned that indecisive battle into a major strategic … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Surrender of Kut (1916)
Today in Caucasian history: the Battle of Sarikamish ends (1915)
The Battle of Sarikamish was one of the more overwhelming Russian victories of World War I. It was so overwhelming, in fact, that it put the Russians on the offensive in the Caucasus for good—or, well, until Russia quit the war following its 1917 revolution. Which is why its legacy is hard to judge. Whatever … Continue reading Today in Caucasian history: the Battle of Sarikamish ends (1915)
Today in European history: the Gallipoli campaign ends (1916)
January 9 is the anniversary of the end of World War I's very extended Gallipoli campaign, which lasted eight and a half months starting from late April 1915. In full disclosure, the date is a bit misleading--while "January 9" is the date upon which the last British (Canadian, if you want to be particular about … Continue reading Today in European history: the Gallipoli campaign ends (1916)
Today in Middle Eastern history: General Allenby comes to Jerusalem (1917)
In a sense, if you’re into this sort of thing, there are some parallels you could draw between the British army’s capture of Jerusalem and the Crusades. I mean, Edmund Allenby was technically a European Christian, and there he was, on December 11, 1917, marching into having successfully conquered the city that had been the … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: General Allenby comes to Jerusalem (1917)
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 