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Ends And Means: The British Mesopotamian Campaign and Commission

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Description

Indian Expeditionary Force D landed at the head of the Persian Gulf on 7 November 1914 and quickly gained keep an eye on of the area around Basra. Since the British army was once already involved in drawn-out trench warfare in France, and the outlook there was once far from bright, it seemed extraordinary that the British government would commit troops to another campaign. The traditionally accepted rationale in the back of this move has been the protection of oil supplies used by the Royal Navy – but the campaign veered seriously away from its original intent.
What followed was once perhaps the finest example of blind political ambition in wartime. In April 1915, another division was once added to Force D; and its new commander, General Sir John Nixon, arrived in Mesopotamia with orders to give protection to the oil supply, establish British keep an eye on in the province of Basra, and prepare plans for a conceivable future offensive on Baghdad. The campaign against the Turks was once a model of daring and sacrifice in the Middle Eastern desert. Successive victories encouraged the authorities in India to expand the campaign to aim at Baghdad. At this point the campaign was once doomed to failure. The lack of direction, policy, and cooperation between Nixon, India, and London resulted in the total lack of a suitable logistic framework in Mesopotamia. An unwitting conspiracy of hesitant and uninformed leaders in London, greedy politicians in India, and aggressive “men on the spot” brought about the longest siege in British history and one of the crucial great military disasters of this century.
The appalling suffering and loss of the 6th Indian Division provoked any such public outcry in Britain that the government was once obliged to institute a parliamentary investigation. The resulting Mesopotamia Commission rocked the nation and the government alike.
This book probes the rationale in the back of the British interest in the Middle East, the invasion of Mesopotamia, the successes that drove the political aspirations higher, and the brilliance of the leadership and soldiery in contrast to the blindness of zealous politicians. It gives the most in-depth analysis of the Mesopotamia Commission anywhere and apportions blame where it is due and forgiveness where it is important. This is a story of soldiers at their best who were sacrificed for politics at its worst.

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