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166-424: Allied victory [REDACTED]   United Kingdom [REDACTED]   Ottoman Empire [REDACTED]   Germany Jam'iya al-Nahda al-Islamiya (1918) 889,702 (total) [REDACTED] ~85,200 battle casualties 16,712 died of disease 154,343 evacuated sick [REDACTED] ~89,500 battle casualties The Mesopotamian campaign or Mesopotamian front ( Turkish : Irak Cephesi )

332-693: A much more limited form of home rule , opted-out of joining the Free State and remained part of the Union under this limited form of self-government. In light of these changes, the British state was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 12 April 1927 with the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act . The modern-day United Kingdom is the same state, that is to say a direct continuation of what remained after

498-623: A Russian declaration of war on 2 November 1914, with Britain and France following suit on 5 November. With the Ottoman Empire now at war with the principal allied powers , its priorities included the Caucasus Campaign against Russia, with the Ottoman war minister, Enver Pasha sending the 37th Division and XIII Corps Headquarters to this theatre in support of the Third Army . The entire XII Corps

664-545: A colonial government. The expulsion of the Ottomans from the region shook the centuries-old power balance. Arabs who believed that the Ottoman expulsion would lead to greater independence, and fought against the Ottoman forces along the Allies, faced another dilemma. They were disappointed with the arrangements regarding the establishment of British Mandate of Mesopotamia . Three important anticolonial secret societies had been formed in

830-541: A commitment to the landed aristocracy. He used his London residence as a venue for intimate dinners and private consultations, together with extensive correspondence that kept him in close touch with party leaders in the Commons and with leading figures in the Lords. He gave public rhetorical support to Ultra-Tory anti-reform positions, but then deftly changed positions toward the party's centre, especially when Peel needed support from

996-488: A complete list, see Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs . The coalition that defeated Napoleon was financed by Britain, and held together at the Congress of Vienna in 1814–1815. It successfully broke Napoleon's comeback attempt in 1815. Castlereagh played a central role at Vienna, along with Austrian leader Klemens von Metternich . While many Europeans wanted to punish France heavily, Castlereagh insisted on

1162-590: A constitutional government there and recognising the independence of Spain's American colonies after their wars of independence in 1824. British merchants and financiers and, later, railway builders, played major roles in the economies of most Latin American nations. In the 1825 to 1867 era, widespread public demonstrations, some of them violent, escalated to demand reform. The ruling Tories were dead set against anything smacking of democracy or popular rule and favoured severe punishment of demonstrators, as exemplified by

1328-677: A few minor cabinet positions, but his reputation rests on his organising skills and his rhetorical leadership for reform. One historian summarised Bright's achievements: Karun The Karun continues toward the Persian Gulf , forking into two primary branches on its delta – the Bahmanshir and the Haffar – that join the Arvand Rud , emptying into the Persian Gulf. The important Island of Abadan

1494-592: A further 100-mile push to Baghdad. The CIGS Murray thought this logistically unwise, but Kitchener advised the Dardanelles Committee (21 October) that Baghdad be seized for the sake of prestige, then abandoned. Enver Pasha worried about the possible fall of Baghdad. He realised the mistake of underestimating the importance of the Mesopotamian campaign. He ordered the 35th Division and Mehmet Fazıl Pasha to return to Mosul, their old location. The 38th Division

1660-550: A largely defensive campaign. The reinforced 6th (Poona) Division of the British Indian Army was assigned the task, designated as Indian Expeditionary Force D (IEFD) and stationed in Bahrain in anticipation of invasion. The Allies originally planned to seize Persian-controlled Abadan Island, but fear of provoking a war with Persia led to planned landings at Fao instead. On 6 November 1914, British offensive action began with

1826-419: A long process, emphasising the urgent need in 1832 to settle the intense and growing political unrest across Britain. He believed that the respectable classes deserved to have their demands for greater representation met, but he refused to extend political power to the mass of the lower middle class and working class, saying that they were not ready to be trusted with it. He wanted to preserve the basic elements of

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1992-515: A major impact on British opinion at the time and on history ever since as a symbol of officialdom brutally suppressing a peaceful demonstration thinking mistakenly that it was the start of an insurrection. The Ultra-Tories peaked in strength about 1819–1822 then lost ground inside the Tory Party. They were defeated in important breakthroughs that took place in the late 1820s in terms of tolerating first dissenting Protestants. An even more decisive blow

2158-563: A mild peace, with the Kingdom of France to pay 700 million livre in indemnities and lose the territory seized after 1791. He realised that harsher terms would lead to a dangerous reaction in France, and now that the conservative old-fashioned Bourbons were back in power, they were no longer a threat to attempt to conquer all of Europe. Indeed, Castlereagh emphasised the need for a " balance of power ", whereby no nation would be powerful enough to threaten

2324-533: A popular revolution along the French model, employed severe repression. In the mid-1820s, however, as popular unrest increased, the government made a series of dramatic changes. The more liberal among the Tories rejected the ultraconservative "Ultra Tory" faction. The party split, key leaders switched sides, the Tories lost power, and the more liberally minded opposition Whigs took over. The Tory coalition fell apart, and it

2490-548: A reinforcement. Food and hopes were running out for Townshend in Kut-al-Amara. Disease was spreading rapidly and could not be cured. On 19 April Field Marshal Von der Goltz died of cholera . On 24 April, an attempt by the steamer Julnar to re-supply the town by river failed. With that there was no way the British could resupply Kut. Rather than wait for reinforcements, Townshend surrendered on 29 April 1916. The remaining force in Kut-al-Amara of 13,164 soldiers became captives of

2656-465: A reservoir from the southeast passin through it in a narrow canyon, now in a northwest direction, past Izeh , eventually winding into the Sussan Plain. The Karun then turns north into the reservoir of Shahid Abbaspour Dam (Karun-1), which floods the river's defile to the southwest. The Karun flows southwest into the impoundment of Masjed Soleyman Dam (Karun-2), then turns northwest. Finally, it leaves

2822-670: A result of Iran's construction of new dams on the Karun. The new dams resulted in high levels of salinity in the Arvand Roud (Shatt al-Arab) , which destroyed farm areas and threatened livestock in that Iraqi Basra area. Civilians in the area were forced to evacuate. There are a number of dams on the Karun River, mainly built to generate hydroelectric power and provide flood control . Gotvand Dam , Masjed Soleyman Dam , Karun-1 ( Shahid Abbaspour Dam ), Karun-3 , and Karun-4 , most of them owned by

2988-491: A small number of administrators who managed the units of the empire locally, while local institutions began to develop. British India , by far the most important overseas possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In overseas policy, the central policy was free trade , which enabled British financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Beginning in earnest in

3154-627: A successful campaign against the Corn Laws. These were tariffs on imported food that kept up the price of grain to placate Tory landowners. The major factor in the cost of living was the price of food , and the Corn Laws kept the price high. Bright was a powerful speaker, which boosted him to election to parliament in 1843. His radical program included extension of the suffrage, land reform and reduction of taxation. He opposed factory reforms, labour unions and controls on hours For workers, women and children, arguing that government intervention in economic life

3320-489: A uniform fashion, and city officials were elected by the local taxpayers. By far the most important of the reforms was the democratisation of Parliament, which began in a small but highly controversial fashion in 1832 with the Reform Act of 1832 . The main impact was to drastically reduce the number of very small constituencies , with only a few dozen voters under the control of a local magnate. Industrial cities gained many of

3486-538: A very strong position, ensuring that Basra and the oilfields would be protected from any Ottoman advance. The main Ottoman army, under the overall command of Khalil Pasha , was located 275 miles to the north-west around Baghdad. They made only weak efforts to dislodge the British. On 2 January, Süleyman Askerî Bey took over as head of the Iraq Area Command . With Gallipoli, the Caucasus, and Palestine taking priority,

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3652-830: A watered-down reform. He routinely gave the same advice to foreign governments. Diplomats across Europe took careful note of his move from the Tories to the Whigs, and suspected him of sympathy with the reform movements which were setting off upheavals in France, Belgium and elsewhere, and which frightened the reactionary governments of the major powers Russia, Austria and Russia. In reality he drew his foreign policy ideals from Canning. His main goals were to promote British strategic and economic interests worldwide, remain aloof from European alliances, mediate peace in Europe and use British naval power sparingly as needed. He worried most about France as an adversary, although he collaborated with them as in securing

3818-460: Is a corruption of the name Kuhrang , which is still maintained by one of the two primary tributaries of the Karun. J. G. Lorimer also records in his Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia that it was known by the name "Dujail," which could be translated "Little Tigris," to medieval Arab and Persian geographers . It originates in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran, on

3984-403: Is around 950 kilometres (590 mi) long and has an average discharge of 575 cubic metres per second (20,300 cu ft/s). The largest city on the river is Ahvaz , with over 1.3 million inhabitants. Other important cities include Shushtar, Khorramshahr (a port), Masjed-Soleyman , and Izeh. Much of Khuzestan's transport and resources are connected in one way or another to the Karun. Since

4150-804: Is located between these two branches of the Karun. The port city of Khorramshahr is divided from the Island of Abadan by the Haffar branch. Juris Zarins and other scholars have identified the Karun as one of the four rivers of Eden (Gihon), the others being the Tigris , the Euphrates , and either the Wadi al-Batin or the Karkheh . In early classical times, the Karun was known as the Pasitigris . The modern medieval and modern name, Karun,

4316-689: The Allied and Associated Powers including the British Empire, France, Russia, Italy and the U.S. against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire . The deadliest conflict in human history up to that point, the war ended in an Allied victory in November 1918 but inflicted a massive cost to British manpower, materiel and treasure. Growing desire for Irish self-governance led to

4482-568: The Battle of Megiddo . General Marshall moved some of the forces east in support of General Lionel Dunsterville 's operations in Persia during the summer of 1918. His very powerful army was "astonishingly inactive, not only in the hot season but through most of the cold". The fight in Mesopotamia was not wanted any more. Negotiation of armistice conditions between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire began with

4648-458: The British first discovered oil at Masjed Soleyman , the Karun has been an important route for the transport of petroleum to the Persian Gulf , and remains an important commercial waterway. Water from the Karun provides irrigation to over 280,000 hectares (690,000 acres) of the surrounding plain and a further 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) are planned to receive water. Karun River lies between

4814-636: The British Empire . Industrial Revolution accelerated, with textile mills joined by iron and steel, coal mining, railroads and shipbuilding. The second British Empire, founded after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in the American Revolutionary War of the 1770s, was dramatically expanded in India , other parts of Asia, and Africa. There was little friction with other colonial powers until

4980-470: The British Isles , but it was smaller in terms of industry, finance, mercantile marine and naval strength. Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from Continental Europe would end its economic hegemony. On the contrary Britain possessed the greatest industrial capacity in the world, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade to its possessions and

5146-613: The Cairo Conference in 1921. There, it was decided a Hashemite kingdom under heavy British influence would be established in the region with Faisal as its first monarch. Prior to Ottoman entry into World War I, the British had gained exclusive rights to oil fields in southwestern Persia (modern Iran ), many in Arabistan , under the jurisdiction of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company . Persia had previously been divided by

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5312-653: The Continental System . This policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. The British Army remained a minimal threat to France; it maintained a standing strength of just 220,000 men at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, whereas the French Imperial Army exceeded a million men—in addition to the armies of numerous allies and several hundred thousand national guardsmen that Napoleon could draft into

5478-621: The Crimean War against the Russian Empire in the 1850s. That war was strictly limited in terms of scope and impact. The major result was the realisation that military medical services needed urgent reform, as advocated by the nursing leader Florence Nightingale . British diplomats, led by Lord Palmerston , promoted British nationalism, opposed reactionary regimes on the continent, helped the Spanish colonies to free themselves and worked to shut down

5644-510: The French Revolution in 1793. Historians find that the violent radical element was small and weak; there were a handful of small conspiracies involving men with few followers and careless security; they were quickly suppressed. Nevertheless, techniques of repression included the suspension of Habeas Corpus in 1817 (allowing the government to arrest and hold suspects without cause or trial). Sidmouth 's Gagging Acts of 1817 heavily muzzled

5810-523: The Industrial Revolution progressed, society changed, becoming more urban. The postwar period saw an economic slump, and poor harvests and inflation caused widespread social unrest. British leadership was intensely conservative, ever watchful of signs of revolutionary activity of the sort that had so deeply affected France. Historians have found very few signs, noting that social movements such as Methodism strongly encouraged conservative support for

5976-718: The Irish War of Independence almost immediately after the conclusion of World War I, which resulted in British recognition of the Irish Free State in 1922. Although the Free State was explicitly governed under dominion status and thus was not a fully independent polity, as a dominion it was no longer considered to be part of the United Kingdom and ceased to be represented in the Westminster Parliament . Six northeastern counties in Ireland, which since 1920 were being governed under

6142-561: The Peterloo Massacre in Manchester in 1819. The Tory ranks were cracking, however, especially when Robert Peel (1788–1830) broke away on several critical issues. Nevertheless, the Whig party gets most of the credit. The middle classes, often led by nonconformist Protestants, turned against the Tories and scored the greatest gains. For example, symbolic restrictions on nonconformists called

6308-802: The Principality of Elba , peace appeared to have returned. Napoleon suddenly reappeared in 1815. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher defeated Napoleon once and for all at the Battle of Waterloo . To defeat France, Britain put heavy pressure on the United States , seizing merchant ships suspected of trading with France, and impressing sailors (conscription) born in Britain, regardless of their claimed American citizenship . British government agents armed Indigenous American tribes in Canada that were raiding American settlements on

6474-667: The Sassanid era , whence the name of the bridge and dam Band-e Kaisar , " Caesar 's dam", at Shushtar (3rd century AD). In two of several competing theories about the origins and location of the Garden of Eden , the Karun is presumed to be the Gihon River described in the Biblical book of Genesis . The strongest of these theories, propounded by archaeologist Juris Zarins , places the Garden of Eden at

6640-728: The Susa plain, the location of the ancient cultures dating back to the fifth millennium BC and, to the south, the newly discovered ancient culture of the Zohreh River plain from the same period. The principal ancient site being excavated near the Zohreh River is Tol-e Chega Sofla , which has many parallels with Susa. Later, the Karun valley was also inhabited by the Elamite civilization which rose about 2,700 BC. At several points in history, Mesopotamian civilizations such as Ur and Babylon overthrew

6806-513: The Test Acts were abolished in 1828 . Much more controversial was the repeal of severe discrimination against Roman Catholics after the Irish Catholics organised, and threatened rebellion, forcing major concessions in 1829 . Financial reform, led by William Huskisson and Peel, rationalised the tariff system, and culminated in the great repeal of the tariffs on imported grain in 1846, much to

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6972-500: The frontier . The Americans felt humiliated and demanded war to restore their honour, despite their complete unpreparedness. The War of 1812 was a minor sideshow to the British, but the American army performed very poorly, and was unable to successfully attack Canada. In 1813, the Americans took control of Lake Erie and thereby of western Ontario , knocking most of the Indian tribes out of

7138-556: The independence of Belgium from the Kingdom of the Netherlands . He much preferred liberal and reform-oriented nations to reactionary powers. He placed a high priority on building up British strength in India, He spoke often of pride in British nationalism, which found favour in public opinion and gave him a strong basis of support outside Parliament. Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) was an intellectual who focused on reforming English law . He

7304-413: The peaking power sector of Iran's electricity grid, and when completed, Karun-4 will also generate 1,000 MW. There are also many dams on the river's tributaries. Dez Dam , Bakhtiari Dam (under construction) and Khersan-3 Dam (under construction) are among them. Khersan 1, Khersan 2, Zalaki, Liro, Roudbar Lorestan, Bazoft, and others are proposed. The dams on the Karun have had a significant effect on

7470-486: The "betrayal" of the working classes and the "sacrificing" of their "interests" by the "misconduct" of the government. In 1838, Chartists issued the People's Charter demanding manhood suffrage, equal-sized election districts, voting by ballots, payment of Members of Parliament (so that poor men could serve), annual Parliaments, and abolition of property requirements. The ruling class saw the movement as dangerous. Multiple large peaceful meetings across England demanded change but

7636-450: The 1790–1815 period there was an improvement in morals caused by the religious efforts by evangelicals inside the Church of England, and Dissenters or Nonconformist Protestants as people: became wiser, better, more frugal, more honest, more respectable, more virtuous, than they ever were before." Wickedness still flourished, but the good were getting better, as frivolous habits were discarded for more serious concerns. The leading moralist of

7802-410: The 1890s. British foreign policy avoided entangling alliances. Britain from the 1820s to the 1860s experienced a turbulent and exciting "age of reform". The century started with 15 years of war against France, ending in Wellington's triumph against Napoleon in 1815 at Waterloo. There followed 15 difficult years, in which the Tory Party, representing a small, rich landed aristocracy that was fearful of

7968-450: The 1960s and 1970s who argued against deep meanings of Whiggish progress because each of the reforms was relatively minor in itself. Historian Richard Davis concludes that the scholarship of the 1970s represented "a vindication of the main outlines of the old " Whig interpretation ." That is, the Reform Act of 1832 was a response to mounting popular pressure. It was "the culmination of a long historical process, and an important turning point in

8134-428: The 2nd Infantry Division, but overall the Ottoman strategic position was bad in the spring of 1917. After the capture of Baghdad, Maude stopped his advance. He felt his supply lines were too long, conditions in the summer made campaigning difficult and he had been denied reinforcements he felt he needed. General Maude died of cholera on 18 November. He was replaced by General William Marshall who halted operations for

8300-403: The British occupied the city of Basra after a short fight with soldiers of the Iraq Area Command under Suphi Bey , the Governor of Basra. The Ottoman troops abandoned Basra and retreated up the river. After establishing order in the town the English forces continued their advance, and at the Battle of Qurna they succeeded in capturing Subhi Bey and 1,000 of his troops. This put the British in

8466-521: The British Empire, in practice, these governments were permitted greater management of their own internal affairs, with Britain remaining primarily responsible for their foreign and trade policies. Rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the state's formation continued up until the mid-19th century. The Great Irish Famine , exacerbated by government inaction in the mid-19th century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland and increased calls for Irish land reform . The 19th century

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8632-465: The British Empire. In response, London began to cooperate with Japan , France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States . Although not formally allied with any of these powers, by 1914 British policy had all but committed to declaring war on Germany if the latter attacked France. This was realized in August 1914 when Germany invaded France via Belgium , whose neutrality had been guaranteed by London. The ensuing First World War eventually pitted

8798-448: The British and Russian Empires into spheres of influence in 1907 , with these oil fields under British influence. The oil pipeline to transport the Persian petroleum ran alongside the Karun River into the Shatt al-Arab waterway , with refineries based on Abadan Island in the area. However, much of the Shatt al-Arab also flowed through Ottoman-owned Mesopotamia, making this pipeline vulnerable to invasion. The petroleum in this region

8964-449: The British were at the outskirts of Baghdad, and the Baghdad garrison, under the direct command of the Governor of Baghdad province Halil Kut (Khalil Pasha) , tried to stop them on the Diyala river. General Maude outmanoeuvred the Ottoman forces, destroyed an Ottoman regiment and captured the Ottoman defensive positions. Khalil Pasha retreated in disarray out of the city. On 11 March 1917, the British entered Baghdad and colonial sources claim

9130-409: The Chartists were unable to force serious constitutional debate. In July 1839, however, the House of Commons rejected, by 235 votes to 46, a motion to debate the Chartists' national petition, bearing 1.3 million signatures. Historians see Chartism as both a continuation of the 18th century fight against corruption and as a new stage in demands for democracy in an industrial society. Prime ministers of

9296-455: The Elamites and gained control of the Karun and its surroundings in modern Khuzestan. However, the Elamite empire lasted until about 640 BC, when the Assyrians overran it. The city of Susa , near the modern city of Shush between the Dez and Karkheh rivers, was one of their largest before it was destroyed by the invaders. The first known major bridge across the river was built by the Roman captives that included its emperor Valerianus in

9462-528: The Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 . The government purchased all the slaves for £20,000,000 (the money went to rich plantation owners who mostly lived in England), and freed the slaves, most of whom were in the Caribbean sugar islands. The Whigs became champions of Parliamentary reform by making the Reform Act of 1832 their signature measure. It sharply reduced the numbers of "rotten borough" and "pocket boroughs" (where elections were controlled by powerful families), and instead redistributed seats on

9628-413: The French armies when they were needed. Although the Royal Navy effectively disrupted France's extra-continental trade—both by seizing and threatening French shipping and by seizing French colonial possessions—it could do nothing about France's trade with the major continental economies and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. France's population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of

9794-401: The Government is rising by its side, nay, daily counteracting its views." The Duke of Wellington, Britain's most famous war hero, told Peel, "If we cannot get rid of the Catholic Association, we must look to Civil War in Ireland sooner or later." Peel and Wellington agreed that to stop the momentum of the Catholic Association it was necessary to pass Catholic emancipation , which gave Catholics

9960-410: The Haras al Istiqlal (the Guardians of Independence ). The Istiqlal had member groups in Karbala , Najaf, Kut , and Hillah . The British were in a precarious situation with the Issue of Mosul. They were adopting almost desperate measures to protect their interests. The Iraqi revolt against the British developed just after they declared their authority. It was put down by the RAF Iraq Command during

10126-443: The Iran Water and Power Resources Development Co., are all on the main stem. Karun-2 would potentially be located in the Sussan Plain between Shahid Abbaspour and Karun-3, but the project is still under consideration because of concern over submerging archaeological sites. A Karun-5 dam upstream of Karun-4 has also been proposed. The Masjed Soleyman, Shahid Abbaspour, and Karun-3 dams each generate 1,000–2,000 MW of power to service

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10292-633: The Iraqi people greeted them as liberators. The British Indian Army played a significant role in the capture of Baghdad. Amidst the confusion of the retreat a large part of the Ottoman army (some 15,000 soldiers) were captured. A week after the city fell, General Maude issued the oft-quoted Proclamation of Baghdad, which contained the famous line " our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators ". Khalil Pasha withdrew his battered Sixth Army up river and established his headquarters in Mosul. He had about 30,000 total troops with which to oppose Maude. In April, he received

10458-406: The Irish Free State's secession, as opposed to being an entirely new successor state . A brief period of limited independence for the Kingdom of Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798 , which occurred during the British war with revolutionary France . The Kingdom of Great Britain 's fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with Revolutionary France resulted in

10624-408: The Mesopotamian Campaign, including from the latter causes, were 38,842 (1,434 officers and 37,408 men), including 28,578 from sickness and other non-battle causes (including prisoners). The unusually high ratio of non-battle to battle casualties in Mesopotamia, and the unusually high incidence of permanent losses among non-battle casualties had much to do with the geography of the area of operations. It

10790-464: The Ottoman Army had few resources to move to Mesopotamia. Süleyman Askerî Bey sent letters to Arab sheiks in an attempt to organise them to fight against the British. He wanted to retake the Shatt-al-Arab region at any cost. Early on the morning of 12 April, Süleyman Askerî attacked the British camp at Shaiba in what became known as the Battle of Shaiba . He had about 4,000 regular troops and about 14,000 Arab irregulars provided by Arab sheiks. Although

10956-409: The Ottoman government declared a holy war, dubbed the jihad ("struggle"), against enemies of Islam with the exception of the Central Powers, which swayed some Ottoman Arabs to stay loyal to the empire and fight the Allied Powers. This notably included some Shia Muslims , a previously oppressed group within the empire. A 1912 agreement between the Indian and British military offices stated that in

11122-497: The Ottomans. The British viewed the loss of Kut as a humiliating defeat. It had been many years since such a large body of British Army soldiers had surrendered to an enemy. Also this loss followed only four months after the British defeat at the Battle of Gallipoli . Nearly all the British commanders involved in the failure to rescue Townshend were removed from command. The Ottomans proved they were good at holding defensive positions against superior forces. The British refused to let

11288-430: The Parliamentary level, there was a reorganisation of the governmental system in the rapidly growing cities, putting a premium on modernisation and expertise, and large electorates as opposed to small ruling cliques. A rapidly growing middle class, as well as active intellectuals, broaden the scope of reform to include humanitarian activities such as a new poor law and factory laws to protect women and children workers. In

11454-400: The Poona Division was fully ashore and began moving towards the city of Basra . The same month, the ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah , contributed to the Allied war effort by sending forces to attack Ottoman troops at Umm Qasr, Safwan, Bubiyan, and Basra. In exchange the British government recognised Kuwait as an "independent government under British protection." There is no report on

11620-425: The Protestant faith, and his lack of support for the initiative led the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger , to resign. During the War of the Second Coalition (1799–1801), Britain occupied most of the French and Dutch overseas possessions , the Netherlands having become a satellite state of France in 1796, but tropical diseases claimed the lives of over 40,000 troops. When the Treaty of Amiens ended

11786-404: The Russians might advance to Mosul , removing any Turkish threat to Mesopotamia, and authorised Maude to attack in December 1916. Maude's offensive was launched on 13 December 1916. The British advanced up both sides of the Tigris river, forcing the Ottoman army out of a number of fortified positions along the way. General Maude's offensive was methodical, organised, and successful. Khalil Pasha

11952-612: The Turks that we mean business and to the Arabs that we are ready to support them". In addition to these factors, growing German influence in the region caused by the creation of the Berlin-Baghdad railway was of concern to London. As for the Turks, they were unable to fully control Mesopotamia and constantly engaged in border disputes with neighboring Persia. Therefore, local policy was largely decided by local Arab tribes. Later on 14 November 1914,

12118-709: The United States. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent. The Duke of Wellington gradually pushed the French out of Spain, and in early 1814, as Napoleon was being driven back in the east by the Royal Prussian Army , the Imperial Austrian Army , and the Imperial Russian Army , Wellington invaded southern France. After Napoleon's surrender and exile to

12284-488: The United States. The trend of emigration would continue in Ireland for decades and Ireland's population has never recovered to its pre-famine levels. The Irish language was almost wiped out. The failure of the British government to respond to the crisis in the eyes of the Irish people would lead to a growth in resentment of Britain and a rise in Irish nationalism . The famine is remembered in Ireland to this day as oppression by

12450-486: The War Ministry "The Iraq Army has already proven that it does not need the military knowledge of Goltz Pasha ..." After the first failure, General Nixon was replaced by General Lake . British forces received small quantities of supplies from the air. These drops were not enough to feed the garrison, though. Halil Kut forced the British to choose between starving and surrendering, though in the meantime they would try to lift

12616-571: The Whig coalition in 1830. The Tories despised him thereafter as a turncoat, and many of the more radical Whigs were distrustful of his basically conservative views that saw him fainthearted about or opposed to reform measures. He typically warned on the one hand against delays and on the other hand against excessive enthusiasm for reforms, preferring compromise. He was keenly sensitive to public opinion, and indeed often shapes it through his dealings with newspaper editors. When he sensed that public demand had reached an unstoppable momentum, he would work for

12782-459: The Whigs to demand for civil and religious equality. Grievances included a 1753 law that to be legally recognised marriage had to take place in the Anglican parish church . The Anglican parish register was the only legally accepted birth documentation. The Anglican parish controlled the only religious burial grounds. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge had to reject non-Anglican applicants. At

12948-588: The amount of supplies being sent north was barely adequate to supply the forces in place. A plan to build a railway was rejected by the Indian Government in 1915, but after Kut it was approved. After the defeat at Kut, the British made a major effort to improve the ability to move men and equipment into theatre, and keep them supplied. The port at Basra was greatly improved so that ships could be quickly unloaded. Good roads were built around Basra. Rest camps and supply dumps were created to receive men and material from

13114-516: The aristocracy in terms of its control of the House of Commons. However, it ran the government: of the ten prime ministers under Victoria, six were peers. The seventh was the son of a duke. Two (Peel and Gladstone) emerged from the business community and only one (Disraeli) was a self-made man . Of the 227 cabinet members between 1832 and 1905, 139 were sons of peers. Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , who defeated Napoleon, served as

13280-600: The basis of population. It also broadened the franchise, adding 217,000 voters to an electorate of 435,000 in England and Wales . The main effect of the act was to weaken the power of the landed gentry , and enlarge the power of the professional and business middle-class , which now for the first time had a significant voice in Parliament. However, at this point the great majority of manual workers, clerks and farmers did not have enough property to qualify to vote. Many of them received

13446-457: The city of Basra to secure British oil fields in nearby Persia (now Iran ). Following the landings, Allied forces won a string of victories along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers , including repulsing an Ottoman attempt to retake Basra at the Battle of Shaiba . The advance stalled when the Allies reached the town of Kut south of the city of Baghdad in December 1915. At Kut, the Allied army

13612-457: The city of Nasiriyah , capturing the Turks' largest supply depot in southern Mesopotamia. Although his advance was very difficult to sustain logistically, it was maintained. In late September 1915, amidst the recent defeat of Serbia and entry of Bulgaria into the war and concerns about German attempts to incite jihad in Persia and Afghanistan, Grey (Foreign Secretary) and other politicians encouraged

13778-470: The city on the 14 November 1918. The ownership of Mosul Province and its rich oil fields became an international issue. The war in Mesopotamia was over on 14 November 1918. It was 15 days after the Armistice and one day after the occupation of Constantinople . With British Indian forces already on the ground, the British imported civil servants from India who had previous knowledge and experience of running

13944-475: The coalition that defeated France during the Napoleonic Wars , and further developed its dominant Royal Navy enabling the British Empire to become the foremost world power for the next century. For nearly a century from the final defeat of Napoleon following the Battle of Waterloo to the outbreak of World War I , Britain was almost continuously at peace with Great Powers . The most notable exception

14110-529: The conquest of Europe the way Napoleon had. Vienna ushered in a century of peace, with no great wars and few important localised ones until the Crimean War (1853–1856). Prussia, Austria, and Russia, as absolute monarchies , tried to suppress liberalism wherever it might occur. Britain first took a Reactionary position at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, but relented and broke ranks with the absolute monarchies by 1820. Britain intervened in Portugal in 1826 to defend

14276-572: The decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801. The Irish had been led to believe by the British that their loss of legislative independence would be compensated with Catholic emancipation , that is, by the removal of civil disabilities placed upon Roman Catholics in both Great Britain and Ireland . Despite personal sympathy for Roman Catholics, King George III believed that agreeing to Catholic Emancipation would violate his Coronation Oath to uphold

14442-515: The defeat at Kut stand. Further attempts to advance in Mesopotamia were ordered by the politicians on the War Committee (18 September), including Curzon and Chamberlain , who argued that there would be no net savings in troops if a passive policy in the Middle East encouraged Muslim unrest in India, Persia and Afghanistan, and despite the opposition of Robertson . A major problem for the British

14608-463: The dismay of grain farmers. The 1846 repeal of the Corn Laws established free trade as the basic principle by which British merchants came to dominate the globe, and brought cheap food to British workers. A depoliticised civil service based on merit replaced patronage policies rewarding jobs for partisan efforts. Efficiency was a high priority in government, with the goal of low taxation. Overall, taxation

14774-439: The emergence of a more liberal and broadly based political system… it deserves its old designation of 'Great.'" David Thompson has stressed the revolutionary nature of the entire package of reforms: Chartism was a large-scale popular protest movement that emerged in response to the failure of the 1832 Reform Bill to give the vote to the working class. It lacked middle-class support, and it failed repeatedly. Activists denounced

14940-519: The era, William Wilberforce , saw everywhere "new proofs presenting themselves of the diffusion of religion". Nonconformists, including Presbyterians , Congregationalists , the Baptists and the rapidly-growing Methodist denomination , as well as Quakers , Unitarians and smaller groups. They were all outside the established Church of England (except in Scotland, where the established Church of Scotland

15106-441: The event as an opening battle against revolutionaries. In reaction Lord Liverpool 's government passed the " Six Acts " in 1819. They prohibited drills and military exercises; facilitated warrants for the search for weapons; outlawed public meetings of more than 50 people, including meetings to organise petitions; put heavy penalties on blasphemous and seditious publications; imposing a fourpenny stamp act on many pamphlets to cut down

15272-609: The event of war in the Persian Gulf or Mesopotamia, it would be the responsibility of the Indian military to mount a campaign in the region. However, the Gulf was not a priority to London as the Suez Canal and Western Front were seen as more important, whereas Delhi planned an offensive campaign to take Baghdad. On 29 October 1914, Ottoman warships commanded by the German admiral Wilhelm Souchon , bombarded several Russian Black Sea ports , prompting

15438-592: The exact size and nature of Mubarak's attack, though Ottoman forces did retreat from those positions weeks later. Mubarak soon removed the Ottoman symbol from the Kuwaiti flag and replaced it with "Kuwait" written in Arabic script. Mubarak's participation and previous exploits in obstructing the completion of the Baghdad railway helped the British safeguard the Persian Gulf by preventing Ottoman and German reinforcement. On 22 November,

15604-490: The existing constitution by removing obvious abuses, thinking that this would strengthen aristocratic leadership. He persuaded the king to promise to create enough new peers to force the bill through the House of Lords. The king made the promise while also advising the peers to stop blocking the bill. The Reform Act was Grey's principal achievement; it reflects his pragmatic, moderate and conservative character, as well as his parliamentary skills of timing and persuasion. His cabinet

15770-545: The face of determined House of Commons action. After defeating the first two versions of the Reform Act of 1832, the Whigs got the King to agree to appoint as many new peers as was necessary to change the outcome. He promised to do so, but convinced the Lords it would be much wiser for them to approve the law. A weak ruler as regent (1811–1820) and king (1820–1830), George IV let his ministers take full charge of government affairs. He

15936-456: The flow on news and criticism. Offenders could be harshly punished including exile in Australia . In practice the laws were designed to deter troublemakers and reassure conservatives; they were not often used. One historian would write: "Peterloo was a blunder; it was hardly a massacre." It was a serious mistake by local authorities who did not understand what was happening. Nevertheless, it had

16102-660: The foothills and flows south past Shushtar and its confluence with the Dez . It then bends southwest, bisecting the city of Ahvaz , and south through farmland to its mouth on the Arvand Roud at Khorramshahr , where its water, together with that of the Tigris and Euphrates , turns sharply southeast to flow to the Persian Gulf . The largest river by discharge in Iran, the Karun River's watershed covers 65,230 square kilometres (25,190 sq mi) in parts of two Iranian provinces. The river

16268-417: The front later evolved into a larger campaign that sought to capture the key city of Baghdad and divert Ottoman forces from other fronts. It ended with the Armistice of Mudros in 1918, leading to the cession of Iraq (then Mesopotamia) and further partition of the Ottoman Empire . Fighting began after an amphibious landing by an Anglo-Indian division at the fortress of Al-Faw before rapidly advancing to

16434-460: The international slave trade. It was a time of prosperity, population growth and better health, except in Ireland where over one million deaths were caused by the Great Famine when the potato crop failed in the 1840s. The Government did little to help the starving poor in Ireland. Along with the one million deaths, another one million would emigrate in a few short years, mostly to Britain and to

16600-573: The irregulars proved ineffective, the Ottoman infantry launched a series of relentless attacks on the fortified British camp and later attempted by bypass it. When the British cavalry and infantry counterattacked the defensive forces Suleyman Askari pulled his troops back. The next day the British attacked his defensive positions. It was a hard-fought infantry battle in which the British infantry overcame tough Ottoman opposition. Ottoman losses numbered 2400 men killed, wounded, or taken prisoner, as well as two artillery field pieces. The retreat ended 75 miles up

16766-401: The key legal, political, economic and social reforms of the 1830s and 1840s. He especially influenced the reform of education, prisons, poor laws, legal procedures and Parliamentary representation. John Bright (1811–1889) built on his middle-class Quaker heritage and his collaboration with Richard Cobden to promote all varieties of humanitarian and parliamentary reform. They started with

16932-643: The key." The British Empire forces suffered 85,197 battle casualties in Mesopotamia. There were also 820,418 hospitalisations for non-battle causes, mostly sickness. Of those, 16,712 died, 634,889 were treated and put back on duty in-theater, and 154,343 were permanently evacuated from the theatre. Those evacuated accounted for some 18.8% of total non-battle casualties, while those who died were 2%. By comparison, 49% of those wounded in battle (26,814 men) were evacuated, and 8.9% (5,281) died. Thousands more died out of theatre from injuries and sickness incurred here, or died in Ottoman captivity. Total British military deaths in

17098-503: The king. The fiasco helped ruin the prestige of the monarchy and it recovered a fraction of the power wielded by King George III in his saner days. Historian Eugene Black says: The Ultra-Tories were the leaders of reaction and seemed to dominate the Tory Party , which controlled the government. Every untoward event seemed to point to a conspiracy on the left which necessitated more repression to head off another terror such as happened in

17264-520: The leader of the Conservative party in the House of Lords, 1828–1846. Some writers have belittled him as a befuddled reactionary, but a consensus reached in the late 20th century depicts him as a shrewd operator who hid his cleverness behind the facade of a poorly-informed old soldier. Wellington worked to transform the Lords from unstinting support of the Crown to an active player in political manoeuvring, with

17430-583: The local level, everyone who lived in the boundaries of an Anglican church was required to pay taxes to support the parish. The Test and Corporation laws required all national and local government officials had to attend Anglican church services. In February 1828, Whig leader Lord John Russell , presented petitions assembled by the main Nonconformist pressure group, the United Committee, which represented Congregationalist, Baptists and Unitarians. Their demand

17596-425: The majority. The great Reform Act 1832 came at a time of intense public and elite anxiety and broke the logjam. The parliamentary system, based on a very small electorate and large numbers of seats that were tightly controlled by a small elite, was radically reformed. For the first time the growing industrial cities had representation in Parliament. This opened the way for another decade of reform that culminated in

17762-537: The mobilisation of all possible support in each constituency; about 80% of the men voted. The Tories discovered that their conservatism had an appeal to skilled workers, and also to women, hundreds of thousands of whom were organised by the Primrose League . Women's suffrage was not on the agenda. The abolition of the House of Lords , while often discussed, was never necessary because the upper house repeatedly retreated in

17928-636: The naval bombardment of the old fort at Fao , located at the point where the Shatt-al-Arab meets the Persian Gulf. At the Fao Landing , the British Indian Expeditionary Force D (IEF D), comprising the 6th (Poona) Division led by Lieutenant General Arthur Barrett with Sir Percy Cox as Political Officer , was opposed by 350 Ottoman troops and 4 guns. After a short engagement, the fort was overrun, killing many enemy troops. By mid-November

18094-538: The northern tip of the Persian Gulf, fed by the four rivers Tigris, the Euphrates, Gihon (Karun) and Pishon ( Wadi al-Batin ). In 1888, during a period of increasing British influence in southern Iran , Lynch Brothers opened the first regular steamship service on the river linking Khorramshahr and Ahvaz . The name of the river is derived from the mountain peak, Kuhrang, which serves as its source. The film documentary, Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925), tells

18260-563: The opposition newspapers; the reformers switched to pamphlets and sold 50,000 a week. In industrial districts in 1819, factory workers demanded better wages, and demonstrated. The most important event was the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester , on 16 August 1819, when a local militia unit composed of landowners charged into an orderly crowd of 60,000 which had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. The crowd panicked and eleven died and hundreds were injured. The government saw

18426-546: The period included: William Pitt the Younger , Lord Grenville , Duke of Portland , Spencer Perceval , Lord Liverpool , George Canning , Lord Goderich , Duke of Wellington , Lord Grey , Lord Melbourne , Lord Palmerston and Robert Peel . The aristocracy remained dominant: there were 200 hereditary peers in the House of Lords in 1860; by 1837 they numbered 428; in 1901, there were 592. The number rose to 622 by 1910. Reform legislation in 1832, 1867, 1884 and 1918 weakened

18592-450: The political and social status quo. The major constitutional changes included a reform of Parliament, and a sharp decline in the power and prestige of the monarchy. The Prince regent, on becoming King George IV in 1820 asked Parliament to divorce his wife Queen Caroline of Brunswick so that he could marry his favourite lover. Public and elite opinion strongly favoured the Queen and ridiculed

18758-408: The port. More and better river steamers were put into service moving supplies up river. New hospitals were also set up to better care for the sick and wounded. As a result, the British were able to bring more troops and equipment to the front lines and keep them properly supplied for a new offensive. The new commander, General Maude , with secret orders from Robertson not to attempt to take Baghdad,

18924-412: The power balance following the Ottoman expulsion from the region. In Turkey , elements of the last Ottoman parliament still claimed parts of modern-day Iraq such as Mosul as being Turkish , leading to Allied occupation of Constantinople . The British mandate over Mesopotamia later failed as a large-scale Iraqi revolt fueled by discontent with the British administration took place in 1920, leading to

19090-543: The region during 1918 and 1919. At Najaf , Jamiyat an Nahda al Islamiya (The League of the Islamic Awakening) was organised. Al Jamiya al Wataniya al Islamiya (The Muslim National League) was formed with the object of organising and mobilising the population for major resistance. In February 1919, in Baghdad , a coalition of Shia merchants, Sunni teachers and civil servants, Sunni and Shia ulama , and Iraqi officers formed

19256-509: The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846—ending the tariff on imported grain that kept prices high for the landed aristocracy. Repeal was heavily promoted by the Anti-Corn Law League , grass roots activists led by Richard Cobden and based in the industrial cities; they demanded cheap food. There were a series of reforms of the electoral laws, expanding the number of male voters and reducing the level of corruption. The reactionary Tory element

19422-468: The river at Hamisiye . Süleyman Askerî had been wounded at Shaiba. Disappointed and depressed, he shot himself at the hospital in Baghdad. In his place Colonel Nureddin was appointed commander of the Iraq Area Command on 20 April 1915. Nureddin was one of the few officers to reach high command without the benefit of a staff college education. He did, however, have extensive combat experience. Due to

19588-499: The seats but were still significantly underrepresented in Parliament. The 1831–1832 battle over parliamentary reform was, "a year probably unmatched in English history for the sweep and intensity of its excitement." Every few years an incremental enlargement of the electorate was made by Parliament, reaching practically all male voters by the 1880s, and all the women by 1928. Both parties introduced paid professional organisers who supervised

19754-509: The second half of the nineteenth century, the Imperial government granted increasing levels of autonomy to locally elected governments in colonies where white settlers had become demographically or politically dominant, with this process eventually resulting in Canada , Australia , New Zealand , Newfoundland and South Africa becoming self-governing dominions . While these dominions remained part of

19920-536: The siege. Between January and March 1916, both Townshend and Aylmer launched several attacks in an attempt to lift the siege. In sequence, the attacks took place at the Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad , the Battle of the Wadi , the Battle of Hanna , and the Battle of Dujaila Redoubt . These series of British attempts to break through the encirclement did not succeed and their costs were heavy. Both sides suffered high casualties. In February, XIII Corps received 2nd Infantry Division as

20086-633: The slopes of 4,221 m (13,848 ft) Zard-Kuh . The river flows south and west through several prominent mountain ridges and receives additional water from the Vanak on the south bank and the Bazoft on the north. These tributaries add to the catchment of the river above the Karun-4 Dam . 25 kilometres (16 mi) downstream, the Karun widens into the reservoir formed by the Karun-3 Dam . The Khersan flows into

20252-516: The stability in his efforts to establish Republic of Turkey , he would have turned his attention to recovering Mosul and penetrate into Mesopotamia, where the native population would probably join him. The British Foreign Secretary attempted to disclaim any existence of oil in the Mosul area. On 23 January 1923, Lord Curzon argued that the existence of oil was no more than hypothetical. However, according to Armstrong , "England wanted oil. Mosul and Kurds were

20418-631: The story of the Bakhtiari tribe crossing this river. It was here during the Iran–Iraq War that the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces stopped the early Iraqi Armed Forces advance. With its limited military stocks, Iran unveiled its " human wave " assaults which used thousands of Basij (Popular Mobilization Army or People's Army) volunteers. In September 2009, three districts of Basra province in southern Iraq were declared disaster-hit areas as

20584-516: The summer of 1920. The Ottoman parliament mostly accepted the cession of the region, but they had a different view on the issue of Mosul. They declared the Misak-ı Milli . Misak-ı Milli stated that the Mosul Province was a part of their heartland, based on a common past, history, concept of morals and laws. Presumably, from a British perspective, if Mustafa Kemal Atatürk succeeded in securing

20750-416: The theatre for some time. Colonel Nureddin the former commander of the Iraq Area Command was still in charge on the ground. On 22 November, Townshend and Nureddin fought a battle at Ctesiphon , a town 25 miles south of Baghdad. The conflict lasted five days. The battle was a stalemate as both the Ottomans and the British ended up retreating from the battlefield. Townshend concluded that a full scale retreat

20916-594: The total of wounded outnumbered seriously wounded by 2.5:1 for the war. Applying that same ratio to the Mesopotamia Campaign produces a total battle casualty count of about 89,500 (13,069 KIA, 56,000 WIA, 20,404 POW). By the end of 1918 the British had deployed 350,000–410,000 men into the theatre, 112,000 of them front-line troops. The vast majority of the British empire forces in this campaign were recruited from India. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

21082-620: The turn of October. General Marshall, following instructions from the War Office that "every effort was to be made to score as heavily as possible on the Tigris before the whistle blew", went on the offensive for the last time. General Alexander Cobbe commanded a British force from Baghdad on 23 October 1918. Within two days it covered 120 kilometres, reaching the Little Zab River , where it met and engaged Ismail Hakki Bey's Sixth Army, most of which

21248-447: The unexpected success British command reconsidered their plan and General Sir John Nixon was sent in April 1915 to take command. He ordered Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend to advance to Kut or even to Baghdad if possible. Townshend and his small army advanced up the Tigris river. They defeated several Ottoman forces sent to halt him. In July 1915, a force led by G. F. Gorringe captured

21414-457: The upper house. Wellington's success was based on the 44 peers elected from Scotland and Ireland, whose election he controlled. Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey had promoted reform of Parliament since the 1790s, always to be defeated by the Ultra-Tories. The breakthrough came in his success in passage of the Reform Act of 1832. He sought this as the final step of reform, rather than a first step in

21580-570: The vote and the right to sit in Parliament. That happened in 1829 using Whig support. Passage demonstrated that the veto power long held by the ultra-Tories no longer was operational, and significant reforms were now possible across the board. The stage was set for the Age of Reform. The era of reform came in a time of peace, guaranteed in considerable part by the overwhelming power of the Royal Navy. Britain engaged in only one serious war between 1815 and 1914,

21746-482: The vote in 1867. The aristocracy continued to dominate the Church of England, the most prestigious military and naval posts, and high society, but not business, industry or finance. In terms of national governmental policy, the democratic wishes of the entire people had become decisive. Most historians emphasise the central importance of the legislation of the 1830s–60s, although there was a dissenting minority of scholars in

21912-521: The war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized. The peace settlement was in effect only a ceasefire, and Napoleon continued to provoke the British by attempting a trade embargo on the country and by occupying the city of Hanover , capital of the Electorate , a German-speaking duchy of the Holy Roman Empire which was in a personal union with the United Kingdom. In May 1803, war

22078-520: The war. When Napoleon surrendered for the first time in 1814, three separate forces were sent to attack the Americans in upstate New York , along the Maryland coast (burning Washington but getting repulsed at Baltimore ), and up the Mississippi River to a massive defeat at the Battle of New Orleans . Each operation proved a failure with the British commanding generals killed or in disgrace. The war

22244-575: The winter. The British resumed their offensive in late February 1918 capturing Hīt and Khan al Baghdadi in March, and Kifri in April. In March 1918, Britain faced an uprising by a rebel organisation called Jam'iya al-Nahda al-Islamiya in Najaf , and laid siege to the city until May , when the rebels surrendered. For the rest of the 1918, the British had to move troops to the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in support of

22410-542: Was Presbyterian ), They proclaimed a devotion to hard work, temperance, frugality and upward mobility, with which historians today largely agree. A major Unitarian magazine, the Christian Monthly Repository asserted in 1827: The Nonconformists suffered under a series of disabilities, some of which were symbolic and others were painful, and they were all deliberately imposed to weaken the dissenting challenge to Anglican orthodoxy. The Nonconformists allied with

22576-568: Was Robert Peel , who suddenly reversed himself on the Catholic issue and was roundly denounced and permanently distrusted by the Ultra Tory faction of die-hards. Earl Grey , prime minister from 1830 to 1834, and his rejuvenated Whig Party enacted a series of major reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted and, most important, the Reform Act 1832 refashioned the British electoral system. In 1832 Parliament abolished slavery in

22742-619: Was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire , troops from Britain , Australia and the vast majority from British Raj , against the Central Powers , mostly the Ottoman Empire . It started after British amphibious landings in 1914 which sought to protect Anglo-Persian oil fields in Khuzestan and the Shatt al-Arab . However,

22908-460: Was a coalition of diverse interests, so in 1834 when it divided over the Irish church question he resigned. Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston played the dominant role in shaping British foreign-policy as Foreign Secretary (1830–1834, 1835–1841 and 1846–1851) and as prime minister (1855–1858, 1859–1865). He served as Secretary at War in Tory governments for two decades, but switched over to

23074-492: Was a deeply unpopular playboy. When he tried to get Parliament to pass a law allowing him to divorce his wife Queen Caroline , public opinion strongly supported her. After four decades of rule by Pittites and Tories the first breakthrough in reform came in the removal by a Tory government of restrictions on the careers of Protestant Nonconformists in the repeal in 1828 of the laws that required Anglican church membership for many academic and government positions. Much more intense

23240-471: Was a leading promoter of utilitarianism as a working philosophy of action. The "greatest happiness principle", or the principle of utility , forms the cornerstone of Bentham's thought. By "happiness", he understood a predominance of "pleasure" over "pain". He is best known for his inspiration of the radical forces, helping them define those reforms that were most urgently needed and how they could be implemented. His intellectual leadership helped achieve many of

23406-694: Was a mistake since Kut was isolated. It could be defended, but it could not be resupplied. Von der Goltz helped the Ottoman forces build defensive positions around Kut. The Sixth Army was reorganised into two corps, the XIII and the XVIII. Nureddin Pasha gave command to Von der Goltz. With the reorganisation, the Sixth Army laid siege to the British. New fortified positions established down river fended off any attempt to rescue Townshend. Townshend suggested an attempt to break out, but this

23572-809: Was a necessity for the rapidly growing industrial cities still labouring under a hodgepodge of centuries-old laws and traditions. When Peel took over the Home Office , he abolished the espionage and cruel punishments, ended the death penalty for most crimes, and inaugurated the first system of professional police —who in London to this day are still called "Bobbies" in his honour. The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 modernised urban government, which previously had been controlled by closed bodies dominated by Tories. Over 200 old corporations were abolished and replaced with 179 elected borough councils . Elections were to be based on registered voters, city finances had to be audited in

23738-452: Was a stalemate without purpose. A negotiated peace was reached at the end of 1814 that restored the prewar boundaries. British Canada celebrated its deliverance from American rule, Americans celebrated victory in a "second war of independence," and Britain celebrated its defeat of Napoleon. The treaty opened up two centuries of peace and open borders. Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars a very different country than it had been in 1793. As

23904-403: Was able to concentrate most of his forces against Maude near Kut. However, Maude switched his advance to the other bank of the Tigris, bypassing most of the Ottoman forces. The Ottoman XVIII Corps escaped destruction only by fighting some desperate rear guard actions. It did lose quite a bit of equipment and supplies. The British occupied Kut and continued to advance up the Tigris. By early March,

24070-405: Was about 10%, the lowest in any modern nation. Foreign policy became moralistic and hostile to the reactionary powers on the continent, teaming up with the United States to block European colonialism in the New World through the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. The Royal Navy stepped up efforts to stop international trade in slaves. Municipal reform

24236-424: Was always mistaken. He opposed wars and imperialism. His unremitting hostility to the Crimean war led to his defeat for reelection in 1857. He was soon reelected from Birmingham, leading a national campaign for parliamentary reform to enlarge the suffrage to reach the working man. He was intensely moralistic and distrusted the integrity of his opponents. He loathed the aristocracy that continued to rule Britain. He held

24402-445: Was an era of rapid economic modernisation and growth of industry, trade and finance, in which Britain largely dominated the world economy. Outward migration was heavy to the principal British overseas possessions and to the United States. With respect to other powers, the British remained non-aligned until the early 20th century when the growing naval power of the German Empire increasingly came to be seen as an existential threat to

24568-418: Was besieged and destroyed, later dubbed "the worst defeat of the Allies in World War I". Following this defeat, the Allied army reorganized and began a new campaign to take Baghdad. Despite fierce Ottoman resistance, Baghdad was captured in March 1917 and the Ottomans suffered more defeats until the Armistice at Mudros. The campaign ended with a British mandate over Mesopotamia being established and change of

24734-436: Was captured in the resulting Battle of Sharqat . On 30 October 1918, the Armistice of Mudros was signed and both parties accepted their current positions. General Marshall accepted the surrender of Khalil Pasha and the Ottoman 6th Army on the same day, but Cobbe did not hold his current position as the armistice required, and continued to advance on Mosul in the face of Turkish protests. British troops marched unopposed into

24900-406: Was closely linked to the Church of England , and expressed its strong hostility toward Catholics and nonconformist Protestants by restricting their political and civil rights. The Catholic started to organise in Ireland, threatening instability or even civil war, and the moderates in Parliament emancipated them. The Nonconformists were similarly freed from their restrictions. In addition to reforms at

25066-405: Was declared again. Napoleon's plans to invade Great Britain failed, chiefly due to the inferiority of his navy, and in 1805 a Royal Navy fleet led by Nelson decisively defeated the French Imperial Navy and Royal Spanish Navy at Trafalgar , which was the last significant naval action of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees , which brought into effect

25232-411: Was deployed to the Sinai and Palestine Campaign . Fourth Army Headquarters was sent to Syria, to replace the Second Army Headquarters, which was sent to Istanbul. In place of the Fourth Army was the " Iraq Area Command " with only the 38th Division under its command. This division was led by Lt.Col. Süleyman Askeri Bey. British operational planning included landing troops in the Shatt-al-Arab and mount

25398-404: Was given additional reinforcements and equipment. For the next six months he trained and organised his army. At the same time, the Ottoman Sixth Army was growing weaker. Khalil Pasha received very few replacements, and ended up disbanding the weak 38th Division and used its soldiers as replacements for his other divisions, the 46th, 51st, 35th, and 52nd. Robertson changed his mind when it seemed that

25564-404: Was initially rejected by Sir John Nixon; however he relented. Nixon established a relief force under the command of General Aylmer . General Aylmer made three major attempts to break the siege, but each effort was unsuccessful. On 20 January, Enver Pasha replaced Nureddin Pasha with Colonel Halil Kut (Khalil Pasha) . Nureddin Pasha did not want to work with a German general. He sent a telegram to

25730-437: Was necessary. However, Nureddin realised the British were retreating and cancelled his retreat, then followed the British. Townshend withdrew his division in good order back to Kut-al-Amara . He halted and fortified the position. Nureddin pursued with his forces. He tried to encircle the British with his XVIII Corps composed of the 45th Division, 51st Division and 2nd Tribal Cavalry Brigade. The exhausted and depleted British force

25896-415: Was reassembled under the banner of the Conservative Party. Numerous Tories, such as Lord Palmerston , switched over to the Whig opposition, and it became the Liberal Party . Constitutionally, the 1830s marks a watershed: the end of Crown control over the cabinet. King William IV in 1834 was obliged to accept a Prime Minister who had a majority in Parliament, and the Crown ever since has gone along with

26062-414: Was reconstituted. The Sixth Army was created on 5 October 1915, and its commander was a 72-year-old German general, Colmar von der Goltz . Von der Goltz was a famous military historian who had written several classic books on military operations. He had also spent many years working as a military adviser in the Ottoman Empire. However, he was in Thrace commanding the Ottoman First Army and would not reach

26228-429: Was the Crimean War with the Russian Empire , in which actual hostilities were relatively limited. However, the United Kingdom did engage in extensive wars in Africa and Asia , such as the Opium Wars with the Qing dynasty , to extend its overseas territorial holdings and influence. Britain's empire was expanded into most parts of Africa and much of South Asia. The Colonial Office and India Office ruled through

26394-532: Was the immediate repeal of the hated laws. Wellington and Peel originally were opposed, but then tried to compromise. They finally gave, splitting the Tory party, and signaling that the once unstoppable power of the Anglican establishment was now unexpectedly fragile and vulnerable to challenge. Three men shaped British foreign policy from 1810 to 1860, with only a few interruptions, Viscount Castlereagh (especially 1812–1822). George Canning (especially 1807–1829) and Viscount Palmerston (especially 1830–1865). For

26560-402: Was the lack of logistical infrastructure. When ships arrived at Basra, they had to be unloaded by small boats which then unloaded their cargo which was then stored in warehouses, which there were not enough of in Basra. Ships often sat for days waiting to be unloaded. Then supplies had to be sent north along the river in shallow draft river steamers because there were almost no roads north. Usually

26726-414: Was the long battle over the civil rights of Roman Catholics. Catholic emancipation came in 1829, which removed the most substantial restrictions on Roman Catholics in Great Britain and Ireland. The Duke of Wellington, as Tory prime minister, decided that the surging crisis in largely Catholic Ireland necessitated some relief for the Catholics, although he had long opposed the idea. The other main Tory leader

26892-400: Was the unexpected repeal of the many restrictions on Catholics, after widespread organised protest by the Catholic Association in Ireland under Daniel O'Connell , with support from Catholics in England . Robert Peel was alarmed at the strength of the Catholic Association, warning in 1824, "We cannot tamely sit by while the danger is hourly increasing, while a power co-ordinate with that of

27058-425: Was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state , established by the Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form for over a century. In 1927, it evolved into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , after the Irish Free State gained a degree of independence in 1922. The United Kingdom, from its islands off the coast of Europe, financed

27224-661: Was unhygienic, extremely hot in the summer, extremely cold in the winter, composed primarily of either sandy deserts or marshes, and was underdeveloped, meaning men had to be transported large distances for medical attention. The Ottomans suffered 325,000 casualties on the Mesopotamian Campaign. Deaths from disease were double the Ottoman deaths in battle in the First World War and greater than this in Mesopotamia. Ottoman irrecoverable battle casualties totalled 55,858 (13,069 KIA, 22,385 WIA, 20,404 POW). They were divided up as follows: The WIA figures only include irrecoverable losses (crippled or died of wounds). Going by Erickson's estimates,

27390-460: Was urged back to the defences of Kut-al-Amara. The retreat finalised on 3 December. Nureddin encircled the British at Kut-al-Amara, and sent other forces down river to prevent the British from marching to the relief of the garrison. On 7 December, the siege of Kut began. From the Ottoman perspective the siege prevented the Sixth Army from performing other operations. From the British perspective defending Kut , as opposed to retreating back to Basra,

27556-428: Was vital for Britain's new line of oil-fired turbine based dreadnoughts as well as toluol for the production of explosives. In addition to oil, Britain wanted to retain its dominance of the Persian Gulf , show support for local Arabs , and demonstrate power to the Ottomans, with Sir Edmund Barrow , military secretary to the Indian Office , stating, "ostensibly to protect the oil installation but in reality to notify

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