Blood and Oil: The Middle East in World War I

just as the Apaches cleared station in my task worthless that would form a reserved position we came over the South crossed into this period and we attacked cleanup in this area from South and North both the major roads rhodanese carry much of the combat support combat service support with a lot of wheel subtraction this road clean up destroy any remaining operational beards war in the Middle East in the spring of 2003 the United States invaded the country of Iraq and removed its dictator Saddam Hussein from power this foreign occupation was only the latest episode in a long series of wars revolts and foreign occupations that have plagued the Middle East for decades as for the war in Iraq it has happened before what would bad on the oil pipeline from Kirkuk was occupied by rashid ali's forces at the beginning of May our cameraman India Iraq now sends us these pictures of the famous Arab Legion working in contention with our forces during the final attack leading to the capture of the fortress exactly when did all of this conflict begin and how did the Western world become so involved in the Middle East to answer these questions we must go back to a time when the Middle East was known as the Ottoman Empire to a time when its armies fought in World War one we need to follow the story of that war and its political impact on the Middle East we must go back to the year of 1914 [Music] [Music] with surprise naval attacks against Odessa Sevastopol Yalta and other Russian cities the Ottoman Empire spanning from the southeastern tip of Europe across modern-day Turkey to the Arabian desert and the Caucasus Mountains plunges into the Cataclysm of a world war that is already claiming thousands of lives on the battlefields of France three men are in control of the Ottoman government in Istanbul Enver Pacha the Minister of War Talat Pasha the Minister of Interior and Jamal Pasha Minister of the Navy these three leaders rule as dictators over more than twenty million people about half of them are Turks the other half is made up of Arabs Greeks Armenians and other minorities Enver Pacha is determined to join Germany and the austro-hungarian Empire in their fight against France Great Britain and Russia the german emperor wilhelm ii has already sent a military mission to istanbul led by general Liman von Sanders at the time there was no reason to suppose that the Ottoman Empire would be a part of it or that the Middle East would be involved in it it was a European affair and not a Middle Eastern one but as um as a sort of accident the Ottoman Empire did come come into the war and though I say an accident in a sense it was not an accident because it was the the work of a very talented conspirator and plotter Enver Pacha Enver manipulates the government in istanbul and slowly leads the ottoman empire into war on October 25th 1914 Enver issues his fateful orders that will send hundreds of thousands to their deaths he orders the Turkish fleet into the Black Sea to start a war against Russia the mission is accomplished all too well after that fateful attack the Ottoman Empire will not live to see another day of peace in the east on the Caucasus front Russian troops advance into the fringes of Anatolia Turkish heartland of the Ottoman Empire to the south British and Indian troops land near Basra in Mesopotamia modern-day Iraq they are sent to protect the precious oil fields that lie in neighboring Persia now known as Iran at the Dardanelles British warships bombard the Gallipoli Peninsula reminding the Turks that this small but strategically important stretch of land must be defended at all costs less than two weeks from the start of hostilities the Istanbul finds its Empire attacked on three wide-ranging fronts while general von Sanders focuses on the defense of Istanbul and the Dardanelles Enver Pacha has a more grandiose plan he will take command of the Ottoman Third Army and drive the Russians from eastern Anatolia and back over the Caucasus Mountains the fact that the Third Army is unprepared to fight a campaign in a harsh winter weather doesn't seem to bother in fur in the least the Ottoman Empire was was unprepared to wage war in 1914 they have been badly defeated in the Balkan wars of 1912-1913 their army had been shattered they had no money their reserves of equipment were gone they lost about a quarter million men already so in 1914 when all of Europe was wildly enthusiastic about going to war marching in bands and flags the Ottomans were not three days before Christmas the Ottoman Third Army nearly 120,000 men launches an attack against the Russians the soldiers have no heavy clothing they have no tents yet they must endure bitter cold that reaches 230 degrees below zero as the soldiers move through treacherous mountain pathways some units simply lose their way in the blinding snow on December 25th at a place called sarikamish the Turkish force tries to encircle the Russians but it doesn't happen that way instead the Russians counter-attack and surround the Turks one-third of envers forces are eliminated virtually overnight by January 7th the Ottomans are in full retreat toward the West the next day Enver Pacha gathers his troops to congratulate them on their performance in battle all told more than 50,000 Turkish troops are killed wounded or taken prisoner by the Russians many of them did not die from enemy fire they fall unconscious from the cold and freeze to death the disastrous sarikamish means that Eastern Anatolia is now vulnerable to invasion but the Russians too are exhausted and halt their advance in February 1915 they will soon be on the march again with the fighting hopelessly bogged down in France London is determined to open a new front in the Middle East Winston Churchill First Lord of the Admiralty proposes a combined land and sea attack against the Dardanelles straits in the Gallipoli Peninsula once in control of the Straits the Royal Navy can steam into the Bosphorus a narrow strip of ocean separating Europe from Asia and bring Istanbul under its powerful guns at that point Churchill speculates that the Ottoman government will sue for peace Lord Horatio Kitchener Secretary of War for Great Britain has strong reservations about any plan that will take guns and men away from the Western Front in Europe one of England's great military heroes he believes the Middle East is not important and is reluctant to approve the plan then Churchill sells Kitchener and First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher on the idea of a strictly naval attack Admiral Sackville Cardin takes command of the invasion fleet and it leaves for the Dardanelles in March 1915 Lord Fisher still has his doubts when a German Wireless message is intercepted by British intelligence it reveals that the Turkish forts guarding either side of the Dardanelles are running low on shells for their massive guns suddenly Fisher becomes very enthusiastic about the operation and his chances for success [Music] by March 15th the anglo-french fleet is crossing the Mediterranean and it's admiral is suffering a nervous breakdown brought on by the strain of commanding a fleet of sixteen old warships that London expects to run a very dangerous gantlet Admiral Cardin is in no shape to lead his fleet into battle he turns his command over to Vice Admiral John de Robeck the day before the attack on March 18th at about 10:30 in the morning British and French battleships trade salvos with the Turkish fortresses while a line of mine sweepers moves into the Straits de Robeck is well aware that explosive mines have been laid across the passage they must be removed before the warships can proceed as the fleet turns starboard to let the mine sweepers pass it runs smack into a string of undetected mines the French battleship Bouvet is hit and sinks within two minutes as it rolls over into the sea the captain locks himself inside the conning tower nearly the entire crew is lost [Music] two British battleships the ocean and irresistable also go down three other battleships the British inflexible and the French Galois and Su friend also fall victim to the mines and suffer severe damage in a matter of minutes six allied warships are the victims of Turkish mines suddenly the scarcity of Turkish artillery shells doesn't really matter anymore at this point Admiral de Robeck must make a critical decision that will determine the future of the entire war he can press forward toward Istanbul and risk losing even more of his fleet or he can withdraw from the Straits and come back to fight another day little does he realize that the Turks are so short of Mines that they've used the ones captured from the Russians in the Black Sea reflecting on the scene before him with hundreds of dead and warships burning in the water he is reported to say I suppose I am done for the Admiral confers with the landing force commander General Ian Hamilton they decide that the Navy should wait until British troops can land and secure at least one side of the Straits they transmit their opinion to London and the Admiralty agrees Churchill is appalled by the decision to withdraw Winston Churchill with his his gift as a warrior understood that you've got to take losses if and and you've got to be ready to take losses to win great rewards but despite Churchill's passionate desire to keep on going the Admiral in charge decided to turn around it was heartbreaking for Churchill the Turks had just run out of ammunition the leaders of the Ottoman Empire were packing their things to flee everyone was ready to surrender and the British Admiral turned around he argues violently against the retreat with Istanbul only one hour away he rallies Kitchener and Prime Minister Herbert Asquith to his cause then shoots off a strong cable to Admiral de Robeck ordering him to renew the attack immediately but the telegram goes nowhere Percy Lord Jackie Fisher refuses to send it Churchill storms away anguished in his belief that the war in the Middle East could have been won on that day in early January 1915 the Ottoman army begins in advance across the treacherous Sinai desert to strike the most important possession of the British Empire in the Middle East the great Suez Canal the life line that connects England to as far off territories and spheres of influence in Iran Afghanistan and India if the Turks can shut down the canal they will [ __ ] the British war effort in the Middle East [Music] Jamal Pasha the Minister of the Navy takes command of the ottoman 4th army in Palestine and his advance across the Sinai begins about 15,000 men have to cross more than a hundred miles of searing desert they have to bring artillery rafts and pontoon boats water and food for the troops and draft animals what he hope to do because obviously he can't take a [ __ ] which was defended reasonably well by the British with an army of that size but he hoped that he would start some sort of jihad once he got across the canal and and that would destroy the British position in Egypt but he never really gets across the canal and in his army was defeated and it learned his reputation after two weeks of hard marching Jamal Pasha's army arrives near the canal the British are still unaware of his presence on the night of February 2nd Turkish troops advance to the water's edge and launched their boats into the canal a small British observation post reacts to the commotion and opens fire the Turks untrained for a water crossing jump out of their boats or drop them at the shore while about 60 men actually make it to the other side of the canal they are soon killed wounded or captured when morning arrives so do British reinforcements the Turks continue to attack trying to hold a bridgehead at the canal but they are soon driven away the grand plan to capture the vital British waterway has collapsed the Turks have no option but to withdraw back across 120 miles of desert with nothing to show for their efforts except for about 2,000 casualties in the following months the British sent so many troops to defend the Suez Canal that the Turks dare not attack it again Lord Kitchener reluctant to send troops to the Middle East finally agrees to support Churchill's plan for an invasion by land to capture Istanbul on April 22nd 1915 a British Army made up mostly of Australian and New Zealand troops along with some French forces crams into Royal Navy ships for the journey to Gallipoli a narrow Peninsula of land on the western side of the Dardanelles straits for three days and three nights four men lived where one would have been crapped in that iron case floating stinko eating badly cooked food and drinking warm water by the night of the third day as we need Gallipoli we were in the mood for anything we'd fight anybody for anything we didn't care what general Ian Hamilton commanding the Mediterranean expeditionary force intends to land his troops and drive up the Gallipoli Peninsula to attack and capture Istanbul in London the government anticipates news of a great victory in a few days on April 25th 1915 nearly 80,000 British troops come ashore at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles while French troops land at Combe Calais on the eastern side of the Dardanelles despite all their preparations the Turkish forces numbering about 60,000 are taken by surprise general von Sanders cannot be certain exactly where the enemy will land now the battle becomes a critical game of time how long will it take for the British to gain the high ground that overlooks the beaches how long will it take for Turkish reinforcements to arrive at those heights and drive the enemy back the Australian New Zealand troops called Anzacs actually land one mile north of their intended beach instead of the gently sloping plain they expected they faced steep slopes beyond lies a rugged landscape of hills and ravines that divided the shoreline into small unconnected beaches the Anzacs rushed forward reaching the heights of the sorry bear Ridge on that same Ridge stands Colonel Mustafa Kemal and Turkish troops from his 19th division although he has received no orders from headquarters he knows that something decisive must be done immediately the Turks are retreating they've run out of ammunition Colonel Kemal orders them to stop fix their bayonets and lie on the ground the Anzac troops react and also fling themselves to the ground Kamal's reinforcements arrive and drive the British off the ridge at Cape Helles Beach the British land in broad daylight and are cut down by devastating fire from the enemy two battalions emerge from the transport ship river-clyde many soldiers are killed before they reach the shore an allied pilot flying overhead reports that the water is red with blood 450 yards from the shoreline as darkness falls at Gallipoli not a single Allied objectives set for that day has been reached the critical high ground overlooking the beach is still in Turkish hands the Anzacs hold on to their strips of beach for three weeks then the Turks counter-attack in a desperate attempt to drive their foe back into the sea but they fail and so the battle goes on capturing a hill or a ridge at great sacrifice only to be driven out again on August 6th the British staged a second landing at Suvla Bay just north of Anzac Cove in an attempt to outflank the Turkish positions although the landing comes off very quickly with little resistance the troops fail to seize the high ground along the ridge lines a few days later the Turks counter-attack at Suvla Bay led by the British nemesis Colonel Mustafa Kemal he leads one of the attacks himself and the British cannot hold on they are driven back to within a half mile of the sea once again the Turks have taken the high ground the Allies have failed to advance against an enemy who is supposed to be inferior to Western armies [Music] the turkey soldier is excellent fighting material well looked-after sufficiently nourished properly trained and calmly led this man will accomplish the highest aims bravery itself does not not win wars and the Turks the Ottoman soldiers were certainly no braver than say the English or the French so how is it that they actually won one battles and the answer is that they had a very very proficient army that was trained to a high level of proficiency although the Allies never really caught on to this it was an army that was modeled on the German army and and although they weren't nearly anywhere near as good as the Germans simply modeling their army on a successful army carried them a long way as summer turns into fall the bloody stalemate goes on at Gallipoli the depressing monotony is broken by sporadic attacks but nothing changes much the Turks still hold all the key terrain the British are still pinned with their backs to the sea disease becomes the great killer in the trenches dysentery cholera and typhus there was not much sudden death but there was slow death everywhere the body was slowly dying from the inside we talked to each other we laughed occasionally but always the thought of death in our minds the men contracted dysentery and fever every day the bullets did not take a big toll it was the death of germs in October London wants general Hamilton's opinion on the feasibility of evacuating all his troops he replies that half his men will die trying to leave the beaches a few days later Hamilton's replaced by General Charles Monroe he surveys the hopeless situation at Cape Helles Anzac Cove and Suvla Bay and tells the War Office that the army needs to leave Gallipoli with no more delay hearing about Monroe's estimate Winston Churchill bitterly comments he came he saw he capitulated Lord Kitchener visits Gallipoli himself in November after seeing the quagmire with his own eyes he orders General Monroe to prepare for evacuation on December 18th 1915 British forces begin to read embark on their ships by January 9th the withdrawal from Gallipoli is complete not a single allied soldier has been killed during the entire evacuation got the news of the evacuation of Anzac the more I think of it the more horrible the whole show seems all that sacrifice all that labour for nothing at all the flare of Australian manhood lies on and below the earth the cost of the campaign is horrifying a combined total of 1 million men have fought at Gallipoli nearly half of them become casualties never again will the British Army attack the Turks from the sea so ends Winston Churchill's gamble to win a quick victory against the Ottoman Empire he is removed from his post as First Sea Lord and demoted to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster a small insignificant job where he will no longer control the fate of so many lives [Music] you know Winston Churchill falls on hard times after after the Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaigns because in some respects he becomes a scapegoat and he's really pushed into the background he doesn't really play a role thereafter until 1918 when he is gonna be brought back I actually spent some time on the Western Front he's actually given a command on the Western Front during this period but again as far as hi policy you know he it's not until 1918 and 1919 that Churchill make something of a comeback that Lord George brings him back the day after Great Britain declares war on the Ottoman Empire its first military act is to land troops near Abaddonn at the southern tip of Iran on November 6 1914 its mission is quite clear protect the nearby oil fields and make sure their production is not disrupted oil has become the new fuel for the Western world the Royal Navy has switched from coal to oil a few years before the war begins Great Britain and France have invested a lot of money and manpower to develop the oil fields in southern Iran consequently the military mines in London believed that in advance into Iraq right next door to Iran will be the best way to make sure that oil continues to flow out of the Middle East and into allied warships trucks and aircraft one of the complicated stories has to do with oil oil in the Middle East in 1911 the British Navy had shifted from coal to oil and Winston Churchill who was head of the Navy then did have a real understanding that oil was going to be of great importance other leaders worked who were slow to figure that one out so that oil during much of the war was not the factor that it was to become later the operational conditions in southern Iraq the Fertile Crescent region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers seems less than promising the area is known for its seasonal flooding malaria and Swamp fever high temperatures are unbearable sometimes reaching above 150 degrees in March 1915 the British began their advance of the Tigris River led by General Charles Townsend by the end of May his troops clear out the hostile Turk and Arab forces that threatened the oil fields in Iran although Townsend superior General John Nixon knows all about troop shortages and supply problems he keeps pushing Townsend for victories he even talks about capturing Baghdad before the year is out at the city of coutelle Amara on September 28th 1915 general Townsend's forces attacked the Turkish defenses early in the morning and break the enemy lines by noon the battles raged all day and the Turks are in full retreat by nightfall but general Nixon isn't satisfied he is obsessed with Baghdad and urges Townsend farther upriver into the heart of a sweltering darkness by mid-november British forces about 11,000 men stand at the ruins of an ancient city known as Tessa Fon with its famous arch rising above the featureless landscape they are only 25 miles from Baghdad standing in their way are 20,000 soldiers of the ottomans 6th army led by Norton Pasha the Battle of Tessa Phan rages over four days in bitter cold much of it fought in a sandstorm when the sky clears Townsend has failed to break the Turkish line both sides lose about a third of their troops Baghdad will not to be taken Townsend withdraws 100 miles downriver back to coup de la mora but the Turkish army is on the move again that's the conventional wisdom that they fought hard and well when they're in trenches backs against the wall and in fact they were capable of remarkable offensive movements on foot the sarikamish campaign in particular they they march 75 kilometers and and in 3 days whole army corps is going through snowy passes in the mountains and the and the Caucasus and the the encirclement of Townsend's army and cut they are relentless in their pursuit of towns and as he goes downstream from Tessa Phan to cut arriving at coot on December 3rd 1915 the British have plenty of ammunition and two months of rations so when Townsend hears that the Turks are advancing against him he shows no real concern four days later the Turks arrive and begin to surround the city the disastrous defeated sarikamish exposes all of eastern Turkey to an enemy invasion in early May 1915 the Russians restart their military machine and move down the tour tomb Valley toward the fortress city of Aires Arun general yudenich and his army of 80,000 men capture the city of Vaughn to the south move past Lake Vaughn and threaten the city of moosh about 50,000 Turkish troops fight a holding action but they are poorly equipped and short on ammunition and bringing in reinforcements is out of the question the Turkish railroad system is simply too inadequate so it's easy to talk about moving troops from Gallipoli or Thrace down to Mesopotamia it's another thing entirely to actually do it the railways only went part of the way and and there were big breaks caused by mountains and and unconstructed tunnel systems which were planned but uncompleted it would take something like six to eight weeks to move troops from Gallipoli down to Mesopotamia under the best of circumstances battles continue throughout this summer in a seesaw campaign where towns change hands from week to week the Turks have lost nearly 60,000 men and the Russians haven't fared much better then in September Grand Duke Nicholas the uncle of Tsar Nicholas ii takes command of the Caucasus front from his headquarters in the city of cars Nicholas and his staff spent the rest of the year planning their next offensive by January 1916 they are ready to move with nearly twice as many troops they launched a surprise attack against the Turks and drive them back toward the West the russians break through along the entire Eastern Front the Ottoman Third Army is routed and retreats to the fortress a tears around in mid-february the ancient fortress falls to the Russian invaders the capture of Arras aroma is too painful to make public even the Sultan himself does not learn of the defeat for several months another Russian force lands from the Black Sea and takes the city of Reza in March and then trap zone in April battles rage between the Russians and Turks throughout the spring and summer by the end of August Nicholas has defeated two armies and occupied a massive amount of enemy land he is in full control now and his exhausted troops can finally arrest the Ottomans second and third armies have suffered mortal blows they have lost a 100,000 men supplies are nearly gone and any male from 16 to 50 is being drafted to fill the dwindling ranks by the end of 1916 Turkish soldiers on the Eastern Front are dying by the hundreds of disease starvation or exposure to the harsh winter great losses are caused by lack of subsistence and lack of warm clothing many Turkish soldiers are dressed in thin summer garments have no overcoats and no boots the feet are mostly wrapped in rags from which the toes protrude all men are badly undernourished the land itself is dead and cold the few factories stand silent and empty the supply system fails food clothing and equipment are scarce Turkish soldiers aren't the only ones suffering a massive amount of refugees are also dying hundreds of thousands also fall victim to starvation exposure and disease an additional threat comes from eroding bandits deserters rebel groups and hostile soldiers massacres are common throughout the land by the end of the war in Turkey more than 1 million civilians will be dead in late December 1915 general Townsend and about 13,000 men are surrounded at coutelle Umrah the enemy has somehow amassed a superior force without the benefit of railroads they showed up in places that they shouldn't they the the Allies were always mystified why the Turks beat them to certain hills and objectives and certain battles it was a highly mobile army our our impression of the Turks is that they were only good sitting in a trench well the fact is that they were tremendously mobile they were capable of marches over great distances hard marching tough soldiers who were very very mobile and agile they could shift from the defensive to the offensive in a matter of hours then from Istanbul German field marshal Kumar von der Goltz arrives to supervise operations against the British he decides to use an ancient tactic of warfare against the enemy he will starve them into submission from January to April British forces under general FJ elmer tried to break the turkish siege with several attacks all of them fail general Townsend men are unhappy she's and they're running out of bullets a final effort is made to get food and supplies to Townsend starving troops under a moonlit night a paddle steamer makes its way up the Tigris with food and provisions its rudder catches on a cable stretched across the river by the Turks eight miles from coot the crew is killed or captured the supplies go to the enemy on April 27th the British troops at coot begin to destroy their guns two days later 13,000 British and Indian soldiers surrender to the enemy during the ill-fated campaign to capture Baghdad general Townsend has lost 10,000 men general elmer loses another 23,000 soldiers trying to break the siege the British are mortified by news of the surrender with Townsend and his men captured London sees little reason to continue the campaign in Iraq the Turks move their troops southward and prepares strong defenses on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers they know the British will try for Baghdad again after the British failure at Gallipoli another plan is developed to attack the Ottoman Empire from Egypt advance from the Suez Canal across the Sinai desert and move up the coast of Palestine general Archibald Murray commander of the Egyptian expeditionary force begins a deliberate and well supplied advance across the desert thousands of soldiers and egyptian laborers are set to work building a foot-wide pipeline for water and building a railroad for supplies and reinforcements the British have erected a complete system of defense to the east of the canal and are awaiting as there was a force many times superior to our small expeditionary force the British with an impregnable defence now take the initiative in a great strategic maneuver designed for total victory general Murray finally decides to advance across the Sinai and attack the enemy in Palestine the desert war has begun for the soldiers desert warfare offers a test of endurance that has no equivalent on the Western Front it is hard to keep marching in the right direction over a featureless landscape the country is built for defence and the enemy makes great use of their advantage the British soldiers march with heavy packs under a burning Sun and walk over soft heavy sand that literally takes the boots right off their feet most of these British so just have this thirst that they can never get over you can read their memoirs and they talk about how how important water suddenly was you know one says you can't stand a leaky faucet later on that was a waste of water but I mean the hardships were quite extraordinary and I think it's really unfair to these soldiers to think that they had an easy time up when they obviously don't they don't fight the same sort of artillery battles that you have on the Western Front and quite frankly you were more likely to survive the war if you were in this particular theater but the physical hardships and the fact that you can't go home in some respects balances all of this out it takes six long months for the expeditionary force to move across the Sinai the Ottoman 4th army has dug in on a strong defensive line running from Gaza by the sea to the town of Beersheba general Murray sets his sights on Gaza and orders general Charles Doble to capture the town and its precious water supply doble has a massive number of troops at his disposal including the mounted desert column while it provides a strong and mobile force to use against the Turks the desert column also creates the tremendous problem of 10,000 horses that also need water to survive water wells are in Gaza if the British are to succeed the town must be taken in December 1916 British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith is voted out of office the defeat at Gallipoli and the bloody struggle on the Western Front has taken its toll on public morale and they elect David Lloyd George to lead the country out of the war George has a strong distaste for all things Turkish he makes the destruction of the Ottoman Empire a key objective in the war in Iraq the tragedy of general Townsend surrender brands a harsh lesson upon the British war office this time general Percy Lake who has replaced general Nixon prepares another advance of the Tigris River he has 166 thousand soldiers for the mission two-thirds of them Indian Lake is depending on General Stanley mod to capture Baghdad although London is anxious for a victory Maud has the foresight to go forward only when his army is fully prepared mods army moves up the Tigris River early in 1917 on February 22nd they fall upon the Turks at coutelle Umrah by the end of the day the Turkish commanders fear encirclement they withdraw their army upriver for the final defense of Baghdad log pursues the retreating Turks and attacks them again on March 4th as the British drive the Turks upriver once again they take many prisoners the enemy moves north of Baghdad leaving the city defenseless March 11th 1917 general mods army enters Baghdad unopposed the conquering British receive high praise for their conduct from the local citizens one ottoman historian will write though this was the 30th time that Baghdad had fallen to a conqueror never before had the event passed off so quietly you know Maud wants to take Baghdad and he is able to take back that and in some respects that will say morale lifting victory for the British but he clearly can't go beyond Baghdad and after it's now problem of holding on to Baghdad but by this time the British have already made a deal with the French to control the oil from Basra to Baghdad they had done this as early as 1916 you know before this city was conquered with summer on the way carrying all of its bugs and diseases and with supply lines stretched thin Maud decides to keep his men dug in around Baghdad they will roast in the unbearable heat but at least they won't be fighting in the spring of 1917 on the Palestine front general Murray sends his massive army forward to capture the city of Gaza and it's badly needed water wells the Ottoman 4th army has established a strong defensive position on a line from Gaza to the town of Beersheba protected on its left flank by the Judean Hills on March 26th the British advance and fight hard to gain much ground losing many troops along the way shrapnel had merged in arriving white cloud over the advancing men they plotted out of a haze of earth and smoke only to disappear into another barrage every yard must have seemed death to them some thousands of the poor chaps bled on that day by the afternoon Gaza is almost completely surrounded with the Turks preparing to give up the town suddenly general Philip Chatwood commanding cavalry of the desert column fears that his men are being surrounded by the enemy and orders them to withdraw without the cavalry the infantry becomes exposed to counter-attack so it too is ordered to fall back the soldiers are bewildered in the words of one division history they considered they had captured Gaza and that they had been dragged like a dog on a leash from their prize on April 17 1917 general Murray strikes at Gaza for a second time a single British infantry division advances across a two mile front the fighting goes on for three days but one division isn't enough and thousands of soldiers die trying to break the Turkish line on making their final charge the Turks stood up and received them with hand grenades fleeing then to another line of trenches our poor chaps occupied the trench of our time and then the Turks attacked with fixed bayonets killing or capturing nearly every man the only reason the Turks do not counter-attack is because they are low on ammunition in June Murray is dismissed and replaced by general Edmund Allenby fresh from the Western Front Allenby is a large man with a bad temper behind his back he is known as bull Allenby but he is also a professional in the trade of warfare and makes it clear to London that he will not move against the Gaza Beersheba line until he gets plenty of reinforcements general Allenby many respects a sort of a bundle of contradictions because he could be very severe in time since his famous incident when he dresses down a soldier for not wearing a helmet only discovering to discover he's talking to a corpse but he does that he does this in France and he's really this hard-driving commander with a reputation that was somewhat diminished and but when he comes to the Palestine front he's going to get a brand new start and he turns out to be a first-rate commander because he's everywhere in fact his own men have a signal the the bloody Bulls loose when he was making his inspection tours but he has this really close contact with his men throughout the entire summer of 1917 soldiers endure the heat and other nasty features of the desert war though I keep picking off lice there are plenty more I just can't get rid of them and am itching all over my body is covered with red and purple blotches by October 1917 Allenby is ready to move against the enemy line on a moonlit night his army moves across the desert toward Gaza arriving near the battleground at 3:00 in the morning on October 31st a few hours later the British strikes simultaneously at Gaza and Beersheba allenbys plan is simple attack Gaza and hold the enemy's attention then send in a larger force to attack Beersheba on the Turkish left flank take the city then concentrate everything against Gaza the battles raged the entire day but the main event at Beersheba is the famous cavalry charge of the 4th Australian Light Horse Regiment depicted in the 1987 film the light Horseman the lone lines of cavalry swept forward at rising speed half obscured in clouds of reddish dust over the Turks they went leaping the two lines of deep trenches and flung themselves into the trenches with the bayonet the Turkish line is broken and the enemy retreats to the north the loss of Beersheba in a single day stuns the Turkish army the next day allenbys troops hit the Turks hard at Gaza incredibly most of the enemy still holds and the Turks even make some counter-attacks but they cannot hold out against far superior forces after holding solid for nine months the great Turkish line of defense has been destroyed the third battle for Gaza is the beginning of the end for the Ottoman Empire the Turkish armies are in retreat and general Allenby is in hot pursuit he wants to destroy as much of the enemy as he can while he has the upper hand he knows there is plenty of fight left in the Turks they may be retreating but they are not giving up instead of continuing his drive to the north Allenby turns to the east toward the holy city of Jerusalem the symbolic history of that ancient city sacred to Christians Muslims and Jews is more important at the moment than another great victory against the Turks Lloyd George has already told Allenby to take Jerusalem before Christmas the religious significance is not lost on Christians among the British troops Ford's tin lizzies plowed through the sand hills and raced along the coast tracks where Pharaohs war chariots had traveled a derelict tank lay in no-man's land within rifle shot of where Samson's primitive weapon of the jawbone of an ass had proved more deadly well you know in some respects if it was a crusade but Allenby it's really sensitive about this because he doesn't want it to be caught and carousing a lot of his soldiers were Muslim having his labor force for example he also had Indian troops and so he doesn't walk this sort of Christian versus Muslim conflict and he just doesn't want to call that at all but you couldn't help but be aware if you were a British soldier that you were going into Bethlehem or that you were getting closer to Jerusalem and so even though Allenby doesn't want it really talked about as a crusade if some of the rank-and-file did think that way and I think it was some motivation for some of these these British soldiers on a night of rain and bitter cold British forces attacked the holy city of Jerusalem on December 7th 1917 the enemy offers strong resistance at first but they are only 15,000 men against overwhelming enemy numbers they begin to a straw from the city for centuries of Ottoman rule have come to an end on December 11th general Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot out of respect for the city he is the 34th conqueror of Jerusalem in its long volatile past after a campaign that has lasted 40 days and 40 nights with the loss of eighteen thousand men the British soldiers have delivered a Christmas present to their nation in the city Allenby delivers a proclamation to the crowd and dignitaries gathered since your city is regarded with affection by the adherence of three of the great religions of mankind and its soil has become consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people of those three religions for many centuries therefore do I make it known to you that every sacred building monument holy spot shrine or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of the three religions will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faiths they are sacred the turks lose twenty five thousand men in the struggle that began october 31st they are down but not out and still hold a strong defensive line from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea general allenbys great victory has no effect on the bloodbath that continues on the Western Front in fact it looks as though the Germans might win the struggle generals hindenburg and ludendorff are planning a great offensive for the spring of 1918 they have many more divisions of troops to use against the British and French brought in from the fight against Russia where the Revolution of 1917 has toppled the Czarist government of nicholas ii the Bolsheviks have taken over led by Vladimir Lenin he quickly signs treaties with Berlin and Istanbul that take his new communist state out of the war so Germany is free to concentrate all its strength on the Western Front in the United States Congress declares war on Germany in April 1917 President Woodrow Wilson promises to send troops in the hundreds of thousands to help Britain and France but it takes time to train and organize this massive force and get them over to Europe Boy George fears the Americans will not arrive in time to do any good against the impending German onslaught so the Prime Minister tells general Allenby to send most of his army back to France but more George is also a great supporter of fighting in the Middle East and he quarrels a lot with his generals about the allocation of resources not to these theatres and he he is determined by late 1917 1918 that this is going to be the British theater these are going to stay on the defensive in the West basically wait for the American forces to build up in Europe and he hoped even to substitute American soldiers for British soldiers which he was going to send to the Middle East but this was going to be his theater but the Germans wouldn't play that game and so when they attack suddenly the Western Front is once again you know first and foremost the British offensive and Palestine is stopped cold just when it is poised to capture Damascus and press on to Istanbul itself Allenby can do nothing but watch his opportunity slip away and watched the Ottoman army used the time to prepare their defenses for the battles that lie ahead yes the holy city of Jerusalem is in the Crusaders hands but peace still lies somewhere beyond its walls early in the war Allied agents contact Sharif Hussein one of the key tribal leaders in Arabia the British have heard about a nationalist movement gaining strength across the desert they want to use Arab nationalism as a weapon in the war against the Turks the British age Hussein to join the Allies and lead an Arab revolt in the desert Hussein is quite clear about what he wants in return for his support in the war Arab independence London agrees to help achieve that goal but their response is appropriately vague they don't want the Arabs to be completely free what they really want is British influence in Arabia On June 10th 1916 Hussein finally declares a revolt against the Turks the British have supplied him with guns and gold but the Arabs are undisciplined various tribes and factions argue among themselves one British officer says the Arabs are just looters and murderers they would not stand casualties while a revolt has been declared no one really knows its strength or how reliable information about it really is they interrogated a deserter would come over from the Ottoman side a young Arab who claimed to be a representative of Arab secret societies that according to him honeycomb the Ottoman armies most of the Ottoman troops were in fact Arab and so this young officer said that there was a very good possibility that as much as half or more of the whole Ottoman Empire would switch sides in the war and come over to the Allied side if they felt that the British were going to give Arabs their independence after the war and what we all know what we know now but they did not know then was it was a hoax the young man spoke for nobody but himself one fact is clear the Arab revolt lacks effective leadership the Arab Bureau in Cairo sends a 28 year old British captain thomas lawrence into arabia to find a man who can bring the tribes together into an effective fighting force that man turns out to be prince faisal son of Sharif Hussein Faisal has already joined a secret Arab nationalist Society Lawrence meets him in December 1916 and together they plan a strategy for attacking the Turks Lawrence knows the Arab rebels are no good against fortified Turkish positions he begins to lead small mobile detachments across the desert on hit-and-run missions one of his favorite targets is the Hejaz railway that runs from Medina all the way to Damascus in the north Lawrence's genius for guerrilla warfare soon emerges the exploits of this enigmatic soldier and scholar will be popularized 45 years later in the epic Hollywood film Lawrence of Arabia [Music] on July 6th 1917 Lawrence and his Arabs achieve a victory that the British generals in Cairo considered to be impossible they captured the strategic port of Aqaba on the Red Sea attacking across 600 miles of desert Lawrence returns to Cairo to report his victory to general Allenby dressed in air of the costume he creates quite a stir at headquarters but Allenby has a liking for the unorthodox and appreciates Lawrence's abilities after the victory in Aqaba Allenby agrees to supply the Arabs with more guns and more gold throughout 1917 and 1918 the Arab revolt plays havoc with the Turkish line of communications pinning down about 30,000 enemy troops that cannot be used against Allenby but they stay clear of the fortress at Medina the idea of assaulting Medina was not in accord with our best strategy we wanted the enemy to stay in Medina and in every other heartless place in the largest numbers so long as he gave us the other 999 thousandth of the Arab world during the first three weeks of May 1918 Arab rebels blow up the Hejaz railway 25 times Prince Faisal soon becomes London's favorite Arab leader by September 1918 general Allenby is ready for his final push toward Damascus Lawrence and his men destroy four miles of Turkish railroad tracks in support of allenbys advance the enemy is clearly demoralized and falling apart the Arab revolt gains more energy as other Arab tribes joined faizal's army some of them fight for independence but most of them fight for the spoils of war as the official British history notes they saw their old enemy reeling to destruction they saw a vision of freedom and nearer at hand a vision of loot at the start of 1918 the British offensive grounds to a halt after the capture of Jerusalem the Turks have time to gather reinforcements and strengthen their defensive lines from Germany an elite fighting unit called the ilderim or lightning group has arrived led by general Erich von Falkenhayn the fresh German troops joined the attack with machine guns artillery and a complement of brand-new fighter planes in Germany general Hindenburg and his staff have been planning a great offensive on the Western Front on March 21st 1918 they unleash their mighty attack outnumbered by more than two to one the Allied front collapses fearing that the war might be lost London recalls 90,000 of General Allen B's best men from Palestine along with heavy artillery to block the German advance here I have raided the Hejaz railway 40 miles east of Jordan and have done much damage but my little show dwindles now into a very insufficient affair in comparison with events in Europe when allenbys men arrive in France they are quickly reminded by their comrades in arms that the real war is in France not in a far-off desert L&B isn't the only general losing troops in Palestine Enver Pacha has decided to begin a grand offensive in the Caucasus where the Russian army has disintegrated he steals some of the best troops from Palestine and doesn't even bother to consult with general von Sanders without giving me a hearing orders are issued for the withdrawal of my most valuable troops the south which the front cannot be held and the withdrawal of the remaining German formations without which the war cannot be continued by turkey Sanders isn't alone in questioning the wisdom of envers new campaign general Kemal also argues that Turkish troops should stay on the Palestine front one school of thought exemplified by Mustafa Kemal who was the philosophical loser in this sense was that Turkey should should tighten up its defenses should form strategic reserves and and and get ready for a defensive battle to retain what they had already conquered or held onto in the war the other strategic idea was enviar Pasha's and that's that the attack should be continued that the successes of 1916 should be followed up there were in many ways a surplus of a small surplus of forces available in 1917 by the summer of 1918 Turkish troops fighting in Palestine are suffering badly they have no reserves and few supplies their clothes are in rags and they are hobbled by disease frequently the troops aren't even sure if they will have food on the next day hungry ragged verminous comfortless hopeless outnumbered is it to be wondered that the Turkish soldiers lost heart it is unlikely that any other troops in the world would have remained without collapse for so long a period of warfare under such conditions the German offensive in France is gradually blunted by the Allies US soldiers have finally arrived in large numbers and the tide of battle begins to turn by the fall of 1918 the Germans are the ones retreating allenbys forces have been restored and he strikes the Turks on September 19th 1918 in a series of attacks that will become known as the Battle of Megiddo the place where according to the Bible the final struggle between good and evil will be waged Armageddon covering his right flank with a small mobile force and Lawrence's Arab guerillas Allenby sends his cavalry along the coast where they break the enemy lines and swing to the east the Turks threatened with envelopment retreat northeast in disorder general von Sanders narrowly avoids being captured he is reported to retreat in his pajamas in the chaos that follows the British take many prisoners in one incident 800 Turks surrendered to an enemy officer they have just captured in another incident an entire regiment of Arab troops drop their guns and leave the field of battle in the retreat toward Damascus British planes dropped 9 tons of bombs on the enemy the roads are strewn with dead soldiers horses and demolished wagons I was more drawn to the idea of learning about people than of killing them the only thing I killed all the war was a marauding dog and I feel sorry about that still in two days the Turkish 7th and 8th armies are virtually destroyed the disaster at Megiddo forces the Turkish General Staff to realize that the war is lost in Palestine it is only a matter of time before the Allies fight their way to Istanbul on February 12th 1918 Enver Pacha sends a Turkish force into eastern Turkey now void of Russian soldiers about 20,000 troops of the Armenian National Army who had fought alongside the Russians stand in the way they are well-equipped with guns and supplies but cannot hold out for long against the Turks and begin a fighting retreat toward the Caucasus envers army quickly captures the port of trap zone and the strategic city of Aires a room where the Turks had been routed 2 years earlier by the Russians by the end of April the Turks control most of the region around Lake von including the cities of von bitless and moosh in Germany Kaiser Wilhelm and his generals are suspicious of their allies advance into the Caucasus where the rich oil fields of Baku are the great prize by this time all the great powers recognize the importance of oil short on fuel Germany has a critical need for the oil in Baku the Turkish advance must be stopped and the General Staff sends several angry messages to Enver who ignores all of them by the end of July the Ottoman Third Army stands on the heights overlooking Baku the city is defended by an odd combination of Russian Armenian and Muslim forces the Turks attacks several times without success and then about 2000 British troops arrive in the city commanded by general elsie dunce travel london is also concerned about the turkish advance they would like to add the oil in baku to their post-war gains and are willing to fight for it but the enemy has at least 10 times the number of troops that Dunster ville has cobbled together soon his multinational command begins to fall apart just as the Turks renew their attack in the middle of September this time unlike Gallipoli the British know when to quit Danse travel was draws his troops into Royal Navy transports that have been waiting at the dock on the Caspian Sea the British effort to take Baku is short-lived and after Turkish artillery bombard the remaining defenders the city Falls to envers Army on September 15 1918 without the Russian army to stop them the Turkish campaign in the Caucasus is a great success encouraged by his string of victories Enver goes on with his plans to unite all the Muslim people in Turkey Iran and Central Asia he now calls his soldiers the army of Islam and he leads them farther and farther away from where they are really needed in Palestine where the British are scoring their own string of victories but Enver is caught up in his dream and leads his men forward on a mission that can never be accomplished four years later the dream ends with his army of Islam reduced to a handful of followers Enver is surrounded by Soviet troops in far-off Turkmenistan and killed on August 4th 1922 in Iraq things remain fairly quiet after a general mod captures Baghdad in the spring of 1917 now a year and a half later General William Marshall commands the theater when the War Office suddenly orders him to advance northward London has concluded that the Ottoman Empire is in its death throes and wants to make certain that the large oil reserves around the city of Mosul are in British hands despite the fact that French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau has been promised the region for France on October 2nd 1918 Marshall receives his orders occupy as much of the oil bearing lands as possible in a series of attacks Marshalls troops drive back the enemy along the Tigris River but the Turks haven't much fight left in them the Turkish commander is aware that Sultan Mehmed the 6th is engaged in peace talks with the Allies he knows the end is near and surrenders his force of 11,000 men on October 30th the next day an armistice takes effect and the Ottoman Empire is no longer at war in violation of that armistice British troops rushed to Mosul and occupy on November 1st Great Britain now controls the oil in Iraq on the Palestine front allenbys army and prince faisal x' men drive into syria and Damascus falls on October 1st 1918 moving farther north the British take the city of Aleppo and the great campaign is over 500 miles from where it started in September throughout the fight the humble heroes of British victory have been the thousands of camels used to carry supplies and the camel drivers the camel in some respects save the British Army if they assemble the largest camel force history has ever known and of course it took tens of thousands of camel drivers but you know camels carried the water they also cared the wounded camels could move on sand and I think the unsung heroes in many respects of the British army were these camel drivers they sometimes were recruited by sharp practices they were sometimes placed under severe discipline they were supposed to be civilians but they were basically put under a form of military discipline and as fast as they were recruited a lot of them were leaving the Turks are in full retreat general von Sanders and his staff withdraw to Adana in southeastern Turkey they will fight no more five days later von Sanders is recalled to Istanbul he gives a farewell message to his men the glorious days of Gallipoli will ever remain and forgotten in the history of all times I trust that God may grant to the people peace tranquility and recovery from the wounds inflicted by the long war sultan mehmed vi appeals to US President Woodrow Wilson to negotiate a peace agreement with the Allies on behalf of Istanbul the United States has not declared war on the Ottoman Empire it has no designs on territory in the Middle East Wilson refuses to help and so Istanbul sends another peace envoy General Charles Townsend who surrendered his command at KU Palomar after some negotiating an armistice is signed on board the Royal Navy battleship Agamemnon in fact the document is not just a surrender it gives the Allies permission to occupy any piece of enemy territory they wish not only is the Ottoman Empire out of the war its very existence is threatened all Turkish territory is placed at the disposal of the Allies for what is diplomatically called further operations of war soon after the Armistice Minister of the Interior Talaat Pasha along with Enver and Jamal make their escape from Istanbul power passes to Mehmed the sixth who has only been Sultan for five months he wants to keep his new throne and knows he must satisfy the Allies in France the German military machine on the western front collapses the German military leaders who have come so close to victory now agree to an armistice that begins on November 11th 18 all across France people take to the streets in a cascade of joy that has been suppressed over four long years of total bitter warfare that has taken more than eight million lives as Turkish forces lay down their guns all across the Empire the Allies occupied the Dardanelles straits and the Gallipoli Peninsula slowly but surely the Allies start to devour Turkish land in the East Armenian troops march back into Turkey in the southeast French and Armenian troops land at Adana in the southwest Italian forces establish a foothold and from the West a Greek Army of Occupation lands at the city of Izmir most of the Turkish army nearly three million strong no longer exists one out of every three soldiers has been killed or wounded hundreds of thousands are prisoners of war or have simply deserted more than a million citizens in the Ottoman Empire have also died thousands more are starving or dying of disease about half the Empire's land is now in enemy hands unproductive land in the economy is in ruins and yet the Turkish army is not completely destroyed it still controls a large part of Turkey a cadre of seasoned and committed officers pull their ranks together the Western powers are eager to bring even more land under their control but some Turkish generals think differently and one of them is about to change the entire future of his country general Mustafa Kemal who played a key role in the defense of Gallipoli has been held back in his career by the jealousy of Enver Pacha under pasha was a charismatic young man who wanted to to make the Ottoman Empire great he was aggressive and reckless mustafa kemal on the other hand was was I think smarter also a political animal but but was was more cautious was more deliberate in his thinking Mustafa Kemal 1:20 when he arrived at a conclusion that was then a ruthless and relentless and in its execution he was a fierce fighter he was the best commander certainly in Yavin army and certainly as Churchill pointed out one of the best commanders of the whole entire war now in the spring of 1919 Kemal finally gets his chance outside of Istanbul the social fabric all across Turkey has broken down it is a lawless land with no central authority the Sultan is controlled by the Allies but the Allies no longer have enough troops to maintain security in the Middle East when civil violence breaks out around the city of samsoon on the Black Sea coast Kemal is sent there to restore order he has given broad powers as an inspector general for the army he arrives in sam-soon on may 19 1919 with a clear mission galvanized the Turkish nationalist movement into a political reality and raised a new army to drive foreign invaders out of the land he meets with a small group of like-minded colleagues and together they draft a Declaration of Independence Kemal travels from city to city throughout 1919 recruiting support from local leaders army officers and the Turkish people even the Muslim religious leaders lend their support in the fight to create a new Turkish Republic entire units of troops regroup and seize the weapons they surrendered only recently nationalist leaders converge at the city of savate to discuss the future of their country more leaders meet at the fortress city of ayres a room where Kemal argues that the Sultan's government is nothing more than a pawn of the Allies the Istanbul no longer represents the best interests of the Turkish nation the Allies know little about 38 year old Mustafa Kemal who suddenly emerges at the head of an all-out revolt against European Authority when Lloyd George makes inquiries about Kemal neither the Foreign Office nor the intelligence service can say much about him they can't even say whether Kemal is acting for or against the Sultan's government by the end of 1919 Turkish nationalists known as Kemalists come to power in a series of local elections they converge in Ankara a city in north central Turkey far from Istanbul British battleships and invading armies it is a good location for a new government which has proclaimed in April 19-20 Kemal and his supporters commit themselves to creating an independent Turkish state free of Western occupation a few months later the Sultan's government signs the Treaty of sèvres with the allies under its terms large parts of Turkey will be handed over to France Italy Greece and Armenia Istanbul and the Dardanelles will fall under international control with a military presence Arabia Iraq Egypt and Palestine will belong to London and Paris will control Syria and Lebanon the treaty is a public version of a secret agreement made between Britain and France back in 1916 at that time British diplomat Mark Sykes and French diplomat Francois picot redrew the map of the Middle East to accommodate Western greed for land and oil the sykes-picot agreement was an arrangement between Britain and France arrived at about midway through the war as to how the Middle East would be divided in terms of their own interests when the war was over this was a an agreement that that it was essential to hold the Sykes felt and because he had been told that by his friends in the Arab Bureau in in Cairo that it was of greatest importance that the British should know what they could give away to the supposed Arab leader Sharif Hussein and before they knew what they could give him they had to know what they were giving the French in Ankara the Kemalists government immediately rejects the Treaty of Sevres but the Allies aren't worried they hold all the cards or so they believe Prince Faisal and his Arab army make their victorious entrance into Damascus on October 3rd and 19:18 in return for supporting the allies faisal expects to rule over an independent Arab Republic stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean including Palestine Syria and Lebanon general Allenby meets with Faisal and Colonel Lawrence breaking the news that under previous arrangements France is to rule in Syria and Lebanon while Britain will take charge in Palestine where a Jewish homeland will be guaranteed predictably Faisal objects strongly but to no avail he is vastly outnumbered at the Paris Peace Conference the victorious Allies dictate peace terms to Germany and austria-hungary the Treaty of Versailles is signed on June 28th 1919 during the peace conference Lloyd George argues that Great Britain should play a dominant role in the Middle East he reminds the delegates that more than a million British soldiers are stationed there and that a quarter million have died or been wounded their French losses in the Middle East are far less and the United States hasn't even fought there one maxim of military doctrine has never changed to control an occupied country a government needs to have enough troops to do the job 1 million British soldiers can get the job done in the Middle East and maintain order among the civilian populations but those troops are about to disappear many have not been home since 1914 and their attitude is verging on mutiny general Allenby understands the danger of disgruntled soldiers in foreign lands and in the spring of 1919 convinces the War Office to bring the boys back home to fill the void being left by the British boy George calls on another ally Greece in Athens Prime Minister eleutherios of Venizelos is more than happy to oblige his government has its eyes on western Turkey anyway with plans to make it part of Greece sending an Army of Occupation at London's request will only make the job easier and the Greeks can also make sure the Italians in southern Turkey don't take more than they've been promised Prince Feisal the Arab representative to the Paris Peace Conference finally agrees to exclude Palestine from a new Arab Republic Kim Wiseman and other Jewish Zionist leaders are intent on making Palestine a new homeland for their people around the world Lord AJ Balfour has written a declaration to that effect it reads in part His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object dr. hon Weitzman the Zionist leader who is responsible for the issuance of this statement insisted that it be a public engagement it had to be there on the front page of the newspaper there was he correctly saw that only an agreement that was open and public who would be considered legitimate in the post-war world that the very the very secrecy with which other agreements were made suggested impropriety and that was a very astute observation of her vitamins and it made an enormous difference in them in the Balfour Declaration but Faisal and his Arab still demand control over Syria and Lebanon France intent on dominating both areas sees file as nothing more than a British puppet and Arab independence as nothing more than British manipulation French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau is frustrated by the political intrigue and at one point in the negotiations bursts into a rage and offers Lloyd George the choice of pistols or swords Lord Balfour is more cynically detached and describes Wilson George and clemenceau as three old powerful all ignorant men sitting there and carving up continents with only a child to lead them Lebanon becomes a battleground for French troops Arab rebels and British security forces Arabs attack the French with frequent raids British forces stop the French from retaliating small wonder that clemenceau has challenged Lloyd George to a duel Winston Churchill rehabilitated from his role in the Gallipoli disaster becomes the government's new Secretary of War in 1919 he warns Parliament not to disband its army too soon lest the new peace cannot be enforced yet by 1920 the British Army in the Middle East has shrunk to about 300,000 men there was a British army of about a million men in the Middle East and there was no other organized armed force in the whole of the whole of Asia so Britain was in a position to impose her will to make any settlement she wanted but Winston Churchill warned that that situation was in its nature a temporary one that it was very important for Britain to impose her terms before disbanding her armies because if she disbanded our armies first she couldn't get her terms this advice was unheeded and Britain did indeed go ahead and dissolve her armies and the result was that within months after the Armistice was signed you had got one one-by-one disorders and uprisings in every single country of the Middle East London and Paris are the only two governments left to settle matters in the Middle East Italy has dropped out in disgust and the United States has opted for isolationism but Lloyd George is undeterred by such realities he is determined to redraw the map in the Middle East and to add nearly a million square miles to the British Empire in Ankara General Kamal monitors the land grabbing frenzy and bides his time the new Turkish government and its army are about to make a reply in 1918 after Russian troops have withdrawn a new Armenian Republic is established in the caucasus with its capital in Yerevan the Armenian government believes that its people have a historical claim to a large region in eastern Turkey after the Ottoman Empire surrenders to the Allies Yerevan sends its troops to occupy the area but the Turkish nationalists also see the region as part of their traditional homeland in the fall of 1990 Turkish troops commanded by general Kazim Karabakh here advanced against the Armenians and in a series of battles steadily pushed them back toward the Caucasus as the fighting continues for another year the Western powers change their minds about helping Armenia and withdraw their support in December 1920 the Armenian government signs a treaty with the Turkish nationalists the following spring Ankara signs another treaty with Vladimir Lenin in Moscow and the eastern borders of Turkey are secured as for the Armenian Republic its independence is short-lived Soviet troops and political commissar x' take control in Yerevan and Armenia becomes part of the Soviet Union it will not achieve independence again until 1991 while they drive Armenians out of the East Gamma list forces also attack French and Armenian troops that occupy an area in southeastern Turkey known as Silesia from February to April of 1924 tsa's score several victories the new French Prime Minister Alexander via Rome is under pressure to demobilize the French army while still holding on to Syria he orders his commanders to find a way out and start negotiating with Kamal boy George on the other hand rejects conciliation and sends British troops to occupy Istanbul Churchill urges him to make peace with Kemal believing that a solid agreement with Ankara is the best way to stop communist expansion meanwhile the Soviets reach an understanding with the Turks Moscow fears the growth of British influence in the Middle East so it decides to support the Kemalists government and begins to funnel money and weapons to the Turkish nationalists in the spring of 1921 French diplomat Henri Franklin Boyan goes to Ankara and reaches an accord that ends the conflict in Turkey Paris formally recognizes the legitimacy of the Ankara government and will no longer deal with the Sultan in Istanbul the Treaty of Sevres is cancelled and lloyd george's carefully drawn map of the Middle East is now a meaningless piece of paper Britain feels betrayed by this separate peace engineered by the French London and Paris two governments that suffered through the Great War together are no longer allies in the war that continues in the Middle East by October 1921 all French and Armenian forces are evacuated from Turkey now general Kemal and his army can focus on yet another enemy the Greek army that lies to the west in mid-june 1920 London approaches Greek Prime Minister Venizelos for help in defeating the Turkish nationalists who have even begun to attack British troops in Istanbul the Allies agreed to let Greek forces advance from Izmir into Turkey and on June 22nd the invasion begins by the following year Greek troops have advanced deep into Turkish territory an exultant lloyd-george proclaims turkey is no more but the Turks themselves aren't convinced Kemal plans to use the same strategy employed by the Russians against Napoleon in 1812 draw the enemy into the interior wear them down and then counter-attack arnold toynbee a historian who reports on the campaign for the Manchester Guardian writes the following I began to realize on how narrow a margin the Greeks had gambled for a military decision and how adverse were the circumstances under which they were playing for victory over Kemal at the end of March 1921 the Turks repelled three strong Greek attacks and hold their ground in July king constantine of greece takes personal command of his forces in turkey and strikes in a brilliant attack that drives the enemy back toward ankara general Kemal calls his National Assembly into secret session and offers a desperate solution he asks his government to make him Supreme Commander with dictatorial powers for three months if he fails to turn back the Greek army the blame will fall entirely on him the Assembly agrees Kemal and his second-in-command is met anona pull their troops back to within 50 miles of Ankara and build a strong defensive position along the Sakarya River with concentric rings of trenches in late August Constantine's army attacks again driving the Turks back at the rate of a mile per day the two sides fights savagely for weeks then Kemal sends his cavalry to attack the exposed Greek supply lines Konstantin fears that his army may be surrounded with his troops exhausted and his supply base 350 miles away Konstantin decides to fall back after repelling the enemy tide at the gates of Ankara the Turkish army takes an entire year preparing for its next move the Turkish people have been busy making bullets and hand grenades putting machine guns together making uniforms and boots giving up food and other supplies for the army of Kemal everyone is mobilized for total war against the Greeks in late August 1922 Turkish forces begin their counter-attack moving toward Izmir along the railroad line and north toward the city of Bursa after several days of brutal combat the Greek army retreats Evans appeals urgently to avoid George for military assistance but the British prime minister can do nothing replying that he is one of three people in London who support the Greek occupation at Izmir a fleet of ships hastily assembles to evacuate the defeated Greek army it has lost 200,000 men since the invasion began masses of soldiers as well as thousands of Greek civilians are taken aboard a hodgepodge of ships from a variety of countries as the Turkish army continues to advance in the midst of this chaos a fire breaks out in the city and quickly spreads about half of Izmir is destroyed as thousands die in the flames general Kamal's army enters the ruins of a once beautiful city on September 11th 1922 but the Greek soldiers are gone even as Izmir still smolders the Turkish commander is prepared to march against the British in Istanbul an army that London has underestimated since 1914 still poses a threat eight years later they like to attack the commanders like to attack they like to encircle their enemies they use German models they were thought to be a liability the British consistently underestimated them two years after globally in 1917 the British were still under estimating the Turks and unable to batter through the Turkish defenses at Gaza as the Turkish army moves closer to Istanbul the British decide to negotiate after all General Charles Harrington arranges a truce and another war against the Turks is averted general Kemal and his troops march into the capital unopposed the Turkish people can finally share the joy that was felt in Paris and London four years ago the enemy has finally been driven out World War one in the Middle East is over on July 24th 1923 the great powers sign a treaty with the Turkish government in the Swiss city of Lausanne now the borders of Turkey and the government in Ankara are recognized by all of Europe on October 29th 1923 Mustafa Kemal who helped to save his nation on the fields of Gallipoli becomes the first president of the Turkish Republic after general Allenby conquers Palestine he sets up a military administration burdened with the task of creating a Jewish homeland there despite the strong opposition of Arab nationalists in Iraq Muslim nationalist declared the independence of the Baghdad and Basra provinces with faisal x' brother abdullah as their king british interests focus on mosul with his rich oil reserves although it's mainly populated by kurds london works on a plan to make it part of the iraqi nation complicating the matter further is the fact that most of the 2 million muslims in the region belonged to the shia sect one british expert Arnold Wilson warns that the Shias will never accept domination by the minority Sunni Muslims Gertrude Bell another Arab expert works on a plan to unify the fragmented Muslim cultures of Iraq into a single Iraqi nation an American missionary warns her you are flying in the face of for millenniums of history if you try to draw a line around Iraq and call it a political entity by the spring of 1920 Arab raiding parties infest the Iraqi desert taking British troops hostage and killing them by mid-august the Arab rebels declare up general government The Times of London questions the wisdom of spending millions of pounds in Iraq and Iran in support of what it calls the foolish policy of the government in the Middle East Churchill's number one priority was to save money because he didn't have very much and to have a strategy which used very little manpower because he didn't have big armies and that came first ahead of everything else he did not approach the Middle East with an ideological bent he approached it with a very practical man this had been his job he stood a good chance of succeeding to be Prime Minister someday soon if he didn't made a success of this job and that's what he was what he was there to to to do in neighboring Iran central authority has broken down from British Russian and Turkish military operations during the war as well as German political intrigue in London Lord Curzon searches for a way to remove British troops from the region and turned the chaotic territory into a self-supporting nation that can defend itself but Iran looks elsewhere for support in February 1921 a new government takes over in Tehran it denounces the British treaty and signs a new one with the Soviet government in Moscow Iran is depending on the Russians to help them eliminate the British presence by the end of 1920 nationalist Arabs are rioting in Egypt and Palestine King Saud of Arabia and Prince Faisal are fighting the British and French with their own armies sentiment grows in London that Great Britain's should withdraw from the Middle East entirely the British Foreign Office believes that the new Soviet regime in Moscow is behind much of the unrest but it is really Great Britain and France two Western countries trying to impose their rule on a predominantly Muslim world in early 1921 Churchill takes charge of the government's Middle Eastern policy as colonial secretary the Arabs want Palestine but leaders of the Jewish Zionist movement are encouraging Jews around the world to resettle their Arab landowners fear that they will be pushed out of their land the Zionists point to the Balfour Declaration of 1917 as a justification from the British government itself for a Jewish homeland in Palestine in July of 1922 Churchill argues before the House of Commons that Britain must accept a mandate over Palestine from the League of Nations the measure is adopted and Britain is committed to ensuring the security of a Jewish homeland in the Middle East by the end of 1922 the League of Nations has approved a system of mandates that leaves France in charge of Syria and Lebanon while Great Britain controls Palestine Jordan and Iraq Prince Feisal driven from Syria by the French now rules in Iraq under the influence of London his brother Prince Abdullah is chosen by the British to rule the new nation of Jordan while west of the Jordan River the Jewish nation is promised a homeland in Palestine a national homeland for the Kurds never materializes and they are spread to this day across parts of Turkey Iran and Iraq but British plans go somewhat awry in Arabia in a six-year war from 1919 to 1925 the new kingdom of saudi arabia emerges where huge oil reserves will soon be discovered in syria and lebanon french general maxim wagon and his troops fight against muslim insurrections for several years not until the 1930s will Damascus and Beirut gain real independence in redrawing the map of the Middle East for the benefit of Western political and economic aims and in selecting Pro Western leaders to rule Muslims of various cultures and religious beliefs Europe guarantees that the future of the Middle East will be plagued by civil strife regional wars and foreign occupation the key ingredient for political stability legitimacy has been largely destroyed by a Western fabrication that has virtually ignored the history and traditions of the Middle East the decisions that were made in the firt in and after the first world war about the Middle East are responsible for the for the unending strife and conflict there for its seeming so hopeless on the other hand for all we know if some other settlement had been imposed instead of this one it might have been worse that's one of the things that historians are limited in we know what happened we now what would have happened if some other decision have been made we can guess but we can't know by dividing the Arab world between them and by guaranteeing a Jewish homeland in Palestine Britain and France actually accelerates the rise of Arab nationalism and all-too-frequent conflicts in the Middle East even decisive Wars create as many new problems as they solve old ones Palestine faces decades of political and social strife as Jewish Zionism fights for a new homeland and Arabs fight back in 1948 Britain finally gives up on its mandate in Palestine as no solution can be found to satisfy both Jewish and Arab nationalists who are fighting a civil war the independent State of Israel is declared and the Israeli Jews wage four separate wars against Arab nations over the next 25 years in between Wars the Jewish nation fights a running battle with a variety of Muslim terrorist groups [Music] by the 1950s the rack and Iran nationalized their oil industries and Egypt takes the Suez Canal from Great Britain the Middle East becomes a major playing field for Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and Western powers both sides compete for influence among the Arab governments how is the battle between our country and the Soviet power complex how is it going in the Middle East well so I'm going to speak quite truthfully and plainly because I think the American people are entitled to the facts on this situation I believe that we are rapidly losing the Cold War in the Near East in the very heart of the Near East namely the Arab states did you tell us very briefly if we lost the Near East because of this increasing communist pressure what would russia gain and what would we lose well everyone knows about the oil the Near Eastern countries the Arab countries are producing over 2 million barrels a day of petroleum today that is more than 25% of what we produce in this country if we lost it I suspect it would very shortly mean gasoline rationing and full fuel rationing in this country in January 1991 the United States and its allies respond to the invasion of oil-rich Kuwait by its bellicose neighbor Iraq in a matter of weeks the coalition built against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein attacks his army in Kuwait and drives it back toward Baghdad just as the British had done in World War one the Gulf War is a one-sided affair but the job is left undone Saddam Hussein and his army live to fight another day civil violence and foreign invasion still occur all too frequently in the Middle East Western economies still depend on the region's oil and Western governments still must deal with the fear that oil supplies may be cut off among the Muslim people from Istanbul to Tehran anti-western sentiment has never been greater and terrorist attacks against the West have become more deadly the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 turned out to be a hollow victory for the West the seeds of discontent planted at the end of World War one have grown into a fearful harvest as the author David Fromm can has written the treaty forced upon the Muslim world was indeed a peace to end all peace and it is peace that remains elusive in the land of blood and oil [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Janson Media

Views: 1,082,338

Keywords: blood and oil, blood and oil full movie, war in the middle east, oil documentary, blood oil, middle east war, blood for oil, blood and oil middle east, middle east documentary, oil war, Blood And Oil: The Middle East In World War I, Petroleum (Chemical Compound), world war 1, ww1 documentary, middle east, fight for oil, blood & oil, oil wars, ww1 middle east, documentary middle east, blood and oil movie, movie blood and oil

Id: jP0evPEsc30

Length: 113min 13sec (6793 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 26 2013