1.
Western Desert (Egypt)
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The Western Desert of Egypt is an area of the Sahara which lies west of the river Nile, up to the Libyan border, and south from the Mediterranean sea to the border with Sudan. It is named in contrast to the Eastern Desert which extends east from the Nile to Red Sea, the Western Desert is mostly rocky desert, though an area of sandy desert, known as the Great Sand Sea, lies to the west against the Libyan border. The desert covers an area of 262,800 sq miles which is two-thirds of the area of the country. Its highest elevation is 3,300 ft in the Gilf Kebir plateau to the far south-west of the country, the Western Desert is barren and uninhabited save for a chain of oases which extend in an arc from Siwa, in the north-west, to Kharga in the south. However it has been the scene of conflict in modern times and he also states that little of the area conforms to the romantic view. These lie in an arc from Siwa in the north-west near the Libyan border, to Bahariya, Farafra, Dakhla, east of Siwa lies the Qattara Depression, a low-lying area dotted with salt marsh and extending 190 miles west to east and 84 miles north to south. Further to the east, near the Nile, another depression gives rise to the Fayyum Oasis, to the south, beyond the Bahariya oasis lies the Black Desert, an area of black volcanic hills and dolerite deposits. Beyond this, north of Farafra, lies the White Desert, an area of wind-sculpted chalk rock formations, which give the area its name. To the south of Kharga the plateau rises towards the Gilf Kebir, an upland region lying astride the Egypt-Sudan border and home to pre-historic sites such as the Cave of Swimmers. In the south-west, near the point where the borders of Libya, Sudan and Egypt meet, is an area of glass, thought to have been formed by a meteorite strike at Kebira. The Great Sand Sea is a roughly lung-shaped area of sandy desert lying astride the border with Libya,200 miles inland from the Mediterranean. The sea is divided by a peninsula of rocky desert along the border, leaving the eastern lobe in Egypt and the western in Libya. On the Egyptian side it extends from a point south of Siwa for 400 miles into the interior, the Western Desert was known historically as the Libyan Desert, taking its name from Ancient Libya, which lay between the Nile and Cyrenaica. With the formation of the state of Libya, the term Western Desert has come to describe part of the Sahara in Egypt. To the Ancient Greeks, the term Libya described the whole Saharan littoral west of the Nile to the Atlas mountains. During Roman times the term Libya was limited to Cyrenaica and the region between there and Egypt, which were organized as the provinces of Libya Superior and Libya Inferior, the term Libyan Desert then applied to the area to the south of these. Playfair described the Western Desert of 1940 as being 240 miles wide and 150 miles wide, the contemporary use of the term refers to the entire desert in Egypt west of the Nile. It is thought over-grazing and climate led to desertification and the current geography
2.
Action of Agagia
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The Action of Agagia took place east of Sidi Barrani in Egypt on 26 February 1916, during the Senussi Campaign between German- and Ottoman-instigated Senussi forces and British forces. On 11 December 1915, a British column had been attacked at Duwwar Hussein along the Matruh–Sollum track, in the Affair of Wadi Senba, the Senussi were defeated and two days later a Senussi attack at Wadi Hasheifiat was repulsed. The British returned to Matruh until 25 December, then surprised the Senussi at the Affair of Wadi Majid, at the Affair of Halazin on 23 January, the Senussi were defeated and again slipped away. On 26 February, the column attacked the Senussi at Agagiya and captured Jaafar Pasha, Sollum was re-occupied by the British on 14 March 1916, which ended the coastal campaign. The Senussi were a religious sect mainly of Libyan nomads, who had fought the Italians in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War, by late 1915, many of the British forces in Egypt had been sent to Gallipoli and Mesopotamia, leaving western Egypt garrisoned by the Egyptian coastguard. The Ottomans and Germans delivered modern weapons by submarine to the Senussi, german and Turkish officers were also transported by submarine and landed on 19 May 1915 to the west of Sollum and set up headquarters at Siwa. The Senussi crossed the Libyan–Egyptian border on 21 November 1915, to begin the coastal campaign, wallace suffered from an old wound and was relieved by Major-General William Peyton and the WFF was reinforced with the 1st South African Brigade and a detachment of Egyptian engineers on 4 February. The WFF eventually received 2,000 camels, which made the force capable of advancing a greater distance, on 6 November 1915, U-35 sank the HMS Tara and the coastguard gun-boat Abbas, and badly damaged Nur el Bahr in the Bay of Sollum. On 14 November, the Senussi attacked Sollum and an Egyptian post was attacked 30 miles east of Sollum on 20 November, the British withdrew from Sollum to Mersa Matruh,120 miles east, which had better facilities for a base and the Western Frontier Force was created. On 11 December, a British column at Duwwar Hussein was attacked along the Matruh–Sollum track and in the Affair of Wadi Senba, the reconnaissance continued and on 13 December, at Wadi Hasheifiat the British were attacked again and after a delay, forced the Senussi to retreat. The British returned to Matruh until 25 December, then made an advance to surprise the Senussi. At the Affair of Wadi Majid, the Senussi were defeated again but were able to withdraw to the west, air reconnaissance found more Senussi encampments at Halazin, which was attacked on 23 January, in the Affair of Halazin. During the march, air reconnaissance discovered a Senussi encampment at Agagia,24 kilometres south-east of Sidi Barrani, the force arrived on 22 February and local Bedouin reported that Nuri and Jaafar were at Agagia. On 23 February, a contingent of guards was left at Unjeila, Lukin planned to rest the force on 25 February and then make a night advance, to attack the Senussi encampment at dawn. Jaafar attempted to forestall the British and at 5,30 p. m. on 25 February, the guns were silenced by the British artillery and the Senussi were driven off, expecting more attacks, Lukin abandoned the night march. Next day, the Yeomanry reconnoitred at 5,00 a. m. and discovered that the Senussi were still at Agagia with no outposts, occupying sand hills with about 1,500 men, three guns and five machine-guns. The defensive position had an area of about 1.6 by 3.2 kilometres and was entrenched among sand dunes on a low plateau, an attack from the north would have to advance over ground offering no cover. The Yeomanry dismounted and assisted by covering fire from two armoured cars, which inhibited Senussi machine-gun fire, advanced to pin down the Senussi, the infantry advanced with the 3rd South African Battalion forward and the 1st South African Battalion in support
3.
Zaian War
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The Zaian War was fought between France and the Zaian confederation of Berber tribes in Morocco between 1914 and 1921. Morocco had become a French protectorate in 1912, and Resident-General Louis-Hubert Lyautey sought to extend French influence eastwards through the Middle Atlas mountains towards French Algeria and this was opposed by the Zaians, led by Mouha ou Hammou Zayani. The war began well for the French, who took the key towns of Taza. The outbreak of the First World War proved significant, with the withdrawal of troops for service in France compounded by the loss of more than 600 French killed at the Battle of El Herri. After the signing of the Armistice with Germany in November 1918, the French resumed their offensive in the Khénifra area in 1920, establishing a series of blockhouses to limit the Zaians freedom of movement. They opened negotiations with Hammous sons, persuading three of them, along many of their followers, to submit to French rule. A split in the Zaian Confederation between those who supported submission and those still opposed led to infighting and the death of Hammou in Spring 1921, the French responded with a strong, three-pronged attack into the Middle Atlas that pacified the area. Some tribesmen, led by Moha ou Said, fled to the High Atlas, the signing of the Treaty of Fez in 1912 established a French protectorate over Morocco. The treaty had been prompted by the Agadir Crisis of 1911, during which French, the new French protectorate was led by a resident-general, Louis-Hubert Lyautey, and adopted the traditional Moroccan way of governing through the tribal system. Upon taking up his post Lyautey replaced Abdelhafid with his brother, the tribes took offence at this, installing their own Sultan, Ahmed al-Hiba, in Marrakesh and taking eight Europeans captive. Lyautey acted quickly against the revolt, dispatching General Charles Mangin and 5,000 troops to retake the town, mangins men were highly successful, rescuing the captives and inflicting heavy casualties on vastly superior numbers of tribesmen for the loss of 2 men killed and 23 wounded. Al-Hiba escaped to the Atlas mountains with a number of his followers. A popular idea among the public in France was to possess a stretch of territory from Tunis to the Atlantic Ocean. Lyautey was in favour of this and advocated French occupation of the Middle Atlas mountains near Taza, Hammou commanded between 4,000 and 4,200 tents of people and had led the Zaians since 1877, opposing the French since the start of their involvement in Morocco. Despite initially being open to negotiations with the French, pressure from pro-war chiefs, the French had attempted to persuade the Zaians to submit since 1913 with little success, most tribes in the confederation remained opposed to French rule. Lyauteys plans for taking Taza also extended to capturing Khénifra, Hammous headquarters and he had been advised by his political officer, Maurice Le Glay that doing so would finish him off definitively and cut the Zaians off from support of other tribes. The French outpost at nearby Kasbah Tadla had recently attacked by Said and subsequent peace negotiations led by Lyauteys head of intelligence. Henrys captured Taza within a few days using units drawn from garrisons in Fez, Meknes, Rabat and Marrakesh, Henrys took overall command, directing the forces from an armoured car within the Claudel column
4.
Senussi Campaign
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The Senussi Campaign took place in North Africa, from November 1915 to February 1917, during the First World War between the British Empire and the Kingdom of Italy against the Senussi. The Senussi were a religious sect resident in Libya and Egypt, who were courted by the Ottoman Empire, before 1906, when the Senussi became involved in resistance against the French, they had been a relatively peaceful religious sect of the Sahara Desert, opposed to fanaticism. In the Italo-Turkish War Italian forces occupied enclaves along the Libyan coast, in 1913, the Italians had been defeated at the Action of Etangi but in 1914 Italian reinforcements led to a revival and by January the Senussi were in south-east Cyrenaica. The Senussi had about 10,000 men armed with modern rifles, intermittent fighting continued between the Italians in fortified towns and the Senussi ranging through the desert. The British declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 5 November, Nuri eventually gained command of Senussi military forces and began training the recruits of Aulad Ali. The Ottoman envoys negotiated an agreement with the Grand Senussi, in which his followers were to attack the British in Egypt from the west, the Ottomans provided machine-guns and artillery using ships and German submarines, to deliver weapons, equipment and money. By November 1915, the size of the British garrison in Egypt was much reduced by the expeditions to Gallipoli, the Western Frontier of Egypt was protected by the Egyptian Coastguard, whose commander was responsible for maintaining good relations with the local Bedouin and the Senussi. The earth is dusty in summer and glutinous in the season from December to March, when the days are relatively cool. South of the strip is a bare limestone plateau, about 50 mi wide at Dabaa and 150 mi broad at Sollum. To the south lies the desert, with sand dunes for several hundred miles, the western frontier of Egypt had not been defined in 1914, since negotiations with the Ottomans had been interrupted by the Italo-Turkish War and then negated by the cession of Tripoli to Italy. Bedouin lived a life between the oases, traded with the inhabitants and took refuge at them when wells ran dry. Sir John Maxwell, the commander of British troops in Egypt, pretended to believe the excuse, the British continued to appease the Senussi, being in negotiations with the Sherif of Mecca and reluctant to inflame Muslim opinion. On 30 September, Snow met with the Grand Senussi and Jaafar Pasha, soon afterwards, news arrived of another Senussi victory over the Italians near Tripoli and the capture of much weaponry and money. On 6 November, Egyptian coastguard boats in Sollum bay were attacked by SM U-35, Abbas was sunk, on the night of 17 November, Senussi fired into the camp at Sollum, two Bedouin were murdered and the coast telegraph was cut. Next night a Zawiet at Sidi Barrani 48 mi east of Sollum, was occupied by 300 Muhafizia, Sayed Ahmed ordered his followers to cross the Egyptian frontier by 21 November, to conduct the coastal campaign. On the night of 19/20 November, the barracks at Sollum was fired on, next day, a post 30 mi south-east of Sollum was attacked and when the news arrived civil unrest began at Alexandria. The British commanders adopted a policy of avoiding reverses, before attempting to defeat the Senussi, Sollum was 280 mi from Alexandria, too far west for a base and too exposed to German submarines, with the lack of fast patrol boats to guard ships in the bay. Mersa Matruh was 120 mi closer to Alexandria and had a water supply
5.
Anglo-Egyptian Darfur Expedition
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The Anglo-Egyptian Darfur Expedition of 1916 was a military operation by British Empire and the Sultanate of Egypt, launched as a preemptive invasion of the Sultanate of Darfur. Ali Dinar had already fled to the mountains and his attempts to negotiate a surrender were eventually broken off by the British and his location becoming known, a small force was sent after him and the sultan was killed in action in November 1916. Subsequently, Darfur was fully annexed to the British administration of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and remained part of Sudan upon its independence. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Darfur, which means land of the Fur, was an independent country, located to the west of Sudan, the Sultanate of Darfur was one of the kingdoms that stretched across the centre of Africa. In 1874, it was invaded by its Islamic neighbours from the south, in 1899, Ali Dinar became the Sultan of Darfur with the approval of the then Sirdar Lord Kitchener, on the condition that he paid an annual tribute to the British. Relations between Dinar and the Anglo-Egyptians were assisted by the Inspector-General Rudolf Carl von Slatin who had knowledge of the Darfur region, the status quo remained until disputes started over what was Darfurs exact western boundary and who had overlordship over its frontier districts. The British believed the delay in resolving disputes, along with anti-government propaganda. Their beliefs were not helped by Dinars refusal to allow any Europeans to enter Darfur, at the time, Darfur had a population of just under 1,000,000 controlled by what was described as a slave army of about 10,000 men. Dinar instead countered the deployment of the Camel Corps detachment by moving his own troops – forty cavalry, however, by then the British believed he was preparing for an invasion of Sudan. To counter the threat to Sudan, Sirdar Reginald Wingate gathered a force together at Nahud. The commander was British Lieutenant Colonel Philip James Vandeleur Kelly, of the 3rd The Kings Own Hussars, with medical and other non combat units, the force totalled around 2,000 men. Intelligence gathered supported the theory that Dinar was going to invade Sudan, so in March 1916 Wingate ordered Kelly to cross the border and occupy Jebel el Hella, the two villages offered the only permanent water supplies that were on the road to El Fasher, Dinars capital. Their only opposition was from an observation post which was forced to withdraw. Unexpectedly, upon arrival the Anglo-Egyptian force found the supply at Um Shanga scarce. With the main body of his force expected to arrive that evening, having only two days supply of water with them, Kelly considered withdrawing back to Sudan, Kellys flying column faced only slight opposition from Fur scouts until they reached a position 4 miles from Jebel el Hella. There a force of 800 Fur horsemen tried to surround them, advancing a further 2 miles the flying column located a large concentration of Fur troops in a wooded valley, which they engaged with artillery and machine guns. Having forced the Fur troops to disperse, the column reached Jebel el Hella at 14,15, and secured its wells without any further opposition. A small reconnaissance party was dispatched by Kelly to check on the wells at Lugud 2 miles away, which were occupied in strength, during their advance, the Anglo-Egyptian casualties were described as insignificant while the Fur forces had lost twenty men dead and wounded
6.
Kaocen revolt
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The Kaocen revolt was a Tuareg rebellion against French colonial rule of the area around the Aïr Mountains of northern Niger during 1916–17. Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen was the Tuareg leader of the rising against the French, an adherent to the militantly anti-French Sanusiya Sufi religious order, Kaocen was the Amenokal of the Ikazkazan Tuareg confederation. Kaocen had engaged in numerous, mostly indecisive, attacks on French colonial forces from at least 1909, when the Sanusiya leadership in the Fezzan oasis town of Kufra declared a Jihad against the French colonialists in October 1914, Kaocen rallied his forces. Tagama, the Sultan of Agadez had convinced the French military that the Tuareg confederations remained loyal and they seized all the major towns of the Aïr, including Ingall, Assodé, and Aouderas, placing what is today northern Niger under rebel control for over three months. Finally on 3 March 1917, a large French force dispatched from Zinder relieved the Agadez garrison, large scale French reprisals were taken against these towns, especially against local marabouts, even though many were neither Tuareg or supported the rebellion. Summary public executions by the French in Agadez and Ingal alone totaled 130, Tuareg rebels also carried out a number of atrocities. The revolt led by Kaocen was just one episode in a history of recurring conflict between some Tuareg confederations and the French. In 1911 a rising of Firhoun, Amenokal of Ikazkazan was crushed in Ménaka, many Tuareg groups had continually fought the French since their arrival in the last decade of the 19th century. Les révoltes des Touaregs du Niger, in Cahiers détudes africaines -049, pp. 82–121, Paris, Mouton - Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales. Ali Salifou, Kawousan ou la révolte sénoussiste, Études nigériennes n°33 Samuel Decalo, scarecrow Press, London and New Jersey. Bradt London and Globe Pequot New York, J. D. Fage, Roland Anthony Oliver
7.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
8.
Egyptian Expeditionary Force
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Formed in the British protectorate of the Sultanate of Egypt, the initially small force was raised to guard the Suez Canal and Egypt. On 31 October two corps captured Beersheba defended by the Turkish III Corps, which weakened their defences stretching almost continually from Gaza to Beersheba, serious losses on the Western Front in March 1918 during the German Spring Offensive, forced the British Empire to send reinforcements from the EEF. The British Mandate of Palestine, and the French Mandate for Syria, L Squadron, A. F. C. and No.14 Squadron, R. F. C. were the sole flying units east of the Suez Canal. General Headquarters General Headquarters Troops No.1 Section No.2 Section No.3 Section Western Frontier Force Northwestern Section Southwestern Section L. of C, palin 23rd Pioneers 57th Rifles Patiala Infantry No.10 Co. The force was commanded by Lieutenant General C. M. Dobell, by January 1917 there were three smaller commands directly under GHQ EEF. Supply Depot No.303 Company ASC Camel Transport H and O Companies, G. H.12 Pack W/T Sections ASC Mechanical transport HQ, ASC Motor Boat Company Two Advanced M. T. C. de S. Barrow 6th Mounted Brigade 8th Mounted Brigade 22nd Mounted Brigade 20th Brigade, at the end of June 1917 General Allenby took command. The air component was the Palestine Brigade of the Royal Flying Corps, on establishment in 1916 and 1917, the first two mounted divisions had been supplied with 18–pounder artillery guns. In September 1917 these guns were replaced with 13-pounders, making the divisions even more capable, General Headquarters Troops Army Cavalry Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade Jodhpur Lancers Mysore Lancers 1st Hyderabad Lancers Kathiwar Signal Troop 124th Indian Cavalry Field Ambulance. 40th Wing Headquarters at Deir el Belah No.11 Squadron RFC at Deir el Belah No.67 Squadron at Shiekh Nuran, Aircraft Park – X Aircraft Park at Abbassia with an advanced stores section at Kantara was responsible for the supplies to the RFC in Palestine. Also in General Headquarters Troops were the VIII Mountain Brigade RGA IX Mountain Brigade RGA of A and B Batteries of 2.75 inch howitzers and the 12th Battery of 3.7 inch howitzers. The force initially consisted mostly of British and Egyptian troops, in the meantime, new troops were then dispatched from India, Australia, and New Zealand, in particular who made up a large portion of the army. The force also included a contingent of French and Italian troops. The forces of the Arab Revolt, led by Prince Feisal of Mecca, were also unofficially attached during Allenbys Damascus offensive, the forces successes ultimately led to Turkeys exit from the war and the creation of the British Mandate of Palestine. Deiran Anzac Mounted Division at Richon le Zion Australian Mounted Division at Deir el Belah Yeomanry Mounted Division at Deir el Belah XX Corps at Mount of Olives 10th Division at O99, P.20. d. 53rd Division at Ram Allah 60th Division at Jerusalem 74th Division at Latron XXI Corps at Jaffa 52nd Division at Jaffa, 4/11th Gurkhas, 3/153rd and 154th Indian Inf. 159th Brigade 4/5th Welsh Regt. 3/152nd, 1/153rd and 2/153rd Indian Inf. 160th Brigade 1/7th R. Welsh Fus, 1/21st Punjabis, 1st Cape Corps 265th, 266th, 267th Brigades RFA each with three batteries of twelve 18-pdrs. and four 4. 5-inch hows. 39th Indian Mountain Battery Troop Corps Cavalry Regiment 10th Division 29th Brigade 1st Leinsters, 1/101st Grenadiers, 1/54th Sikhs, Rifles, 38th Dogras, 46th Punjabis 31st Brigade 2nd Royal Irish Fus
9.
Major general
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Major general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the rank of sergeant major general. In the Commonwealth, major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral. In some countries, including much of Eastern Europe, major general is the lowest of the officer ranks. In the old Austro-Hungarian Army, the general was called a Generalmajor. Todays Austrian Federal Army still uses the same term, see also Rank insignias of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces General de Brigade is the lowest rank amongst general officers in the Brazilian Army. AGeneral de Brigada wears two-stars as this is the level for general officers in the Brazilian Army. In tha Brazilian Air Force, the two-star, three-star and four-star rank are known as Brigadeiro, Major-Brigadeiro, see Military ranks of Brazil and Brigadier for more information. In the Canadian Armed Forces, the rank of major-general is both a Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force rank equivalent to the Royal Canadian Navys rank of rear-admiral, a major-general is a general officer, the equivalent of a naval flag officer. The major-general rank is senior to the ranks of brigadier-general and commodore, prior to 1968, the Air Force used the rank of air vice-marshal, instead. In the Canadian Army, the insignia is a wide braid on the cuff. It is worn on the straps of the service dress tunic. On the visor of the cap are two rows of gold oak leaves. Major-generals are initially addressed as general and name, as are all general officers, major-generals are normally entitled to staff cars. In the Estonian military, the general rank is called kindralmajor. The Finnish military equivalent is kenraalimajuri in Finnish, and generalmajor in Swedish and Danish, the French equivalent to the rank of major general is général de division. In the French military, major général is not a rank but an appointment conferred on some generals, usually of général de corps darmée rank, the position of major général can be considered the equivalent of a deputy chief of staff. In the French Army, Major General is a position and the general is normally of the rank of corps general
10.
Mersa Matruh
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Mersa Matruh is a seaport in Egypt, the capital of the Matrouh Governorate. It is 240 km west of Alexandria and 222 km from Sallum, another highway leads south from the town, toward the Western Desert and the oases of Siwa and Bahariya. During Ancient Egyptian times and during the reign of Alexander The Great, in Ptolemaic and Byzantine times it was known as Paraitonion, while in Roman times it was called Paraetonium. Marsa Matruh is a major tourist resort and serves as a resort for Europeans as well as Cairenes. It is served by Marsa Matruh Airport and it started as a small fishing town during Ancient Egyptian times and the reign of Alexander The Great and was named Amunia. There are ruins of a temple of Ramesses II, mersa Matruh became known as Paraitonion in the Ptolemaic era. When Roman occupation came to Egypt, the became an important harbor for trade and shipping goods. It was named Paraetonium by the Romans, during World War II, the British Armys Baggush Box was located to the east. Starting with the completion of an extension from the railhead at Fuka in February 1936, Marsa Matruh was the terminus for a single-track railway. Summers are sunny and dry, while in the months, mainly in winters, there is some rain. The city has become a destination for millions of Egyptians and foreign tourists, another source shows more precipitation and stabler average temperatures. Ruins of the Temple of the King, Pharaoh Ramesses II Drowned city of Caesar, Egyptian Fleet Anchorage which was built by the Ptolemies. The remains of the installations still stand west of the port. Coptic Chapel, built in the early Coptic age, it contains several caves bearing inscriptions, rommels Hideout, A cave, hewn in the rock, where Rommel drew up plans of his military operations. It has now turned into a military museum. The British Cemetery, Thousands upon thousands of rock-hewn tombstones stand in straight rows amidst a fenced garden, the German Cemetery, It is a fortress like memorial that was built on a height overlooking the sea. The Italian Cemetery, It is a tower fort standing on a high hill. The walls of the building are covered with marble, ageebah Beach, About 28 km west of Marsa Matruh downtown, it is distinguished by its numerous natural cave Al-Obayed Beach, About 20 km west of Marsa Matruh downtown Rommel Bay
11.
William Peyton
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General Sir William Eliot Peyton KCB KCVO was a British soldier, a general of the First World War who fought in several other wars. He was Delhi Herald of Arms Extraordinary at the time of the Delhi Durbar of 1911, the third son of Colonel John Peyton, commanding officer of the 7th Dragoon Guards, Peyton was educated at Brighton College. In 1885, Peyton enlisted in the ranks in the 7th Dragoon Guards, the explanation of this was his failure to pass the entrance examination of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Having risen to sergeant, Peyton was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 7th Dragoon Guards on 18 June 1887. He was appointed adjutant in 1892. In 1896 he transferred to the 15th Hussars and was promoted captain, in the Sudan he was again Mentioned in Despatches, and received the Distinguished Service Order. He was also awarded the Order of the Medjidieh, Fourth Class and he passed the Armys Staff College in December 1901. From 1903 until 1907 Peyton commanded the 15th Hussars, being granted the rank of colonel in 1905. In 1907 he went to India to become Assistant Quartermaster-General, India and he returned to England in 1914 on the outbreak of the First World War and took up a new post as chief of staff of the 1st Mounted Division Territorial Force. Promoted to major-general in 1914, he commanded the 2nd Mounted Division TF on the Gallipoli Peninsula, seeing action on 21 August 1915, the division suffered severe casualties at Suvla. Peyton then commanded the Western Frontier Force in Egypt in 1916, leading an expedition against the Senussi and re-occupying Sidi Barrani and Sollum, for rescuing the shipwrecked British prisoners of HMS Tara from Bir Hakkim he received the special thanks of the Admiralty and was again Mentioned in Despatches. In May 1916, after success as a commander, Peyton was transferred to become Sir Douglas Haigs Military Secretary in Flanders. The post was at the heart of the operation of the management of appointments, promotions, removals, honours and he was knighted in 1917, being made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order when King George V visited the troops in the field. On 23 May, the Fifth Army was reconstituted and given to Sir William Birdwood, and for six weeks Peyton took command of X Corps, but his Corps was held back from the fighting. Peytons feelings about his postings between May 1916 and July 1918 were expressed silently by his omitting any mention of them from his entry in Whos Who, Peyton next returned to India, to command the United Province district and the 3rd Indian Division at Meerut between 1920 and 1922. He was promoted substantive lieutenant-general in 1921 and he was next posted as Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War, from 1922 to 1926 and as Commander-in-Chief of the Scottish Command,1926 to 1930. This was his last post before retirement in 1930, and in 1927 he was promoted general, a member of the Army and Navy Club, he died there suddenly on 14 November 1931. He is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London just to the north-west of the chapel and he was unusually tall, with a height of six feet, six inches
12.
Adjutant general
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An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. In Revolutionary France, the adjudant-général was a staff officer. It was a position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staff service. Starting in 1795, only colonels could be appointed to the position and it was supplemented by the rank of adjudant-commandant in 1800. In 1803 the position was abolished and adjudants-généraux reverted to the rank of colonel, in Imperial Russia, the General-Adjutant was an assistant who attended the Tsar, a field marshal or a general. Generaladjutant of the RIA In India the Adjutant-General is the administration officer for the Indian Army. In Pakistan, the Adjutant-General and Judge Advocate General is the armys most senior administration, for over 250 years the Adjutant-General to the Forces was one of the most senior officers in the British Army. He was responsible for developing the Armys personnel policies and supporting its people, since 2016 the Adjutant-General has been renamed Commander Home Command with different responsibilities. Formerly a major position, it is now a brigadier general billet. See List of Adjutants General of the U. S. Army, as of January 2015, the post is held by Brigadier General David K. “Mac” MacEwen. The chief administrative officer of a military unit, such as a division, corps. This officer is normally subordinated to the chief of staff. The senior military officer of a states, commonwealths, or territorys military forces, including the National Guard, the naval militia, and any state defense forces. This officer is known as the AG or the TAG and reports to the chief executive when the National Guard is not in a federalized status under Title 10 USC
13.
Bryan Mahon
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General Sir Bryan Thomas Mahon KCB KCVO PC DSO was an Irish born general of the British Army and Senator of the Irish Free State. Mahon was born at Belleville, County Galway on 2 April 1862 and he became a lieutenant in the 8th Hussars in 1883. He served in Sudan in the Dongola Expedition in 1896 as Staff officer to Sir Herbert Kitchener, and was present at the Battle of Ferkeh and the operations at Hafir. During the Second Boer War Colonel Mahon led a flying column 2,000 strong, and consisting mainly of South African volunteers from Kimberley, the town, which had been under siege for seven months by Boer forces, was facing starvation. Mahon was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath for his services during the operations and he was briefly Governor of Khartoum in 1903. During the First World War he commanded the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, the 10th Division landed at Suvla Bay on the night of 6–7 August 1915. In September he moved with the Division to be head of the British Salonika Army to support Serbia at the onset of the Macedonian campaign, in 1916 General Mahon took up command of the Western Frontier Force in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. He was then appointed as the Commander-in-Chief, Ireland in 1916 in the lead up to the Anglo-Irish war and he retired from the British Army at the end of August 1921. After his retirement he was elected as a council member of the short-lived Senate of Southern Ireland. He was appointed to Seanad Éireann by the President of the Executive Council, William T. Cosgrave and he was elected to the Seanad in 1928, and served until his death in 1930. Mahon was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in May 1902, photograph of Mahon The Relief of Mafeking by Filson Young at Project Gutenberg, by Filson Young at The Project Gutenberg
14.
Charles Macpherson Dobell
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Lieutenant General Sir Charles Macpherson Dobell KCB, CMG, DSO was a Canadian soldier who served with the Royal Welch Fusiliers of the British Army. Born in Quebec City, the son of Richard Reid Dobell, an MP, canon Von Ifflands Private School, the Quebec High School and Charterhouse School in England. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1890 and he was a lieutenant in the Hazara expedition of 1891 and took part with the International Forces in the occupation of the Island of Crete, where he was promoted to major. He served during the Second Boer War, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, after serving in Nigeria, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He served in China during the Boxer Rebellion and he was gazetted as Inspector-General of the West African Field Force, with the rank of brigadier general. During the First World War, he fought in the Kamerun Campaign and was promoted to lieutenant general. He served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign under General Sir Archibald Murray, in the 1915 New Year Honours, he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. He was also made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, biography of Charles Dobell at firstworldwar. com 4237 Dr. Adrian Preston & Peter Dennis Swords and Covenants Rowman And Littlefield, London. H16511 Dr. Richard Arthur Preston To Serve Canada, A History of the Royal Military College of Canada 1997 Toronto, h1877 R. Guy C. Smith As You Were. 1984 -Winston S. Churchill Ian Hamilton´s March Longmans, Green, and co, London 1900, page 405
15.
Tuareg people
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The Tuareg people are a large Berber ethnic confederation. They principally inhabit the Sahara desert, in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria. The Tuareg speak the Tuareg languages, which belong to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, the Tuaregs have been called the blue people for the indigo-dye colored clothes they traditionally wear and which stains their skin. A semi-nomadic Muslim people, they are believed to be descendants of the Berber autochthones of North Africa, the Tuaregs have been one of the ethnic groups that have been historically influential in the spread of Islam and its legacy in North Africa and the adjacent Sahel region. Tuareg society has traditionally featured clan membership, social status and caste hierarchies within each political confederation, the Tuareg have controlled several trans-Saharan trade routes, and have been an important party to the conflicts in the Saharan region during the colonial and post-colonial era. The origin and the meaning of the name Tuareg have long been debated and it would appear that Twārəg is derived from the broken plural of Tārgi, a name whose former meaning was inhabitant of Targa, the Tuareg name of the Libyan region commonly known as Fezzan. Another theory is that Tuareg is derived from Tuwariq, the plural of the Arabic exonym Tariqi, the term for a Tuareg man is Amajagh, the term for a woman Tamajaq. Spellings of the appellation vary by Tuareg dialect, however, they all reflect the same linguistic root, expressing the notion of freemen. As such, the endonym strictly refers only to the Tuareg nobility, not the artisanal client castes, the English exonym Blue People is similarly derived from the indigo color of the tagelmust veils and other clothing, which sometimes stains the skin underneath. Another term for the Tuareg is Imuhagh or Imushagh, a cognate to the northern Berber self-name Imazighen, the Tuareg today inhabit a vast area in the Sahara, stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Their combined population in these territories exceeds 2.5 million, with a population in Niger of around 2 million. The Tuareg are also the majority group in the Kidal Region of northeastern Mali. The Tuareg traditionally speak the Tuareg languages, also known as Tamasheq, Tamachen, Tamashekin, Tomacheck and these tongues belong to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. According to Ethnologue, there are an estimated 1.2 million Tuareg speakers, around half this number consists of speakers of the Eastern dialect. The exact number of Tuareg speakers per territory is uncertain, the CIA estimates that the Tuareg population in Mali constitutes approximately 0. 9% of the national population, whereas about 3. 5% of local inhabitants speak Tuareg as a primary language. In contrast, Imperato estimates that the Tuareg represent around 3% of Malis population, in antiquity, the Tuareg moved southward from the Tafilalt region into the Sahel under the Tuareg founding queen Tin Hinan, who is believed to have lived between the 4th and 5th century. The matriarchs 1,500 year old tomb is located in the Sahara at Abalessa in the Hoggar Mountains of southern Algeria. Vestiges of an inscription in Tifinagh, the Tuaregs traditional Libyco-Berber writing script, have found on one of the ancient sepulchres walls
16.
Brigadier general
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Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general, when appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000 troops. In some countries a brigadier general is designated as a one-star general. The rank can be traced back to the militaries of Europe where a general, or simply a brigadier. An alternative rank of general was first used in the French revolutionary armies. Some countries, such as Brazil, Taiwan, and Japan, some of these countries then use the rank of colonel general to make four general-officer ranks. The naval equivalent is usually commodore and this gallery displays Air Force brigadier general insignia if they are different from the Army brigadier general insignia. Note that in many Commonwealth countries, the equivalent air force rank is Air Commodore, the rank of brigadier general is used in the Argentine Air Force. Unlike other armed forces of the World, the rank of general is actually the highest rank in the Air Force. This is due to the use of the rank of brigadier and its derivatives to designate all general officers in the Air Force, brigadier, brigadier-major, and brigadier-general. The rank of general is reserved for the Chief General Staff of the Air Force. The Argentine Army does not use the rank of brigadier-general, instead using brigade general which in turn is the lowest general officer before Divisional General, see also Argentine Army officer rank insignia. When posted elsewhere, the rank would be relinquished and the former rank resumed and this policy prevented an accumulation of high-ranking general officers brought about by the relatively high turnover of brigade commanders. Brigadier general was used as an honorary rank on retirement. The rank insignia was like that of the current major general, as in the United Kingdom, the rank was later replaced by brigadier. Prior to 2001, the Bangladesh Army rank was known as brigadier, in 2001 the Bangladesh Army introduced the rank of brigadier general, however the grade stayed equivalent to brigadier. It is the lowest ranking general officer, between the ranks of Colonel and Major General, Brigadier General is equivalent to commodore of the Bangladesh Navy and air commodore of the Bangladesh Air Force. It is still popularly called brigadier
17.
Yeomanry
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Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Army Reserve, descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Today, Yeomanry units serve in a variety of different military roles, in the 1790s, the threat of invasion of the Kingdom of Great Britain was high, after the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. To improve the defences, volunteer regiments were raised in many counties from yeomen. These regiments became known collectively as the Yeomanry, members of the yeomanry were not obliged to serve overseas without their individual consent. In 1827 it was decided for reasons to reduce the number of yeomanry regiments. A number of independent troops were also dissolved, following these reductions the yeomanry establishment was fixed at 22 corps receiving allowances and a further 16 serving without pay. During the 1830s the number of yeomanry units fluctuated, reflecting the level of civil unrest in any region at any particular time. The Irish Yeomanry, which had played a role in suppressing the rebellion of 1798, was completely disbanded in 1838. For the next thirty years the Yeomanry Force was retained as a line of support for the regular cavalry within Britain. Recruiting difficulties led to serious consideration being given to the disbandment of the force in 1870. These included requirements that individual yeomanry troopers attend a number of drills per year in return for a permanent duty allowance. While these reforms improved the professionalism of the Yeomanry Force, numbers remained low, in 1876 the role of the Yeomanry Force was fixed as that of light cavalry. These supernumerary units were now abolished, during the Second Boer War companies of Imperial Yeomanry were formed to serve overseas from volunteers from the Yeomanry. In 1901 all yeomanry regiments were redesignated as Imperial Yeomanry, in 1908 the Imperial Yeomanry was merged with the Volunteer Force to form the Territorial Force, of which it became the cavalry arm. The Imperial title was dropped at the same time, on the eve of World War I in 1914 there were 55 Yeomanry regiments, each of four squadrons instead of the three of the regular cavalry. Upon embodiment these regiments were brought together to form mounted brigades or allocated as divisional cavalry. For purposes of recruitment and administration the Yeomanry were linked to counties or regions. Some of the still in existence in 1914 dated back to those created in the 1790s while others had been created during a period of expansion following on the Boer War
18.
Australian Light Horse
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Australian Light Horse were mounted troops with characteristics of both cavalry and mounted infantry, who served in the Second Boer War and World War I. During the inter-war years, a number of regiments were raised as part of Australias part-time military force and these units were gradually mechanised either before or during World War II, although only a small number undertook operational service during the war. The Australian Light Horse was established as the outcome of a debate that took place in military circles in Australia in the late 19th century concerning the future of mounted troops. The example of the Franco-Prussian War illustrated that the battlefield had become dominated by massed land armies supported by artillery, for Australia the reality was vast spaces with sparse populations making it difficult to consider anything that remotely looked like the European model. The 1890s were wracked by drought and depression ensuring that none of the states were able to afford anything, the Second Boer War provided the short term answer. While Australian forces fought against the Boers in South Africa, the Boer methodology of conducting war was considered to be the answer for Australian defence, volunteer Light Horse Regiments were established around Australia supported by the Rifle Club movement which provided semi trained reinforcements for the various formations. The prospect of an endless and strength-sapping guerrilla war was the key deterrent factor which relied heavily upon mobile soldiers, the plan envisaged two mounted divisions. By the outbreak of World War I, there were 23 light horse regiments within Australias part-time military force, a famous exception to this rule though was the charge of the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments at Beersheba on 31 October 1917. In 1918, some light horse regiments were equipped with sabres, however, unlike mounted infantry, the light horse also performed certain cavalry roles, such as scouting and screening, while mounted. The light horse were organised along cavalry rather than infantry lines, around a quarter of this nominal strength could be allotted to horse-holding duties when the regiment entered combat. A regiment was divided into three squadrons, designated A, B and C, and a divided into four troops. Each troop was divided into about 10 four-man sections, when dismounting for combat, one man from each section would take the reins of the other three mens horses and lead them out of the firing line where he would remain until called upon. Each regiment initially had a troop of two Maxim guns but during the Gallipoli Campaign, where the light horse served dismounted, this was increased to four guns, in turn, the troops received the Lewis Gun. This was replaced by the Hotchkiss M1909 Benét–Mercié machine gun in April 1917, eventually they arrived in such numbers as to allow each troop to have a Hotchkiss gun, which considerably added to the mobile firepower of a regiment. The Australian Waler horse was the mount for the light horsemen, as it was strong and hardy. This was facilitated by the horses being left behind in Egypt while the light horsemen went to Gallipoli, allowing them to gradually acclimatise. As Australias commitment to the war increased, the size of the light horse contingent was expanded, with a second and third light horse brigade being raised in late 1914 and early 1915. Eventually, the Australian Light Horse regiments were organised into five brigades, 1st Light Horse Brigade consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 2nd Light Horse Brigade consisted of the 5th, 6th, 7th Light Horse Regiments
19.
Nottinghamshire Royal Horse Artillery
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The Nottinghamshire Royal Horse Artillery was a Territorial Force Royal Horse Artillery battery that was formed in Nottinghamshire in 1908. It saw active service during the First World War in the Middle East – in the Senussi Campaign, a second line battery, 2/1st Nottinghamshire RHA, served in the Mesopotamian Campaign in 1917 and 1918 as a Field Artillery battery. Post-war, it was reconstituted as a Royal Field Artillery battery, on formation, the TF contained 14 infantry divisions and 14 mounted yeomanry brigades. Each yeomanry brigade included an artillery battery and an ammunition column. On 18 March 1908, Nottinghamshire Royal Horse Artillery was proposed as a new unit and it was recognized by the Army Council on 31 July 1908, the battery was raised and trained by Major Joe Laycock. However, on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, therefore, TF units were split into 1st Line and 2nd Line units. 2nd Line units performed the home defence role, although in fact most of these were also posted abroad in due course, the 1st Line battery was embodied with the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Mounted Brigade on 4 August 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War. Initially, the brigade concentrated in Berkshire and on 5 August 1914 was assigned to the 1st Mounted Division, a decision was made to form a new mounted division from the mounted brigades in and around the Churn area of Berkshire. On 2 September 1914, 2nd Mounted Division, with Headquarters at Goring, came into being, in November 1914, the division moved to Norfolk on coastal defence duties. Artillery headquarters was established at Cromer, before joining the headquarters at Hanworth in December. Overseas service In March 1915, the 2nd Mounted Division was put on warning for overseas service, in early April, the division starting leaving Avonmouth and the last elements landed at Alexandria before the end of the month. By the middle of May, the artillery batteries were near Ismaïlia on Suez Canal Defences. The 2nd Mounted Division was dismounted in August 1915 and served at Gallipoli, the artillery batteries and ammunition columns were left behind in Egypt. The division returned from Gallipoli in December 1915 and was reformed and remounted, the battery never rejoined the division, on 28 November 1915 the battery departed Ismailia for the Western Desert and joined the Western Frontier Force on formation at Mersa Matruh. It served throughout the Senussi Campaign, taking part in the Affairs at Wadi Senab, Wadi Majid, and Halazin, the Nottinghamshire Battery was one of four that formed the XIX Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery to support the division. In practice, the battery was attached to 3rd Light Horse Brigade, the battery served with the Imperial Mounted Division in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign as part of the Desert Column. With the division, it took part in the advance across the Sinai, the battery was re-equipped with four 18 pounders in time for the First Battle of Gaza. It also took part in the Second Battle of Gaza, Australian Mounted Division In June 1917, the Desert Column was reorganised from two mounted divisions of four brigades each to three mounted divisions of three brigades each
20.
George Bingham, 5th Earl of Lucan
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Colonel George Charles Bingham, 5th Earl of Lucan GCVO KBE CB TD PC DL, styled Lord Bingham from 1888 to 1914, was a British soldier and Conservative politician. Lucan was the son of Charles Bingham, 4th Earl of Lucan and he was educated at Harrow, and later at Sandhurst. Lucan was commissioned into the Rifle Brigade in 1881, retiring with the rank of Captain in 1896, in 1900 he joined the 1st London Rifle Volunteers as a Major, rising to the rank of Colonel. Lucan was appointed High Sheriff of Mayo for 1902–03 and he was briefly a Member of Parliament for the Chertsey constituency in Surrey as a member of the Conservative Party. He was elected in a by-election on 7 July 1904, in August 1914 he was elected a Irish Representative Peer. He served under David Lloyd George, Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin as a Lord-in-Waiting from 1920 to 1924 and under Baldwin from 1924 to 1929. The latter year he was appointed Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and he was also a Deputy Lieutenant of County Mayo and Middlesex. Like his father before him, Lord Lucan had earlier bestowed a portion to the community for parkland, Lord Lucan died in April 1949, aged 88, and was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son George, who in contrast to his father became a Labour politician. The Dowager Lady Lucan died in 1972, hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Lucan
21.
Royal Scots
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The regiment was first raised in 1633 as the Royal Regiment of Foot by Sir John Hepburn, under a royal warrant from Charles I, on the Scottish establishment for service in France. It was formed from a nucleus of Hepburns previous regiment, formerly in Swedish service, when in France it absorbed the remnants of a number of other Scottish mercenary units which had fought in Swedish service, and by 1635 had swelled to some 8,000 men. Lord James Douglas was appointed the new colonel, and the name of the corps was altered to the Régiment de Douglas, numbering some 1200 Scotsmen. The regiment fought with distinction under Douglas until he was killed in a skirmish near Douai in 1645 and his elder brother Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, was appointed in his place. In all the regiment served in France from 1633 to 1661, because the regiment had been formed by Royal Warrant, it was legally part of the Crowns armed forces, even though it had been out of the country for three decades. As such, it was recalled to secure the coronation of Charles II. 1678 marked the end of French service, with the regiment placed permanently on the English establishment. It was posted to Ireland in 1679, and in 1680 the regiment was sent to Tangier, in 1684, the regiment was titled His Majestys Royal Regiment of Foot, and withdrawn to England. In 1685 they fought for James II in the Monmouth Rebellion, at the Battle of Sedgemoor, in 1688, they were the only regiment of the army to remain loyal to James in the Glorious Revolution. During the War of the Grand Alliance, the regiment fought at the Battle of Walcourt, the Battle of Steenkerque, the Battle of Landen and they spent the late 1690s on garrison duty in Ireland. During the War of the Spanish Succession, the regiment fought at the Battles of Schellenberg and Blenheim, the Battle of Ramillies, the Battle of Oudenarde and the Battle of Malplaquet. In 1751, the regiment was titled the 1st Regiment of Foot, the 2nd Battalion was sent to Nova Scotia in 1757, and saw service in the Seven Years War, capturing Louisburg in 1758, Guadeloupe in 1762 and Havana in 1763, returning home in 1764. Both then served as garrisons in the Mediterranean, the 1st in Gibraltar from 1768–75, and the 2nd in Minorca from 1771–75. The 1st Battalion was sent to the West Indies in 1781, fought in the capture of Sint Eustatius that year, and was itself captured at St. Kitts in January 1782 but exchanged later in the year. The 1st Battalion had returned to the West Indies as a garrison in 1790, the West Indies were hotbeds of disease, and the battalion lost more than half its strength to disease in this period. It was reformed from militia volunteers in Ireland in 1798, This year saw a major rebellion erupt in Ireland after years of simmering tension, the Lothian Fencibles fought with distinction at the Battle of Vinegar Hill, one of the more important engagements of the rebellion. After the rebellion was over in Ireland they were used in raids on the coast of Spain in 1800. Meanwhile, from 1793 to 1801, the 2nd Battalion was based in the Mediterranean, both battalions were subsequently dispatched to the West Indies, the 1st from 1801 to 1812, and the 2nd from 1803 to 1806
22.
Middlesex Regiment
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The Middlesex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The latter regiment was, however, short-lived and itself subject to a merger on 9 September 1992 with the Royal Hampshire Regiment to form the Princess of Waless Royal Regiment, the Middlesex Regiment was one of the principal home counties based regiments with a long tradition. They inherited their nickname, the “Die-hards”, from the 57th Regiment of Foot, albuhera was the principal battle honour on the Middlesex Regiments colours. The 4th Volunteer Battalion, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, joined the Middlesex Regiment as the 9th Battalion, the 10th Battalion was formed by a nucleus of 300 officers and men from the disbanded 2nd Volunteer Rifle Corps. The four TF battalions constituted the Middlesex Brigade in the Home Counties Division, on formation in 1881 the regimental title was The Duke of Cambridges Own. The regiment inherited the designation Duke of Cambridges Own from the 77th Foot, the regiment was also permitted to bear the coronet and cypher of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge on its colours and badges. The regiment had earlier granted the plumes and motto of the Prince of Wales in 1810 for twenty years service in India. In 1921, in common with other regiments, the regimental title was effectively reversed to The Middlesex Regiment. The Duke was colonel-in-chief of the regiment from 1898 to his death in 1904 and its regimental marches were Sir Manley Power and Paddys Resource, and Caledonian and Garb of old Gaul. The 1st and 2nd battalions both saw turns in India during the late 19th century, following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899, the 2nd battalion embarked for active service in South Africa in December 1899 and took part in the Relief of Ladysmith the following Spring. The 6th Battalion was embodied in December 1899, and 530 officers, the regiment relocated from Hounslow Barracks to the newly-built Inglis Barracks in 1905. The 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre, as line of communication troops, the 2nd Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 23rd Brigade in the 8th Division in November 1914 also for service on the Western Front. The 4th Battalion land at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 8th Brigade in 3rd Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front, some 400 men of the 4th Battalion were killed at the Battle of Mons later that month. Late in 1917 the 1/9th Bn was assigned to the 18th Indian Division, general Kitchener was not in favour of the Territorials although he and other critics were silenced after the Territorials fought so well with the BEF after Mons. A Third Line battalion, the 3/10th, also landed at Le Havre for service on the Western Front, additional war-formed service battalions were the 11th to 34th and 51st to 53rd. In October 1966 the regiment paid a record sum of £900 for the Victoria Cross awarded to Private Robert Edward Ryder, of the 12th Battalion. In the early 1920s the 3rd and 4th battalions were disbanded, in 1935 the Post Office Rifles and 19th Londons became searchlight regiments, and in 1937 The Kensingtons formally became a territorial battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. In 1938 the two battalions formed duplicates, thus forming the 1/7th, 2/7th, 1/8th and 2/8th battalions
23.
15th Ludhiana Sikhs
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The 15th Ludhiana Sikhs was an infantry regiment in the British Indian Army. They could trace their origins to 1846, when they were known as the Regiment of Ludhiana, during the Indian Mutiny they were relied upon to hold Benares throughout the period of the Mutiny. In 1861, they became the 15th Bengal Native Infantry and shortly afterwards to the 15th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry in 1864, to honour the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to Indian they took part in the Rawalpindi Parade 1905. During this time took part in the Battle of Ahmed Khel. They then took part in the Battle of Tofrek and Suakin in the Mahdist War, the Chitral Expedition and the Tirah Campaign and World War I. During World War I they were part of the 8th Brigade, 3rd Division they served on the Western Front in France, in Egypt as part of the Western Frontier Force, and in the Mesopotamia Campaign. After World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. The 15th Ludhiana Sikhs now became the 2nd Battalion, 11th Sikh Regiment and this regiment was allocated to the new Indian Army after independence. Lieutenant John Smyth 15th Ludhiana Sikhs, was awarded the Victoria Cross, the devout Muslims were trained in battle and assisted by several Turkish military officers. The support received from the influential Turkish leader Nuri Bey has brought the Senussi a considerable advantage while fighting off the Italian occupiers of Libya. The Senussi were given the first mission in Egypt after a German submarine sank two British ships in November 1915 at the western coast of Egypt and they were given the task of keeping the survivors of the attacks on Tara and Moorina in captivity. Two British outposts were attacked by the Senussi at Sidi el Barrani and Sollum. British troops posted west of Matruh withdrew leaving back in their haste the Egyptian Coastguards at Sollum most of whom deserted the British order, on 20 November 1915 the Western Frontier Force was formed with Commander Major-General A. Wallace in the lead. The 15th Sikhs represented the major unit of the Western Frontier Force. The garrison placed at Matruh gathered more than 1,300 men by December, the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs were given the first mission against the Senussi on 11 December when General Wallace appointed Lieutenant-colonel J. L. R. Gordon leader of a column and gave him the task of breaking the ranks of the enemy at Duwwar Hussein, the column sent also consisted of the Notts Battery with guns, armoured cars and the 2nd Composite Yeomanry Regiment. The first clash with the enemy in the Wadi Senab turned favorably only when the squadron of Australian Light Horse intervened and helped the cavalry, gordon left one company of the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs behind to protect the camp and planned to march towards Duwwar Hussein using two routes. While the enemy’s flank increased and the British cavalry couldn’t reorganize in time, the advanced guard, hughes, the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs commander, decided to remain stationary in order to protect the wounded
24.
No. 1 Squadron RAF
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No.1 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was the first squadron to fly a VTOL aircraft and it currently operates Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth. These include the Second World War, Suez Crisis, Falklands War, Gulf War, Kosovo War, and Operation Telic. No.1 Squadrons origins go back to 1878 when its predecessor, No.1 Balloon Company, was formed at the Royal Arsenal, on 1 April 1911 the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers was created. The battalion initially consisted of two companies, with No.1 Company, Air Battalion taking responsibility for lighter than air flying, the first Officer Commanding was Captain E. M. Maitland. On 13 May 1912, with the establishment of the Royal Flying Corps, No.1 Company of the Air Battalion was redesignated No.1 Squadron, No.1 Squadron was one of the original three Royal Flying Corps squadrons. Maitland continued as the new squadrons Officer Commanding and he was promoted to several days after the establishment of the squadron. It retained the airships Beta and Gamma, adding Delta and Eta, as well as kites, however, in October 1913 a sudden decision was made to transfer all the airships to the Naval Wing of the RFC. While retaining kites 1 Squadron was reorganised as a park for the British Expeditionary Force. On 1 May 1914, Major Charles Longcroft was appointed as the new squadron commander, apart from a few weeks as a supernumerary in August and September 1914, Longcroft continued as the squadron commander until January 1915. The squadron was reformed as a squadron in August 1914. It operated mainly in the reconnaissance rôle, with a few single seat fighters for escort purposes and it retained Morane Parasols for reconnaissance, until becoming a dedicated fighter squadron on 1 January 1917, flying Nieuport 17s and Nieuport 27. The obsolete Nieuports were replaced by more modern S. E. 5as in January 1918, on incorporation into the RAF on 1 April 1918 the squadron kept its numeral, No 1 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service was displaced to become No.201 Squadron RAF. No.1 Squadron had among its ranks no fewer than 31 flying aces, the squadron returned to the UK from France in March 1919, being formally disbanded on 20 January 1920. On the next day it reformed at Risalpur in the North West Frontier of India, flying the Sopwith Snipe. and from January 1920. It moved to Hinaidi near Baghdad in Iraq in May 1921, to carry out policing duties, retaining its Snipes and it remained in Iraq, carrying out strafing and bombing against hostile tribal forces until November 1926 when it was disbanded. In early 1927 it was reformed at Tangmere, Sussex as a Home Defence Fighter Squadron, after receiving the Hawker Fury Mk. The squadron re-equipped with the Hurricane Mk. I in October 1938, on the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 the squadron was deployed to France as part of the RAF Advanced Air Striking Force
25.
Royal Flying Corps
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The Royal Flying Corps was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War, until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC supported the British Army by artillery co-operation, at the start of World War I the RFC, commanded by Brigadier-General Sir David Henderson, consisted of five squadrons – one observation balloon squadron and four aeroplane squadrons. These were first used for spotting on 13 September 1914. Aerial photography was attempted during 1914, but again only became effective the next year, by 1918, photographic images could be taken from 15,000 feet and were interpreted by over 3,000 personnel. By this time parachutes had been used by balloonists for three years, on 17 August 1917, South African General Jan Smuts presented a report to the War Council on the future of air power. On 1 April 1918, the RFC and the RNAS were amalgamated to form a new service, after starting in 1914 with some 2,073 personnel, by the start of 1919 the RAF had 4,000 combat aircraft and 114,000 personnel in some 150 squadrons. The recommendations of the committee were accepted and on 13 April 1912 King George V signed a royal warrant establishing the Royal Flying Corps, the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers became the Military Wing of the Royal Flying Corps a month later on 13 May. The Flying Corps initial allowed strength was 133 officers, and by the end of year it had 12 manned balloons and 36 aeroplanes. The RFC originally came under the responsibility of Brigadier-General Henderson, the Director of Military Training, and had branches for the Army. Major Sykes commanded the Military Wing and Commander C R Samson commanded the Naval Wing, the RFCs motto was Per ardua ad astra. This remains the motto of the Royal Air Force and other Commonwealth air forces, the RFCs first fatal crash was on 5 July 1912 near Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain. Loraine and his observer, Staff Sergeant R. H. V, an order was issued after the crash stating Flying will continue this evening as usual, thus beginning a tradition. Four months later on 11 December 1912 Parke was killed when the Handley Page monoplane in which he was flying from Hendon to Oxford crashed. The Naval Wing, with pilots and aircraft than the Military Wing. In November 1914 the Royal Flying Corps, even taking the loss of the Naval Wing into account, had expanded sufficiently to warrant the creation of wings consisting of two or more squadrons and these wings were commanded by lieutenant-colonels. In October 1915 the Royal Flying Corps had undergone further expansion which justified the creation of brigades, further expansion led to the creation of divisions, with the Training Division being established in August 1917 and RFC Middle East, being raised to divisional status in December 1917. Finally, the air raids on London and the south-east of England led to the creation of the London Air Defence Area in August 1917 under the command of Ashmore who was promoted to major-general. Two of the first three RFC squadrons were formed from the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers, No.1 Company becoming No.1 Squadron, RFC, a second heavier-than-air squadron, No.2 Squadron, RFC, was also formed on the same day
26.
1st Division (Australia)
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The 1st Division is the main formation of the Australian Army and contains the majority of the Armys regular forces. Its headquarters is in Enoggera, a suburb of Brisbane, the division was first formed in 1914 for service during World War I as a part of the Australian Imperial Force. It was initially part of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and served with that formation during the Gallipoli campaign, before later serving on the Western Front. After the war, the became a part-time unit based in New South Wales. After World War II, the division remained off the Australian Armys order of battle until the 1960s, in 1965 it adopted a certification role, determining the operational readiness of units deploying to Vietnam. It was re-formed in 1973 as a division based in Queensland and in the decades that followed it formed the Australian Armys main formation. Throughout this period, the component units undertook multiple operations, mainly focused on peacekeeping in Africa, Asia. Following the restructuring of the Australian Army under the Adaptive Army initiative, nevertheless, it is tasked with co-ordinating the Armys high-level training activities and maintaining the Deployable Joint Force Headquarters. The Australian 1st Division was raised during the formation of the Australian Imperial Force on 15 August 1914. Each infantry battalion consisted of eight companies, although in January 1915. Its first commander was the senior Australian general and head of the AIF, over the course of six weeks, the divisions subordinate units were raised separately in the various states before embarking overseas. The transports then concentrated off the Western Australian coast and the fleet sailed for Britain. While in Egypt, the division was assigned to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps along with the New Zealand and Australian Division. Following the Allied decision to force a passage through the Dardanelles, the 1st Division made the initial landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915. The 3rd Brigade formed the force which landed first, around dawn. The 1st and 2nd Brigades followed, landing from transports, on 15 May 1915, after Bridges was mortally wounded by a sniper, an English officer, Brigadier-General Harold Walker was given temporary command while a replacement was dispatched from Australia. They were later joined by several heavier guns including a 4. 7-inch gun, the 1st Divisions role in the August Offensive was to hold the front line and conduct a diversion on 400 Plateau at Lone Pine on 6 August. The resulting battle was the occasion when a significant length of the Turkish trench line was captured
27.
Royal Engineers
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The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers, and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. It is highly regarded throughout the military, and especially the Army and it provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is headed by the Chief Royal Engineer. The Regimental Headquarters and the Royal School of Military Engineering are in Chatham in Kent, the corps is divided into several regiments, barracked at various places in the United Kingdom and around the world. In Woolwich in 1716, the Board formed the Royal Regiment of Artillery and established a Corps of Engineers, the manual work was done by the Artificer Companies, made up of contracted civilian artisans and labourers. In 1782, a Soldier Artificer Company was established for service in Gibraltar, ten years later the Gibraltar company, which had remained separate, was absorbed and in 1812 the name was changed to the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners. The Corps has no battle honours, in 1832, the regimental motto, Ubique Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt, was granted. The motto signified that the Corps had seen action in all the conflicts of the British Army. In 1911 the Corps formed its Air Battalion, the first flying unit of the British Armed Forces, the Air Battalion was the forerunner of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. In 1915, in response to German mining of British trenches under the then static siege conditions of the First World War, before the Second World War, Royal Engineers recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 4 inches tall. They initially enlisted for six years with the colours and a six years with the reserve or four years. Unlike most corps and regiments, in which the age limit was 25. They trained at the Royal Engineers Depot in Chatham or the RE Mounted Depot at Aldershot, the Royal Engineers Museum is in Gillingham in Kent. Britain having acquired an Empire, it fell to the Royal Engineers to conduct some of the most significant civil engineering schemes around the world, some examples of great works of the era of empire can be found in A. J. Smitherss book Honourable Conquests. The Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, commanded by Richard Clement Moody, was responsible for the foundation, the Royal Albert Hall is one of the UKs most treasured and distinctive buildings, recognisable the world over. Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the leading artists from every kind of performance genre have appeared on its stage. The Hall was designed by Captain Francis Fowke and Major-General Henry Y. D. Scott of the Royal Engineers, the designers were heavily influenced by ancient amphitheatres, but had also been exposed to the ideas of Gottfried Semper while he was working at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Much of the British colonial era infrastructure of India, of which survive today, was created by engineers of the three presidencies armies and the Royal Engineers. In 1838 he designed and built sea defences for Vizagapatam and he masterminded the Godavery Delta project where 720,000 acres of land were irrigated and 500 miles of land to the port of Cocanada was made navigable in the 1840s
28.
1st Infantry Brigade (South Africa)
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The South African 1st Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the army of the Union of South Africa during World Wars I and II. During World War I, the Brigade served as a British formation in Egypt and on the Western Front, most famously the Battle of Delville Wood. It was reactivated at the start of the Second World War as a South African formation and served in East Africa and the Western Desert, when the First World War broke out in 1914, the South African government chose to join the war on the side of the Allies. The South African Union Defence Act of 1914 prohibited the deployment of South African troops beyond the borders of the South Africa, to send troops to Europe to support the Commonwealth in World War I, Generals Botha and Smuts created the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force. Status was meant to imply administrative purposes, as Britain was paying for the maintenance of the force in the field for the sake of political sensitivities. The 1st Infantry Brigade Group was the first unit to be formed as a constituent part of the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force, the brigade was commanded by Brigadier General H. T. Lukin and consisted of four regiments recruited from existing military units as well as amongst civilians, regiments were raised in the four provinces of South Africa, The 1st South African Infantry Regiment was commanded by Lt Col F. S. Dawson with the regiment being raised from the Cape Province and known as The Cape Regiment, a Company was made up from men mostly from the Duke of Edinburghs Rifles. Company was recruited from the Eastern Province and C Company was from Kimberley, D Company was recruited from Cape Town. The 2nd South African Infantry Regiment was commanded by Lt Col W. E. C, Tanner, this Regiment was raised from Natal and Orange Free State. Many volunteers were from the Kaffrarian Rifles, the 3rd South African Infantry Regiment. Commander, Lt Col E. F. Thackeray and raised from Transvaal, the regiment was generally known as The Transvaal Regiment. B Company were mostly from the Witwatersrand Rifles while C Company were men from the Rand Light Infantry, the 4th SA Infantry Regiment was led by Lt Col F. A. Jones, DSO and became known as the South African Scottish. It was raised from the Cape Town Highlanders Regiment and the area of Cape Town while members of 1st Bn Transvaal Scottish Regiment made up most of B Company. C Company came from 2nd Bn Transvaal Scottish Regiment and recruits encouraged by the Caledonian Societies of Natal and Orange Free State made up D Company. The Brigade, numbering 160 officers and 5648 other ranks, embarked for England from Cape Town and were quartered at Bordon in Hampshire, where, for the next two months, they underwent training. During December 1915 it was decided to send the South African brigade to Egypt, on 23 January 1916 the 2nd South African Infantry Regiment first saw action at Halaxin. They marched along the coast and engaged the enemy at the Battle of Agagia on 26 February 1916, with the aid of the Dorsetshire Yeomanrys cavalry the Senussi were routed and Gaafer Pasha and his staff captured
29.
Bikaner Camel Corps
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The Bikaner Camel Corps was a unit of Imperial Service Troops from India that fought for the Allies in World War I and World War II. The Corps was founded by Maharaja Ganga Singh of the Indian state of Bikaner, the state of Bikaner had a long tradition of using soldiers mounted on camels. For instance, in 1465 Rao Bika led a force of 300 sowar to conquer neighbouring territories. Ganga Singh led the Ganga Risala when it fought in the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900, in Somaliland in 1902-1904 to quell the Somali Uprising, at the Suez Canal in 1915 the corps routed the opposing Turkish forces in a camel cavalry charge. The Corps fought in the Middle East in World War II, when it was supported by the camel-mounted Bijay Battery, which became a mule team battery. After Indias Independence the Bikaner Camel Corps was merged with camel troops from Jaisalmer in 1951 to become the Ganga Jaisalmer Risala and it took part in the actions to foil Pakistani raiders in the Bikaner and Jaisalmer regions during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. After 1975 all of the Indian Military Camel Corps, including the Ganga Jaisalmer Risala, were disbanded, a brief attempt was made to resurrect them but the plan never came to fruition. The Ganga Risala still survives though as a part of the Border Security Force, the Ganga Jaisalmer Risala was dismounted in 1974 and underwent conversion into standard infantry. It continues to serve as an infantry battalion under the name 13 Grenadiers. Post 1971 the unit has seen action in counter insurgency operations in the states of Punjab and it has to its credit one Kirti Chakra and one Shaurya Chakra among numerous other awards. It is the camel cavalry operated by present-day armed forces
30.
Imperial Camel Corps
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The Imperial Camel Corps Brigade was a camel-mounted infantry brigade that the British Empire raised in December 1916 during the First World War for service in the Middle East. From a small beginning the unit grew to a brigade of four battalions, one battalion each from Great Britain and New Zealand. Support troops included an artillery battery, a machine gun squadron, Royal Engineers, a field ambulance. The ICC became part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force and fought in battles and engagements, in the Senussi Campaign, the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. The brigade suffered 246 men killed, the ICC was disbanded in May 1919 after the end of the war. The advantages of camels in an environment are well known. However the British Army forces serving in Egypt at the start of the First World War did not possess their own camel formation, the first units of what became the Imperial Camel Corps were four company-sized formations that conducted long-range patrols around the Suez Canal and the Sinai Desert. The companies were raised in Egypt in January 1916 from Australians returning from the failed Gallipoli Campaign, the Indian princely state of Bikaner supplied the first camels as the Bikaner Camel Corps already used camels. These camels were later used as draught animals and the lighter Egyptian camel became the mount chosen for carrying troops. The camels could cover a distance of 3 miles an hour, or 6 miles an hour trotting, while carrying a soldier, his equipment. The camel companies consisted of a headquarters and four sections. The establishment of a company was 130 men, all armed with Lee–Enfields, however the move from patrol to a more active combat role in August 1916 led to a re-organisation. Each company added a section of fifteen men with three Lewis guns, the company headquarters also received extra staff. All this increased strength to 184 men. The four companies were expected to operate as independent units that travelled by camel, following the practise of cavalry and mounted infantry units, one man of each group of four held the camels when the team was in action, which reduced a teams firepower by a quarter. In March 1916 six new companies were raised from British yeomanry regiments, then in June another four Australian companies were raised from reinforcements intended for the Australian Light Horse regiments. Reinforcements from New Zealand intended for the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade formed two companies, one created in August and the second in November, the Imperial Camel Brigade was formed on 19 December 1916, under the command of Brigadier General Clement Leslie Smith VC. The brigade originally comprised three battalions, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, plus supporting units, each of the battalions had an authorised strength of 770 men and 922 camels
31.
Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster
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Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, GCVO DSO was a British landowner and one of the wealthiest men in the world. He was the son of Victor Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor, son of the 1st Duke of Westminster, and Lady Sibell Lumley, the daughter of the 9th Earl of Scarborough. His wife Loelia wrote in her memoirs, Of course everybody, even his parents and sisters, at all events it stuck, and my husbands friends never called him anything but Bendor or Benny. His ancestral country estate in Cheshire, the 54-bedroom Eaton Hall consisted of 11,000 acres of parkland, gardens, the main residence had its walls hung with master works, paintings by Goya, Rubens, Raphael, Rembrandt, Hals, and Velázquez. An avid participant in the life, the Duke owned lodges reserved for the sport in Scotland. According to his Times obituary, he was busy up to the day of his death in great schemes of afforestation in Cheshire, in the Lake District, and in Scotland. For sea excursions, he had his choice of two sailing vessels, “The Cutty Sark”, and a yacht, “Flying Cloud”. For ground transportation he had 17 Rolls Royce automobiles and a train built to facilitate travel from Eaton Hall directly into London where his townhouse Grosvenor House was located. Grosvenor House was later leased to The United States for use as the American Embassy, like many of his social class whose lives were ones of privilege and leisure, the Duke occupied himself in the pursuit of pleasure. As a nineteen year old, he attended a French boarding school run by the Count de Mauny. In later life the Duke was notable for being virulently homophobic, Lord Grosvenor had taken a commission with the Royal Horse Guards and was in South Africa serving in the Second Boer War, when in December 1899 he succeeded his grandfather. After a brief visit home, he returned in February 1900 to serve with the Imperial Yeomanry, as an ADC to Lord Roberts. He resigned his commission in December 1901, and was appointed Captain of the Cheshire Imperial Yeomanry the following month and he subsequently invested in land in South Africa and Rhodesia. In 1908, the Duke competed in the London Olympics as a racer for Great Britain. On 1 April 1908, he was named honorary lieutenant-colonel of the 16th Battalion, The London Regiment, in the First World War the Duke volunteered for front-line combat and served with distinction, showing both initiative in battle and technical skill with motor-cars. Whilst attached to the Cheshire Yeomanry he developed a prototype Rolls-Royce Armoured Car for their use, on 14 March 1916, he led the armoured cars on a daring raid against superior forces that destroyed the enemy camp at Bir Asiso. The Senussi ran away rather than engage in a fight but their leader and he was hanged for abusing the prisoners in his care. They testified he had forced them to labour for months in his fields, feeding them little, the Duke received the DSO for his exploits
32.
Armored car (military)
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A military armored car is a lightweight wheeled armored fighting vehicle, historically employed for reconnaissance, internal security, armed escort, and other subordinate battlefield tasks. With the gradual decline of mounted cavalry, armored cars were developed for carrying out duties formerly assigned to horsemen, following the invention of the tank, the armored car remained popular due to its comparatively simplified maintenance and low production cost. It also found favor with several colonial armies as a weapon for use in underdeveloped regions. During World War II, most armored cars were engineered for reconnaissance and passive observation, some equipped with heavier armament could even substitute for tracked combat vehicles in favorable conditions—such as pursuit or flanking maneuvers during the North African Campaign. The Motor Scout was designed and built by British inventor F. R. Simms in 1898 and it was the first armed petrol engine-powered vehicle ever built. The vehicle was a De Dion-Bouton quadricycle with a mounted Maxim machine gun on the front bar, an iron shield in front of the car protected the driver. However, these were not armored cars as the term is understood today and they were also, by virtue of their small capacity engines, less efficient than the cavalry and horse-drawn guns that they were intended to complement. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first military armored vehicles were manufactured, by adding armor and weapons to existing vehicles. The vehicle had Vickers armour 6 mm thick and was powered by a four-cylinder 3. 3-litre 16-hp Cannstatt Daimler engine, the armament, consisting of two Maxim guns, was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse. Simms Motor War Car was presented at the Crystal Palace, London, another early armored car of the period was the French Charron, Girardot et Voigt 1902, presented at the Salon de lAutomobile et du cycle in Brussels, on 8 March 1902. The vehicle was equipped with a Hotchkiss machine gun, and with 7 mm armour for the gunner, one of the first operational armoured cars with four wheel drive and fully enclosed rotating turret, was the Austro-Daimler Panzerwagen built by Austro-Daimler in 1904. It was armoured with 3-3.5 mm thick curved plates over the body and had a 4mm thick dome-shaped rotating turret that housed one or two machine-guns and it had a 4-cylinder 35 hp 4.4 litre engine giving it average cross country performance. Of note, both the driver and co-driver had adjustable seats enabling them to them to see out of the roof of the drive compartment as needed. The Italians used armored cars during the Italo-Turkish War, a great variety of armored cars appeared on both sides during World War I and these were used in various ways. Generally, the cars were used by more or less independent car commanders. However, sometimes they were used in units up to squadron size. The cars were armed with light machine guns, but larger units usually employed a few cars with heavier guns. As air power became a factor, armored cars offered a platform for antiaircraft guns
33.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
34.
OCLC
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The Online Computer Library Center is a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worlds information and reducing information costs. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services, the group first met on July 5,1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization. The group hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The goal of network and database was to bring libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the worlds information in order to best serve researchers and scholars. The first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26,1971 and this was the first occurrence of online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data, between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States. As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside of Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with networks, organizations that provided training, support, by 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on OCLC Members Council, in early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic, abstract and full-text information to anyone, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. org, in October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988, a browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013, it was replaced by the Classify Service. S. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users and this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. OCLC has produced cards for members since 1971 with its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, e. g. CONTENTdm for managing digital collections, OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications and these publications, including journal articles, reports, newsletters, and presentations, are available through the organizations website. The most recent publications are displayed first, and all archived resources, membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding
35.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
36.
Home front during World War I
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The home front during World War I covers the domestic, economic, social and political histories of countries involved in that conflict. It covers the mobilization of armed forces and war supplies, for the nonmilitary interactions among the major players see Diplomatic history of World War I. The Allies had much more potential wealth that they could spend on the war, One estimate, is that the Allies spent $147 billion on the war and the Central Powers only $61 billion. Among the Allies, Britain and its Empire spent $47 billion, Total war demanded total mobilization of all the nations resources for a common goal. Manpower had to be channeled into the front lines, behind the lines labor power had to be redirected away from less necessary activities that were luxuries during a total war. In particular, vast munitions industries had to be built up to provide shells, guns, warships, uniforms, airplanes, agriculture had to be mobilized as well, to provide food for both civilians and for soldiers and for horses to move supplies. Transportation in general was a challenge, especially when Britain and Germany each tried to intercept merchant ships headed for the enemy, Britain financed the Allies until 1916, when it ran out of money and had to borrow from the United States. The US took over the financing of the Allies in 1917 with loans that it insisted be repaid after the war, the victorious Allies looked to defeated Germany in 1919 to pay reparations that would cover some of their costs. For more details on economics see Economic history of World War I, World War I had a profound impact on woman suffrage across the belligerents. France almost did so but stopped short, at the outbreak of war, patriotic feelings spread throughout over the whole country, and many of the class barriers of Edwardian era faded during the years of combat. However, the Catholics in southern Ireland moved overnight to demands for immediate independence after the failed Easter Rebellion of 1916. Northern Ireland remained loyal to the crown, Economic sacrifices were made, however, in the name of defeating the enemy. In 1915 Liberal politician David Lloyd George took charge of the newly created Ministry of Munitions and he dramatically increased the output of artillery shells—the main weapon actually used in battle. In 1916 he became secretary for war, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith was a disappointment, he formed a coalition government in 1915 but it was also ineffective. Asquith was replaced by Lloyd George in late 1916 and he had a strong hand in the managing of every affair, making many decisions himself. Historians credit Lloyd George with providing the energy and organisation that won the War. Although German were using Zeppelins to bomb the cities, morale remained high due in part to the propaganda churned out by the national newspapers. With a severe shortage of skilled workers, industry redesigned work so that it could be done by unskilled men and women so that war-related industries grew rapidly, Lloyd George cut a deal with the trades unions—they approved the dilution and threw their organizations into the war effort
37.
Balkans Campaign (World War I)
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The prime cause of World War I was the hostility between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. Consequently, some of the earliest fighting took place between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, Serbia held out against Austria-Hungary for more than a year before it was conquered in late 1915. Dalmatia was a region during World War I that both Italy and Serbia intended to seize from Austria-Hungary. Italy entered the war in 1915 upon agreeing to the Treaty of London that guaranteed Italy a substantial portion of Dalmatia, Allied diplomacy was able to bring Romania into the war in 1916 but this proved disastrous for the Romanians. Shortly after they joined the war, a combined German, Austrian and Bulgarian offensive conquered two-thirds of their country in a campaign which ended in December 1916. However, the Romanian and Russian armies managed to stabilize the front, the Serbian Army was successfully able to rebuff the larger Austro-Hungarian Army due to Russias assisting invasion from the north. In 1915 the Austro-Hungarian Empire placed additional soldiers in the front while succeeding to engage Bulgaria as an ally. Shortly after the Serbian forces were attacked both the north and east, forcing a retreat to Greece. Despite the loss, the retreat was successful and the Serbian Army remained operational in Greece with an established base. Romania before the war was an ally of Austria-Hungary but, like Italy, the Romanian government finally chose to side with the Allies in August 1916, the main reason for this was that they wanted the occupation and annexation of Transylvania, to the Kingdom of Romania. The war started as a disaster for Romania. Before the year was out, the Germans, Hungarians, Austrians, Bulgarians and Ottomans had conquered Wallachia and Dobruja –, in 1917, re-trained and re-supplied, the Romanian Army, together with a disintegrating Russian Army, were successful in containing the German advance into Moldavia. In May 1918, after the German advance in Ukraine and Russia signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Romania, surrounded by the Central Powers forces, had no other choice but to sue for peace. After the Vardar Offensive on the Macedonian Front knocked Bulgaria out of the war, prior to direct intervention in World War I, Italy occupied the port of Vlorë in Albania in December 1914. Upon entering the war, Italy spread its occupation to region of southern Albania beginning in the autumn 1916, Italian forces in 1916 recruited Albanian irregulars to serve alongside them. Italy with permission of the Allied command, occupied Northern Epirus on 23 August 1916, in June 1917, Italy proclaimed central and southern Albania as a protectorate of Italy while Northern Albania was allocated to the states of Serbia and Montenegro. By 31 October 1918, French and Italian forces expelled the Austro-Hungarian Army from Albania, Dalmatia was a strategic region during World War I that both Italy and Serbia intended to seize from Austria-Hungary. From 5–6 November 1918, Italian forces were reported to have reached Lissa, Lagosta, Sebenico, in 1918, Admiral Enrico Millo declared himself Italys Governor of Dalmatia
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Western Front (World War I)
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The Western Front or Western Theater was the main theatre of war during World War I. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, the tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France. This line remained unchanged for most of the war. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several major offensives along this front, the attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. However, a combination of entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire, as a result, no significant advances were made. In an effort to break the deadlock, this front saw the introduction of new technology, including poison gas, aircraft. But it was only after the adoption of improved tactics that some degree of mobility was restored, the German Armys Spring Offensive of 1918 was made possible by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that marked the end of the conflict on the Eastern Front. In spite of the stagnant nature of this front, this theatre would prove decisive. The terms of peace were agreed upon with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, belgiums neutrality was guaranteed by Britain under the 1839 Treaty of London, this caused Britain to join the war at the expiration of its ultimatum at 11 pm GMT on 4 August. Armies under German generals Alexander von Kluck and Karl von Bülow attacked Belgium on 4 August 1914, Luxembourg had been occupied without opposition on 2 August. The first battle in Belgium was the Siege of Liège, which lasted from 5–16 August, Liège was well fortified and surprised the German Army under von Bülow with its level of resistance. German heavy artillery was able to demolish the main forts within a few days. Following the fall of Liège, most of the Belgian field army retreated to Antwerp, leaving the garrison of Namur isolated, with the Belgian capital, Brussels, although the German army bypassed Antwerp, it remained a threat to their flank. Another siege followed at Namur, lasting from about 20–23 August, for their part, the French had five armies deployed on their borders. The pre-war French offensive plan, Plan XVII, was intended to capture Alsace-Lorraine following the outbreak of hostilities, on 7 August the VII Corps attacked Alsace with its objectives being to capture Mulhouse and Colmar. The main offensive was launched on 14 August with 1st and 2nd Armies attacking toward Sarrebourg-Morhange in Lorraine, in keeping with the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans withdrew slowly while inflicting severe losses upon the French. The French advanced the 3rd and 4th Armies toward the Saar River and attempted to capture Saarburg, attacking Briey and Neufchateau, before being driven back
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Eastern Front (World War I)
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It stretched from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south, included most of Eastern Europe and stretched deep into Central Europe as well. The term contrasts with Western Front, which was being fought in Belgium, in the opening months of the war, the Imperial Russian Army attempted an invasion of eastern Prussia in the northwestern theater, only to be beaten back by the Germans after some initial success. At the same time, in the south, they successfully invaded Galicia, in Russian Poland, the Germans failed to take Warsaw. But by 1915, the German and Austro-Hungarian armies were on the advance, dealing the Russians heavy casualties in Galicia and in Poland, Grand Duke Nicholas was sacked from his position as the commander-in-chief and replaced by the Tsar himself. Several offensives against the Germans in 1916 failed, including Lake Naroch Offensive, however, General Aleksei Brusilov oversaw a highly successful operation against Austria-Hungary that became known as the Brusilov Offensive, which saw the Russian Army make large gains. The Kingdom of Romania entered the war in August 1916, the Entente promised the region of Transylvania in return for Romanian support. The Romanian Army invaded Transylvania and had successes, but was forced to stop and was pushed back by the Germans and Austro-Hungarians when Bulgaria attacked them in the south. Meanwhile, a revolution occurred in Russia in February 1917, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate and a Russian Provisional Government was founded, with Georgy Lvov as its first leader, who was eventually replaced by Alexander Kerensky. The newly formed Russian Republic continued to fight the war alongside Romania, Kerensky oversaw the July Offensive, which was largely a failure and caused a collapse in the Russian Army. The new government established by the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers, taking it out of the war and making large territorial concessions. Romania was also forced to surrender and signed a similar treaty, the front in the east was much longer than that in the west. This had an effect on the nature of the warfare. While World War I on the Western Front developed into trench warfare and this was because the greater length of the front ensured that the density of soldiers in the line was lower so the line was easier to break. Once broken, the communication networks made it difficult for the defender to rush reinforcements to the rupture in the line. Propaganda was a key component of the culture of World War I and it was most commonly deployed through the state-controlled media to glorify the homeland and demonize the enemy. Propaganda often took the form of images which portrayed stereotypes from folklore about the enemy or from glorified moments from the nations history, on the Eastern Front, propaganda took many forms such as opera, film, spy fiction, theater, spectacle, war novels and graphic art. Across the Eastern Front the amount of used in each country varied from state to state. Propaganda took many forms within each country and was distributed by different groups
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Italian Front (World War I)
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The Italian Front was a series of battles at the border between Austria-Hungary and Italy, fought between 1915 and 1918 in World War I. Fighting along the front displaced much of the population, of which several thousand died from malnutrition. The Allied victory at Vittorio Veneto and the disintegration of Austria-Hungary ended the military operations, moreover, Austria-Hungary omitted to consult Italy before sending the ultimatum to Serbia and refused to discuss compensation due according to the art. By the 1910s, the expansionist ideas of this movement were taken up by a significant part of the Italian political elite. The annexation of those Austrian territories that were inhabited by Italians, became the main Italian war goal, however, of around 1.5 million people living in those areas, 45% were Italian speakers, while the rest were Slovenes, Germans and Croats. In northern Dalmatia, which was also among the Italian war aims, on 23 May, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. Italys entry was engineered in secret by the 1915 Treaty of London, set up between the British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey, the Italian Foreign Minister Sidney Sonnino and the French Foreign Minister Jules Cambon. On February 16,1915, despite concurrent negotiations with Austria, the final choice was aided by the arrival of news in March of Russian victories in the Carpathians. The Treaty of London was concluded on April 26 binding Italy to fight within one month, not until May 4 did Salandra denounce the Triple Alliance in a private note to its signatories. During the Italo-Turkish War in Libya, the Italian military suffered equipment, at the opening of the campaign, Austro-Hungarian troops occupied and fortified high ground of the Julian Alps and Karst Plateau, but the Italians initially outnumbered their opponents three-to-one. An Italian offensive aimed to cross the Soča river, take the fortress town of Gorizia. This offensive opened the first Battles of the Isonzo, because the Austrian forces occupied higher ground, Italians conducted difficult offensives while climbing. The Italian forces therefore failed to drive much beyond the river, despite a professional officer corps, severely under-trained Italian units lacked morale. Also many troops deeply disliked the newly appointed Italian commander, general Luigi Cadorna, moreover, preexisting equipment and munition shortages slowed progress and frustrated all expectations for a Napoleonic style breakout. Like most contemporaneous militaries, the Italian army primarily used horses for transport but struggled, the Italians recuperated, rearmed with 1200 heavy guns, and then on 18 October 1915 launched Third Battle of the Isonzo, another attack. Forces of Austria-Hungary again repulsed this Italian offensive, which concluded on 4 November without resulting gains, the Italians again launched another offensive on 10 November, the Fourth Battle of the Isonzo. Italian Armies in the North East of the country, the offensive began on 11 March 1916 with 15 divisions, and resulted in no gain. Later in 1916, four more battles along the Isonzo river erupted, the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, launched by the Italians in August, resulted in a success greater than the previous attacks
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Middle-Eastern theatre of World War I
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The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I saw action between 29 October 1914 and 30 October 1918. There were five main campaigns, the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, the Mesopotamian Campaign, the Caucasus Campaign, the Persian Campaign, there were also several minor campaigns, the Senussi Campaign, Arab Campaign, and South Arabia Campaign. Both sides used local asymmetrical forces in the region, in addition, the Assyrians joined the Allies following the Assyrian genocide, instigating the Assyrian war of independence. The Turkish Ottomans had the support of Kurds, Turcomans, Circassians, Chechens, the theatre covered the largest territory of all theatres in the war. The Armenians attended the Trabzon Peace Conference which resulted in the Treaty of Batum on 4 June 1918. The Ottomans accepted the Armistice of Mudros with the Allies on 30 October 1918, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers through the secret Ottoman-German Alliance, which was signed on 2 August 1914. Success in this region would force the Russians to divert troops from the Polish, German advisors with the Ottoman armies supported the campaign for this reason. From an economic perspective, the Ottoman, or rather German, Germany established an Intelligence Bureau for the East on the eve of World War I. The bureau was involved in intelligence-gathering and subversive missions to Persia and Egypt, if these nations were to be removed from Western influence, Enver envisioned a cooperation between these newly established Turkic states. Envers project conflicted with European interests which played out as struggles between several key imperial powers, the Ottomans also threatened Britains communications with India and the East via the Suez Canal. The Germans hoped to seize the Canal for the Central Powers, the British feared that the Ottomans might attack and capture the Middle East oil fields. The British Royal Navy depended upon oil from the deposits in southern Persia. Marriott summarizes the British debates on strategy for the Near East and Balkan theatre, The War in that presents many problems. The Russians viewed the Caucasus Front as secondary to the Eastern Front and they feared a campaign into the Caucasus aimed at retaking Kars which had been taken from the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War, and the port of Batum. The Russian Imperial government planned to replace the Muslim population of Northern Anatolia, the Armenian national liberation movement sought to establish an Armenian state within the Armenian Highlands. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation achieved this goal later in the war, none of these entities were long lasting. The Caucasus Campaign extended from the Caucasus to eastern Asia Minor, reaching as far as Trabzon, Bitlis, Mush, the warfare on land was accompanied by actions undertaken by the Russian Navy in the Black Sea region of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire and German Empire fought each other at Batumi after the arrival of the German Caucasus Expedition whose prime aim was to secure oil supplies
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Gallipoli Campaign
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The peninsula forms the northern bank of the Dardanelles, a strait that provided a sea route to the Russian Empire, one of the Allied powers during the war. Intending to secure it, Russias allies Britain and France launched an attack followed by an amphibious landing on the peninsula. The naval attack was repelled and after eight months fighting, with casualties on both sides, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force was withdrawn to Egypt. The campaign was one of the greatest Ottoman victories during the war, in Turkey, it is regarded as a defining moment in the nations history, a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire crumbled. In 1908, a group of officers, known as the Young Turks. The new régime implemented a program of reform to modernise the political and economic system. An enthusiastic supporter, Germany provided significant investment, German diplomats subsequently found increasing influence, despite Britain previously being the predominant power in the region, while German officers assisted in training and re-equipping the army. Despite this support, the resources of the Ottoman Empire were depleted by the cost of the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913. In December 1913, the Germans sent a mission to Constantinople. The geographical position of the Ottoman Empire meant that Russia and her allies France, during the Sarajevo Crisis in 1914, German diplomats offered Turkey an anti-Russian alliance and territorial gains in Caucasia, north-west Iran and Trans-Caspia. The pro-British faction in the Cabinet was isolated due to the British ambassador taking leave until 18 August, as the crisis deepened in Europe, Ottoman policy was to obtain a guarantee of territorial integrity and potential advantages, unaware that the British might enter a European war. This action strained diplomatic relations between the two empires and the German government offered SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau to the Ottoman navy as replacements, by allowing the German ships to enter the Dardanelles, the Ottomans confirmed their links to Germany. In September, the British naval mission to the Ottomans, which had established in 1912 under Admiral Arthur Limpus, was recalled due to increasing concern that Turkey would soon enter the war. Rear Admiral Wilhelm Souchon of the Imperial German Navy took over command of the Ottoman navy, the German naval presence and the success of German armies on all fronts, gave the pro-German faction in the Ottoman government enough influence to declare war on Russia. On 27 October, Goeben and Breslau, having been renamed Yavûz Sultân Selîm and Midilli, sortied into the Black Sea, bombarded the Russian port of Odessa and sank several Russian ships. The Ottomans refused an Allied demand that they expel the German missions and on 31 October 1914, Russia declared war on Turkey on 2 November. The next day, the British ambassador left Constantinople and a British naval squadron off the Dardanelles bombarded the outer defensive forts at Kum Kale, a shell hit a magazine, knocked the guns off their mounts and killed 86 soldiers. Fighting also began in Mesopotamia, following a British landing to occupy the oil facilities in the Persian Gulf, the Ottomans prepared to attack Egypt in early 1915, aiming to occupy the Suez Canal and cut the Mediterranean route to India and the Far East
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