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00:00.
00:18The call goes out for jihad, holy war.
00:22Germany hoped her new ally, Turkey, would do just what it was told.
00:26And the Allies thought Turkey would be a pushover.
00:30But the war in the Middle East went its own wild way.
00:56The Kaisa had been cultivating the Ottoman Empire long before the war began.
01:16He wore a fez on state visits.
01:19He was nicknamed Hajar Wilhelm, following rumours that he'd become a Muslim and made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
01:24The 300 million Muslims scattered across the globe can be assured that the German Emperor is, and will at all times remain, their friend.
01:37Part of Germany's interest in Ottoman Turkey was that they shared a common enemy, Russia.
01:45Turkey's position, controlling the Dardanelles Straits, gave her the power to lock Russia up in the Black Sea.
01:51And Turkey shared a volatile border with Russia in the Caucasus.
01:58Russia is the hereditary enemy of the Ottoman Empire.
02:02And her greatest desire is the possession of Constantinople.
02:05The Ottoman Empire once stretched from the Arabian Peninsula to the gates of Vienna.
02:14But it had lost a third of its territory in a run of disastrous wars.
02:18The Ottoman Empire was the sick man of Europe, broke and on the verge of collapse.
02:32The great powers have grasped us by the throat.
02:37The government can't pay monthly salaries.
02:40All the public services are under the control of privileged foreign capital.
02:44It would be very easy for a patriot to go out of his mind.
02:47But one group of nationalist reformers planned to stop the rot.
02:54The Young Turks.
02:56In 1909, they replaced the Sultan with his brother as a puppet,
03:00and started a programme of modernisation.
03:01They looked for an ally to ward off predators and bankroll the future.
03:14The ambitious minister of war favoured Germany.
03:23Just 32 years old, Enver Pasha had risen through the ranks, married the Sultan's niece,
03:29and lived in splendour in Constantinople, also known as Istanbul.
03:35Enver Pasha had been military attaché in Berlin.
03:39The Germans had the power his country needed.
03:41I watched a parade of 33,000 German soldiers.
03:48It was so excellent, it makes one's mouth water.
03:52The reason I love Germany is not sentimentality,
03:56but the fact that she is not a danger to my beloved country.
04:00On the contrary, our two countries' interests go hand in hand.
04:11The German general staff, Helmut von Moltke, ruled out Turkey as an ally.
04:18Turkey is militarily a nonentity.
04:22If Turkey was described before as a sick man,
04:26it must now be described as a dying man.
04:29The flamboyant Baron Max von Oppenheim made the Kaiser think again.
04:38An archaeologist and consular official, Oppenheim passed himself off as an Islamic expert.
04:43He was also a German agent.
04:47He advocated a holy war to bring down the British Empire.
04:54When the Turks invade Egypt and India is set ablaze with the flames of revolt,
04:59only then will England crumble.
05:04For England is at her most vulnerable in her colonies.
05:19By the outbreak of war, the Kaiser had come to see Jihad as the way to foment revolution
05:24among the millions of Muslims under British rule.
05:26Our consuls and agents in Turkey and India must inflame the whole Mohammedan world to wild uprising.
05:40For if we are to be bled to death, at least England shall lose India.
05:49The Ottoman Empire had found its ally, Germany.
05:52Enfer bypassed the Turkish cabinet, secretly signing an alliance on the 2nd of August 1914,
06:02while maintaining a public stance of neutrality.
06:04Constantinople became the jump-off point for subversion, to set the East ablaze.
06:19The German embassy became a hive of Oppenheim's raffish spies.
06:22One group arrived from Berlin disguised as a travelling circus.
06:34The word was, the Emir of Afghanistan had 50,000 Muslims ready to invade India.
06:39The circus slipped out of Constantinople bound for Afghanistan.
06:45If only they could find it.
06:53One of the Turks on the mission was Hussain Raouf.
06:56What do we know about Afghanistan beyond its name?
07:01I can't even visualise its place on the map.
07:04I don't know how to get there.
07:06Do I go via America?
07:08The irony was that Enver Pasha and the young Turks weren't fanatical believers at all.
07:20They went along with Germany's jihad idea out of opportunism.
07:27What Enver really wanted was to draw together the Turkic peoples of the East into a new empire.
07:33What Enver had an army of 800,000, mainly from Anatolia, but also Arabs, Macedonians, Kurds.
07:55It was thought to be a spent force, but Enver had reformed it.
08:00Germany trained it.
08:04Very considerable progress is being made in the Ottoman army's efficiency.
08:10The Turkish forces must now be regarded as a factor to be taken seriously into account.
08:18But Turkey still had not publicly declared herself as Germany's ally.
08:22And her cabinet was split over whether to fight.
08:25But Turkey was desperate for money.
08:28So the Germans decided to sweeten the deal and force the Turks hand.
08:33They came from the border to the border.
08:36Two of Germany's cruisers, the Gerben and the Breslau, were being chased across the Mediterranean by the Royal Navy.
08:43Rather conveniently, they took refuge in Constantinople on the 11th of August 1914.
08:47The presence of two German cruisers, riding proudly at anchor by the Golden Horn, undermined the Turks' pretense at neutrality.
08:56So they shrugged and told the world they'd bought the ships.
08:59Their German cruisers were given fezes to wear.
09:04Their fancy dress antics were the talk of Constantinople.
09:09The Gerben sailed up the Bosphorus, halted in front of the Russian Embassy.
09:13Officers and men solemnly removed their Turkish fezes and put on German caps.
09:23The band played Deutschland über alles.
09:25When they'd spent an hour or two serenading the Russian ambassador, they put on their fezes, then picked up anchor.
09:36Leaving in the ears of the Russian diplomat the dying strains of German war songs.
09:42The Turkish fleet, led by the Gerben and the Breslau, steamed out of the Bosphorus.
10:03On the 29th of October 1914, they attacked several Russian ports.
10:07Enver Pasha had the gateway to the Black Sea mined.
10:15The Germans paid over £5 million in gold, securing Turkey as their ally.
10:25Turkey had joined in the First World War pretty much on her own terms and with her own agenda.
10:37The Persian Muslims are threatening trouble.
10:53There is a dry wind blowing through the east and the parched grasses wait the spark.
10:58And the wind is blowing towards the Indian border.
11:01Fiction by novelist John Buchan, but based on real fears of an Islamic holy war.
11:12By late 1914, Enver was looking east.
11:16He had big ideas both for jihad and for uniting the Turkic peoples.
11:21Beyond the frontiers there are brethren to be liberated and bits of fatherland to be redeemed.
11:27Nearly 40 years before, Russia had stolen a chunk of eastern Turkey along its Caucasian border.
11:36Enver was desperate to kick the Russians off Turkish soil.
11:40But it was an area riven with ethnic friction.
11:44Russians, Turks, Georgians, Kurds and on both sides of the frontier, Armenian Christians.
11:51Loyalties in the Caucasus were hard to read, hard to be sure of.
11:59Here at Erzurum Castle in November 1914, encouraged by the Germans, Enver Pasha took a key decision.
12:10Though winter was closing in, he threw his army at the Russians.
12:13Now he played the Islam card.
12:19300 million Muslims are sighing under their chains.
12:23And all our former fellow countrymen are praying for our victory and success.
12:28Happy is he who falls for religion and fatherland.
12:31Forward, always forward for victory and fame and martyrdom and paradise.
12:40In December 1914, the Turkish 9th Corps marched through the high passes of the Ala Ekber Mountains.
12:55The aim was to sweep down on the town of Sarokamish and encircle the Russians.
13:11The Russians at first panicked and retreated.
13:14Enver's bold gamble nearly paid off.
13:16But then the temperature plummeted and the Turks struggled into worsening conditions.
13:26Enver tried to reassure them.
13:29I see that you don't have shoes or coats, but the enemy is afraid of you.
13:34The Germans complained about our slowness, but the snow was so deep.
13:48Soldiers got lost at night.
13:50Some tried to light fires, but many fell asleep, never to wake again.
13:55We realized in the morning that half the division had frozen to death.
13:59The weather and terrain killed 25,000 Turks before they even made contact with the Russians.
14:13The soldiers were terrified of seeing the frozen corpses, and they began deserting their posts.
14:24We were trying to fire at the Russian troops, but the mechanisms of the guns had iced up.
14:29We trembled to think what we lived through during those long and deadly days.
14:34The scenes made one shudder.
14:36The depressing sound of the trundling oxcarts.
14:40The corpses.
14:42Mouths open.
14:44Eyes staring.
14:45Thrown into the greedy stomach of the soil.
14:46On the Allah Akbar mountains, local men still say prayers for the dead of Sarakamish.
14:47On the Allah Akbar mountains.
14:48On the Allah Akbar mountains, local men still say prayers for the dead of Sarakamish.
14:50On the Allah Akbar mountains.
14:51On the Allah Akbar mountains, local men still say prayers for the dead of Sarakamish.
14:55.
15:00stomach of the soil on the Allah Akbar mountains local men still say prayers for
15:12the dead of Sarah Kamish
15:15in 1919 Imdat Demir helped bury the bones
15:45and their grand offensive had ended in catastrophe he addressed his soldiers before leaving the front
15:57my friends for almost a month I have seen with my own eyes how you have attacked the enemy in spite
16:07of the harshness of the weather and all kinds of shortages you broke their resistance the Sultan
16:13and the whole nation congratulates you I am returning to Istanbul I pray that you will
16:19get more victories and not let the enemy rear his head anymore I entrust you to the safekeeping of
16:27Allah now the search for scapegoats began and that blamed the defeat not on himself but on
16:38Turkish Armenians serving with the Russians in the Caucasus tension between the Turks and their
16:45Armenian population was nothing new but now Turkey had serious fears that the Armenians were bidding for
16:52independence from all countries Armenians are hurrying to enter the ranks of the glorious Russian army let
17:01people's remaining under the Turkish yoke receive freedom let the Armenian people of Turkey who have
17:08suffered for the faith of Christ receive resurrection for a new free life under the protection of Russia
17:14the Russians now advanced and the Turks fell back through Armenian areas local Armenian resistance was more
17:29imagined than real the Turks responded with disproportionate preemptive action
17:35Turkish minister of the interior Mehmet Tarlat issued the following decree on the 26th of May 1915
17:46because some of the Armenians who are living near the war zones have attacked the military forces and
17:52the innocent population certain measures are being adopted among which is the deportation of the Armenians
17:59the German ambassador in Turkey Baron von Wangenheim warned Berlin of the imminent disaster
18:09such a mass deportation to a destination many hundreds of kilometres away without sufficient means of transport
18:18via areas that offer neither accommodation nor food and are plagued with epidemic illness such as typhus will cost many lives
18:27especially amongst women and children the town of Harput key transit point of the forced Armenian exodus
18:37thousands passed through here to exile in Syria then part of the Ottoman Empire American missionary Tacey Atkinson saw terrible sights in Harput
18:49thousands herded together mostly women and children sick lying everywhere these people have been on the road
18:59six weeks they don't know where they are to go they have been attacked robbed and killed
19:06Armin T. Wegner a German medical officer stationed in Turkey photographed the plight of the Armenians
19:17and the American consul on the spot reported to his ambassador
19:21sir I have to report one of the greatest tragedies in all history a revolutionary movement on the part of some of the Armenians was discovered
19:31and severe measures taken to check it little distinction being made between people who are entirely innocent and those suspected of being participants in the movement
19:41the Armenians were marched across these mountains
19:54even those who survived the journey were not safe when they reached Syria as a German diplomat in Aleppo reported
20:03out of 2,000 to 3,000 peasant women from the Armenian plateau who were brought here in good health only 40 or 50 skeletons are left
20:14the prettier ones are the victims of their jailers lust the plain ones succumb to blows hunger and thirst
20:24every day more than a hundred corpses are carried out of Aleppo
20:28perhaps 800,000 Armenians died in all
20:33whether this was an act of centrally directed genocide is still a matter of furious debate
20:40the Turks deny the charge saying the Armenians died of exposure famine and the actions of bad officials
20:51in June 1916 Mehmet Talat the minister of the interior who'd issued the deportation order spoke to a newspaper about Turkey's role in the disaster
21:04the removal of the Armenians has become a military necessity
21:08but unfortunately through the fault of bad officials grave excesses occurred when this order was being executed
21:15at this point the minister is stated to have paused and covered his eyes with his hand as if to avoid the contemplation of the terrible vision
21:25after which he continued we are no savages
21:28care for the security of Turkey had to predominate over all other considerations
21:33on the 3rd of january 1915 the russian tsar panicking at the turkish advance on sarakamis urged the allies to attack turkey
21:49the british agreed this is one of the greatest campaigns in history think what constantinople is to the east
21:58it is more than london paris and berlin all rolled into one are to the west
22:03think what it's for will mean
22:08this was the battle which might turn the war
22:11it could cut germany's route to the east unlock the balkans and open up russia via the black sea
22:20but first the navy would have to force its way through the dardanelles straits
22:27the french insisted on being involved not wanting the british to dominate the mediterranean
22:38on the 18th of march 1915 a combined french and british fleet attacked the straits
22:48the flagship was hit by a large number of high caliber shells
22:52a turret was put out of action and all its crew killed the flames didn't spare anything
22:59our young men a few minutes earlier so alert and courageous were all skeletons
23:04lying on the bare steel blackened carbonized
23:08the turkish guns survived the naval bombardment the allied ships were sitting ducks
23:23i told the battery commander rufat bay to increase fire he replied that shells are exploding on the
23:35decks of the enemy ships there is considerable damage to them the french battleship bouvet hit a mine
23:42three battleships were sunk that day three crippled four damaged
23:46the allies lost over 700 men it was a remarkable victory for the ottoman empire
23:55the allies tried again this time the navy would support an amphibious landing of troops
24:03the australian and new zealand army corps known as anzacs joined french and british soldiers
24:08contrary to later myth the anzacs weren't rough tough diggers from the outback
24:16they were mostly city dwellers many first generation british immigrants fighting for the mother country
24:25turks like besadi kerim knew this would be a fight for their country's survival
24:30i will sacrifice myself for my faith my country my dear istanbul i will crush the dirty loathsome
24:42hands reaching out to threaten my old father's happiness my innocent baby's life my beloved wife's
24:48honor i shall be as hard-hearted as an englishman i salute you oh apple of my eye istanbul
24:55those who are about to die bid you farewell on the 25th of april 1915 70 000 allied troops went ashore
25:10on the peninsula of gelibolu gallipoli a post-war film reconstructed the battle
25:20private robert atkinson witnessed what was then the greatest seaborne invasion ever
25:27troops and small boats being towed ashore affected landing terrific bombardment awful noise rolling
25:33around the cliffs surprise the turks splendid gunnery by the navy
25:38the anzacs were landed in the wrong place 8 000 men struggled ashore on a narrow strip of sand
26:02the turks the turks welcomed us with shrapnel and sprayed up the sea all about us but very few of us got
26:21hit they didn't see much organization on the shore in fact it was disorganization
26:26breaking out of anzac cove the casualties soared new zealander william malone claimed the folly and
26:35incompetence of australian officers colonel braun had no defensive position no plan nothing but a
26:42murderous notion that the only thing to do was to plunge troops out of the neck of the ridge
26:47into the jungle beyond it was on these turkish hills that australian and new zealand national
26:56identities were forged
27:16we were singing this bit of the world belongs to us
27:20much swearing and cheering we charged up a hill so steep in places we can only just scramble up
27:24clean over a machine gun we went then dropping all around it was mad wild thrilling
27:34the anzacs would have had an easier time if it had been left to the german general iman von sanders
27:40he was holding troops back for an attack nine miles away that never came
27:46but a 34 year old turkish officer mustafa kemal climbed the peak of chanak bayir and saw the anzac
27:52troops approaching and his own men fleeing
27:58why are you running away i asked the enemy sir they said you mustn't run away from the enemy we've
28:04no more ammunition they replied i ordered them to fix their bayonets and lie down and as they did so
28:10the enemy too lay down we had one time
28:13mustafa kemal issued a stark command i don't order you to attack i order you to die
28:25by the time we are dead other units and commanders will have come up to take our place
28:29he sent an angry letter to enver pasha damning their german allies
28:39the man von sanders did not know either our army or our country and did not have time to study the
28:44situation properly i urge you strongly not to rely on the mental ability of the germans headed by von
28:50sanders whose hearts and souls are not engaged as ours are in the defense of our country
28:59the turks contained the anzac breakout at the cove
29:03gallipoli made a hero out of mustafa kamal
29:06within eight years he became his country's leader
29:09earning the name ataturk father of the turks
29:12the british landing at v beach went badly
29:20the plan was to run the ship river clyde onto the shore her hold no longer full of coal but men
29:27but she went to ground further out exposing the british to withering turkish fire
29:31the enemy commanders were sending the men down the ramps
29:50but they could not escape the turkish bullets
29:54our fire was very effective knocking the enemy into the sea
30:01the shore at v beach was full of enemy corpses like shoals of fish
30:14the color of the sea changed with the blood from their bottoms
30:31the other landings went well but initial success was not quickly exploited
30:46the allied campaign under general sir ian hamilton was cursed by poor coordination
30:53as on the western front the two sides dug into a bitter trench wall
31:01the australians massacre all the turks one australian told me that the turks are their national enemy
31:31the conditions at gallipoli were terrible
31:37intense heat bitter cold little water
31:44major burge wrote home to his mother
31:47respected madam sitting fearlessly about 200 yards from two million bloodthirsty turks
31:54i take up my pen i forgot to mention i've got about six feet of solid earth between me and them
32:00the sun is very hot and i am very thirsty the only thing there is to drink is water that comes from
32:06a nasty well which tastes as if it had a dead mule in it however we are given purifying tablets which are
32:14very good and make the water taste as if it had two dead mules in it
32:28i can see our lovely constantinople in ruins and our houses burned to the ground
32:51these english are very persistent there is no fear of death for them
32:58they're very cruel they watch us like wolves in the night and are upon us like the devil in the day
33:04why do we join in this wicked war
33:06aisha i must now take my leave of you as the sun is sinking and i must away to my devotion
33:14god bless you aisha i wish i were at home to give you my adorations
33:21but aisha never received mustafa's letter it was found on his dead body by a british soldier
33:26the turks lost 10 000 men in one afternoon as spring turned into summer the stench of the dead became
33:40unbearable eventually an armistice was called to bury the dead
33:56unbearable
34:11many turkish soldiers were illiterate their experiences were reflected in their songs
34:17in our lives
34:20chanakkale
34:22the
34:23twitter
34:24the
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34:33the
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34:46MUSIC PLAYS
35:03Disease became a major killer, particularly typhus and dysentery.
35:09My old pal, he was smart and upright as a guardsman.
35:13After about ten days, to see him.
35:16Crawling about, his backside hanging out.
35:19We were trying to lower him down into the latrine.
35:22I don't know what happened, but he simply rolled into this foot-wide trench.
35:25We couldn't pull him out, we didn't have any strength.
35:28He drowned in his own excrement.
35:36Allied resolve was weakening,
35:38as Lieutenant Colonel Fahretin realised, writing to his father.
35:43The morale of his troops has sunk so low as to be beyond description.
35:49These fellows will eventually have to embark their troops
35:52and remove them one of these nights.
35:59On the 20th of December, 1915, they did just that.
36:05Turkish officer Izzetin Bey was woken by the duty officer
36:08at three o'clock in the morning.
36:12They had spotted many frigates and military transport ships.
36:16They thought it was a new invasion.
36:18But on the contrary, the British were running away.
36:21Their situation had become hopeless.
36:23What had happened was victory and the will of Allah.
36:27Turkish troops enter abandoned allied trenches.
36:36They did not fire on the retreating allies, happy just to see them go.
36:42After nine terrible months, the hills of Gallipoli fell silent.
36:46Both sides had suffered around a quarter of a million casualties.
36:54But for the Turks, it was a triumph.
37:01When the enemy finally withdrew,
37:03Constantinople was decorated from one end to the other.
37:07At night, the minarets were lit up with oil lamps.
37:10Everyone was full of joy.
37:12Pale faces began to smile.
37:15Constantinople came back to life.
37:29The Germans were still trying to ignite a holy war,
37:32jihad, in the Middle East.
37:35In the mosques, fiery speeches are made against the English.
37:39The excitement of the population is increasing.
37:4260,000 Afghan riders are ready to march.
37:49The German agents who'd slipped into the Ottoman Empire
37:52as a travelling circus were now crossing Persia,
37:55disguised as tribesmen.
37:58On the 19th of August, 1915,
38:01they evaded Russian patrols and entered Afghanistan.
38:05Their mission, to raise a Muslim army against the British
38:10and invade India.
38:14The team had been on the road for nine months
38:17and had spent much of the time arguing about what route to take
38:20and who was in charge.
38:22The answer to that was German spy, Oskar von Niedermeyer.
38:26Then, Enver Pasha had second thoughts.
38:36The Germans, in stirring up countries to revolt against their Russian and British masters,
38:42encouraged ideas of independence.
38:44This clashed with Enver's vision of uniting all Muslims in an expanded all-Turkic empire.
38:54Enver pulled the Turks out of Niedermeyer's mission,
38:59leaving the Germans to go it alone.
39:00And when they finally reached Kabul, the Emir of Afghanistan kept them waiting another two months,
39:11before he'd even see them.
39:13His Excellency listed the reasons why he could not receive us earlier.
39:17It, of course, had nothing to do with anything political.
39:21He compared us with tradesmen, with lots of wares,
39:24from which he could pick whatever he fancied and considered necessary.
39:26Everything seemed to be a business transaction for him.
39:32The Emir played the Germans off against the British.
39:35Great riches, even his country's independence, were at stake.
39:40He hit Niedermeyer with a demand for £10 million and £100,000 rifles and guns.
39:50While Niedermeyer's party waited for the Emir to decide whether to invade India,
39:54they blundered about, offending Muslim sensibilities.
40:00In order to enjoy some forbidden alcohol, the soldiers secretly brewed schnapps.
40:05The first drunkard, a sight never before witnessed in Afghanistan,
40:09as it is a religious blasphemy, caused severe public anger.
40:16The Emir had long been on the British payroll.
40:19Now they upped the bribe to keep Afghanistan on side.
40:22There were rumours of the arrival of huge money transports from India.
40:28We worked it out that the closer this caravan got,
40:32the icier our relationship with the Emir became.
40:41Niedermeyer and the Germans finally realised they were pawns in the Emir's game
40:45and abandoned the operation.
40:52Jihad wasn't set in the east ablaze, but it still had the power to petrify the British.
40:58And Enver had no intention of halting his expansionist plans.
41:01He sent Kolmar von der Goltz, a distinguished German field marshal, to take over command in Iraq and drive the war through Persia into India.
41:16Then 72 years old, von der Goltz kept in touch with his family.
41:19I could never have imagined that in my old age fate would take me so far out into the world and that I would travel in the steps of Alexander the Great through countries that filled our imaginations when we were young.
41:34Britain decided a show of strength was needed in the Middle East to persuade the Arabs that the British were the masters there, not the Germans or Turks.
41:46The capture of Baghdad would create an immense impression in the Middle East, especially in Persia, Afghanistan and on our own frontier.
41:57And would counteract the unfortunate impression created by want of success on the Dardanelles.
42:03By May 1915, a British division under Major General Sir Charles Townsend was advancing up the Tigris through Iraq, then part of the Ottoman Empire.
42:22Just 25 miles short of Baghdad, they were halted by the Turkish Sixth Army.
42:27The British fell back on Kut, a town on a loop in the Tigris.
42:33The Turks surrounded them and the British settled in for a siege.
42:37Major Dunn, who drew this map, wrote home on Christmas Day.
42:42A very good dinner today.
42:45Mutton, scotch broth, salmon mayonnaise, chicken conflée, roast duck and green peas, Italian eggs, chocolate.
42:54And, of course, we toasted all our dear ones at home.
43:00The British found themselves up against Colmar von der Goltz, now in charge of the besieging Turkish army.
43:07His conquest of India on hold.
43:11Unfortunately, the English have dug in well, and we don't have the technical means to get rid of them.
43:17Whether we will meet again in good health is in God's hand.
43:22Townsend was optimistic they'd all be rescued within days.
43:26But by January, with the food running out, their own cavalry came reluctantly to the rescue.
43:32About three weeks ago, the first horse fell under the butcher's knife.
43:38Since then, they have been slain daily, about 20 a time.
43:42We have it in steak and kidney pie, horse mince, horse rissoles, potted horse, horse soup, stuffed horse meat, etc.
43:51Ad nauseam.
43:55Hundreds of British soldiers died trying to save Townsend's garrison.
44:01This morning, there was a strong English attack.
44:04Between the battle lines, the field is covered with English corpses.
44:08The relieving force downstream has again failed to get through.
44:19General Townsend has issued a communique to us.
44:23The eyes of India and England are on us, and we shall go down as heroes.
44:27Which doesn't do us much good.
44:28I'd sooner not be a hero in cut, and have plenty to eat.
44:39The men are dying off fast now from starvation, scurvy, pneumonia.
44:45The Tommies are sticking it out better than the Indian troops, who refuse to eat mule or horse.
44:49On the 24th of April, during the last desperate days of the siege, a gallant attempt was made to send a ship carrying 270 tons of food up the Tigris to Kut.
45:09Ali Ihsan was one of a group of Turks who stretched a cable across the Tigris, ensnaring the supply ship.
45:15We confiscated an English boat, which contained all kinds of food, enough to feed 5,000 for two months.
45:23It was called Julenar, but we renamed it Kendigelen, the Godsend.
45:31Townsend became so desperate that the British made an offer to Turkish General Halil Pasha for the freedom of the garrison.
45:38General Townsend offered to me one million English pounds for the freedom of the English army.
45:48Had this offer been made in other circumstances, my answer would have been one word out of the barrel of my rifle.
45:55Trying to keep my calm, I replied that I took this offer as a joke.
46:00Finally, on the 29th of April, 1916, after 146 days of siege, Townsend surrendered.
46:10An even more humiliating defeat than Gallipoli.
46:14All up now, a terrible pity.
46:23Never shall I forget that morning of surrender.
46:26We settled down to the melancholy task of destruction.
46:31Poor gunners.
46:33Some were in tears as the guns they were so proud to have tended were blown to pieces.
46:36The Turks marched in at noon and took over the place.
46:41By the waters of Babylon, we sat down and wept.
46:58Field Marshal von der Goltz died of typhus just before the Turkish victory at Kut.
47:02But it was in line with something he wrote, an unusually modern and prophetic view.
47:11For me, the present war is only the beginning of a long historical development
47:16at whose end will stand the defeat of England's world position.
47:20The hallmark of the 20th century must be the revolution of the coloured races
47:26against the colonial imperialism of Europe.
47:32The evening after the fall, Turks and Arabs moved through the narrow streets of the city
47:38to where we had buried the much-loved Field Marshal a few days earlier.
47:43The Turkish commander wanted to bring the news of the fall of Kut El Amara
47:48to the dead leader whose achievement it was.
47:51Townsend sailed off to a comfortable captivity in Constantinople.
48:01During the siege, 1750 of his British and Indian soldiers had died, but the worst lay ahead.
48:0712,000 men were marched through the desert to Baghdad.
48:13A large percentage of the men were quite done for and couldn't possibly march another inch.
48:19They were lying on the ground suffering from high fever and dysentery
48:22and were smothered from head to foot in filth and covered with flies.
48:30By the war's close, over 4,000 veterans of Kut had died in prison camp.
48:35Victims of willful neglect by both Turkey and Britain.
48:38Never come back no more, boys. Never come back no more.
48:45The camp is becoming a boar, boys. It's becoming a terrible boar.
48:50Shut up the old shop window. Put a notice over the door.
48:54We're packing our kits for the jolly old writs, and we'll never come back no more.
49:01The Allies had written off the Ottoman Empire from the start,
49:04but then suffered major defeats at its hands.
49:17The Turks would see out the war.
49:20It wasn't Allah or the Germans that kept them fighting to the end,
49:24but self-defence and political ambition.
49:34In the next episode of the First World War,
49:37the giants Russia and Germany clash on the Eastern Front,
49:40and millions get caught in the middle.
49:42A war without pity or rules.
50:04Just a little by getting caught in the star.
50:05For per arabs, the attackers won the standard of the Fill.
50:07Visit the floralPP and the left.
50:09The urns has private forums.
50:12What one of the sisters have provided us today to see?
50:13In the United States, there was a pivotal inclusion in this section.
50:14Though the сог emails sheing came back.
50:16Welcome to the full toolbox
50:19to be tested at the core of the Orient in the Jordan Lake Lake Lake장을,
50:23the impulse referenced in this section that built the site with right upon the center.
50:26Of thisopedia, there was an intellectual property and left behind it named Week Metro.
50:27It may be seen as a way it can be found our identification,
50:29and and places we weren't seen these stories in the plugins really.
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