The idea of the Russians being outnumbered and holding technological superiority does make me smile somewhat.
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stnylan said:
It makes me smile as well, but remember their fighting Ottomans, the sick men of Europe.
lifeless said:
no it doesn't, but will Russia be able to keep it's hold after the revolution...
Correct me if im wrong, but hes not strayed at all into the land of alternate history yet, right? From what I know hes only been reporting the great war, but maybe my little mind is warped from playing too much TGW 
And if I'm correct, im putting bets on the revolting arabs being much more successful than the Brits...
And if I'm correct, im putting bets on the revolting arabs being much more successful than the Brits...
Very interesting. I've seen links to the Arabian mod and this will be a great chance to see what it is all about. Looking forward to where you take this. Great so far!
Chapter 3
The Sinai Campaigns 1914-1916
The Sinai Peninsula was strategically important as the route that the Suez Canal could be captured from Asia. The Suez Canal was vitally important for the British for without it; troops coming from India would take at least three times as long to reach European front lines as well as the trenches of Gallipoli. It was also vitally important to world trade and the British economy’s well being. So, it was no surprise when Germany, the Ottoman’s ally urged the Ottomans to attack Suez. So came about the Suez Offensive. Under command of Turkish Minister of Marine, Djemal Pasha at Damascus the army would be forced to march 225 miles to reach the canal. The Sinai Peninsula was undeveloped as well as waterless. This would have spelt immediate doom to the offensive were it not for Chief of Staff Colonel Kress von Kressenstein, one of the many German advisors in the Ottoman army. The colonel managed to bring supplies across the Desert as well as organize the attack.
A map of the Attack on the Suez Canal
The Army, which took ten days to advance across the Sinai, was spotted by British recon aircraft failed to achieve the necessary surprise. As a direct result, British and French warships took position on January 28 in the canal and started to shell Ottoman troops. A minor skirmish that looked likely to turn into battle was stopped by a ferocious sandstorm. The main attack would begin the next day as Turkish troops attempted to cross the canal in rafts and pontoons. As the soldiers started to advance, their boats were cut to shreds by machine gun fire and panic tore through Ottoman ranks. A following attack was launched but again was met by a hail of machine gun fire as well as fire from warships stationed in the canal. Following the battle, Turkish troops withdrew to the town of Beersheba where they were able to receive supplies. The British would not undertake any significant action until the due to concentration on the Dardanelles campaign.
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I guess it's an interesting question: what if the British had thrown what they put into Gallipolli into the Euphrates/Sinai campaigns? Would the war in the East have ended sooner?
Chapter 4
The Mesopotamian Campaign 1914-1916
The Mesopotamian Campaign 1914-1916
The Battle of Oghratin
The Mesopotamian campaign was unique among the major British fronts in that it was fought by mostly non-white soldiers. While in France and the Dardanelles, British, ANZAC, South African, and Canadians were what the British sent to fight, in Mesopotamia it was Indians who fought. The British’s goal was simply the protection of the refinery at Abadan as well as the protection of the Protectorate of Kuwait and the British ally Persia. Since the Turkish goal was simply the protection of the Status Quo and the front was viewed as the least important front one would have thought that conflict would have been small and insignificant, but that would not be the case.
The campaign began on November 6, 1914, when British force attacked and secured the Turkish fort at Fao. Soon, they proceeded to capture the costal city of Basra, and very soon, the Ottomans had lost their outpost on the Persian Gulf. It looked as if the front would remain static for the rest of the war, this would soon change however. In April of 1915 general John Nixon commander of the Southern Army in India was appointed to be commander. Following a long history of only taking orders from New Delhi, his Indian army only requested permission from the Indian Government to begin a large scale offensive.
The army was under the direct command of General Townshend. Following Nixson’s orders to Capture Baghdad his 6th Poona division advanced along the Tigris River and reached the city of Kut on September 26, 1915. Kut was about in the middle of Baghdad and Basra and Townshend requested to halt to re-organize and establish a better supply situation. Nixson, hungry for glory said no, and ordered him to continue to Baghdad. Soon however Townshend reached the Ottoman defensive line at Ctesiphon.
While the front was commanded by Khalil Pasha the field commander was the German general/advisor of Baron von der Goltz, who had recently replaced Nur-ud Din Pasha. The British believed the fight would be easy in part because to the reportedly poor generalship Nur-ud Din Pasha had shown. Baron von der Goltz had only recently taken command and was not known to be in command. The Ottoman forces consisted of approximately 30,000 men and 52 guns. Townshend's stratagem was to divide his force into four columns. Three infantry columns A, B, and C, were scheduled for a frontal attack on the Turkish lines. The other column, designated as the flying column, was made up of a mixture of cavalry and infantry, and was supposed to swing around the left flank of the Turkish lines. The attack would be supported by two river boats, a gunboat and the HMS Firefly.
The troops marched by night to the Turkish trenches planning to attack at dawn, but as all plans do in wartime, this plan would go wrong. The anticipated naval support did not arrive because of the heavy mining of the Tigris River as well as hails of fire from the Ottoman guns. C column, the column closest to the river was repelled from the trenches as was A column in the center of the line. Only B column, made up of Punjabis and Gurkhas was successful in reaching and securing the first line of trenches. The flying column had gotten caught in an inclusive struggle against enemy cavalry. As C column was ordered to exploit the breakthrough fighting continued but at the end of the day, the British had captured the 1’st line. Two Turkish attacks against the line failed but inflicted heavy casualties. On November 24, as the battle was winding down Baron von der Goltz ordered a general withdrawal of his Turkish forces. Townshend would do the same and start withdrawing to Kut for re-supply, re-enforcements and medical attention. Baron von der Goltz would start following the British troops withdrew to Kut.
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GeneralHannible said:
They might very well. Lenin may wish to welcome these misguided Ottomans into the supportive arms of communism. :rofl:
Just a little update, I haven't had time to write a full-fledged chapter because of RL, but I have finished modding the map. I still need to add/move some resources around and also need to add some events but I've sort of discovered how to do all of that. Also I will be updating sometime this week.
Chapter 5
The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence and a Situation Overview
Arab Revolt
The roots of the Arab revolt can be traced to the Young Turks coup in 1908. The Ottoman policy became more and more Pan-Turkic instead of the Pan-Islamist as it had been before. As well becoming more Pan-Turkic, the Ottoman’s traditional cosmopolitan and tolerant attitude became one of political, cultural and linguistic persecution and discrimination. Ottoman policy discriminated against Arabs in particular but also against Kurds and Armenians. As Ottoman policy changed first teaching Arabic was banned and following that, Arabic was banned from all official use. To make matters worse the Turks were building a Damascus-Mecca railway which would make it possible to transport troops into the Hejaz. As the situation became intolerable for the Arabs, they looked for a way to get out of the Empire; that way would come from the Triple Entente.
The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence was between the British High Commissioner in Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon and Sharif of Mecca, Hussein ibn Ali. McMahon, serving the Triple Entente and the British Empire, was attempting to bring about a revolt against the Ottoman Empire. The correspondence was interpreted on the Arab side to mean that a united Arab state would be formed but whether the British would keep their word was yet to be seen. Hussein ibn Ali led the revolt although in the field the revolt was lead by his sons; Abdullah and Faisal.
Mesopotamian Front
While the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence was taking place, events took upon a life of their own in Mesopotamia. After the inconclusive Battle of Ctesiphon, General Townshend had withdrawn to the town of Kut. Townshend, realizing that Kut, while easy to defend would be difficult if not impossible to re-supply sent a request to the commander of the front, General Nixson to be allowed to withdraw to Basra. General Nixson opposed to giving up ground refused his request. In retrospect though, we can consider it lucky, that the messenger was stopped by Turkish troops who had been the garrison of southern Mesopotamia. Townshend, perplexed by the absence of a reply, decided to play it safe and withdraw to Basra, despite the fury that would come. Now, the refinery at Abadan was threatened only distracting more from other fronts.
The Sinai Front
The Sinai front would have the bad luck to be the front from which troops were taken. It was affected by the retreat to Basra; as with the Abadan refineries threatened, more troops would be taken away form the other fronts. The Front remained mostly stable, with only a few minor raids on the Suez Canal.
The Caucasus Front
As well as with the Sinai front, the Caucasus front remained stable under the able command of General Yudenich, one of the few successful Russian commanders.
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So now we start to see some real departures from history. I would be interested in your reasoning behind avoiding the siege of Kut (unless my history is completely out).
Hannible,
As a big fan of Lawrence of Arabia and this whole region during this period of history (I wrote a report on the Arab Revolt in college! -- neat stuff!), I find this very interesting!
Looking forward to seeing where you take it. You've done a great job so far!
Rensslaer
As a big fan of Lawrence of Arabia and this whole region during this period of history (I wrote a report on the Arab Revolt in college! -- neat stuff!), I find this very interesting!
Looking forward to seeing where you take it. You've done a great job so far!
Rensslaer
Sorry for the long wait for another update, I've been really busy but now I should be able to start updating until I go on Vacation.