finding my father in mesopotamia
TRANSCRIPT
FINDING MY FATHER IN MESOPOTAMIA
Jenny Lewis Presentation © Jenny Lewis 2014
Where does the story start?
i. Family archives
ii. Local history societies
iii. Books & special interest magazines
iv. National Archives
v. Internet
vi. Media – news reports, documentaries
vii. Museums – Imperial War Museum, British Museum, South Wales Borderer’s Museum
2nd Lt. T.C. Lewis, 1915
National Archives - War Diaries of the South Wales Borderers
Mesopotamia – The Land Between Two Rivers
Maps showing battle strategy
UK interests in Iraq in 1909
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company was set up in 1909 after oil fields had been discovered in Iraq, then known as Mesopotamia (the ‘Land Between Two Rivers’)
Two years later, Winston Churchill, then First Sea Lord, bought a controlling stake in the company for Britain for £2.2 million.
The start of the 1914-18 Mesopotamian Campaign
On 6 November 1914, the British offensive began with the naval force bombarding the old fort at Fao, which was located at the point where the Shatt-al-Arab river meets the Persian Gulf. D Force was made up of mainly Indian troops from the Poona Regiment.
Basra and Qurna
On 22 November 1914, the British occupied Basra at the Battle of Qurna they were able to gain back control of their stake in the oilfields
…BUT the decision was taken to send a hopelessly underfunded and underequipped force to try to take Baghdad which led to four years of appalling suffering and over a million deaths
Army camp at Kut
Bridge of Boats at Qurna
River Tigris above Amara
Traders on the Tigris
Hospital boat on the Tigris
Halting place near Sheikh-Saad
Basra
Buying from Arab traders
Tigris stern-paddler
Arab well
Sikh soldier
Taking Mesopotamia…
“The best thing would be if we could say we had taken and gained nothing. Taking Mesopotamia…means spending millions on irrigation and development with no immediate or early return and keeping up a large army in an unfamiliar country with a perpetual menace on our flank in Kurdistan.”
Memories and Reflections, Lord Grey of Falloden, 1919
90 years after the start of ‘the war to end all wars’…the second Battle of Falujah, November 7-16
2004 .
END Jenny Lewis Oxford 2014 © Jenny Lewis 2014