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brownish red cloth hardbound 8vo. 8º (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of all markings. dustwrapper in vg cond. rubbed at corners, missing tiny piece spine bottom, old taped tear spine top (1"),not price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking , underlining, remainder markings etc ~first edition. first printing so stated. xiv +449p. + about the author. 33 b&w maps & scetches. 34 pages of glossy b&w photo illustrations. appendix. bibliography. index. world history. world war i. middle east history. long road to baghdad. arab revolt. history of the ottoman empire. british empire. ~ Described here for the first time from sources only recently declassified by the British government, the British campaign in Mesopotamia during World War I proves to have been almost as costly and disastrous as the events at Gallipoli. When the war began, victory seemed assured. British forces easily secured the head of the Persian Gulf~a maneuver designed to protect British oil installations. Tasting victory, the British commander, the ambitious Major General Sir Charles Townshend, hero of the defense of Chitral, began to drive toward Baghdad. Townshend's march was, initially, an epic of guts and improvisation. But he outran his resources and after a furious and bloody battle with the Turks at Ctesiphon the British were forced to retreat to Kut. There they were besieged and after several attempts~underplanned and mismanaged~failed to free them, their position finally fell. After the disaster at Kut the British reorganized and swept the Turks from Mesopotamia, but not before the cost in casualties had reached 100,000 and the cost in hard £350,000,000. Here is an exhaustively researched, evocatively written story of men under duress, tragic heroism, of wasted life and useless effort. For the troops themselves this war in the cradle of civilization was a hell of intolerable heat, mud, flies, unpredictable floods, and blood. For General Townshend, seen here as less than a hero, Mesopotamia marked the end of his career. For the Enver Pasha, Mesopotamia ended the Turkish dream of continued German suzerainty. For General Maude, who rallied the demoralized British forces and who might have expected a hero's welcome in London, Mesopotamia was a triumph and a graveyard. In this definitive study, A. J Barker the eminent military historian, argues that this was a bastard war~a war for goals that were strategically unnecessary. Ill conceived, ill directed, it provided the ground for some of the most tragically brave soldiering of World War I.