The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I : Online Lecture

This presentation will outline and discuss how World War I affected the Balkans and the Middle East, in such long-standing campaigns as the Serbian Campaign, the Dardanelles Campaign, the Caucasus Campaign, the Palestine Campaign, the Arab Revolt, and the Mesopotamian Campaign. We will investigate how the Ottoman Empire entered the war, how Middle Eastern soldiers participated in the conflict, and how those experiences would affect the aftermath of the war.

Note: This episode will not discuss the Ottoman internal situation during the war (including the situation in eastern Anatolia) which will be discussed in the next week and will not discuss the more famous Western and Eastern Fronts in Europe as those are outside of the Middle East focus of this series.

The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I saw action between 29 October 1914 and 30 October 1918. The combatants were, on one side, the Ottoman Empire (including Kurds and some Arab tribes), with some assistance from the other Central Powers; and on the other side, the British (with the help of Jews, Greeks, Assyrians and the majority of the Arabs, along with Indians under its empire), the Russians (with the help of Armenians and Assyrians) and the French from among the Allied Powers. There were five main campaigns: the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, the Mesopotamian Campaign, the Caucasus Campaign, the Persian Campaign, and the Gallipoli Campaign. There were also several minor campaigns: Arab Campaign, and South Arabia Campaign.

Both sides used local asymmetrical forces in the region. On the Allied side were Arabs who participated in the Arab Revolt and the Armenian militia who participated in the Armenian Resistance during the Armenian genocide; along with Armenian volunteer units, the Armenian militia formed the Armenian Corps of the First Republic of Armenia in 1918. In addition, the Assyrians joined the Allies following the Assyrian genocide, known as the Assyrian volunteers and Our Smallest Ally. The theatre covered the largest territory of all theatres in the war.

Russian participation in the theatre ended as a result of the Armistice of Erzincan (5 December 1917), after which the revolutionary Russian government withdrew from the war under the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918). The Armenians attended the Trabzon Peace Conference (14 March 1918) 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, and signed the Treaty of Sèvres on 10 August 1920 and later the Treaty of Lausanne on 24 July 1923.