Middle East / Turkey & Ottoman Empire

The campaigns fought by the Ottomans against the British in Palestine are often neglected in accounts of the Great War, yet they are fascinating from the point of view of military history and critically important because of their impact upon the modern Middle East.

Billy Sing was a small, dark man and a deadly killer. When, as a member of the Australian Imperial Force 5th Light Horse, he was thrust onto the narrow strip of land held by the Australians on Gallipoli, he witnessed the terrible effects of the Turkish snipers and decided to fight fire with fire.

The British invasion of Mesopotamia was initially successful in securing the oil fields around Basra by November 1914.Despite evidence of stiffening Turkish resistance and inadequate supply lines which...

Krithia was a key objective in the land offensives; a killing ground greater than Anzac or Suvla.

The German contribution in a famous Turkish victory at Gallipoli has been overshadowed by the Mustafa Kemal legend. The commanding presence of German General Liman von Sanders in the operations is well known. But relatively little is known about the background of German military intervention in Ottoman affairs.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the life of a petty tyrant in an obscure corner of the Ottoman Empire became the stuff of legend. What propelled this cold-blooded archetype of Oriental despotism,...

Following repeated visits to the Crimea over a number of years, Dr David Jones, with the help of local guides, was able to identify and photograph every important location related to one of the nineteenth...

Officers led and men followed; all were expected to do their duty without thought of reward. Enlisted men rarely penetrated the officer ranks and promotion owed more to money than merit. Then came the...