New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-30
lack of Fore sight and
If Thorough Prepare
ton Again Defeats
British Plans.
e. FRANK H. SIMONDS,
Author Of The Great War.

-e,cCrizcd tnal llIe VNPVN'''"'' i"N 0''''N
,.srinc upon the defence Of India. upon
-. INTEGRITY Of Turkey-its progress has
49,, reported in the bulletins. It's failure
s,v ehronicled, and the possible disaster
e., me original forces mentioned. Yet for
10 world Mesopotamia has been a hid
-, field and the adventures Of Brit
IN army in the land Of the Garden of
rien have been generally ignored.
Yet the British went to the Euphrates
sd Tigris with very distinct purpose.
nsv had, Indeed, several purposes to
.s-ve. and at one time they seemed to be
vhin hailing distance Of a great success.
his was when their army was within ten
uass Of BaCdad and the Union Jack
seemed about 70 be raised over the City Of
tie Calphs
First Of all in the British reckoning was
he German ambition TO make the Bagdad
zlrosd the avenue Of approach TO India
sd more irn-o "a ely TO Persia. Before
he war Gerr- ard Britain had almost
cached an a. nert on the Bagdad rail
7sv. Throughout It's whole extent 1t was
he under Teuto-Turkish direction, save
ny short section from the Delta to
he town q Koryeit, upon the Persian
3G
British and German statesmen had
-uauol an agreement as to the Bagdad
-avsy Anglo-British relations, largely
,au.e O. ,als agreement, were reported
greatly improved, Germany was TO have
be-. place in the sun" in the Near East.
1aen came the war. With the war it be-
ame Immediately a British policy to
seize as much of the country as possible
N@opotamia before Germany, having
anpleted the Bagdad railway, was able
. use It 70 send troops TO Mesopotamia.
The Arabs.
But there was another consideration.
re 0smanh Turk is only a comparatively
recent ruler in Islam. He succeeded the
Arab after a wholly dubious performance
\ Cairo, and his title TO primacy is not
'aly shsdowy, but Is challenged by the
A'sbs whose contempt for the Turk him
sE Is very great.
Twas the hope Of the British that once
British army had penetrated Mesopota
ia and reached Bagdad the whole Arabic
'''d would stir; that not alone Mesopo-
~n!s but Syria, where the demand for
a.:'iony has been great and the Arabic
N''atiOn are strongly French in their
'rpathies, would welcome the invader,
'%s's themselves free and join with the
M'sssors Of Mesopotamia and Of Egypt
i'sstoring the ancient Caliphate
tad this happened Turkey would GER
N-g have been reduced by almost half
Urea and by third in Moslem popula-
aA All chance Of an invasion Of Egypt
3as Hejaz railroad, which goes south
~'a the Bagdad route toward Mecca,
i '-e have been abolished. Bcyrout, Alex
~le''a, Jafa would have been open to-
@-'' armies, and the great German plan
| d empire from the Elbe to the Eu-
-'@', from Bremen to Basra, would
"gone glimmering.
| - partition Of Turkey would have
| gu had the British succeeded and the
/ -" responded, long before any German
| "% could have been sent by rail to the
nan and Mesopotamian fields, because
/ VI" earliest the tunnel through the Tau
/ '''hot be finished before next summer.
l An Arab State.
'e an Arab state was created in
p0'amia and Syria, the remote dan
German attack upon India, of the
pressing peril Of a Teuto-Turk drive
-'N would have been removed. The
- would have lost not alone territory,
NC possession Of Mecca and the pri-
'''y in Islam.
VIC Campaign developed the POSSIBLE
cooperating with the Russians who
., endeavoring to drive the Turks out
ill.,, ' : was realized, and perhaps sup
49, ~s chief incentive to push the cam
"'o as far north as Bsgdad.