The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1917-04-06
capture of Bagdad Marks Climax
OF One of Most Dramatic
Phases of War.
ONCE FIRST CITY OF WORLD
known History of City Reaches Back
70 Shadowy Times of Nebuchad-
nezzar-Story of Failure Of
ToWnshend.

London.-Bagdad's capture marks
the climax to one of the most dramatic
ana picturesque phases of the worlds
war. The city which has fallen to Brit
ism arms links the present to a past so
distant 1t is semi-fabulous.
The known history of Bagdad
reaches back for more than four thou
sano years to the shadowy times of
King observation-disclosures of Babylon. a
quay built by the scriptural monarch
sun existing, submerged in the Tigris.
Within Its precincts also there still
stand the tombs of the Jewish proph-
cts, Joshua, Ezra, and Ezekiel, and the
well of Daniel.
Long after the Babylonian dynasty
had ceased to be more than a mem
DRY Bagdad rose to splendor as the ar
ustic. literary, scientific, and religious
capital of the world. The heart of the
great Islamic empire of the caliphs for
hundreds of years. 1t was known
throughout the world as "the Glorious
City" and was the scene of the fantas-
tic exploits of Haroun-al-R aschid, The
potentate whose magnificence is i'm
mortalized in the Arabian Nights.
Once Had 10000 Souls.
In 800 B. c. Bagdad was credited
with a population of 100000 inhabi-
tants, and was easily the first city in
the world in wealth and commerce.
With the fall Of the caliphs before
the Turkish sultanS, the decline of Bag
dad commenced. 1t was SUCCESSFULLY
the prey of Turks, Mongols, Tartars>
and Persians, but 1t was not until 1893
that the city became definitely part
OF the Turkish empire.
Its ancient Importance was largely
due to the fact that 1t stood at the
center of the lines of communication
between India and Persia and the west,
but the opening of new routes by way
Of Trebizond and through Armenia d.
verified its trade and was vital factor
in its decline.
The British campaign against Bag
dad was opened early in 1915 when an
Anglo-Indian force under Maj. Gen.
Charles We're Ferrers Townshend was
landed at the head of the Persian gulf
and moved rapidly up the Tigris.
General Townshend commanded a
force of about 10000 men and at first
he pushed forward with amazing speed.
Early in June, 1915. he captured Kut-el-
Amara, about $50 miles from the
mouth of the Tigris and 100 miles from
Bagdad. On the 22d of the following
November he reached Ctesiphon, 20
miles from his goal, where he was at
tackled by an overwhelming force of
Ottoman troops. His water supply
gave out and he was forced to retreat
Fighting a continuous rear-guard ac-
ton, the British expedition regained
Kut-el-Amara on December 5. Here
General Townshend determined to
make a stand with a portion of hts
forces and entrenched with about TO-
600 men, while the remainder of his
troops continued to fall back along the
Tigris in order to join hands with the
relief army that was hurriedly dis
patched from France and India after
the defeat at Ctesiphon.
Relief Comes Too Late
For three months Gen. Sir Percy
Lake, the relief commander, fought his
way up the Tigris and was within
eight miles of his besieged comrades
when on April 10, 1916, General Town
shend his food supply exhausted, was
compelled to surrender.
In the meantime additional re-en-
forcements had been sent from Egypt.
But after the disaster at Kut-el-Amara,
the British abandoned the offensive for
several months.
The resumption Of British operations
on a major scale did not occur until
December, 1916, when an advance on
Kul-el-Amara was made from the Baby.
lonian plains, while a second force
again moved up the Tigris. Gen. Fred
erick Stanley Maude was in command
of the new campaign and was unoffi-
cially reported to have 10000 men at
his disposal.
From the time of the opening of the
new campaign the British progress
was steady and uninterrupted and, in