Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-04-06

Bagdad's capture marks the climax
10 one of the most dramatic and pic
turesque phases OF the world van. The
city which has fallen to British arms
links the present to the past so dis
tant that it is semi-fabulous. The
known history Of Bagdad reaches back
for more than 1900 years, to the
shadowy times OF King N~ebuchadnez-
Ear of BabyloEc a quay built by the
s%criptural monarch still existing sub
merged in the Tigris. Within its pre-
cincts also still stand tombs of the
Jewish prophets, Joshua, Ezra and
Ezekiel, and the we'll of Daniel.
Long after the Babylonian dynasty
had ceased to be more than a memory,
Bagdad rose to splendor as the artistic,
literary. scientific and religious capt.
tai of the world. The heart of the
hundreds OF years. it was Known
throughout the world as the glorious
city," n was the scene of the fam
tastic exploits Of Haroun All Rashid,
the potentate whose magnificence is
immortalized in the Arabian Nights.
In 1900 B. c.. Bagdad was credited
with a population of 100000 souls
and was easily the first city in the
world in wealth and
With the fall of the caliphs before
the Turkish sultans, the decline OF
Bagdad commenced. 1t was success
sively the prey of Turks, Mongols,
Tartas and Persians, but it was not
until 1885 that the city became defi-
nitely IL part Of the Turkish empire
Its ancient Importance was largely
due to the fact that it stood at the
center Of the lines Of communication
between India and Persia n the west
out the opening of new routes 10y way
of Trebizond and through Armenia
| diverted its trade and was a vital factor
In it's decline.
The British campaign against Bag
dad was opened early in 1915, when an
Anglo-Indian force under Major Gen
eral Charles Townshend was landed
! at the head of the Persian gulf and
moved rapidly up the Tisris. The prl-
mary object of the expedition was TIC
! secure the valuable oil wells at the
mouth Of the Tigris, 'but the ultimate
and far greater object was the shat
tering Of the great German dream of do
minion in Egypt. This dream was based
on the construction of the Berlin
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES railway, ant
by the seizure OF Bagdad the British
hoped to prevent the completion Of this
road, at least by German hands, anc
striking a shattering blow at German
prestige in that section of the world
General Townshend commanded
force of about 10000 men. and at frs
he pushed forward with amazing speed
Early in June. 1915, he captured Kut.
El-Amara, about $50 miles from tn,
mouth of the T'igris, and about 10t
miles from Bagdad. On the 22d of thu
following November he reached CITE
siphon, 20 miles from his goal. whe,
he was attacked by an overwhelming
force Of Ottoman troops. His. waite
supply gave out and he was forced t.
retreat.
Fighting in continuous rear guard &C
ton. the British expedition regaine,
Kut-El-Amara on December S. Her
General Townshend determined t
make a stand with a portion of hi
forces, and e~ntrenched with about 10,
900 men, while the remainder of hi
troops continued to fall back along tn
Tigris in order to join hands with tn
relief army that was hurricdly dis
patched from rance and India afte
the defeat at Ctesiphon.