Contents

List of Illustrations and Photographs

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1

Hardinge at Bay

Chapter 2

Mesopotamia and its Oil

Chapter 3

Invasion and the Capture of Basra

Chapter 4

The Capture of Kurnah

Chapter 5

Chitrál Charlie, his Regatta and the Capture of Amara

Chapter 6

The Capture of Kut

Chapter 7

What Next?

Chapter 8

Advance to Ctesiphon

Chapter 9

The Pyrrhic Victory at Ctesiphon

Chapter 10

The Retreat to Kut

Chapter 11

The Siege: Early Days, December 1915

Chapter 12

January 1916: The Battles of Sheikh Saad and the Wadi River

Chapter 13

February–March 1916: The Battle of the Dujaila Redoubt

Chapter 14

April 1916: The Battle of Sannaiyat and Capitulation

Chapter 15

Aftermath

Chapter 16

The Inquiry

Chapter 17

The Debate

Chapter 18

Responsibility – the Reckoning

Appendix A

Whatever Happened to Old …?

Appendix B

Witnesses Who Appeared Before the Mesopotamia Commission

Appendix C

An Analysis of Kipling’s Mesopotamia

Bibliography