"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. مجلد I" [و‎‎١‎٠] (٤٥٤/٢٤)

PREFACE
T HIS narrative of the operations of 1914-18 in Mesopo
tamia is based mainly on official documents. Criticism
has been omitted and only such comment has been made
as seemed desirable to place certain situations in a clearer
light; and to obviate controversy extracts from the records
have frequently been quoted at length. The official records,
however, do not contain all that was required and the writer
has received much assistance from numerous individuals,
who have given him access to their private papers or have
assisted him from their recollection of events. The writer
desires to take this opportunity of acknowledging with
gratitude the assistance he has thus received. His researches
among the records of the different Government Departments
in England, India and Mesopotamia have cast a good deal of
extra work on their officers and officials, and he desires also
to acknowledge gratefully the ready and cordial assistance he
has obtained from them, especially from those in the Historical
Section of the Committee of Impeiial Defence and his own
assistant, Colonel F. E. G. Talbot. The writer is also in
debted to the headquarters of the Royal Air Force in
Mesopotamia for several photographs, three of which are
reproduced in this volume.
The fighting in Mesopotamia was generally dwarfed by the
greater issues in Europe, except when it was brought into
unusual prominence by some particular success or disaster.
For this reason, and owing to the fact that the operations
were carried out under conditions which were unique—even
in an Empire like ours—few people were able to follow them
systematically throughout their course. Since a thorough grasp
of these conditions is necessary for a proper appreciation of
the operations, the first few chapters of the history have
been devoted to their description.
This first volume deals with the operations up to the 5th
October 1915, which were practically an unbroken success ;
the second volume will treat of the first and ill-fated attempt
to capture Baghdad, culminating in the surrender of Kut;
and the third will show how final victory was achieved.
The spelling of names is according to the latest* rulings of
the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names of the
Royal Geographical Society, to whom the writer is also
indebted.
* Some further alterations have been received too late for inclusion, as
the maps had already been printed.