"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. مجلد I" [و‎‎٤‎٩] (٤٥٤/١٠٢)

INCEPTION OF THE OPERATIONS
77
of the Grand Vizier to our representative that Turkey intended
to observe strict neutrality. Events were soon to prove,
however, that these assurances could not be relied upon.
The Turkish military authorities maintained a hostile attitude
and acted in many ways in violation of international obliga
tions ; in addition to the retention of the crews of the Goeben
and the Breslau, there was a continuous stream of German
officers and men into the country for the Turkish army, navy,
and munition factories, and of consignments of arms and
ammunition ; and there were many reliable reports of the
despatch of Turkish and German emissaries to carry out
anti-British agitation in Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan
and India. Sir Louis Mallet, the British Ambassador in Con
stantinople, had gauged the situation accurately at an early
stage and in his reports throughout August, September and
October, although he expressed frequently the hope that a
rupture of relations could be avoided, he did not minimise the
critical nature of affairs, and—two months before it happened—
he had foreseen the actual operation by which Germany
ultimately brought about hostilities *
The news that reached the Government of India on the
12th and 14th August from Mesopotamia was most disquieting ;
and it came when India was making arrangements to send
more than half of her field army westwards to meet the
Empire’s call. In Baghdad, the mobilisation of the XHIth
Army Corps had commenced, and reservists up to the 45th
year had been called up ; official Turkish circles were openly
pro-German (though the local population was pro-British) ;
martial law had been proclaimed ; and the rights of domicile
of British subjects had been violated, animals and cloth having
been seized without payment. The Turks hoped to recruit
30,000 men at Basra and Baghdad and another 30,000 at
Mosul; and they also, it was said, hoped for a rising of Moslems
i n Egypt, India and the Caucasus. Our consular representative
at Baghdad, reporting the above on the 11th August, gave it
as his opinion that the local population, exasperated at the
mobilisation measures, might give serious trouble under the
influence of anti-British agitation, and he added “ the situation
appeared to responsible residents as having more serious
possibilities in it than any former one within their recollection.”
The Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, who was at Bushire,
telegraphed, on the 13th, reports emanating from Basra three
* His telegram of 27th August, 1914, to Sir Edward Grey. “ Events
leading to the Rupture of Relations with Turkey.” (Cd. 7628.)