0:01:22 > 0:01:272,000 miles away from the trench stalemate in France,
0:01:27 > 0:01:33another war was being fought in the desert wastes of the Middle East.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38An old-fashioned war of small armies and large spaces,
0:01:38 > 0:01:44where manoeuvre counted and success depended not on millions of men,
0:01:44 > 0:01:49not on the products of industry, but on the leadership of generals.
0:01:49 > 0:01:55Where cavalry wasn't an out-of-date spectator of vast killing matches,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58but a vital instrument of fast offensives.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01Where rivers were lifelines,
0:02:01 > 0:02:07like in the campaigns of Alexander The Great and Napoleon Bonaparte.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11This region bridged Europe and the East,
0:02:11 > 0:02:13the East and Africa.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18In the rich soil of its river valleys - the Nile,
0:02:18 > 0:02:23the Tigris, the Euphrates - human civilisation had been born.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34Down the centuries,
0:02:34 > 0:02:39tide after tide of conquests had flowed over the Middle East -
0:02:39 > 0:02:43the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Egyptians,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs and the Turks.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51Under Turkish rule, life stagnated.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Poverty and disease afflicted the people.
0:03:09 > 0:03:15The 19th century brought the Arabs ancient memories of nationhood.
0:03:15 > 0:03:21Men prophesied a free and united Arabia rid of alien Turkish rule.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24In 1883, a French traveller noted -
0:03:24 > 0:03:29"Everywhere, I came upon the same abiding and universal sentiment -
0:03:29 > 0:03:32"hatred of the Turks.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36"The notion of concerted action to throw off the detested yoke
0:03:36 > 0:03:41"is shaping itself. An Arab movement is looming in the distance,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43"and a race hitherto downtrodden
0:03:43 > 0:03:48"will claim its due place in the destinies of Islam."
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Towards the end of the 19th century,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55the Jews were also reviving memories of nationhood.
0:03:55 > 0:04:01They had scattered after Emperor Titus captured Jerusalem in AD 70.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06Now there was a movement to bring the Jewish race home again,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10and build in Palestine a new, Jewish state.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12The Jews began to return.
0:04:12 > 0:04:19The races of the Middle East were stirring against the bonds of the senile Turkish empire.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24But the Turks still ruled over the crossroads of the world,
0:04:24 > 0:04:30collision point of the imperial ambitions of the European powers.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35The Middle East was the key to the British hold on her Indian Empire.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38To keep the Middle East from France,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42Nelson had sunk Napoleon's fleet at the Battle Of The Nile.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47To keep it safe from Russia, Britain had fought the Crimean War.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52Since its opening in 1869, the Suez Canal had become the direct route,
0:04:52 > 0:04:57linking Britain to India, Australia and New Zealand.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59And since 1882,
0:04:59 > 0:05:04the British had been the paramount power in Egypt.
0:05:13 > 0:05:21The early years of the 20th century gave the British added concern about the Middle East - oil.
0:05:25 > 0:05:31In 1908, oil had been discovered in Persia, near the Persian Gulf.
0:05:31 > 0:05:37With aircraft and motor transport, oil was becoming vital for Britain.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41The Navy, too, was changing over from coal to oil.
0:05:41 > 0:05:47Unlike coal, which lay safe under British fields, this new fuel
0:05:47 > 0:05:51was in lands that might be menaced by hostile powers.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53From London and from Delhi,
0:05:53 > 0:05:58the British continued to keep watch on the Middle East.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01MACHINERY CREAKS
0:06:10 > 0:06:12The eyes of the German empire
0:06:12 > 0:06:14were also fixed on the head of the Persian Gulf.
0:06:18 > 0:06:24Through the Balkans and Turkey, and across the sands of Mesopotamia,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27there lay Germany's road to the East.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31A road for her busy salesmen and industrialists.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34The Berlin to Baghdad railway.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38By 1914, all but 400 miles had been completed.
0:06:40 > 0:06:47Germany's interest had been proclaimed by the Kaiser's visit to Turkey and the Holy Land in 1898.
0:06:47 > 0:06:53"His Majesty, The Sultan and the Muslims who revere him as caliph
0:06:53 > 0:06:58"may rest assured they will always have a friend in the German emperor."
0:06:58 > 0:07:02When the Kaiser visited Turkey again 19 years later,
0:07:02 > 0:07:06the war between the nations of Europe
0:07:06 > 0:07:10had engulfed Turks, Arabs, Jews and Egyptians alike.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13But he had redeemed his promise.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16In 1914, Germany gave Turkey the warships
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Goeben and Breslau to replace two Turkish ships
0:07:20 > 0:07:24being built in Britain and seized for the Royal Navy.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Britain's act of seizure
0:07:26 > 0:07:31and Germany's friendship pulled Turkey from neutrality.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35In Constantinople, the crowds were in holiday mood.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38DRUMS BEAT AND MEN CHEER
0:07:38 > 0:07:43But the Kaiser saw them, and their fellow Muslims everywhere,
0:07:43 > 0:07:48as a means of destroying Britain's Indian Empire,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51that Empire which tormented him with envy.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56"We must inflame all the Mohammedan world to frantic rebellion
0:07:56 > 0:08:00"against this treacherous, conscienceless nation of shopkeepers.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04"For if we are to bleed to death,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08"England shall, at all events, lose India."
0:08:10 > 0:08:16Turkey went to war with a German-trained, German-equipped, German-advised army
0:08:16 > 0:08:20recruited from some of the toughest fighting stock in the world.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Which way would the Turks march?
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Across the Sinai Desert to the Suez Canal?
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Down the Tigris and Euphrates to the oil fields of Persia?
0:08:31 > 0:08:36For the British, the loss of either would have been a catastrophe.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40In London and Delhi, orders were given.
0:08:40 > 0:08:46Troops sailed to parry the Turkish threat. Indians, Australians and New Zealanders to Egypt,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49British and Indians to the Persian Gulf.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56The expedition from India landed at the head of the Gulf.
0:08:56 > 0:09:03They captured Basra, the Turkish port where the Tigris and Euphrates flowed to the sea.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05The army discovered Mesopotamia,
0:09:05 > 0:09:10where even the towns were crumbling heaps of mud-houses.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13An Arab proverb said,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17"When Allah had made hell, he found it not bad enough.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20"So he made Mesopotamia
0:09:20 > 0:09:22"and added flies."
0:09:22 > 0:09:26Gradually, a primitive base was built up
0:09:26 > 0:09:29amid the palm groves of Basra.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34More troops arrived to share the flies and the dysentery.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36The oil fields were safe.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45There seemed nothing more for the army to do. But its new commander,
0:09:45 > 0:09:51Lieutenant General Sir John Nixon, would not rest on the defensive.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56"General Nixon had a well-earned reputation for dash.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01"He himself thought he was selected for command on account of it."
0:10:01 > 0:10:06Nixon dispatched a British and Indian force north-westwards
0:10:06 > 0:10:09to find and defeat the Turks.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Through the spring floods of 1915,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20between and along the great rivers,
0:10:20 > 0:10:25the army laboured slowly forwards towards Baghdad.
0:10:25 > 0:10:31In country where an army must provide for itself, everything had to be improvised.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36It was the rainy season and the rivers were in flood.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41For transport, the British used small, native boats.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46Gunboats protected the advance, as they had
0:10:46 > 0:10:50for Kitchener's advance up the Nile in 1898.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52But, unlike Kitchener,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56the British were not building a railway line behind them.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16By June, the army was at Amara,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19200 miles from its base in Basra.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23So far, the Turks had been beaten easily.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40Should the British press on? Nixon asked the Government at home
0:11:40 > 0:11:43for instructions.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48The Government were dazzled by the easy successes.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52They told Nixon to march on, if he thought the risks acceptable.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57Nixon ordered the force commander, General Townsend, to advance.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02Townsend, too, was a man with Napoleonic aspirations.
0:12:02 > 0:12:07While his troops marched, rested or battled with the flies,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10he decided to try a stroke of daring.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14"I told Nixon, if I routed the Turks,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16"I might follow them to Baghdad.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18"I was told if I went into Baghdad,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21"it would have the same importance
0:12:21 > 0:12:26"as entering Constantinople. The news would go through all Asia."
0:12:26 > 0:12:29Constantinople. Baghdad.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31Cities of legend.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35The lure of Baghdad blinded soldiers and politicians alike
0:12:35 > 0:12:40to the squalid reality of 20th century Mesopotamia in midsummer,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44to the weakness of the link with far-off Basra.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48It was a link strained to breaking point
0:12:48 > 0:12:52by the hoards of filthy and hungry refugees
0:12:52 > 0:12:55fleeing from the clamour of a foreigners' war.
0:13:20 > 0:13:27It was 1915. The summer of the Battles of Artois and Neuve Chapelle in France.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31The sun glared down on the troops round Amara.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38Water that teemed with germs
0:13:38 > 0:13:42had to be purified before it could be drunk.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47And in the heat, men and beasts craved for water.
0:13:47 > 0:13:53The day temperature reached 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Disease swept the army.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12With contaminated water came dysentery and cholera.
0:14:12 > 0:14:19With rats and lice came plague and typhus. With insects came sandfly fever and malaria.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24Above all, there was the crushing, annihilating heat.
0:14:24 > 0:14:30I had malaria, and I was looking in this window at the back of me,
0:14:30 > 0:14:32a room full of strong young men,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35all dying slowly of heatstroke.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49Further and further up the turgid rivers,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53further and further into the heat and emptiness,
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Townsend's men advanced.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02Now Townsend himself began to feel qualms.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05"The army commander does not realise
0:15:05 > 0:15:09"the weakness and danger of his line of communications.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12"We are now 380 miles from the sea."
0:15:12 > 0:15:15With the capture of Kut al Imara,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18just another Arab mud town on the river,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22Townsend halted to rest and build up supplies.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40In Basra, Nixon was still confident. He telegraphed to India -
0:15:40 > 0:15:45"I consider I am strong enough to open the road to Baghdad."
0:15:45 > 0:15:47November 1915.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Once more, Townsend's weary men
0:15:50 > 0:15:53plodded north along the river.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03Behind them ambled a transport column
0:16:03 > 0:16:06that belonged not to the 20th century,
0:16:06 > 0:16:10but to the campaigns of Alexander or Xerxes -
0:16:10 > 0:16:13620 camels, 240 donkeys,
0:16:13 > 0:16:171,000 mules, 660 carts, a collection of bullocks and cows
0:16:17 > 0:16:20and a strange regatta
0:16:20 > 0:16:22of river-craft.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28At last, Townsend came up with the main Turkish army.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Only 16 miles from Baghdad,
0:16:31 > 0:16:35but nearly 500 from Basra.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38The Turks lay entrenched in the plain,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41where only the great ruined arch
0:16:41 > 0:16:46of the ancient Palace of Ctesiphon broke the flat horizons.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21But when we come into the 300 yards mark,
0:17:21 > 0:17:26they opened a pretty heavy lot of shooting.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31Quite a lot of our fellas got it. About half the regiment wiped out.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36Well, we carried on. We captured that first line -
0:17:36 > 0:17:42the Turks had all gone away from it. We captured the place we was after.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45We couldn't go on no further.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48It was a victory,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52but it cost nearly half the British infantry.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55The Turks had been reinforced.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Townsend was 500 miles from his base.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06Outnumbered, cumbered with sick and wounded,
0:18:06 > 0:18:08he faced disaster.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11The army fell back.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15The sick and wounded now began a journey
0:18:15 > 0:18:17whose horror recalled the Crimea.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22Jolted over the rough desert in the cushionless transport carts,
0:18:22 > 0:18:26wounded men crawled across the desert on hands and knees
0:18:26 > 0:18:29rather than endure the shaking,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33or used dead bodies as cushions between them
0:18:33 > 0:18:36and the bottom of the carts.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40Worse was to come. Packed into riverboats,
0:18:40 > 0:18:45the wounded lay without medical aid until they reached Basra.
0:18:45 > 0:18:51"The patients were so huddled they couldn't defecate clear of the ship.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56"The whole of the ship's side was covered with stalactites of faeces.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01"We found a mass of men huddled up, some with blankets and some without.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05"They were lying in a pool of dysentery,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08"covered in dejecta from head to toe.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12"The first man I examined had a fractured thigh,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15"perforated in five or six places.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18"He had been writhing about on deck."
0:19:18 > 0:19:22On 3rd December 1915, Townsend found shelter in the town of Kut.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27Soon he was cut off and besieged by the Turks.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29"I have shut myself up in Kut.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33"The state of extreme weariness and exhaustion
0:19:33 > 0:19:36"of my men demands instant rest."
0:19:36 > 0:19:41On Christmas Eve, there were quite a number of troops in front of us
0:19:41 > 0:19:45and they started at dawn on an attack.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49They blew different holes in our walls.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53They got in. We counterattacked and drove them out again,
0:19:53 > 0:19:59I suppose about half a dozen times. They broke in at different places.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09In January 1916, fresh troops from Basra
0:20:09 > 0:20:14fought desperate battles to try to break through and relieve Kut.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Instead of the summer's heat,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23winter brought floods, torrential rains, bitter cold.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27Once more, supplies and medical care
0:20:27 > 0:20:30were improvised, inadequate.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33The months dragged on.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37The relief attacks failed, with heavy losses.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41In Kut itself, hope grew dim.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47The rations came down finally
0:20:47 > 0:20:51to 3oz of bread and 12oz of horse meat.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54The horse meat was difficult to eat
0:20:54 > 0:20:57because some of these mules we ate
0:20:57 > 0:21:00had been fed on mules themselves
0:21:00 > 0:21:05and the meat was very lean and hard to digest.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09After five months, on the 29th April 1916,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Kut surrendered
0:21:12 > 0:21:16and General Townsend and 13,000 men, British and Indian,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19went into Turkish captivity.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Capture did not end the sufferings.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27Painful marches, thirst and hunger, brutal treatment lay ahead.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Two thirds of them were to die in captivity.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39The fall of Kut released Turkish reserves.
0:21:39 > 0:21:45In 1915, feeble Turkish attacks on the Suez Canal had been easily repulsed.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Now, in August 1916,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52the Turks launched a major offensive in Egypt.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58HORSES NEIGH AND MEN SHOUT
0:22:00 > 0:22:02SHELLFIRE AND SHOUTING
0:22:02 > 0:22:06MACHINE-GUNFIRE
0:22:37 > 0:22:42Half their force was destroyed and the rest retreated into Palestine.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45Egypt and the Suez Canal were secure.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52The British commander in Egypt, Sir Archibald Murray,
0:22:52 > 0:22:56wanted to crown his success with a counterstroke.
0:22:56 > 0:23:03Gradually, the British in Egypt were drawn into a major campaign for the conquest of the Holy Land.
0:23:06 > 0:23:12Across the Sinai Desert they marched, a route taken by Bonaparte in 1799.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16Like him, the British Government allowed themselves to be dazzled
0:23:16 > 0:23:19by the names of fabulous cities,
0:23:19 > 0:23:24holy places that had lured European soldiers since the Crusades -
0:23:24 > 0:23:26Jerusalem and Damascus.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30This, too, was a war for old-fashioned objectives.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33But it was fought with modern means.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36A wire-netting vehicle track was laid across the sand,
0:23:36 > 0:23:38and a pipeline to bring up the water
0:23:38 > 0:23:41without which the men and beasts could not live.
0:23:44 > 0:23:50A railway was laid behind the Army, linking it with its base in the Nile delta.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55By March 1917, Murray was through the desert
0:23:55 > 0:23:59and at the gates of Palestine.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Murray's mounted regiments, British, Australian, New Zealand and Indian,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06were the key to his plan of attack on the Turks.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11Our job was to follow through with the Light Horse,
0:24:11 > 0:24:16get the other side of Gaza and come round towards the sea
0:24:16 > 0:24:18so the Turks were enclosed,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21with the sea on one side and troops all round.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23EXPLOSION
0:24:36 > 0:24:43In the confusion of battle, the British thought they had failed, whereas the Turks were near defeat.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48There was a withdrawal and we went back a short way for the night,
0:24:48 > 0:24:53much to our disappointment, because the objectives had been reached.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58But the dismay and bewilderment was all the greater the next morning,
0:24:58 > 0:25:00when we had to do it all over again.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13The second battle of Gaza was a British repulse.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17As Kut had ended Nixon's command, Gaza ended Murray's.
0:25:17 > 0:25:22The Turks still barred the road to Jerusalem and Damascus.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24CAMEL GRUMBLES
0:25:24 > 0:25:27MEN SHOUT ORDERS
0:25:31 > 0:25:36The British and Australian troops settled down for a long wait
0:25:36 > 0:25:39in the empty, scorching wastes of the Sinai.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Our biggest problem was monotony.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03You'd see the sun get up, a big, red ball in the morning
0:26:03 > 0:26:06and go down a big, red ball at night,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08and that was your only sense of time.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14And nothing but sand dunes as far as the eye could see.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18You had the heat in the day, lying in the sand,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21the glare of the sun and the glare of the desert.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26Your rifle barrels would get so hot, you had to hold them by the wood.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32In Mesopotamia, there was now a new commander -
0:26:32 > 0:26:34Sir Stanley Maude.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37He was an organiser - not a gambler.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42The base at Basra was reorganised, re-equipped.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47So were the Army's transport services and communications.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52There was abundant modern equipment of every kind. By the end of 1916,
0:26:52 > 0:26:57Maude commanded an army four times larger than the Turkish force in front of him.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04Maude was ready. When the British advanced this time,
0:27:04 > 0:27:08there was no gamble, no drama, no adventure.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11Maude's personality stamped the expedition
0:27:11 > 0:27:13with cool professionalism.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Yet the objective remained the same - Baghdad.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28Carefully, irresistibly, Maude swept the Turks
0:27:28 > 0:27:31northward out of Kut, on up the River Tigris.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59On 11 March, the British at last
0:27:59 > 0:28:02entered the city of the caliphs.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04"Nothing could have been more casual and easy
0:28:04 > 0:28:07"than our entry into Baghdad.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11"Four of us - the colonel and the adjutant of the King's Own,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15"a gunner officer and myself would be in first.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19"The weariness of the long pursuit was forgotten.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23"Here they were in Baghdad - the goal of their desires."
0:28:28 > 0:28:30At the gates of Palestine,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34the forces south of Gaza also had a new commander -
0:28:34 > 0:28:38General Allenby - sometimes known as the Bull.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40Allenby's leadership transformed
0:28:40 > 0:28:45the bored troops in the Sinai desert into an army eager to attack.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54Preparations for a great offensive gathered speed.
0:28:54 > 0:28:55Allenby wrote home -
0:28:55 > 0:29:00"I shall not attempt anything big until I have what was promised me.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05"I've made a lot of changes since I came here and have now a good staff
0:29:05 > 0:29:12"and some capable commanders. My army is in good spirits and is confident of success."
0:29:12 > 0:29:15The objective remained the Holy Land and Syria,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Damascus and Jerusalem.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20In September 1917,
0:29:20 > 0:29:22Allenby was ready.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27It was the year of the Russian Revolution and of Passchendaele.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31Britain needed a prestige victory.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34Lloyd George told Allenby he was expected to give the British nation
0:29:34 > 0:29:37Jerusalem as a Christmas present.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44Cavalry was the instrument of victory.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48Allenby tricked the Turks into thinking
0:29:48 > 0:29:50he was going to attack Gaza again,
0:29:50 > 0:29:57while his horsemen launched a surprise attack on their flank at Beersheba.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01The cavalry charge by the Australian Light Horse
0:30:01 > 0:30:06was made with fixed bayonets on rifles in three lines of horsemen.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08Well, they charged through.
0:30:08 > 0:30:15As the first line jumped over the first lot of trenches, the Turks didn't put up a fight.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17That was the finish.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21Out-fought, outmanoeuvred, the Turks fell back
0:30:21 > 0:30:24with Allenby in relentless pursuit.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28In ten days, the British advanced 50 miles.
0:30:28 > 0:30:35Arab fishing boats carried essential supplies to beaches close behind the advancing Army.
0:30:35 > 0:30:41While the Arabs hauled their craft ashore, Allenby's pursuit swept on.
0:30:41 > 0:30:47The Turks were split in two, one group amid the orange groves
0:30:47 > 0:30:51of the Plain of Sharon and the other in the hills of Judaea.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56Allenby swung his main weight east, towards Jerusalem,
0:30:56 > 0:31:01racing to beat the onset of the winter rains.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04Then we began to approach the Judaean hills.
0:31:04 > 0:31:11Here we met deluges of rain. And as we went up those hills, it became colder and colder.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16We had our jackets, but we were wet through from morning till night.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19With it came troubles with the camels.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22The camel is no mountaineer
0:31:22 > 0:31:28and the Judaean hills are not high but consist of ridge after ridge after ridge.
0:31:28 > 0:31:33You know you have a destination which will take some hours to reach.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38You hope each ridge will be the last, but there's always one more ridge.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43On 11 December 1917, the Allies took Jerusalem.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47Allenby entered the conquered city humbly, on foot,
0:31:47 > 0:31:52in contrast to the Kaiser who, in 1898, had ridden on horseback
0:31:52 > 0:31:56through a gap specially made in the ancient walls.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59Jerusalem was the first famous city
0:31:59 > 0:32:04to fall to the Allies during four years of war.
0:32:06 > 0:32:11For the first time, an Allied army received the keys of such a city
0:32:11 > 0:32:18and posted proclamations of military government on the walls of a captured capital -
0:32:18 > 0:32:25a spiritual capital, the holiest city of three religions - Christian, Jewish and Mohammedan.
0:32:25 > 0:32:30The British nation had received its Christmas present.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35After going through Jerusalem, we passed the Garden of Gethsemane
0:32:35 > 0:32:40and went up the Mount of Olives, where we camped for quite a few days.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45From the Mount of Olives, one gets a wonderful view of Jerusalem town.
0:32:45 > 0:32:52We were all very impressed with that and couldn't help thinking of our Bible stories we'd read in the past.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56The Turkish empire, so long senile and decadent,
0:32:56 > 0:32:59was crumbling into collapse.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02Her Arab lands had already been the subject
0:33:02 > 0:33:07of secret bargaining between France and Britain.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09But other parties were involved now.
0:33:09 > 0:33:15Britain had encouraged Arab hatred of the Turk, sending Sherif Hussein of Mecca
0:33:15 > 0:33:19and his son, Faisal, money, weapons and explosives.
0:33:19 > 0:33:24She had sent the Arabs a leader - Colonel TE Lawrence.
0:33:24 > 0:33:31"I was a stranger to these Arabs, unable to think their thoughts or subscribe to their beliefs,
0:33:31 > 0:33:36"but charged to lead them forward and develop any movement of theirs
0:33:36 > 0:33:39"profitable to England in her war."
0:33:39 > 0:33:46British help, together with hatred of the Turk, fostered the Arab revolt. The Arab irregulars
0:33:46 > 0:33:50moved swiftly and secretly through the desert east of Jordan on camels,
0:33:50 > 0:33:55blowing up Turkish railway lines, attacking isolated posts
0:33:55 > 0:33:59and even capturing the holy city of Mecca.
0:34:08 > 0:34:1312,000 Turkish troops were tied down by the Arab irregulars,
0:34:13 > 0:34:15a valuable diversion of strength
0:34:15 > 0:34:18away from the decisive battles in Palestine.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22The Arabs believed that, as a reward for their help,
0:34:22 > 0:34:29Great Britain would only conclude peace on terms that gave freedom to the Arab peoples.
0:34:29 > 0:34:35The Jewish hope of founding a new state of Israel in Palestine
0:34:35 > 0:34:39grew brighter in the shadow of Turkey's defeats.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43The Allies needed the help and support of Jews all over the world.
0:34:43 > 0:34:49They bought that help, as they had that of the Arabs, with promises.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52"His Majesty's Government view with favour
0:34:52 > 0:34:57"the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people
0:34:57 > 0:35:01"and will facilitate the achievement of this object,
0:35:01 > 0:35:04"it being understood that nothing shall be done
0:35:04 > 0:35:09"to prejudice the civil or religious rights of non-Jews in Palestine."
0:35:09 > 0:35:16The war between the Europeans was bringing mighty changes to the Middle East.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18New hopes,
0:35:18 > 0:35:24new and massive human forces had been set rolling among peoples long sunk in apathy.
0:35:24 > 0:35:29Clashing ambitions and promises carried the threat of new conflicts
0:35:29 > 0:35:34at a time when the conflicts of the old order were still being resolved.
0:35:34 > 0:35:41While Allenby prepared for the 1918 offensive, a new German commander had arrived in Palestine -
0:35:41 > 0:35:46Liman von Sanders. Before the war, he had trained the Turkish armies.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49He had led the successful defence of Gallipoli.
0:35:49 > 0:35:55But now, his Turkish troops were slinking away to their homes.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57Only his German contingent could be relied on.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05The Turkish empire was near to death. But, in the collapse of imperial Russia,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Turkish leaders saw an opportunity
0:36:08 > 0:36:13to carve out a new empire in the Caucasus and Persia.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17While the Turkish troops marched and fought
0:36:17 > 0:36:21in the Caucasus in pursuit of this fantasy,
0:36:21 > 0:36:26von Sanders faced Allenby, outnumbered by two to one.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29WAGON WHEELS RUMBLE
0:36:34 > 0:36:36EXPLOSION
0:36:42 > 0:36:49Early in the morning of 19 September 1918, Allenby struck under cover of a hurricane barrage.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54His troops tore a gap in the Turkish positions on the coast,
0:36:54 > 0:36:58wheeled right and pushed the Turks into the hills.
0:36:58 > 0:37:03Allenby's cavalry swept forward across the Turkish communications.
0:37:03 > 0:37:09Co-operation between cavalry and aircraft, the oldest and the newest striking forces,
0:37:09 > 0:37:13brought Allenby a brilliant victory.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18Ceaseless air attacks isolated von Sanders from his troops
0:37:18 > 0:37:22and blocked the crossings of the River Jordan.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26The Turkish army strove to escape.
0:37:28 > 0:37:33Only the German soldiers remained steady in the welter of confusion and disaster.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50The cavalry rode 70 miles in 24 hours
0:37:50 > 0:37:54to cut off the Turkish retreat to the north.
0:37:54 > 0:37:59In three days, Allenby destroyed two Turkish armies.
0:37:59 > 0:38:05Beyond the Jordan, in the barren hills, a third Turkish army was cut to pieces
0:38:05 > 0:38:08by Arabs avenging the cruelties
0:38:08 > 0:38:11of centuries of Turkish rule.
0:38:15 > 0:38:23On 2 October 1918, another of the legendary cities of the Middle East fell into British hands -
0:38:23 > 0:38:24Damascus.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27Allenby was the hero of the Arabs.
0:38:27 > 0:38:34But the moment of Arab liberation was poisoned by conflict between the different Allied promises.
0:38:34 > 0:38:39The problems of victory remained for others to solve.
0:38:56 > 0:39:01Victory had not been cheap. The Middle East campaigns had drawn in
0:39:01 > 0:39:05over two million soldiers of the British Empire.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08They had cost over 160,000 casualties.
0:39:08 > 0:39:15Painful marches and stern battles had barely affected the issue of the world struggle.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19But the Turkish empire had been destroyed.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21To Allies and Arabs alike,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24for the moment, this was enough.