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((Short description|WWI siege))
((Use dmy dates|date=December 2022))
((Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Siege of Kut
| partof            = the [[Mesopotamian Campaign]] of [[World War I]]
| image             = Townshend, Khalil Pasha after Fall of Kut B.jpg
| image_size        = 200px
| coordinates       = ((Coord|32|30|20|N|45|49|29|E|display=it))
| map_type          = Iraq#Middle East2
| map_relief        = 1
| caption           = [[Charles Townshend (British Army officer)|Charles Townshend]] and [[Halil Kut|Halil Pasha]] after the fall of Kut
| date              = 7 December 1915 – 29 April 1916
| place             = [[Kut-al-Amara]], Mesopotamia (modern [[Iraq]])
| result            = Ottoman victory
| combatant1        = ((flagcountry|UKGBI))
| combatant2        = ((flag|Ottoman Empire))
| commander1        = ((nowrap|((flagicon|United Kingdom)) [[Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend|Charles Townshend]]((Surrender))))
| commander2        = ((flagicon|Ottoman Empire)) [[Nureddin Pasha]]<br />((flagicon|Ottoman Empire)) [[Halil Kut|Halil Pasha]]<br />((flagicon|German Empire)) [[Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz|C.F. von der Goltz]]
| strength1         = 45,000 besieged in Kut
| strength2         = 25,000 (December 1915)<ref name="Erickson79">((cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Edward J. |author-link=Edward J. Erickson |title=Ottoman Army effectiveness in World War I: a comparative study |date=2007 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=London |isbn=978-0-203-96456-9))</ref>
| casualties1       = 30,000 dead or wounded<ref>((cite book |last=Barker |first=A. J. |title=The First Iraq War, 1914–18 |year=2009 |publisher=Enigma Books |pages=211))</ref><br />13,164 captured including 6 generals<ref>((cite book |last=Barker |first=A. J. |title=The First Iraq War, 1914–18 |year=2009 |publisher=Enigma Books |pages=233))</ref>
| casualties2       = unknown
| campaignbox       = ((Campaignbox Mesopotamian))
))
The '''siege of Kut Al Amara''' (7 December 1915 – 29 April 1916), also known as the '''first battle of Kut''', was the besieging of an 8,000 strong British Army garrison in the town of [[Kut]], ((cvt|100|mi|km|order=flip)) south of [[Baghdad]], by the [[Ottoman Army]]. In 1915, its population was around 6,500. Following the surrender of the garrison on 29 April 1916, the survivors of the siege were marched to imprisonment at [[Aleppo]], during which many died.<ref>Peter Mansfield, ''The British Empire'' magazine, Time-Life Books, vol 75, p. 2078</ref> Historian [[Christopher Catherwood]] has called the siege "the worst defeat of the [[Allies (World War I)|Allies]] in [[World War I]]".<ref name="Catherwood2014">((cite book |author=Christopher Catherwood |title=The Battles of World War I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gMmMAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT51 |date=22 May 2014 |publisher=Allison & Busby |isbn=978-0-7490-1502-2 |pages=51–2))</ref> Ten months later, the British Indian Army, consisting almost entirely of newly recruited troops from Western India, conquered Kut, Baghdad and other regions in between in the [[Fall of Baghdad (1917)|Fall of Baghdad]].

==Prelude==
[[File:Kut1915.jpg|thumb|Situation at Kut on 28 September 1915.]]

The [[6th (Poona) Division]] of the [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]], under Major-General [[Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend|Charles Townshend]], had fallen back to the town of Kut after retreating from [[Battle of Ctesiphon (1915)|Ctesiphon]]. The British Empire forces arrived at Kut around 3 December 1915. They had suffered significant losses, numbering only 11,000 soldiers (plus cavalry). General Townshend chose to stay and hold the position at Kut instead of continuing the march downriver towards [[Basra]]. Contained within a long river loop, Kut offered a good defensive position although supply lines from distant Basra were stretched.

==The siege==
((more citations needed|section|date=April 2018))<!--first three paragraphs have no citations-->
[[File:Mesopotamian campaign 6th Army Siege of Kut.png|thumb|left|The siege by Ottoman 6th Army forces]]
The pursuing Ottoman forces under [[Halil Kut|Halil Pasha]] arrived on 7 December 1915. Once it became clear the Ottomans had enough forces to lay siege to Kut, Townshend ordered his cavalry to escape south, which it did, led by Lieut. Colonel [[Gerard Leachman]]. The Ottoman forces numbered around 11,000 men and were increasing steadily with additional reinforcements arriving constantly. They were commanded by the respected but elderly German general and military historian [[Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz|Baron von der Goltz]]. Goltz knew the Ottoman army well, as he had spent 12 years working on modernizing it, from 1883 to 1895. After three attacks in December, Goltz directed the building of siege fortifications facing Kut. He prepared for an attack from Basra, using the [[Tigris River]], by building defensive positions further down the river designed to cut off a river-borne relief. The Ottoman XVIII corps that consisted of the 45th and 51st divisions were assigned to besiege Kut while the XIII Corps that consisted of the 35th and 52nd divisions were assigned down the Tigris river to block any relief force coming up from Basra.((sfn|Knight|2023|p=79))

After a month of siege, Townshend wanted to break out and withdraw southwards but his commander, General [[Sir John Nixon]] saw value in tying down the Ottoman forces in a siege. Nixon had ordered transports from London, but none had arrived. The War Office was in the process of reorganizing military command; previously the orders had come from the Viceroy and India Office.

However, when Townshend—inaccurately—reported that only one month of food remained, a rescue force was hastily raised. It is not clear why Townshend reported he only had enough food for one month when he actually had food for more than four months (although at a reduced level), but Townshend would not attempt an infantry retreat unprotected through hostile tribal lands without river transport. Nixon had ordered this with reinforcements, commanded by his son, but by December they were still only in the Suez Canal. The confusing communications would prove a critical delay.

Medical facilities in Kut were headed by Major General [[Patrick Hehir]].<ref>((cite journal |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-royal-society-of-edinburgh/article/sir-patrick-hehir-cb-cmg-kcie-md-dtm-frcpe-frcse-major-general-ims-knight-of-grace-of-the-order-of-st-john-of-jerusalem/B414AFD87FD42C6FEC00DDF6961414A4 |title=Obituary Notice: Sir Patrick Hehir, Major-General |first1=A. G. |last1=McK |publisher=Royal Society of Edinburgh |journal=Proceedings |volume=57 |pages=416 |via=Cambridge Core |doi=10.1017/S0370164600013961 |doi-access=free))</ref>

===Relief expeditions===
The first relief expedition comprised some 19,000 men under Lieutenant-General [[Sir Fenton Aylmer, 13th Baronet|Aylmer]] and it headed up the river from Ali Gharbi in January 1916.
[[File:The Times history of the war (1914) (14577828889).jpg|thumb|The British Headquarters in Kut]]

====Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad====
((Main|Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad))
The first attempt to relieve Kut (the Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad) came on 6 January by troops under the command of [[Major-General]] [[George Younghusband]].<ref name=":0">Uyar, Mesut (30 December 2020). p.246</ref> Troops under Lieut. Gen. Aylmer's command joined the British forces with two brigades the next day following which Aylmer took over the command.<ref name=":0" /> Part of the cause of delay was the debate in Cabinet over whether one division would be an adequate force, or whether two divisions should be sent. Deliberations were painfully slow. The ageing General Maurice insisted on being informed at every turn as the evidence came into the Committee of Imperial Defence; which was further complicated by a restructuring involving the setup of a new sub-committee system and transfer of military responsibilities. At least three urgent memoranda were sent from General Nixon demanding transports to evacuate Townshend's division. By Christmas his health had broken down, and he requested a return to Bombay.

Nixon's replacements with additional staff as a mandatory requirement moved forward from [[Ali Al Gharbi]] towards [[Sheikh Sa'ad (Iraq)|Sheikh Sa'ad]] along both banks of the Tigris. Younghusband's column made contact with the Ottomans on the morning of 6 January ((cvt|3+1/2|mi|km|order=flip)) east of Sheikh Sa'ad. British efforts to defeat the Ottomans were unsuccessful.<ref name=Nixon_2nd>((cite web |url=http://www.1914-1918.net/nixons_second_despatch.htm |title=Sir John Nixon's Second Despatch |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531123155/http://www.1914-1918.net/nixons_second_despatch.htm |archive-date=31 May 2008 |access-date=5 August 2014 |first=Chris |last=Baker |work=The Long, Long Trail))</ref>

The following day, on 7 January, Aylmer arrived with the main body of his forces and ordered a general attack. Younghusband led the attack on the left bank and Major-General [[George Kemball|Kemball]] took the right. After heavy fighting all day, Kemball's troops had overrun Ottoman trenches on the right bank, taking prisoners and capturing two guns. However, the Ottoman left bank held firm and they carried out supporting manoeuvres from the north.

After little change on 8 January, renewed British attacks on 9 January resulted in the Ottomans retiring from Sheikh Sa'ad. Over the following two days the Ottomans were followed by Aylmer's force but heavy rains made the roads virtually impassable.<ref name=Nixon_2nd/>

====Battle of Wadi====
((Main|Battle of Wadi (1916)))
The Ottomans retreated for about ((cvt|16|km|0)) from Sheikh Sa'ad to a tributary of the Tigris on the left bank known by the Arabic toponym simply as the Wadi (meaning "the river valley"). The Ottomans made their camp beyond the Wadi and on the other side of the Tigris opposite the Wadi.

On 13 January, Aylmer attacked the Ottoman Wadi position on the left bank with all of his forces. After putting up a stiff resistance the Ottomans retreated ((cvt|8|km|0)) to the west and they were followed by Aylmer's troops.

====Battle of Hanna====
((Main|Battle of Hanna))
The Ottomans then made their camp upstream of the Wadi at the [[Hanna defile]], a narrow strip of dry land between the Tigris and the Suwaikiya Marshes. British losses at the [[Battle of Hanna]] amounted to 2,700 killed and wounded, which was disastrous for the garrison in Kut.<ref>((cite web |url=http://www.1914-1918.net/meso_bat11.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828074239/http://www.1914-1918.net/meso_bat11.htm |archive-date=28 August 2008 |first=Chris |last=Baker |work=The Long, Long Trail |access-date=5 August 2014 |title=The Battle of the Hanna (21 January 1916)))</ref>

====The Siege====
[[File:MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE DEFENCE OF KUT AL AMARA December 1915, to April 1916.jpg|thumb|A 1924 map of the defense of Kut during the siege.]]
As the siege continued, supplies started to run out for the besieged.((sfn|Knight|2013|p=72)) Sergeant Munn reported: "About half-way through February the rations were sadly diminishing. Tobacco was first out, and we were smoking anything that would smoke, and green leaves (dried over a fire), tea leaves and sawdust mixed, ginger cut into small lumps. Tea ran out and we had ginger instead (ginger crushed and steeped in boiling water). Milk and sugar had given out long ago, likewise beef and mutton and all the bully was gone with the exception of two days' emergency rations which kept back until the very last".((sfn|Knight|2013|p=72)) Dysentery and scurvy became common.((sfn|Knight|2013|p=72))

At the beginning of March 1916, the Ottomans used their Krupp artillery to open a heavy bombardment of Kut, which destroyed much of the town.((sfn|Knight|2013|p=73)) At the same time, three German aircraft bombed Kut, though the damage inflicted was only slight as compared to the artillery bombardment.((sfn|Knight|2013|p=73)) At the time, the Ottomans were seen unloading metal cylinders from a barge in the Tigris, which were assumed to contain chemical weapons from Germany.((sfn|Knight|2013|p=73)) Townshend in his diary called chemical warfare "a cowardly barbarism worthy of Chinese pirates".((sfn|Knight|2013|p=73)) As both the garrison and population of Kut began to starve while the Ottoman guns continued to blast Kut, Townshend sent out a series of messages on the radio asking for a promotion from major-general to colonel-general on the account of his success advancing the Tigris in 1915, requests that reflected badly on him.((sfn|Knight|2013|p=73))

====Later efforts====
At this point, [[Halil Kut|Khalil Pasha]] (the Ottoman commander of the whole region) came to the battle, bringing with him a further 20,000 to 30,000 reinforcements.

Following the defeat of Aylmer's expedition, General Nixon was replaced as supreme commander by [[Percy Lake]] on 19 January.<ref>Uyar, Mesut (30 December 2020). pp.248–249</ref> More forces were sent to bolster Aylmer's troops. He tried again, attacking the [[Battle of Dujaila|Dujaila redoubt]] on 8 March. This attack failed, at a cost of 4,000 men. General Aylmer was dismissed and replaced with General [[GF Gorringe|George Gorringe]] on 12 March.
[[File:MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE ACTION OF BAIT ISA ON 17TH. & 18TH. APRIL 1916 AND THE ATTACK ON SANNAIYAT 22ND. APRIL 1916.jpg|thumb|right|A map illustrating the action at Bait Isa and Sannaiyat published in 1924.]]
In April, starvation within the British garrison at Kut forced Indian troops to abandon the vegetarian diet of their religion and eat horse meat.<ref>((Cite book |last=Moberly |first=Frederick |url=http://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100045738550.0x00005c |title=History of the Great War based on official documents: The campaign in Mesopotamia, 1914-1918 |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office |year=1927 |volume=3 |location=London |pages=443–444))</ref>

The relief attempt by Gorringe is usually termed the first battle of Kut. The British Empire's forces numbered about 30,000 soldiers, roughly equal to the Ottomans. The battle began on 5 April and the British soon captured [[Fallahiya]] but with heavy losses, [[Bait Isa]] was taken on 17 April. The final effort was against [[Sannaiyat]] on 22 April. The Allies were unable to take Sannaiyat and suffered some 1,200 casualties in the process.

In April 1916 [[No. 30 Squadron RAF|No. 30 Squadron]] of the [[Royal Flying Corps]] carried out the first air supply operation in history. Food and ammunition were dropped to the defenders of Kut, but "as often as not their parcels go into the Tigris or into the Turkish trenches!"<ref name="Spooner">Spooner, Reverend H. ''Private Papers; Imperial War Museum Documents 7308. Entry for 16 April 1916'' (quoted by [[Rogan]] 2016 p. 263)</ref> and the food rations provided between the 11 and 29 April were only enough for three days.<ref name=":1">((Cite book |last=Uyar |first=Mesut |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4eCxzQEACAAJ |title=The Ottoman Army and the First World War |date=30 December 2020 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-367-47177-4 |pages=257 |language=en))</ref>

All the relief efforts had failed, at a cost of around 30,000 Allied killed or wounded. Ottoman casualties are believed to have been around 10,000. The Ottomans also lost the aid of Baron von der Goltz. He died in April 1916, supposedly of [[typhoid]] about a week before the British surrendered on 29 April.<ref name=":1" /> After Goltz's death, no German commander took his place in Mesopotamia for the rest of the war.

===Surrender of the British army===
[[File:Indian army soldier after siege of Kut.jpg|thumb|upright|An Indian soldier after siege of Kut]]
British leaders attempted to buy their troops out. [[Aubrey Herbert]] and [[T. E. Lawrence]] were part of a team of officers sent to negotiate a secret deal with the Ottomans. The British offered £2&nbsp;million (equivalent to £((Inflation|UK-GDP|2|1916|r=-1))&nbsp;million in ((Inflation-year|UK-GDP))((Inflation-fn|UK-GDP))) and promised those soldiers would not fight the Ottomans again, in exchange for Townshend's troops. [[Enver Pasha]] at first pretended to negotiate in good faith, then publicized and rejected the offer as a final humiliation to the British.<ref>[[David Fromkin]], ''[[A Peace to End All Peace]]'', p. 201</ref>

The British also asked for help from the Russians. [[Nikolai Baratov|General Baratov]], with his largely Cossack force of 20,000, was in Persia at the time. Following the request he advanced towards Baghdad in April 1916, but he turned back when news reached him of the surrender.<ref>Cyril Falls, ''The Great War'', p. 249</ref>

General Townshend arranged a ceasefire on the 26th and, after failed negotiations, he simply surrendered on 29 April 1916 after a siege of 147 days. Around 13,000 Allied soldiers survived to be made prisoners. The Turkish writer [[İlber Ortaylı]] states that "Halil Pasha acted like a gentleman to the surrendering British officers" and offered "to take the [[POW]]s up towards the north in river boats in case fuel could be provided from British bases nearby."<ref>İlber Ortaylı, "100. Yılında Kut'ul Amare Zaferi" (The Victory of Kut at its Centennial), ''[[Hürriyet]]'', 24 April 2016, p.6</ref> The French historian [[Marc Ferro]] suggested a different image. According to Ferro, the surrendered British and Indian forces were forced to march around the city of Baghdad while being maltreated by the Ottoman troops supervising their march.<ref>((Cite book |title=The Great War |url=https://archive.org/details/greatwarroutledg00ferr |url-access=limited |last=Ferro |first=Marc |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=0-415-26734-X |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatwarroutledg00ferr/page/n87 75]))</ref><ref>((cite news |last1=Davies |first1=Ross |title=The tragedy of Kut |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/20/iraq.features11 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=20 November 2002 |language=en))</ref>

After the surrender, the Ottomans agreed to an exchange of sick and wounded soldiers for an equal number of POWs of the Ottoman Empire that were held by the British. Around 1,500 incapacitated prisoners were exchanged. The Anglo-Indian sick and wounded were taken to hospitals by ships and barges of the Tigris River.((sfn|Ellinwood|2005|pp=439-440))

The men of the 6th Division suffered terribly as Ottoman prisoners. On the day of the surrender, the Ottomans handed out biscuits for the POWs. The British historian Russell Braddon wrote that after eating the biscuits "The following morning, they began to die. Frothing at the mouth, their bowels and stomachs disintegrating into a greenish slime, dehydrated and moaning, they died one after the other".((sfn|Perry|2005|p=270)) The British and Indian POWs were afflicted by [[enteritis]] from contaminated biscuits.((sfn|Perry|2005|p=270))

The British historian Paul Knight wrote: "The treatment of the Kuttities was similar to those of the Allied prisoners of war taken by the Japanese, which is of course a far more familiar story to a modern audience. Whether or not there was a  deliberate state policy to murder the Kuttities through overwork, underfeeding, or both, or whether murder was a by-produce of negligence, neglect and official incompetence is a moot point. It made little different to the Kuttities. Their captivity took place against the backdrop of the Armenian massacres, which are still denied by the modern Turkish state. Again, whether or not the death of thousands of Armenians was the result of a state policy, or whether it was the by-produce of negligence, neglect and official incompetence is a moot point. It made little difference to the Armenians".((sfn|Knight|2013|p=154)) One British POW, Sergeant Long, wrote about the march from Kut to the POW camps in Anatolia: "No words can adequately describe the appalling misery of that scene. Here were men who had suffered and fought the long months of the siege, although they were gradually starved and were not fit to do a day's march, yet they were being driven across the pitiless waste under a scorching sun, herded along by a brutal and callous escort of Arab conscripts. Limping and staggering along they all finally arrived, some of them being assisted along by comrades, who themselves were in dire need of assistance".((sfn|Knight|2013|p=162)) To encourage the POWs to move faster, the Ottoman guards constantly whipped them.((sfn|Knight|2013|p=162)) The Indian Muslims were able to bring themselves some protection by saying "''Islami, Islami''" while the Gurkhas and Sikh POWs were abused for their religions.((sfn|Knight|2013|p=163))

After reaching Mosul, the POWs entered into areas where the population was Kurdish while the desert terrain was replaced with the mountains of Anatolia.((sfn|Knight|2013|p=163)) Long described the Kurds as being more kindly disposed to the POWs than the Arabs, which together the cool summer mountain air made conditions more bearable.((sfn|Knight|2013|p=163)) At the Ras-el-Aim camp where Indian POWs were being held, Long described the Indians as being in a "...condition that was truly pitiful they resembled animated skeletons hung about with filthy rags. No tents or other shelter had been provided and they were living in holes in the grounds like pariah dogs".((sfn|Knight|2013|p=163))

Townshend himself was taken to the island of [[Heybeliada]] on the [[Sea of Marmara]], to sit out the war in relative luxury. The author [[Norman Dixon]], in his book ''[[On the Psychology of Military Incompetence]]'', described Townshend as being "amused" by the plight of the men he had deserted, as if he had pulled off some clever trick. Dixon says Townshend was unable to understand why his friends and comrades were ultimately censorious over his behaviour.<ref>Dixon, Dr. Norman F. ''On the Psychology of Military Incompetence'' Jonathan Cape Ltd 1976 / Pimlico 1994 pp95–109</ref>

In British Army [[battle honour]]s, the siege of Kut is named as "Defence of Kut Al Amara".

==Aftermath==
[[File:Indian army soldiers after siege of Kut Al Amara on the Tigris River 1916.jpg|thumb|The garrison, two-thirds of which was Indian, surrendered on 29 April 1916. During captivity many died from heat, disease and neglect. These emaciated men were photographed after they had been liberated during an exchange of prisoners.]]
[[Jan Morris]], a British historian, described the loss of Kut as "the most abject capitulation in Britain's military history."<ref name="Morris2010">((cite book |author=Jan Morris |title=Farewell the Trumpets |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W6Kx28VD_4MC&pg=RA3-PT33 |date=22 December 2010 |publisher=Faber & Faber |isbn=978-0-571-26598-5 |pages=3–4))</ref> After this humiliating loss, General Lake and General Gorringe were removed from command. The new commander was General [[Stanley Maude|Maude]], who trained and organized his army and then launched a successful campaign.

Ten months after the Siege of Kut, the British Indian Army conquered the whole region from Kut to Baghdad as part of the [[Fall of Baghdad (1917)|Fall of Baghdad]] on 11 March 1917. With Baghdad captured, the British administration undertook vital reconstruction of the war-torn country and Kut was slowly rebuilt.<ref name="Howell">((cite book |last1=Howell |first1=Georgina |title=Daughter of the Desert: The Remarkable Life of [[Gertrude Bell]] |date=2006 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |page=311))</ref>

Some of the Indian prisoners of war from Kut later came to join the Ottoman Indian Volunteer Corps under the influence of [[Deobandi]]s of the [[Silk Letter Movement]] and with the [[Hindu–German Conspiracy|encouragement of the German High Command]]. These soldiers, along with those recruited from the prisoners from the European battlefields, fought alongside Ottoman forces on a number of fronts.<ref name=Qureshi79>((Harvnb|Qureshi|1999|p=78))</ref> The Indians were led by [[Amba Prasad Sufi]], who during the war was joined by Kedar Nath Sondhi, Rishikesh Letha, and Amin Chaudhry. These Indian troops were involved in the capture of the frontier city of Karman and the detention of the British consul there, and they also successfully harassed Sir [[Percy Sykes]]' Persian campaign against the Baluchi and Persian tribal chiefs who were aided by the Germans.<ref>((Harvnb|Sykes|1921|p=101))</ref><ref name=Herbert>((Harvnb|Herbert|2003|p=))</ref>

== See also ==

*[[Second Battle of Kut]], which took place on 23 February 1917.

==References==
((Reflist))

==Sources==
*((cite book |last=Ellinwood |first=DeWitt C. |title=Between Two Worlds: A Rajput Officer in the Indian Army, 1905-21 : Based on the Diary of Amar Singh of Jaipur |year=2005 |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |isbn=9780761831136)) <small>- Total pages: 679 </small>
*((cite book |last=Herbert |first=Edwin |date=2003 |title=Small Wars and Skirmishes 1902–1918: Early Twentieth-century Colonial Campaigns in Africa, Asia and the Americas |publisher=Nottingham, Foundry Books Publications |isbn=1-901543-05-6))
*((cite book |last1=Knight |first1=Paul |title=The British Army In Mesopotamia, 1914-1918 |date=2013 |publisher=McFarland & Company |location=Jefferson |isbn=978-0-7864-7049-5))
*((cite book |last=Qureshi |first=M Naeem |date=1999 |title=Pan-Islam in British Indian Politics: A Study of the Khilafat Movement, 1918-1924 |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |isbn=90-04-11371-1))
*((cite book |last=Rogan |first=Eugene |title=The Fall of the Ottomans |publisher=Penguin Books |date=2016))
*((cite book |editor=Spackman, Tony |title=Captured at Kut, Prisoner of the Turks: The Great War Diaries of Colonel W.C. Spackman |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |date=2008 |isbn=978-184415873-7))
*((cite journal |last=Sykes |first=Peter |year=1921 |title=South Persia and the Great War |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=101–116 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society |issn=0016-7398 |doi=10.2307/1781457 |jstor=1781457 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449356))

==Further reading==
*((cite book |last=Barber |first=Major Charles H. |title=Besieged in Kut – and After |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.208480 |publisher=Blackwood |date=1917))
*((cite book |last=Barker |first=A.J. |title=The Bastard war: The Mesopotamian campaign of 1914-1918 |url=https://archive.org/details/bastardwarmeso00bark |url-access=registration |publisher=Dial |date=1967))
*((cite book |last=Braddon |first=Russell |title=The Siege |orig-year=1969 |publisher=Viking Adult |date=1970 |isbn=0-670-64386-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/siege00brad))
*((cite book |last=Davis |first=Paul K. |title=Ends and Means: the British Mesopotamian Campaign and Commission |publisher=Associated University Presses |date=1994))
*((cite book |last=Dixon |first=Dr. Norman F. |title=On the Psychology of Military Incompetence |orig-year=1976 |publisher=Pimlico |date=1994 |ref=95–109))
*((cite journal |last=Gardner |first=Nikolas |date=2004 |title=Sepoys and the Siege of Kut-al-Amara, December 1915&nbsp;–April 1961 |journal=War in History |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=307–326 |doi=10.1191/0968344504wh302oa |s2cid=159478598 |ref=307–326))
*((cite book |last=von Gleich |first=Gerold |title=Vom Balkan nach Bagdad: militärisch-politische Erinnerungen an dem Orient |publisher=Scherl Verlag |date=1921))
*((cite book |last=Harvey |first=Lt & Q-Mr. F. A. |title=The Sufferings of the Kut Garrison During Their March into Turkey as Prisoners of War 1916–1917 |place=Ludgershall, Wilts |publisher=The Adjutants's Press |date=1922))
*((cite web |last=Herbert |first=Aubrey |url=http://www.gwpda.org/wwi-www/Mons/mons.htm#TC |title=Mons, Anzac & Kut |publisher=Hutchinson |date=1919))
*((cite book |last=Keegan |first=John |date=1998 |title=The First World War |publisher=Random House Press))
*((cite book |last=Long |first=P. W. |title=Other Ranks of Kut |publisher=Williams & Norgate |date=1938))
*((cite book |last=Mouseley |first=Capt. E. O. |title=The Secrets of a Kuttite: An Authentic Story of Kut, Adventures in Captivity & Stamboul Intrigue |publisher=Bodley Head |date=1921))
*((cite book |last=Moynihan |first=Michael |title=God On Our Side |publisher=Secker & Warburg |date=1983))
*((cite book |last=Sandes |first=Major E. W. C. |title=In Kut & Captivity with the Sixth Indian Division |url=https://archive.org/details/inkutcaptivitywi00sand |publisher=Murray |date=1919))
*((cite book |last=Strachan |first=Hew |date=2003 |title=The First World War |ref=125 |publisher=Viking))
*((cite book |last=Townshend |first=Charles |title=When God Made Hell: The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914–1921 |publisher=Faber and Faber |date=2010))
*((cite book |last=Wilcox |first=Ron |date=2006 |title=Battles on the Tigris |place=Barnsley |publisher=Pen and Sword Military))

==External links==
*[http://www.1914-1918.net/meso_bat8.htm The siege of Kut-al-Amara, to 29 April 1915] – from the website The Long, Long Trail, downloaded January 2006.
*[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34069 A Kut Prisoner by H. C. W. Bishop] – e-book and HTML version with maps and graphics from Project Gutenberg.

((Ottoman battles in the 20th century))
((Authority control))

((DEFAULTSORT:Siege Of Kut))
[[Category:Conflicts in 1915|Kut]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1916|Kut]]
[[Category:1915 in Ottoman Iraq]]
[[Category:1916 in Ottoman Iraq]]
[[Category:Battles of World War I involving the Ottoman Empire|Kut]]
[[Category:Battles of World War I involving the United Kingdom|Kut]]
[[Category:Battles of World War I involving British India|Kut]]
[[Category:Battles of the Mesopotamian campaign|Kut 1]]
[[Category:Sieges involving the United Kingdom|Kut]]
[[Category:Sieges involving the Ottoman Empire|Kut]]
[[Category:Sieges of World War I|Kut]]
[[Category:History of Kut]]
[[Category:December 1915 events]]
[[Category:January 1916 events]]
[[Category:February 1916 events]]
[[Category:March 1916 events]]
[[Category:April 1916 events]]
[[Category:World War I crimes by the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Sieges involving Iraq]]

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