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| July–March 1916 |
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| THE HUSAYN-McMAHON CORRESPONDENCE. Husayn, sharif of Mecca, offered to revolt against the Ottomans if, after the war, the British would recognize him as the ruler of all Arab lands in the Fertile Crescent and Arabia. Sir Henry McMahon, British high commissioner in Egypt, welcomed Husayn's overtures, but with several reservations. Within the future Arab state, he demanded “special administrative arrangements” for the regions of Baghdad and Basra to protect British interests in the Persian Gulf. McMahon further excluded Alexandretta and Mersin and the lands west of the “districts of Damascus, Hama, Homs, and Aleppo” from the proposed state. Within Arabia, all existing political arrangements would be preserved. Finally, McMahon warned Husayn that Britain would not commit itself to any actions that compromised French interests. The British treated all their promises as mere declarations of intent, but Husayn—and later many Arab nationalists—viewed them as binding agreements. | 1 |
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| July |
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| Russian occupation of Erzinjan, which marked the farthest penetration of Russian arms into Ottoman territory. | 2 |
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| Aug |
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| Ottoman recapture of Van. | 3 |
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| Aug. 21 |
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| Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire. | 4 |
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| Sept. 22 |
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| Ottoman territorial concession to Bulgaria. Under pressure from Germany, the Ottomans ceded all claims to Thrace west of the Maritsa River so that the Bulgarians could have a direct outlet to the Aegean Sea. This concession was Bulgaria's price for entering the war (Oct. 1915) on the side of the Central powers. | 5 |
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| Nov |
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| Movement of Russian forces toward Tehran in response to German-Iranian talks. | 6 |
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| Nov |
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| Raids from Libya into Egypt by Sanusiyya tribes, penetrating as far as Marsa Matruh. The tribes were receiving advice and supplies from the Ottoman military. British counterattacks drove them back to Libyan territory by March 1916. | 7 |
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| Nov. 22–24 |
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| Defeat of the British army in Iraq at the Battle of Ctesiphon. British forces retreated to Kut and eventually surrendered to the Ottomans on Apr. 29, 1916. The Ottomans then sent troops into Iran during the summer of 1916. | 8 |
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