Dimitri’s Reviews > Enemy on the Euphrates: The British Occupation of Iraq and the Great Arab Revolt 1914-1921 > Status Update

the siege of Rumaytha was just the beginning. in a little over a month the number of insurgents would swell to over 100k, with British forces compelled to withdraw from every town except Hilla/Kufa/Samawa, all surrounded. the great revolt, inevitable outcome of the incoherent policy of Britain since 1918, had begun.

So far, one mini revolt in the Mosul area, scattered by the usual arial bombardment & one mass deportation at Tal'Afar.

As yet (june 1920) it seemed the only disturbances likely to threaten British rule in Iraq during the coming mobths months wiuld emanate from Damascus, with its sheming Ottoman officers, or from Bolshevik agents infiltrating from Persia.

Within a mere six weeks all that would change.

The battle of Shu'ayba is probably the least known battle in the least known theatre of the First World War. But it was significant for two reasons. Firstly the strategic one, because if the British had lost, Basra would almost certainly have fallen & with it their whole bridgehead in Iraq. Secondly.. the majority of combatants on the Ottoman side were irregular Arab tribesmen. The call to Jihad worked this time.

The Navy was now building more oil-fired ships but the great battleships of the fleet remained coal-burning. Fisher continto campaign for these super weapons of the day to be fuelled by oil. This would increase their speed from an average of 20 knots to a world-beating 25.