WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

CHAPTER II
THE STRUGGLE WITH THE TURK
PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA
Near East Front the one bright spot — Strategic value of attack on Turkey —
Turkey in vulnerable position — Pan-Turanian outlook of Turks — Russians
command the Black Sea — Review of fronts attacked — Position at end of
1916 — Turkish strength in Palestine — War Office instructions to Maude and
Murray — Arab support for the British — Our responsibility for three fronts —
Lawrence of Arabia — Maude's successes in Mesopotamia — Maude asks permission
to advance — Robertson's objections overruled — Capture of Baghdad —
Russian cooperation breaks down — Maude's brilliant campaign — Death of
Maude — Defence of Egypt and Suez Canal — My advocacy of Palestine
campaign — Murray's instructions extended — Robertson cannot spare reinforcements
— Murray's instructions watered down — Sinai Peninsula cleared
of Turks — Robertson's memorandum on Palestine campaign — Cabinet accepts
advice of General Smuts — More troops ordered from India — Sykes-
Picot Agreement — First Battle of Gaza — Murray invited to capture Jerusalem—
Second Battle of Gaza — Change in Egyptian Command: Smuts approached
— Smuts declines command — Protests at Smuts' inclusion in War
Cabinet — Appointment of General Allenby — His preparations for advance —
Beersheba and Gaza captured — Fall of Jerusalem — Effects of our victory —
Disputes as to Allenby's reinforcements — Smuts sent to investigate the position
— Smuts recommends Aleppo campaign — Allenby's final advance — Importance
of Turkish Front proved.
IF the year 1917 was one of difficulty and disaster for the
Allies on the battlefields of Europe, it witnessed some striking
and heartening successes for our cause in the Near East.
Here was the one bright spot in our land operations. And we
needed the encouragement; for nearer home we had the
failure of the Nivelle offensive, the mutiny of the French
troops, the breakdown of Russia, the massacres of Passchendaele,
and the Italian collapse of Caporetto. The "Western
Front" strategy had once more turned out to be a bloody
repulse, bloodier than ever. That failure had reacted on the
position in the Near East, for before the close of the year it
had rendered inevitable the conclusion of armistices with the