oast. She would need very
material assistance from the allied fleets, and her part in the Balkan
operations would appear therefore to depend on cohesive action among
the allied admirals. The loss of Avlona would inflict a blow on the
prestige of the Allies paralleling that of the Gallipoli debacle. Yet
at the end of February, 1916, the Austrians, advancing along the coast
in conjunction with Bulgarians coming from Monastir, would appear to
be making Avlona their objective. Austrian success would make the
Adriatic a _mere clausum_ to the allied fleets and cripple Italy in
one of her chief arms of defense and offense.

PART X--CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA

CHAPTER LI

OPERATIONS AGAINST BAGDAD AND AROUND THE TIGRIS

The British campaign in Mesopotamia during the first year of the war
had been generally successful. After the capture of Basra in November,
1914, the Delta country was cleared of the enemy and the safety of the
oil fields assured. A period of quiet followed, broken only when the
Turks took the offensive, which failed, in April, 1915. Late in May
the British won a decisive victory over the Turkish troops at Kurna.
In July, 1915, the ill-fated expedition against the enemy forces
guarding Bagdad was planned. Later, after the failure in the
Dardanelles, it was necessary to attempt something spectacular that
would restore British prestige in the Orient, and this could be
accomplished by the capture of Bagdad.

The British position in regard to Persia had become difficult. It was
known that the German Ambassador at Teheran, Prince Henry XXXI of
Reuss, was scheming with Persian tribes and Persian statesmen and
politicians, and also trying to win over the armed police and their
Swedish officers. Russia and Great Britain had established this police
system to protect the highways from brigands, and Swedish officers had
been chosen to command them because they might be counted on not to
favor Russian or British interests.

[Illustration: The Bagdad Railroad.]

The mountain tribes on the Turko-Persian border were in a state of
unrest and seemed to be only waiting an opportunity to show their
hostility toward the foes of Germany and Turkey. The Swedish-led
gendarmerie were also more than suspected by the British of having
been won over by German agents. The Russian army in the Caucasus
meanwhile was accomplishing little or nothing, while the Turkish
forces in part were extending toward the Persian highlan