In 1918, the British assembled a handpicked unit to carry out a daring secret mission to the Caucasus. Their aim was to unify into an effective force the various anti-Bolshevik and anti-Turkish groups fighting there.
During the First World War, the British position in Egypt was threatened by rebellious Senussi tribesmen. The campaign against them took place in the unforgiving climate of the Western Desert.
In February 1916, the Allies finally completed the conquest of Germany’s West African colonies. One of the First World War’s forgotten sideshows, this campaign was fought in hostile terrain and disease-ridden jungles.
From 1915 to 1918, British troops were part of a multi-national Allied force fighting the Bulgarians and their allies in the Balkans. Despite harsh conditions, they eventually brought the campaign to a successful conclusion.
Gallipoli was the first major amphibious operation in modern warfare. In 1915, British Empire and French troops landed on the Ottoman-held peninsula in the Dardanelles Straits with disastrous consequences for the Allies.
On 9 July 1915, enemy forces in German South-West Africa (now Namibia) surrendered to the Allies. This marked the final stage of a short but successful campaign of manoeuvre fought in extremely harsh conditions.
In the autumn of 1914, British soldiers fought alongside the Japanese in China. Their goal was the German naval base at Tsingtao, which finally fell in November after a two-month siege.
1916 witnessed two of the longest and most notorious battles of the First World War. Both resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties for both the Allies and Germans on the Western Front.
During 1915, the British and French undertook a series of unsuccessful attacks against the Germans on the Western Front. For both sides it was a tough learning experience.
In August 1914, the British Expeditionary Force was sent to France. While relatively small, it would play a role out of all proportion to its size. But the cost was huge, and by December 1914 it had almost been wiped out.
The outbreak of war in August 1914 was greeted with enthusiasm in Britain. But to meet its commitment to its allies, the nation would have to expand its small professional army and make it ready for war as quickly as possible.
