Siege Of Kut

The First World War's Mesopotamian campaign included the Battle of Kut. Kut was then a strategically significant town because of its proximity to oil - a resource that would forever change warfare - and was located around 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.

The Ottoman army besieged the town, which was defended by a British force of roughly 10,000 soldiers, on December 7, 1915. Even though it was eventually reinforced by a rescue force of around 30,000 soldiers, the British would still suffer a catastrophe during the siege.

One of the worst military conflicts in British history, the Ottoman troops slaughtered more over 30,000 British soldiers over the course of a nearly five-month siege, while being vastly outnumbered. By the end of battle, more than 13,000 men had been captured, including 476 officers and six generals. Following three assaults in December, Goltz oversaw the construction of siege fortifications aimed at Kut. He constructed defensive positions further down the Tigris River in order to block a river-borne relief in anticipation of a Basra-based attack using the river.

Date: 7 December 1915 – 29 April 1916
Location: Kut-al-Amara, Mesopotamia (modern Iraq)

Result: Ottoman victory