When Jerusalem Met Gallipoli 100 Years Ago; When Turks Met Jews on the Battlefield

Israel Picture a Day ^ | March 29, 2015 | Our Mission

[wtd]

• WW100: When Jerusalem Met Gallipoli 100 Years Ago; When Turks Met Jews on the Battlefield

• Ottoman Imperial Archives Image

• image/map

  World War I began in Europe in the summer of 1914 with major battles between the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary versus the Triple Alliance of the United Kingdom, France and Russia. The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) joined with the Central Powers and attacked the British at the Suez Canal in January 1915.

  In an attempt to put pressure on Germany and Turkey, Britain sent warships to the Dardanelle Straits in April 1915, planning sail up the narrow, 60-mile-long waterway to shell Constantinople and break through to the Black Sea to relieve German pressure on Russia. Many of the ships were sunk or badly damaged up by Turkish shore artillery and naval mines and the rest were forced to retreat. A subsequent amphibious landing of British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli met with stiff resistance. A long eight month slug-fest ensued with an estimated 250,000 wounded and dead on both sides.

• Image: Ottoman troops off for the front on Gallipoli Ottoman soldiers departing Jerusalem through the Old City's Lions Gate in 1915. Destination: Gallipoli (Ottoman Empire Archives)

  We discovered the picture above in the newly digitized Ottoman Empire Archives with a caption explaining the Turkish troops were heading off to fight on Gallipoli. The photo could explain the next two 1915 photos we found that were missing captions.

• Image Was this picture of soldiers taken at the same time in front of the Al Aqsa Mosque? The Lion's Gate is very close to this location. (Ottoman Empire Archives)

  The Zion Mule Corps and Gallipoli Image This group of soldiers, also in front of the al-Aqsa Mosque, is identified as having come from Medina in the Arabian Penninsula. Was it taken before they went to Gallipoli? (Ottoman Empire Archives)

  In The Zion Muleteers of Gallipoli, the author Martin Sugarman, wrote, "In March 1915 the Zion Mule Corps became the first regular Jewish fighting force to take active part in a war since the defeat of the Bar Kochba Revolt 2000 years ago. Some of its men later formed the core of what was to become the modern Israeli army."

  The Jewish corps was formed in British-held Egypt and consisted of local Egyptian Jews, Jewish exile from Turkish-ruled Palestine, and British officers. Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson commanded the unit, officers included Zev Jabotinsky and Yosef Trumpledor who were expelled from Palestine. View more on the Jewish unit here.

  continue at Picture a Day

[wtd]

Given current circumstances unfolding in the Middle East,

• DanielPipes: Islam Bulldozes the Past

• Four Egypt warships enter Suez en route to Gulf of Aden, perhaps this pictorial essay is of interest to readers.

  Israel's "Picture a Day" is a blog which presents historic images of Israel's past. The blog posts these pictures with as many identifying features as they can. At times, information is scarce, and photos posted in their "Picture a Day" blog receives additional information or confirmation of details which can update the permanent archive.

[exnavy]

Islam is the enemy of the world.

[wtd]

Related:

• Egypt seizes Bab el Mandeb ahead of Iran.. WAR AHEAD? Lead from behind

  DEBKA:

  In a surprise step, Egyptian marine naval and marine forces Thursday morning, March 26, seized control of the strategic Bab El-Mandeb Straits to foil Tehran’s plans to grab this important energy shipping gateway between the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal, Debka’s military sources report from the Gulf. Egypt disguised the raid as a counter-piracy operation. It rounded off the Saudi-led air strikes launched the same morning against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. These operations signaled the start of a major Sunni Arab revolt against Iran’s approaching takeover of Yemen, through its Houthi proxy, and advances in other strategic positions in the Middle East, with Washington’s support.

• Image: Map

  Yemen Conflict Could Disrupt Major Oil Shipping Route; Insurers Pull Back

  Conflict in Yemen risks spilling out into the busy sea lanes that pass it and potentially disrupt the narrow Bab el-Mandeb passage through which nearly 4 million barrels of oil are shipped daily to Europe, the United States and Asia.

  Oil prices rose as much as 6 percent on Thursday after neighboring Saudi Arabia and its allies launched air strikes on Yemen that targeted Iran-backed Houthi rebels fighting to oust Yemen’s president.

  The development is a gamble by the world’s top oil exporter to check Iranian influence in its backyard.

  “The collapse of Yemen as a political reality and the power of the Houthis will enable Iran to expand its presence on both sides of the Bab el-Mandeb, in the Gulf of Aden and in the Red Sea. Already discrete numbers of Iranian naval vessels regularly sail these waters,” J. Peter Pham of U.S. think tank the Atlantic Council said.

  Houthis attempting to control Yemen’s Bab El-Mandeb strait: source

  Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Recent advances by Yemen’s Houthi movement are part of an attempt to take control of the strategic Bab El-Mandeb strait off the Yemeni coast, military sources in the country said on Saturday.

  This comes as three members of the group and three military personnel were killed on Friday evening as the armed Houthis attempted an attack on the Al-Khoukha military camp just south of the coastal city of Al-Hudaydah, close to the strategic waterway.

  The Bab El-Mandeb, which connects the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea and Suez Canal, is one of the most important maritime corridors in the world, through which most of Yemen’s oil exports pass on their way to global markets.

  Retired Yemeni brigadier-general Mohsen Khasrouf told Asharq Al-Awsat the group “has its eyes firmly on the Bab El-Mandeb strait” and that Friday night’s attack represented “the first step on the road to taking control” of the waterway for the Houthis and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

  Many in Yemen believe Saleh has been aiding the Houthis’ recent efforts to strengthen their hold over swaths of Yemen, which have seen them take control of the capital Sana’a and other parts of the country as well as military and government buildings and facilities.

  Khasrouf said Saleh, a former army officer, still enjoyed great popularity within the Yemeni military, which he said the Houthis were now clearly attempting to control.

  “The Bab El-Mandeb strait is not just related to Yemen’s security but to the security of the whole region,” Khasrouf said, adding that Iran was acting through the Houthis and attempting to gain control of the strait, which in addition to Iranian control of the strait of Hormuz, would give the Islamic Republic a strategic maritime advantage on the Arabian Peninsula’s surrounding waterways.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

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[oldplayer]

How’s that “Arab Spring” working out? Oh well, it will soon be forgotten because of the “Summer of Recovery” of the US economy.

Somewhere in here, isn’t some think tank expert supposed to say “unexpected?”

Oldplayer

[SunkenCiv]

In The Zion Muleteers of Gallipoli, the author Martin Sugarman, wrote, "In March 1915 the Zion Mule Corps became the first regular Jewish fighting force to take active part in a war since the defeat of the Bar Kochba Revolt 2000 years ago. Some of its men later formed the core of what was to become the modern Israeli army." The Jewish corps was formed in British-held Egypt and consisted of local Egyptian Jews, Jewish exile from Turkish-ruled Palestine, and British officers. Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson commanded the unit, officers included Zev Jabotinsky and Yosef Trumpledor who were expelled from Palestine. View more on the Jewish unit here.

Thanks wtd.

[Sherman Logan]

In March 1915 the Zion Mule Corps became the first regular Jewish fighting force to take active part in a war since the defeat of the Bar Kochba Revolt 2000 years ago.

Not really. Look up the Khazars, who had a great deal to do with stopping the initial Muslim expansion and preserving Constantinople for another 800 years.

[Bigg Red]

Yes, it is. It is the enemy of life itself.