Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/80

62

arms, ammunition and equipment for a meal. Horses went for a few shillings, but this movement had completed the denudation of western Persia, already suffering from serious scarcity of for- age, so that there were few buyers. Briefly, famine conditions prevailed in W. and N.W. Persia, and indeed in the other prov- inces. Such was the local position, but the world-results were still more serious. While Russia was fighting on the side of the Allies, her army stretched southwards from the European front across the Caucasus and N.W. Persia until, as we have seen, its extreme left flank, in 1917, touched the right flank of the British army in Mesopotamia, and thereby effectually prevented our enemies from approaching the frontiers of India. The ambitions of Germany to reach the Persian Gulf and India by that potent instrument, the Bagdad railway, had been rendered nugatory by the capture of Basra, but the collapse of Russia opened up a com- pleted line of northern advance across the Caucasus and the Cas- pian Sea to "Ashqabad, Merv (the junction for Kushk, within striking distance of Herat), Bukhara, Samarkand, and Tashkent, the administrative centre of Russian Turkestan. Over 100,000 German and Austrian prisoners were in Central Asia and, when through communication had been established, it would have been easy to reorganize these veterans and march on Kabul, with an invitation to the Afghans to share in the plunder of India.

When the Russian Empire proved to all the world its utter rottenness, Georgia and Armenia decided to claim their indepen- dence, and a third state came into being under the title of the republic of Azerbaijan, with Baku as its capital. In connexion with efforts made to ward off this terrible threat to India, Brit- ish troops entered western Persia.

The Dunsterville Mission. It was out of the question to dis- patch large bodies of troops to support the Georgians or Arme- nians, as Bagdad was 800 m. distant from Baku. The authori- ties therefore decided to dispatch a military mission to reorgan- ize the sound elements of the country into a force that would prevent the Turks and their German masters from reaching Baku. It was hoped that these small states would fight for their homes, but the Armenians absolutely failed to do this. Maj.-Gen. L. C. Dunsterville was appointed to command this mission, and, in Feb. 1918, he started off from Bagdad with a party of officers in 40 cars to cross N.W. Persia. Enzeli was his objective, and he hoped from that port to be able to proceed to Baku and Tiflis. He reached Enzeli only to find that the port and its shipping were in the hands of hostile Bolshevists, while the neighbourhood was dominated by Mirza Kuchik Khan, an ambitious brigand who had recruited some 4,000 followers, nicknamed Jangalis or "Forest Dwellers," to the cry of "Persia for the Persians" and who robbed his countrymen if they refused to join him. Dunsterville quickly realized the situation, and, before his opponents had con- certed their plans and had overcome their fear of the armoured motor-car, the mission had retired to Kazvin and Hamadan, which latter city became its headquarters. During this period, Dun- sterville was brought into close relations with the Russian gener- als Saratov and Bicherakov. The former had commanded the Russian troops in northern Persia and was now helplessly watch- ing their disintegration. The latter, on the contrary, had kept his command of 1,200 men practically intact. By March, the last of Saratov's men had left, but Dunsterville had been able to keep Bicherakov's command at his side. Without its aid, the Jangalis, elated by the retirement of the mission which was mag- nified into a great victory over a British army, would have been able to march on the capital. There they would probably have introduced a reign of anarchy and have forced Persia into the war on the side of the Central Powers, with whom Kuchik Khan had close relations, and also German, Austrian and Turkish instruc- tors, well supplied with machine-guns. When the Jangalis marched on Kazvin, Bicherakov forestalled them and drove them back to the forests with heavy losses. He then embarked at Enzeli. Dunsterville, who had received reinforcements consist- ing of a regiment of cavalry, a battery and two regiments of in- fantry, followed behind Bicherakov and took over the road. The Jangalis, under their European officers, attacked a detachment at Resht, but suffered heavy losses, and Kuchik Khan made

terms and became a contractor for supplies. About this time, the Bolshevist Government at Baku was overthrown and replaced by the Central-Caspian Dictatorship, which asked for British assistance. Dunsterville took his force to Baku, held it for some weeks against overwhelming Turkish numbers, denying the use of the oil wells to the enemy, whom he also kept away from the Caspian Sea, and finally evacuated the town and re- turned to Enzeli, thus ending a very gallant episode of the war.

During the early autumn of 1918, more troops were moved up into N.W. Persia to prevent the threatened Turkish advance from Azerbaijan, the plan being to hold the Sehneh Bijar-Zen- jan-Enzeli line. Actually the threat came to nothing, but a bri- gade of British troops was kept at Kazvin to protect Persia against the Bolshevists and to prevent the main route into Persia being dosed. In March 1921, it was under orders to withdraw.

The Flight of the Assyrian Christians from Urmia. Among the picturesque incidents of the World War, the rallying of the Assyrian Christians to the Russians, their migration to Urmia and their determined bravery in the face of enemies threatening to overwhelm them, have already been described. In the summer of 1918, an attempt was made by the British to help them with munitions and money, and a party of the refugees broke through the weak Turkish lines to receive the proffered aid. Unfortunately, false rumours of a disaster reached the main body of tribesmen who, collecting their families and flocks, fled panic-stricken to Bijar, pursued by Persians, Turks and Kurds. Every effort was made by the British to aid the refugees, but many fell on the road, by the sword and from hunger and fatigue, before the tribe, reduced to half its original number, was in safety. This flight eclipsed in dramatic interest that of the Torgut Mongols, so vividly described by De Quincey.

Military Mission of Maj.-Gen. Sir Wilfrid Malleson. Not content with trying to head off the Turks at Baku, a second mis- sion was despatched along the newly completed Nushki-Duzdab railway and then through Scistan and Meshed to Transcaspia to support the Turkoman and Russians who, under the title of Menshevists, were attempting to stem the flood of Bolshevism. Eastern Persia constituted part of the lines of communication of the mission, and there were no hostilities with the inhabitants, who, on the contrary, appeared to have realized the advantages of having a good route opened up through their country by a force which paid fair prices for everything it bought. Many gallant deeds were done by the small British detachments fighting along the Central Asian railway, and also by the force under Commo- dore D. T. Norris who, operating from Krasnovodsk, drove the Bolshevist flag off the Caspian Sea.

The Investment of Shiraz by the Kashgais. In the spring of 1918, the Persian Government, in reply to a British note, de- nounced the S. Persia Rifles as a foreign force and a threat to Persian independence and integrity. It also expressed the hope that the British Government would withdraw its troops and al- low Persia to commence her cherished reforms. Characteristi- cally enough, while denouncing the conditions, it readily accepted the proffered financial help. The Cabinet was under the impres- sion that Germany was winning the World War or else such a curt note would have never been penned. This reply was pub- lished all over southern Persia to the discouragement of our friends and the elation of our enemies. The results were speedily shown in serious desertions from the S. Persia Rifles and culmi- nated in the formation of a confederacy under the Kashgai chief to annihilate the British in southern Persia. The date of an at- tack on the Indian troops at Shiraz was fixed by the grazing which would allow the nomads to keep their flocks in the neighbourhood, and, as there was a month to spare, Sir Percy Sykes despatched a column to deal with some raiding tribes in the vicinity of Niriz, which were known to have joined the Kashgai confederacy. These operations were successful and the small Indian detach- ment at Niriz was unmolested when the storm broke.

The day the column returned to Shiraz, Solah wrote that, by the orders of the Persian Government, he was about to take ac- tion for the defence of Islam against the " unauthorized force " of the S. Persia Rifles. He had at his disposal 4,500 Kashgais and 1,500 Kazerunis and this number was reinforced by contin- gents from Dashti, Dashtistan and elsewhere, and reached about 8,600 fighting men. The tribesmen were well armed with Mau- sers, had plenty of ammunition, and fought both bravely and