WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.180 Welcome to the deep dive. We are, well, we're 00:00:03.180 --> 00:00:05.320 thrilled to have you with us today. Absolutely. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:07.480 If you're joining us, you're likely the kind 00:00:07.480 --> 00:00:09.880 of person who is always looking for those hidden, 00:00:10.380 --> 00:00:13.240 pivotal moments in history. You know, the specific 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:16.100 overlooked flash points that explain exactly 00:00:16.100 --> 00:00:18.500 how our modern world was built. Right. The details 00:00:18.500 --> 00:00:20.600 that usually get left out of the textbooks. Exactly. 00:00:21.179 --> 00:00:25.260 Well, today we are focusing entirely on a single, 00:00:25.980 --> 00:00:28.940 incredibly dense historical source that we've 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:31.559 been pouring over. It's a detailed breakdown 00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:34.200 of the Battle of Charcot. Which is just a fascinating 00:00:34.200 --> 00:00:36.740 document. It really is. Our mission today is 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:40.420 to unpack this frantic, chaotic, final clash 00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:42.640 between the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.280 in the Middle East. We're going to explore how 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:48.380 a desperate race against the clock, specifically 00:00:48.380 --> 00:00:51.000 for oil fields, fundamentally shaped the end 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:53.840 of the First World War. And, by extension, the 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:56.500 geopolitical map we live with today. Yeah. So 00:00:56.500 --> 00:00:58.659 to properly set the time frame for you, we need 00:00:58.659 --> 00:01:00.520 to... Well, to place ourselves, we're looking 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:03.979 at late October 1918. The world is teetering 00:01:03.979 --> 00:01:07.560 right on the precipice of peace. The First World 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:11.359 War has been raging for four brutal years. Millions 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:14.260 of lives have been lost. Entire empires have 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:18.500 been bled dry. And the end is finally palpably 00:01:18.500 --> 00:01:20.719 in sight. It's right there. It is. But in the 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:23.700 Mesopotamian campaign, which encompasses what 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:26.629 we know today as modern Iraq area, The guns are 00:01:26.629 --> 00:01:28.989 still firing. Yeah, the ink isn't on the armistice 00:01:28.989 --> 00:01:31.890 paper yet. Exactly. The diplomats are talking, 00:01:31.950 --> 00:01:34.909 but on the ground, the final moves on the chessboard 00:01:34.909 --> 00:01:38.049 are still being aggressively and violently played 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:40.650 out. OK, let's unpack this. We need to look at 00:01:40.650 --> 00:01:43.030 the big picture first, because the context here 00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:45.370 is everything. Right. It's the fall of 1918, 00:01:45.810 --> 00:01:47.849 and the Ottoman Empire, which has ruled this 00:01:47.849 --> 00:01:50.890 entire region for centuries, is rapidly collapsing. 00:01:51.049 --> 00:01:53.730 They've just suffered a decisive defeat in Palestine. 00:01:53.950 --> 00:01:57.269 And over in Europe, their ally Bulgaria has already 00:01:57.269 --> 00:01:59.609 surrendered. Right. So everyone from the highest 00:01:59.609 --> 00:02:01.569 ranking generals down to the foot soldiers in 00:02:01.569 --> 00:02:03.969 the trenches, they know an armistice is coming 00:02:03.969 --> 00:02:06.890 any minute. It's a waiting game. Exactly. The 00:02:06.890 --> 00:02:09.650 war, for all intents and purposes, is practically 00:02:09.650 --> 00:02:12.629 over. Yet in the middle of all this impending 00:02:12.629 --> 00:02:16.069 peace, the British premier, David Lloyd George, 00:02:16.610 --> 00:02:20.360 sends a very specific, urgent directive down 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:22.939 to his commander on the ground. Sir William Marshall. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:25.000 Sir William Marshall, yeah. And that directive 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.419 is really the spark that ignites this entire 00:02:27.419 --> 00:02:30.300 final battle. Marshall is the commander in chief 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:33.199 on the Mesopotamian front. The order he receives 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:35.620 from London in these waning days of the war is 00:02:35.620 --> 00:02:38.639 twofold. OK. First, he's ordered to completely 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:41.840 remove any residual Ottoman military presence 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:44.020 from that theater by launching a massive twin 00:02:44.020 --> 00:02:46.479 advance of both the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. 00:02:46.659 --> 00:02:48.479 There's a second part. Right. The second part 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:51.560 of the order is the The real prize Marshall is 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:53.979 told to secure is the capture of the oil fields 00:02:53.979 --> 00:02:57.039 near the town of Mosul, situated far up the Tigris 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:58.819 River. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:02:59.259 --> 00:03:02.120 this represents a monumental paradigm shift in 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:04.139 global military strategy. Oh, absolutely. For 00:03:04.139 --> 00:03:06.580 years, the First World War has been a gruesome 00:03:06.580 --> 00:03:09.500 war of attrition. It was about grinding opposing 00:03:09.500 --> 00:03:12.860 armies into the mud just to survive. But this 00:03:12.860 --> 00:03:14.939 order from Lloyd George— It changes everything. 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:17.159 It does. This is no longer about attrition or 00:03:17.159 --> 00:03:19.800 simply defeating an enemy. This is a strategic, 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:23.319 calculated land grab. Because the British government 00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:26.000 recognizes that the post -war world is going 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:29.099 to look fundamentally different. A few years 00:03:29.099 --> 00:03:32.099 prior, Winston Churchill had famously transitioned 00:03:32.099 --> 00:03:34.960 the British naval fleet from burning coal to 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:37.909 burning oil. Right. Because oil offered greater 00:03:37.909 --> 00:03:40.810 speed, greater efficiency, and less reliance 00:03:40.810 --> 00:03:43.509 on massive coaling stations. Which means oil 00:03:43.509 --> 00:03:45.909 is no longer just a commodity. No, it's a matter 00:03:45.909 --> 00:03:48.810 of sheer existential national security. If you 00:03:48.810 --> 00:03:50.949 control the petroleum, you literally control 00:03:50.949 --> 00:03:53.650 the oceans. Precisely. The energy resources in 00:03:53.650 --> 00:03:56.849 the Mosul region are vast and largely untapped. 00:03:57.169 --> 00:03:59.289 The British War Cabinet realizes that whoever 00:03:59.289 --> 00:04:01.789 is physically standing on that specific patch 00:04:01.789 --> 00:04:04.110 of dirt when the music stops... When the armistice 00:04:04.110 --> 00:04:07.310 is signed. Exactly. Whoever is there gets to 00:04:07.310 --> 00:04:09.610 claim the energy resources that will fuel the 00:04:09.610 --> 00:04:12.889 next century of global dominance. It's a mad 00:04:12.889 --> 00:04:15.110 dash for the future. But Sir William Marshall 00:04:15.110 --> 00:04:18.009 runs into a massive logistical nightmare right 00:04:18.009 --> 00:04:21.029 out of the gate. You'd think for a prize this 00:04:21.029 --> 00:04:23.449 critical to the British Empire, London would 00:04:23.449 --> 00:04:25.970 give him every possible resource. You would think 00:04:25.970 --> 00:04:29.250 so. Instead, he faces a crippling transport shortage. 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:32.000 The source material explains that a huge portion 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:34.339 of his transport vehicles had already been stripped 00:04:34.339 --> 00:04:36.959 away and supplied to an operation known as Dunster 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:39.540 Force, which, for those who might not be familiar, 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:42.300 was essentially a covert Allied military mission 00:04:42.300 --> 00:04:45.139 sent far to the north into the Caucasus region, 00:04:45.660 --> 00:04:48.540 specifically toward Baku, to secure other crucial 00:04:48.540 --> 00:04:51.430 oil pipelines. And that covert mission reveals 00:04:51.430 --> 00:04:53.930 just how obsessed the British command was with 00:04:53.930 --> 00:04:56.189 securing petroleum across the entire region. 00:04:56.269 --> 00:04:58.389 Yeah. But the immediate consequence for Marshall 00:04:58.389 --> 00:05:00.889 is that he is sitting in Baghdad with a mandate 00:05:00.889 --> 00:05:04.110 to capture Mosul, but without the physical vehicles 00:05:04.110 --> 00:05:07.370 required to rapidly move a massive army up two 00:05:07.370 --> 00:05:09.370 different river valleys. He actually has to push 00:05:09.370 --> 00:05:11.879 back against the prime minister's order. He does. 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:14.220 He informs London that he simply doesn't have 00:05:14.220 --> 00:05:16.959 the wheels to do both, and he persuades them 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:19.420 to limit the advance strictly to the Tigris Front. 00:05:19.540 --> 00:05:21.759 Which brings us to the harsh reality of military 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:24.199 logistics. If you don't have enough trucks, you 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:26.920 have to use boots. Yeah. And that brings us to 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:31.399 October 23, 1918. The march officially begins. 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:34.439 Sir Alexander Cobb is tapped to lead an Anglo 00:05:34.439 --> 00:05:37.600 -Indian force out of Baghdad, pushing north toward 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:40.569 Mosul. And the makeup of this force is fascinating. 00:05:40.689 --> 00:05:43.990 It really is. It truly highlights the sprawling 00:05:43.990 --> 00:05:46.589 global nature of the British Empire at that time. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:49.800 You're looking at a highly diverse combined force 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:52.439 converging on this one stretch of the Tigris. 00:05:52.660 --> 00:05:55.220 Khab is commanding the 17th and 18th Indian divisions, 00:05:55.319 --> 00:05:57.660 doing the heavy lifting as infantry. Right. Along 00:05:57.660 --> 00:06:00.120 with the 7th and 11th Indian cavalry brigades 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:02.360 providing the speed. And crucially, the source 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:04.560 notes, they are joined by Assyrian volunteers. 00:06:04.860 --> 00:06:08.000 Specifically led by Malik Yako and Aga Petros. 00:06:08.579 --> 00:06:12.279 Yes. When you visualize this, it's an incredible 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:15.920 cross section of humanity. You have Indian infantrymen, 00:06:16.300 --> 00:06:18.879 British cavalry officers, and local Assyrian 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:21.500 volunteers who are fighting for their own homeland 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:24.579 and survival, all marching together through the 00:06:24.579 --> 00:06:27.199 dust of Iraq. And they're marching at an absolutely 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:29.279 blistering pace because they are fighting a two 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:32.019 -front war here. The actual military in the ticking 00:06:32.019 --> 00:06:34.439 clock. Exactly. One against the Ottoman army 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:37.420 and one against the diplomatic clock. They are 00:06:37.420 --> 00:06:40.339 acutely aware... that peace negotiators are sitting 00:06:40.339 --> 00:06:43.279 in rooms right at that very moment, drawing up 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:45.620 the end of the war. To give you a sense of that 00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:48.639 pace, we really need to dwell on the sheer physical 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:50.819 toll this took on the soldiers and their animals. 00:06:50.939 --> 00:06:53.779 It's brutal. According to the records, Cobb's 00:06:53.779 --> 00:06:58.220 force covers 120 kilometers. That's 75 miles 00:06:58.220 --> 00:07:02.160 in just 39 hours. Wow. I want you to truly imagine 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:04.319 the mechanics of that. That's equivalent of running 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:07.129 nearly three back -to -back marathons. But these 00:07:07.129 --> 00:07:09.490 men aren't in lightweight running gear. No, they're 00:07:09.490 --> 00:07:12.290 in full combat kits. They're wearing heavy woolen 00:07:12.290 --> 00:07:14.910 uniforms in the punishing Iraqi climate. They're 00:07:14.910 --> 00:07:17.870 carrying Lee -Enfield rifles, ammunition pouches, 00:07:18.009 --> 00:07:20.910 canteens, and heavy packs. They're marching through 00:07:20.910 --> 00:07:24.069 rugged, unforgiving desert terrain. And they 00:07:24.069 --> 00:07:26.990 maintain that pace for a day and a half. Operating 00:07:26.990 --> 00:07:30.170 on almost zero sleep, pushing their horses to 00:07:30.170 --> 00:07:32.720 the absolute brink of collapse. The level of 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:34.980 physical endurance required for that kind of 00:07:34.980 --> 00:07:38.060 movement is staggering. When you push an entire 00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:41.160 military apparatus, infantry columns, cavalry 00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:43.180 squadrons, and whatever supply lines can keep 00:07:43.180 --> 00:07:46.319 up that distance in 39 hours, it demonstrates 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:49.180 just how desperate the high command was to reach 00:07:49.180 --> 00:07:51.899 those oil fields before the war officially ended. 00:07:52.220 --> 00:07:53.839 They're essentially outrunning their own logistics 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:56.660 just to put boots on the ground. Exactly. So 00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:58.920 after this grueling sprint, they finally arrive 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:01.980 at their first major obstacle, the Zab River, 00:08:02.459 --> 00:08:04.839 and they find that they aren't alone. Waiting 00:08:04.839 --> 00:08:07.220 for them on the other side is the Dickel group, 00:08:07.480 --> 00:08:10.040 or the Tigris group, of the Ottoman 6th Army. 00:08:10.339 --> 00:08:12.319 This is where we're introduced to the Ottoman 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:14.519 commander tasked with defending this approach, 00:08:14.980 --> 00:08:18.360 Ismail Haka Bey. He commands the Ottoman 14th 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:20.920 Division. But to understand his decisions over 00:08:20.920 --> 00:08:22.959 the next few days, we have to look closely at 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:26.019 the actual condition of his forces. The Ottoman 00:08:26.019 --> 00:08:30.660 6th Army, at this stage in late 1918, is in a 00:08:30.660 --> 00:08:33.120 deeply fragile state. They've been fighting nonstop 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:35.820 for years. enduring the same brutal conditions 00:08:35.820 --> 00:08:38.779 as the British forces. They have, but the historical 00:08:38.779 --> 00:08:41.100 breakdown notes, they were severely compromised 00:08:41.100 --> 00:08:44.600 by a complete lack of reinforcements. Akebe's 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:47.639 forces technically comprised two distinct army 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:50.840 corps. the 8th Corps, encompassing the 14th and 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:53.700 46th Divisions. OK. And the 3rd Corps, making 00:08:53.700 --> 00:08:56.799 up the 2nd and 6th Divisions. Now, on a military 00:08:56.799 --> 00:09:00.059 map, two full army corps sounds incredibly imposing. 00:09:00.179 --> 00:09:02.600 Sounds huge. But in reality, these units were 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:04.539 entirely hollowed out. They were ghost units. 00:09:04.659 --> 00:09:06.259 Or regiments that should have had thousands of 00:09:06.259 --> 00:09:08.539 men. Reduced to the size of small companies. 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:11.580 They were exhausted, subsisting on minimal rations, 00:09:11.860 --> 00:09:14.059 chronically under -equipped. And now they are 00:09:14.059 --> 00:09:16.379 staring down a massive, highly motivated enemy 00:09:16.379 --> 00:09:19.190 force that has just sprinted 75 miles to reach 00:09:19.190 --> 00:09:21.970 them. But wait, if Hakabe knows his forces are 00:09:21.970 --> 00:09:24.090 hollowed out and he knows peace is practically 00:09:24.090 --> 00:09:27.570 days away, why retreat at all? Right. Why not 00:09:27.570 --> 00:09:30.429 simply dig in at the Little Zab River or even 00:09:30.429 --> 00:09:33.309 just surrender right there and then rather than 00:09:33.309 --> 00:09:35.730 making his exhausted men march again? It comes 00:09:35.730 --> 00:09:38.629 down to basic tactical survival and the duty 00:09:38.629 --> 00:09:42.269 of a commander to buy time. Haka Bay assesses 00:09:42.269 --> 00:09:44.809 the situation and sees that his army's rear is 00:09:44.809 --> 00:09:47.210 actively threatened by the sheer speed of the 00:09:47.210 --> 00:09:48.909 Anglo -Indian advance. Because they're moving 00:09:48.909 --> 00:09:51.779 so fast. Right. If he stays at the Little Zab 00:09:51.779 --> 00:09:54.860 River, he risks being completely encircled and 00:09:54.860 --> 00:09:56.860 annihilated before the diplomats can sign the 00:09:56.860 --> 00:10:00.539 peace treaty. So he executes a textbook tactical 00:10:00.539 --> 00:10:02.879 withdrawal. He pulls back. He pulls his forces 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:05.980 back another 100 kilometers, about 62 miles further 00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:08.639 north, to a highly defensible position at a place 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:11.820 called Al -Shirkhat. By doing this, he forces 00:10:11.820 --> 00:10:14.200 the British to stretch their already strained 00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:16.960 supply lines even further. He's playing rope 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:19.179 -a -dope, hoping the British exhaust themselves 00:10:19.179 --> 00:10:21.409 before or they can strike a fatal blow. Here's 00:10:21.409 --> 00:10:23.590 where it gets really interesting. Cobb isn't 00:10:23.590 --> 00:10:25.350 going to just let them retreat, consolidate, 00:10:25.490 --> 00:10:27.750 and wait out the clock. He decides to force the 00:10:27.750 --> 00:10:29.769 issue. He doesn't have a choice with the armistice 00:10:29.769 --> 00:10:33.909 looming. Exactly. On October 29th, Cobb launches 00:10:33.909 --> 00:10:37.590 his attack at Elsher Cot. He sends the 11th Cavalry 00:10:37.590 --> 00:10:40.250 Brigade, pushing forward with orders to pin down 00:10:40.250 --> 00:10:43.610 the Ottoman front line to hold Haka Bay's forces 00:10:43.610 --> 00:10:46.570 in place while the heavier infantry of the 17th 00:10:46.570 --> 00:10:48.950 Division moves up to deliver the hammer blow. 00:10:49.320 --> 00:10:53.179 But as military historians always note, no plan 00:10:53.179 --> 00:10:56.039 survives first contact with the enemy. The tactical 00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:58.799 logic starts to break down because the 17th Division 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:01.340 gets delayed. The terrain, the exhaustion, the 00:11:01.340 --> 00:11:03.659 logistics, whatever the specific friction was, 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.139 they simply do not arrive on time to support 00:11:06.139 --> 00:11:09.159 the cavalry. Which leaves the 11th Cavalry Brigade 00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:12.039 completely exposed out in the open. Sitting ducks. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:14.769 Yeah. They're pinned down by the Ottoman defense 00:11:14.769 --> 00:11:17.389 and they are forced to endure an entire night 00:11:17.389 --> 00:11:19.889 of being relentlessly shelled by Ottoman artillery. 00:11:20.250 --> 00:11:21.649 You have to put yourself in their boots for a 00:11:21.649 --> 00:11:23.470 moment. You've just force -marched across the 00:11:23.470 --> 00:11:26.049 desert. You engage a desperate enemy. Your heavy 00:11:26.049 --> 00:11:28.509 backup fails to show up. And you spend the entire 00:11:28.509 --> 00:11:30.929 night huddled in the dark while high explosive 00:11:30.929 --> 00:11:33.549 artillery rains down around you. The psychological 00:11:33.549 --> 00:11:36.029 and physical toll of that night must have been 00:11:36.029 --> 00:11:38.590 unimaginable. It creates a desperate situation 00:11:38.590 --> 00:11:40.929 that requires a desperate solution, and that 00:11:40.929 --> 00:11:43.269 leads directly to the climax of the battle on 00:11:43.269 --> 00:11:46.309 the morning of October 30th. Exactly. When the 00:11:46.309 --> 00:11:49.190 sun comes up on October 30th, the British forces, 00:11:49.870 --> 00:11:53.169 specifically the 13th Hussars, realize they cannot 00:11:53.169 --> 00:11:55.730 survive another day under those Ottoman guns. 00:11:56.529 --> 00:11:58.690 The artillery is positioned up on a commanding 00:11:58.690 --> 00:12:01.889 hill, raining fire down on their positions. So 00:12:01.889 --> 00:12:04.659 the Hussars decide to take extreme action. But 00:12:04.659 --> 00:12:06.620 they don't draw their swords and charge up the 00:12:06.620 --> 00:12:08.620 hill on horseback like a scene from the Crimean 00:12:08.620 --> 00:12:11.620 War. They execute a dismounted charge. Now, you 00:12:11.620 --> 00:12:14.120 might be wondering why a proud cavalry unit would 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:16.320 willingly get off their horses for a critical 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.059 charge. Seems counterintuitive. It does. But 00:12:19.059 --> 00:12:22.039 by 1918, military technology had fundamentally 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:24.659 changed the battlefield. Charging entrenched 00:12:24.659 --> 00:12:27.019 artillery and machine guns on horseback was considered 00:12:27.019 --> 00:12:29.860 absolute suicide. A horse is simply too massive 00:12:29.860 --> 00:12:32.519 of a target. Right. So the Hussars adapt on the 00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:35.960 fly. reins, they fix long bayonets to the ends 00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:38.559 of their Lee -Enfield rifles, and they effectively 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:40.720 turn themselves into traditional infantrymen. 00:12:40.980 --> 00:12:43.320 They rush the ravines and charge up the hill 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:45.960 on foot, directly into the teeth of the Ottoman 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:49.100 guns. And against all odds, relying on sheer 00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:51.980 aggression and surprise, they successfully overrun 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:54.399 the positions and capture the artillery. It's 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:56.919 an incredible image. And it provides such a stark 00:12:56.919 --> 00:12:59.620 contrast in warfare. You have these soldiers 00:12:59.620 --> 00:13:03.740 executing raw 19th century combat tactics, a 00:13:03.740 --> 00:13:06.639 visceral close quarters bayonet charge up a hill 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:09.740 in order to secure the most vital 20th century 00:13:09.740 --> 00:13:13.379 geopolitical prize imaginable. Oil. Oil. They're 00:13:13.379 --> 00:13:16.379 fighting hand to hand with fixed blades to usher 00:13:16.379 --> 00:13:18.799 in the modern age of petroleum. It completely 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:21.159 bridges two entirely different eras of human 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:23.960 history in one violent chaotic moment. It really 00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:26.480 does. So what does this all mean for the immediate 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:28.539 battle? The Hussars have their dramatic charge, 00:13:28.659 --> 00:13:31.039 the guns are silenced, but the broader reality 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:33.200 of the global war is still hovering over every 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:35.039 decision made on the ground. And this brings 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:37.360 us to a profound leadership decision by the Ottoman 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:41.179 commander, Ismail Hakkabe. He is a seasoned military 00:13:41.179 --> 00:13:43.539 man, and he's fully aware through his communication 00:13:43.539 --> 00:13:46.159 lines that peace talks are actively underway 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:49.200 at Mudros. Mudros is a port on a Greek island 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:51.820 in the Aegean Sea. Exactly. Where the allied 00:13:51.820 --> 00:13:54.360 and Ottoman diplomats are literally sitting around 00:13:54.360 --> 00:13:57.480 tables negotiating the armistice. Haka Bay knows 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:00.379 the war is functionally over. The Ottoman Empire 00:14:00.379 --> 00:14:03.620 has lost. Which puts him in a terrible agonizing 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:06.240 position. He still commands thousands of men, 00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:09.419 but they are surrounded and exhausted. It forces 00:14:09.419 --> 00:14:12.000 him to answer the hardest question any commander 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:15.570 can face. Do you order your men into a bloody 00:14:15.570 --> 00:14:18.350 breakout attempt, knowing that most of your hollowed 00:14:18.350 --> 00:14:20.250 out force will be slaughtered for a cause that 00:14:20.250 --> 00:14:22.289 has already been politically surrendered? Or 00:14:22.289 --> 00:14:24.570 do you swallow your pride? Right. Do you swallow 00:14:24.570 --> 00:14:26.970 your pride and prioritize the lives of the soldiers 00:14:26.970 --> 00:14:29.830 who have bled for you for years? Hawkeye Bay 00:14:29.830 --> 00:14:32.460 chooses the humane path. Rather than forcing 00:14:32.460 --> 00:14:35.259 a final doomed and ultimately pointless stand, 00:14:35.580 --> 00:14:38.019 he decides to spare his remaining forces. On 00:14:38.019 --> 00:14:40.419 October 30th. On October 30th, he officially 00:14:40.419 --> 00:14:42.860 surrenders the 6th Army to the British. When 00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:45.159 we look at the raw historical records of the 00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:47.799 aftermath, the numbers paint a stark picture 00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:51.240 of the cost of these final days. The British 00:14:51.240 --> 00:14:54.539 forces suffered around 1 ,800 casualties during 00:14:54.539 --> 00:14:56.919 the advance in the battle. A heavy price. And 00:14:56.919 --> 00:14:59.440 on the Ottoman side, the loss of personnel is 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:04.960 massive. Between 11 ,322 and 13 ,000 Ottoman 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:08.179 soldiers are taken as prisoners of war, with 00:15:08.179 --> 00:15:10.179 many others killed or wounded in the preceding 00:15:10.179 --> 00:15:13.559 days. It's an enormous capture. Haka Bey's entire 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:15.860 defensive line is effectively removed from the 00:15:15.860 --> 00:15:18.700 board in one stroke. But remember that original 00:15:18.700 --> 00:15:21.139 underlying order from Prime Minister Lloyd George. 00:15:21.580 --> 00:15:23.879 The ultimate goal was never just to defeat the 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:26.779 Ottoman 6th Army. It was the oil. It was to physically 00:15:26.779 --> 00:15:29.460 occupy the oil fields near Mosul. So despite 00:15:29.460 --> 00:15:31.659 the massive surrender of the enemy forces on 00:15:31.659 --> 00:15:34.700 October 30th, the British advance doesn't halt. 00:15:34.940 --> 00:15:37.679 The 18th Division keeps walking. Yeah. They march 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:40.779 another 50 miles further north toward Mosul, 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:43.720 continuing to push their exhausted men to the 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:46.360 absolute limit. And they get agonizingly close. 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:48.480 They're just 12 miles short of the town limits 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:51.340 when the armistice of Mudros is finally officially 00:15:51.340 --> 00:15:54.110 declared. The geopolitical bill rings. Right. 00:15:54.269 --> 00:15:56.429 The fighting is supposed to stop. The First World 00:15:56.429 --> 00:15:58.990 War is officially over. What? What's fascinating 00:15:58.990 --> 00:16:00.970 here is what happens next because it completely 00:16:00.970 --> 00:16:03.149 defies the rules of international diplomacy. 00:16:03.669 --> 00:16:06.629 It's now November 1st, 1918. The armistice is 00:16:06.629 --> 00:16:10.009 in full effect. Every military unit across Europe 00:16:10.009 --> 00:16:12.350 and the Middle East is supposed to stand down 00:16:12.350 --> 00:16:15.070 and hold their current positions. But the British 00:16:15.070 --> 00:16:18.269 7th and 11th Indian Cavalry Brigades, they just 00:16:18.269 --> 00:16:20.960 keep writing. They ignore the official ceasefire. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:23.299 Right. They march right into the city of Mosul 00:16:23.299 --> 00:16:26.200 and peacefully occupy it, directly ignoring the 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:27.980 fact that the conflict has officially ended. 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:31.240 This, predictably, creates an immediate and intense 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:34.220 diplomatic standoff. The regional Ottoman commander 00:16:34.220 --> 00:16:37.750 -in -chief Ali Dressan is furious. He points 00:16:37.750 --> 00:16:39.970 directly to the signed terms of the armistice. 00:16:40.409 --> 00:16:43.990 He formally demands that the British forces withdraw 00:16:43.990 --> 00:16:46.870 12 miles back to the exact positions they held 00:16:46.870 --> 00:16:49.269 at the very moment the treaty went into effect. 00:16:49.610 --> 00:16:51.610 And legally, technically, diplomatically, he 00:16:51.610 --> 00:16:54.070 is entirely correct. But the British response 00:16:54.070 --> 00:16:57.649 is essentially silence. Yeah. They simply ignore 00:16:57.649 --> 00:17:00.070 his protests, they are physically inside the 00:17:00.070 --> 00:17:02.509 city, they control the infrastructure, and more 00:17:02.509 --> 00:17:04.809 importantly, they control the access to the oil 00:17:04.809 --> 00:17:07.450 fields, and they refuse to leave. That's unbelievable. 00:17:07.829 --> 00:17:10.529 This serves as a master class in how global politics 00:17:10.529 --> 00:17:12.970 actually functions on the ground, stripped of 00:17:12.970 --> 00:17:15.490 its polite diplomatic veneer. We're taught to 00:17:15.490 --> 00:17:17.730 think of history as being cleanly dictated by 00:17:17.730 --> 00:17:20.029 treaties. With borders drawn by men in suits, 00:17:20.470 --> 00:17:22.670 signing official paperwork in ornate European 00:17:22.670 --> 00:17:26.029 rooms. Exactly. But what the occupation of Moldova 00:17:25.549 --> 00:17:28.089 demonstrates is that geopolitical realities on 00:17:28.089 --> 00:17:31.009 the ground, the literal physical presence of 00:17:31.009 --> 00:17:34.569 soldiers holding rifles, often completely override 00:17:34.569 --> 00:17:37.109 official paperwork. The British forces possessed 00:17:37.109 --> 00:17:39.609 the territory, so the terms of the internationally 00:17:39.609 --> 00:17:42.069 recognized treaty became completely secondary 00:17:42.069 --> 00:17:45.470 to that physical reality, which perfectly encapsulates 00:17:45.470 --> 00:17:48.140 what this entire deep dive has been about. The 00:17:48.140 --> 00:17:50.859 Battle of Charcot is far more than just a footnote 00:17:50.859 --> 00:17:53.339 at the very end of World War I. It's a perfect 00:17:53.339 --> 00:17:56.220 microcosm of the chaotic, frantic, and transitional 00:17:56.220 --> 00:17:58.480 end to the conflict. You have this incredible 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:01.960 blend of superhuman endurance marching 75 miles 00:18:01.960 --> 00:18:05.420 in 39 hours through a desert. You have archaic 00:18:05.420 --> 00:18:08.279 military tactics like dismounted infantry bayonet 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:11.200 charges directly clashing with the dawn of the 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:13.460 modern industrialized scramble for Middle Eastern 00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:17.019 oil. It's the exact moment the 19th century dies 00:18:17.019 --> 00:18:20.200 and the 20th century begins. And as you reflect 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:23.599 on this history, it's crucial not to lose sight 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:25.819 of the profound human elements hidden within 00:18:25.819 --> 00:18:28.539 these strategic movements. It's very easy to 00:18:28.539 --> 00:18:30.660 just read the dates, the unit numbers, and the 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:32.480 casualty reports. But take a moment to think 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:35.180 about Assyrian Haqqabe standing in the Iraqi 00:18:35.180 --> 00:18:38.420 dust, choosing his men's lives over his own military 00:18:38.420 --> 00:18:40.980 glory for a collapsing empire. Think about the 00:18:40.980 --> 00:18:43.339 Assyrian volunteers fighting shoulder to shoulder 00:18:43.339 --> 00:18:46.210 with Indian cavalrymen and British hussars. all 00:18:46.210 --> 00:18:48.549 converging on this ancient landscape to fight 00:18:48.549 --> 00:18:50.750 for underground resources that would eventually 00:18:50.750 --> 00:18:53.769 power a modern world they were only just beginning 00:18:53.769 --> 00:18:57.029 to see. It adds so much dimension to how you 00:18:57.029 --> 00:18:59.890 view the map of the modern Middle East. And that 00:18:59.890 --> 00:19:01.650 leaves us with a final thought for you to mull 00:19:01.650 --> 00:19:04.369 over as you go about your day. We just saw how 00:19:04.369 --> 00:19:07.390 the British military command simply ignored an 00:19:07.390 --> 00:19:09.710 international armistice to secure the oil wealth 00:19:09.710 --> 00:19:12.920 of Mosul. Right. If a global peace treaty signed 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:16.299 by empires can be effectively rewritten simply 00:19:16.299 --> 00:19:18.539 because a cavalry unit refuses to stop marching, 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:21.420 how much of our modern political map is actually 00:19:21.420 --> 00:19:24.380 based on official agreed upon borders? And how 00:19:24.380 --> 00:19:26.740 much is simply based on the sheer audacity of 00:19:26.740 --> 00:19:28.759 troops who decided to ignore the missile blowing? 00:19:29.059 --> 00:19:31.559 It's a phenomenal question, and it's one that 00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:34.000 history continually asks us to consider when 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:35.960 we look at borders today. Thank you so much for 00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:37.980 joining us on this deep dive. We will catch you 00:19:37.980 --> 00:19:38.480 on the next one.