Things had meanwhile not prospered in the Turkish capital. Sultan Mohammed V had died on 3 July 1918 and had been succeeded by Wahid-ed-Din. The new ruler appeared to ex ercise more authority than his predecessor had been able to exert. Enver Pasha and Talaat Bey, the leading spirits of the Commit,ee of Union and Progress, were at loggerheads and blaming each other for the country's misfor tunes which neither could avert. German pros pects of victory were vanishing in the West, while the blows administered in Syria and Mesopotamia were shaking the foundations of the Empire. Enver and Talaat both resigned on 10 October when their case was palpably hopeless and it became necessary to secure their own safety before the approaching storm. A new cabinet was formed, but the situation was too serious to be restored bv reshuffling the cards. The Turkish government appealed to President Wilson on 14 October to use his in fluence to secure a much-needed armistice. No answer was forthcoming.
For the last act of the drama we must again turn to Mesopotamia, where little had happened during the summer beyond the work of preparation and consolidation accompanied by occasional fighting. In this theatre of war an interesting side-light on the British char acter is afforded in General Marshall's Dis patch of 1 Oct 1918: aThe manufacture of prepared bitumen and lime continues at Hit 'captured 9 March] on a large scale. Some 4,000 tons of bitumen and 5,350 tons of lime have been exported during the last four months, and it has been found possible, after meeting all govertmient demands, to allow of private enter prise in this industry. . . . uninterrupted progress has been made in the opening up and development of the country. . . .a While Allenby was advancing on Aleppo, Marshall began to move in Mesopotamia. Operations were begun on 24 October with•an attack on the strong Turkish position at Fathah, where the Tigris flows through the Jebel Hamrin. This was carried by Indian divisions on both banks of the river. By a ride of over 50 miles the 11th Indian Cavalry Brigade forced a crossing over the Lesser Zab in face of opposition, and by a further ride of over 50 miles got right around the Turks and astride their lines of communication at Hurwaish, where they were joined by an armored car brigade. Out-ma nceuvred on the east bank and driven back on the west bank the Turks fell back to their sec ond line at the confluence of the lesser Zab, a position of great natural strength. On 25 October another Indian division also forced a crossing of the Lesser Zab and drove back to the west bank of the Tigris aU Turks who were east of the river, while yet another Indian divi sion closed up to the enemy who were now all on the west bank. Very severe fighting ensued; the hilly ground, indented with ravines and pre viously prepared for defense, was all in favor of the Turks, who fought with the greatest stubbornness. After continuous fighting the Turks were forced bad( on their third position on the hills covering Shergat, on the 27th. All that day Turkish reserves tried to break through the 1 lth Indian Cavalry Brigade, which barred the road to Mosul, but without success, though the arrival of enemy reinforcements compelled the brigade to draw back its right to cover its rear. On the night of 27-28 October two brigades of Indian cavalry and one of infan try held the enemy, and on the morning of the 28th the Shergat position was assailed. Though exhausted by their continuous fighting and marching through die rugged hills the Indians pushed forward and attacked until nightfall.
The Turks were now fully hemmed in, and on the morning of the 30th Gaieral Ismail Hakki surrendered with his whole force, about 7,000 men. The victory was decisive; the enemy was broken in Mesopotamia as well as in Syria Mosul, facing the ruins of ancient Nineveh, lay undefended, and Marshall entered it without op position on 3 November. Toward the end of October General Townshend was liberated by the Turks and sent to inform Vice-Admiral Sir Somerset Gough-Calthorpe, in the fEgean, that they wished to open negotiations for peace. Townshend carried out his mission with the result that Turkey surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on 30 Oct. 191& The armistice convention signed on that day provided for the opening of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus to the Allies;. secure access to the Bladc Sea, and Allied occupation of all the forts lying along those two historic waterways. All Mlied prisoners were to be collected in Constantinople and handed over unconditionally to the Alhes_ The Turkish army was to be inunediately de mobilized except for such troops a.s were re quired for the maintenance of internal order. All war vessels in Turkish waters were to be handed over and interned. The Allies were to have the right to occupy any strategic points if necessary. Allied ships were to be given free use of all ports and anchorages in Turkish occupation and the denial of their use to the enemy. Wireless, telegraph and cable stations were to be controlled by the Allies, Turkish government messages excepted. All railways were to be placed under Allied control. Tur key was required to surrender all garrisons in the Hedjaz, Assir, Yemen, Syria and Mesopota mia to the nearest Allied commander; all Turk ish officers in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica to be surrendered to the nearest Italian garrison ; while all Germans and Austrians, naval, military and civilian, were to be evacuated from the Turkish dominions within one month. Under these and a few minor conditions hostilities be tween the Allies and Turkey ceased at noonL, local time, on Thursday, 31 Oct. 191& Little remains to be told. The war with Turkey ended with the complete and unques tioned triumph of sea power; the decisive factor was the hold of the Allied fleets on the 2Egean and Eastern Mediterranean. The lesson is an old one— that he who commands the sea, commands Egypt, Palestine and Syria. Sea power permitted Maude, Allenby and Mar shall to be supplied with men and material from India, where their transports and supply ships were beyond reach of the U-boats. After the failures at Gallipoli the operations against the Turks were directed toward Palestine and, from the Persian Gulf, through Mesopotamia. The Turlcish attempt upon Egypt was a feeble effort. Being deprived of sea communications, they only succeeded in bringing some 12,000 men up to the Suez Canal, an inadequate force that was easily repulsed. It was a different story when the British, having overcome the difficulties of the desert of Sinai by laying a railroad and a pipe-line bringing water from the Nile into Juchea, began an advance with their left flank supported by the naval forces of the Allies, and with the power of relying success ively upon Gaza, Joppa, Haifa and B'eirut as se,a-bases. Had it been necessary, there was yet another port at their disposal further north, that of Alexandretta.