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Dunsterville's Adventures: A Reappraisal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Artin H. Arslanian
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Extract

The fall of Baku to combined Ottoman-Azerbaijani forces on 15 September 1918 ended the British involvement in Transcaucasia during World War I and resulted in the death of thousands of Armenian civilians. The responsibility for the fall of the city has been hotly disputed since that fateful day. One view, held by General Lionel C. Dunsterville, the commander of British troops committed to the defense of Baku, blames the local forces, especially the Armenians. The Armenians were undisciplined, uncooperative, lazy, and unreliable in battle; they abandoned their positions as soon as they came under enemy fire. In short, with some exceptions, they were cowards who expected the British to do all the fighting. Under these conditions the small British contingent could not stop the enemy indefinitely. On the night of 14 September, when the local forces showed little inclination to resist a new attack, Dunsterville brought his men back to the safety of the Persian port of Enzeli, thus saving them from certain death. Another view, held by the leaders of the Baku Armenians, ascribes the fall of the city to British perfidy. These critics of British policy claim that Dunsterville did not keep his promise of a large British force for the defense of Baku. The effective British force did not exceed one thousand men and it was secretly withdrawn from the city in the heat of the battle, leaving the local troops, who were fighting valiantly, to their fate. This, the Armenians claim, was nothing less than treachery.

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Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , September 1980 , pp. 199 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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References

NOTES

Author's Note. An abridged version of this essay was presented at a symposium sponsored by the Society for Armenian Studies at the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 9–11 November 1978.

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3 Carrington, C. E., The Life of Rudyard Kipling (Garden City, N.Y., 1955), p. 22.Google Scholar

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5 ibid., p. 334.

6 ibid., pp. 334–345.

7 Hovannisian, Richard G., The Republic of Armenia, Vol. I, The First Year, 1918–1919 (Berkeley, 1971), p. 22.Google Scholar For a critical study of political developments in Transcaucasia in this period see Hovannisian, Richard G., Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918 (Berkeley, 1967), pp. 69–110.Google Scholar

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14 This interview could not have taken place prior to 20 February. Shahumian, who was in Tiflis for a while conducting subversive political activities against the Transcaucasian Commissariat, returned to Baku at this date. See Barseghian, Kh. H., Stepan Shahumian: Kianki ev gordsuneutian vaveragrakan taregrutiun 1878 –1918 [Stepan Shahumian: Documentary Chronicle of His Life and Activities 1878– 1918] (Erevan, 1968), p. 474.Google Scholar

15 Goldsmith's report.

16 Goldsmith insists in his report that he repeatedly attempted to inform Dunsterville that there were no serious difficulties to the British mission's journey via Baku to Tiflis.

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20 History of the Great War Based on Official Documents: The Capaign in Mesopotamia 1914–1918, Vol. IV, compiled by Moberly, F. J. (London, 1927), p. 117 (hereafter cited as Campaign in Mesopotamia).Google Scholar

21 General Staff, War Office, “Memorandum Regarding the [British] Support to the Armenians,” April 1918, F. O. 371/3284.

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23 Campaign in Mesopotamia, IV, 168–169;Google ScholarSirMarshall, William, Memories of Four Fronts (London, 1929), pp. 282–283.Google Scholar

24 The Eastern Committee was a War Cabinet committee established in March 1918 to shape policy in the Middle East, the Caucasus, Persia, and Central Asia.

25 Minutes, Eastern Committee 11th meeting, 31 May 1918, CAB. 27/24.

26 ibid., Campaign in Mesopotamia, IV, 173.

27 Minutes, Eastern Committee 11th and 12th meetings, 31 May and 5 June 1918, CAB. 27/24.

28 Minutes, Eastern Committee 12th and 13th meetings, 5 and 11 June 1918, CAB. 27/24.

29 Dunsterville, , pp. 122–123.Google Scholar

30 Campaign in Mesopotamia, IV, 179.

31 ibid., pp. 182–183; Minutes, Eastern Committee 13th meeting, 11 June 1918, CAB. 27/24.

32 Campaign in Mesopotamia, IV, 182–183.Google Scholar

33 ibid., p. 188.

34 ibid., Dunsterville, p. 147.

35 Dunsterville, , pp. 144–145;Google ScholarMacDonell, , pp. 234–236.Google Scholar

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37 Dunsterforce: War Diary, entry for 12 June 1918.

38 Mikoyan, A. I., Paykari ughiov [Along the Trail of Struggle], Vol. 1. (Erevan, 1972), pp. 184–186;Google ScholarBarseghian, , pp. 550–552, 559, 569–570;Google ScholarSuny, , p. 290–291.Google Scholar

39 Dunsterforce: War Diary, entry for 27 June 1918.

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41 Campaign in Mesopotamia, IV, 197–198.Google Scholar

42 The Eastern Committee instructed the War Office to send to Marshall a telegram part of which reads: “Our information about situation both to Enzeli, Baku, and in Caspian is singularly inadequate. We have been told nothing about position of fleet or about Bicharakov's ships. … we urge you to pass upon Dunsterville imperative necessity of transmitting [to London] all information in his power.” W.O. telegram to G.O.C.-in-C., Mesopotamia (repeated to C.-in-C., India), Minutes, Eastern Committee 20th meeting, 15 July 1918, CAB. 27/24. This telegram was dispatched the same day. See Campaign in Mesopotamia, IV, 196.Google Scholar

43 Campaign in Mesopotamia, IV, 189–190, 198, 201.Google Scholar

44 ibid., pp. 198–199.

45 Dunsterforce: War Diary, entry for 22 July 1918.

46 F.O., “Outline of Events in Transcaucasia from the Beginning of the Russian Revolution in the Summer of 1917 to April 1921,” written by Childs, W. J. and McDonell, A. E. R., 31 05 1922, F.O. 371/7729 (hereafter cited as F.O. Memorandum on Events in Transcaucasia).Google Scholar

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48 “Appreciation of Baku Situation on 26 July by General Bicherakov,” Dunsterforce: War Diary, appendix A for the month of July, 1918.

49 Army Headquarters, India, Indian Expeditionary Force “D”, War Diary, Vol. 49, part 1(1st to 15th August 1918), appendix 35, 1.O., L/MIL/17 (hereafter cited as Force “D”: War Diary); “Report on Work of No. 2 Battery ‘A’ Squadron, Operating in the Caucasus with General Bicherakov's Forces, July–October 1918,” War Diary of Intelligence Section, Norperforce, appendix T for the month of October 1918. Dunsterforce was renamed Norperforce after Dunsterville's withdrawal from Baku in September. The war diaries of Norperforce are filed with those of Dunsterforce n. 13 above.)

50 Dunsterville, , pp. 231–237.Google Scholar See also Hovannisian, , Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918, pp. 221, 225–227;Google ScholarAllen, W. E. D. and Muratoff, Paul, Caucasian Battlefields: A History Wars of the Turco-Caucasian Border 1828–1921 (Cambridge, 1953), pp. 490–492.Google Scholar

51 Dunsterforce: War Diary, entry for 31 August 1918 (this is the diary of the 39th Infantry Brigade of Dunsterforce).

52 ibid., entries for 25 and 26 August and 1–14 September, 1918; French, F. J. F., From Whitehall to the Caspian (London, n.d. [1920]), pp. 104–106;Google ScholarRawlinson, A., Adventures in the Near East, 1918–1922 (London, 1923), pp. 78–79, 90–91.Google Scholar See also Sykes, , II, 495.Google Scholar

53 General Staff, War Office, “The Turco-German Advance into the Caucasus,” part I, “ (13th February 1918 to 31st July, 1918),” 27 August 1919 in Curzon Papers, I.O., MSS Eur. F. 112/270; Dunsterforce: War Diary, entry for 26 May and appendix A for the month of July, 1918.

54 Force “D”: War Diary, Vol. 49, part I, appendix 195. See also Melik-Yolchian, Sergei, “Bakvi herosamarte” [The Heroic Battle of Baku], Hairenik Amsagir, 3, 9 (07 1925), 74;Google ScholarKorganoff, G., La participation des Arméniens à la guerre mondiale sur le front du Caucase (1914–1918) Paris 1927), pp. 196–199;Google ScholarHovannisian, , Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918, p. 221.Google Scholar

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57 Dunsterville, , p. 215.Google Scholar

58 Hovannisian, , Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918, p. 222;Google ScholarSuny, , pp. 317–321 329–332.Google Scholar

59 Force “D”: War Diary, Vol. 49, Part II, (16th to 31st August 1918), appendix 825.

60 MacDonell's, R. report regarding his activities from 09 1917 to 08 1918, 12 1918, F.O. 371/3657.Google Scholar

61 Barby, , p. 216.Google Scholar

62 W.O. telegram to G.O.C., Mesopotamia, 9 Sepetember 1918, Milner Papers (Bodlian Library, Oxford), Box 114 (G), ff. 319–321; Campaign in Mesopotamia, IV, 230–231.Google Scholar

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64 Force “D”: War Diary, Vol. 49, Part II, appendix 655

65 G.H.Q., Mesopotamia telegram to C.-in-C., India (repeated to War Office and transmitting Dunsterville's telegram of 1 September 1918), 4 September 1918, Milner Papers, Box 114 (G), ff. 311–312. For the original version of Dunsterville's telegram see Force “D”: War Diary, Part 1, (1st to 15th September 1918), appendix 8.

66 Campaign in Mesopotamia, IV. 231;Google ScholarMarshall, , 311–312.Google Scholar

67 Force “D”: War Diary, Vol. 50, part I (1st to 15th 09 1918), appendix 363.Google Scholar

68 W.O. telegram to G.O.C., Mesopotamia, 9 September 1918, ibid. Dunsterville confided to Kipling that if any officer under him had written what he himself had written to the War Office Marshall he “would have had him broken in two-twos.” See Kipling, Rudyard, Something of My self: For My Friends Known and Unknown (Garden City, 1937), pp. 31–32.Google Scholar

69 Dunsterville, , pp. 279–287, 308–309.Google Scholar

70 ibid., pp. 297–305.

71 Melik-Yolchian, , “Bakvi herosamarte,” Hairenik Amsagir, 3, 10 (08 1925), 112;Google ScholarGiulkhandanian, A., “Bakvi herosamarte” [The Heroic Battle of Baku], Hairenik Amsagir, 19, 9 (07 1941), 91.Google Scholar See also Barby, , pp. 217–218.Google Scholar

72 Dunsterville, , pp. 311–312;Google ScholarRawlinson, , pp. 91–107; F.O. Memorandum on Events in Trans caucasia.Google Scholar

73 Barby, , p. 220;Google ScholarHovannisian, , Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918, pp. 227, 312 n, 36;Google ScholarMelik-Yolchian, , “Bakvi herosamarte,” Hairenik Amsagir, 3, 10 (08 1925), 102.Google Scholar

74 F.O. Memorandum on Events in Transcaucasia.

75 Dunsterville, , p. 312.Google Scholar

76 W.O. to F.O., 22 November 1918 (transmitting copy of a memo with an addendum “The Financial Situation at Baku” from Dunsterville to Deputy Adjutant General of the Expeditionary Force, dated 27 September 1918), F.O. 371/3263.

77 D.M.I. (W.O.) to F.O., 28 August 1919, F.O. 371/3863.

78 Minute of Ronal Graham (acting permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office), 29 August 1919, F.O. 371/3863, W34/122129/150/19.

79 Allen, and Muratoff, , pp. 485–486.Google Scholar

80 See the minutes of Mark Sykes and Eyre Crowe, 27 September 1918, in F.O. 371/3404, W44/160092/162647/55708/18.

81 Carrington, , pp. 380–381.Google Scholar