220-1103: The Senussi campaign took place in North Africa from November 1915 to February 1917, during the First World War . The campaign was fought by the Kingdom of Italy and the British Empire against the Senussi , a religious order of Arabic nomads in Libya and Egypt. The Senussi were courted by the Ottoman Empire and the German Empire . Recognising French and Italian threats, the Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hamid II , had twice sent his aide-de-camp Azmzade Sadik El Mueyyed to meet Sheikh Muhammed El Mehdi El Senussi to cultivate positive relations and counter
440-573: A Baghdadi Arab in the Ottoman army, plotted to provoke trouble between the Grand Senussi, Sayyid Ahmed ash-Sharif and the British, by planning a raid on Sollum on 15 June but was thwarted. Nuri eventually gained command of Senussi military forces and began training the recruits of Aulad Ali. The Ottoman envoys negotiated an agreement with the Grand Senussi, in which his followers were to attack
660-534: A Rolls-Royce Armoured Car and a tender, six Fords and twelve motorbikes, two Vickers guns and two Lewis guns, to be followed by a company of the Camel Corps, which could not arrive for 48 hours after the cars. The motors arrived at Dakhla on 17 October to find that most of the Senussi had gone apart from a party of about 120 men at Budkhulu in the middle of the oasis, which was taken prisoner. The company of
880-482: A Zawiet (cell, monastery or hermitage) at Sidi Barrani 48 mi (77 km) east of Sollum, was occupied by 300 muhafazalar ( commanders , defenders or guards ) Senussi regular troops. Sayed Ahmed ordered his followers to cross the Egyptian frontier by 21 November, to conduct the coastal campaign. On the night of 19/20 November, the barracks at Sollum was fired on and a coastguard was killed. On 20 November,
1100-590: A blue-water navy was vital for global power projection; Tirpitz had his books translated into German, while Wilhelm made them required reading for his advisors and senior military personnel. However, it was also an emotional decision, driven by Wilhelm's simultaneous admiration for the Royal Navy and desire to surpass it. Bismarck thought that the British would not interfere in Europe, as long as its maritime supremacy remained secure, but his dismissal in 1890 led to
1320-592: A grenade at the Archduke's car and injured two of his aides. The other assassins were also unsuccessful. An hour later, as Ferdinand was returning from visiting the injured officers in hospital, his car took a wrong turn into a street where Gavrilo Princip was standing. He fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wife Sophie . According to historian Zbyněk Zeman , in Vienna "the event almost failed to make any impression whatsoever. On 28 and 29 June,
1540-540: A guerrilla warfare campaign and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe. Before the war, Germany had attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage, a policy continued post-1914 by instigating uprisings in India , while the Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition urged Afghanistan to join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of
1760-556: A Bedouin group led by Sayed Safi al-Din at Bani Walid before Sayed Idris recalled the force and accepted the notion of a western limit of Senussi power. Idris established a khatt al-nar (line of fire) across the Sirtica, to prevent raiding by al-Shtaiwi and his forces, who were armed by the Italians and whose goal was to re-establish themselves inland. In March 1916, Sayed Hilal, a young relative of Sayed Ahmed, presented himself to
1980-515: A British column under Lukin advanced west along the coast to re-capture Sollum in February. En route, a Senussi encampment at Agagia was spotted by aircraft. On 26 February, the column attacked the Senussi and captured Jaafar Pasha, commander of the Senussi forces on the coast. As the Senussi retreated, they were cut off by a Dorset Yeomanry cavalry charge; the Yeomen lost half their horses and about
2200-597: A century before Al-Bakri stated that only Berbers lived there. The Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi traveled to Siwa in the 15th century and described how the language spoken there 'is similar to the language of the Zenata '. The first European to document a visit since Roman times was the English traveler William George Browne , who came in 1792 to see the ancient temple of the Oracle of Amun. Bompiani, in her description of
2420-408: A change in policy and an Anglo-German naval arms race began. Despite the vast sums spent by Tirpitz, the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 gave the British a technological advantage. Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources into creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it; in 1911, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg acknowledged defeat, leading to
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#17327725256942640-530: A corruption of Egyptian word for "oasis", ⲟⲩⲁϩ (ouoh). The additional evidence of the Egyptian source of Siwa's name is another place name in Kharga Oasis that may share the same etymology – S.t-wȝḥ, modern Deir el-Hagar). Basset links it to a Berber tribal name swh attested further west in the early Islamic period, while Ilahiane, following Chafik, links it to the Shilha Berber word asiwan ,
2860-502: A diplomatic incident on 15 August failed but the economic crisis caused by the British embargo pushed the Senussi towards war. The Ottoman sultan appointed Sayed Ahmed the governor of Tripolitania and Ahmed published the caliphal decree of jihad against the infidel British and their allies. On 29 April 1915, Colonel Antonio Miani, force-marching from the Sirtica, was defeated by the Senussi at Gasr Bu Hadi (Qasr bu Hadi or Al Ghardabiya), with 3,000–4,000 casualties. The materiel captured
3080-613: A direct threat. The 1908–1909 Bosnian Crisis began when Austria annexed the former Ottoman territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina , which it had occupied since 1878. Timed to coincide with the Bulgarian Declaration of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, this unilateral action was denounced by the European powers, but accepted as there was no consensus on how to resolve the situation. Some historians see this as
3300-478: A divine personage and the legitimate Pharaoh of Egypt, though Alexander's motives in making the excursion, following his founding of Alexandria, remain to some extent inscrutable and contested. During the Ptolemaic Kingdom , its Ancient Egyptian name was sḫ.t-ỉm3w , meaning "Field of Trees". In the 12th century, Al-Idrisi mentions it as being inhabited mainly by Berbers , with an Arab minority;
3520-534: A first or a second language. The Siwi Berber population is also fluent in Egyptian Arabic , which is called Masri "Egyptian". Siwa has been noted for its dates since ancient times, and today date palm cultivation is by far the largest component of its economy. In a distant second place, with about one-fifth of the scale as dates, is olive cultivation. Handicrafts like basketry are also of regional importance. Tourism has in recent decades become
3740-491: A form of marriage: "The feast of marrying a boy was celebrated with great pomp, and the money paid for a boy sometimes amounted to fifteen pounds, while the money paid for a woman was a little over one pound." Mahmud Mohammad Abd Allah, writing of Siwan customs for the Harvard Peabody Museum in 1917, commented that although Siwan men could take up to four wives, "Siwan customs allow a man but one boy to whom he
3960-471: A gap between the German armies as they closed on Paris. The French army, reinforced by the British expeditionary corps, seized this opportunity to counter-attack and pushed the German army 40 to 80 km back. Both armies were then so exhausted that no decisive move could be implemented, so they settled in trenches, with the vain hope of breaking through as soon as they could build local superiority. In 1911,
4180-658: A higher brideprice in Siwa than Siwan ones. According to older members of the Awlad Ali Bedouins, the Bedouin relations with Siwans were traditionally mediated through a system of "friendship", whereby a specific Siwan (and his descendants) would be the friend of a specific Bedouin (and his descendants). The Bedouin would stay at the Siwan's house when he came to Siwa, and would exchange his animal products and grain for
4400-460: A large force. Gordon ordered the main body to stop the Senussi advance while the advanced guard and cavalry enveloped the Senussi left flank. As both sides manoeuvred, the Senussi party appeared to be 1,000–1,500 men -strong and at 10:00 a.m. the infantry were supported by two field guns and three machine-guns. Little was done the next day due to the exhaustion of the Yeomanry horses, except for
4620-678: A local patrol, which found some camels and took 25 prisoners. Gordon ordered the guard at Umm el Rakam to reinforce and later two squadrons of the Australian Light Horse arrived from Matruh with two field guns, which opened fire at 3:15 p.m. and a chance shell landed amidst the largest Senussi party, which scattered and ran. The rest of the Senussi began to retire and the British followed up but then returned to camp with casualties of nine killed and 65 wounded, for an estimated 250 Senussi losses. The column returned to Matruh next day, much exhausted. The Senussi had managed to spring
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#17327725256944840-400: A message dropped from an aeroplane but the distance, quantity of baggage and small size of his force led him to decide to rely on Wallace marching from Matruh and continued to Umm er Rakham, where the cavalry rallied for the night. Gordon planned to advance to Wadi Hashefiat, after a reconnaissance aircraft dropped a note that Senussi were 7 mi (11 km) to the south-west and to move up
5060-423: A mountain near the town, Gabal Al–Dakrour, to eat together, sing chants while thanking God, and reconcile with one another; all Siwi houses co-operate in preparing and cooking food, in this day Siwian people eat fattah (rice, toasted bread and meat), after Dohr prayer (12:00 PM) all Siwian youth gather to set the banquet, nobody is allowed to eat before the caller announces to start eating so they can all eat together,
5280-737: A national liberation movement. The technological advantages of the British and the huge, sparsely inhabited space of the desert, were conditions favouring mobility and decisive action, the opposite of the effects of industrial warfare in Europe. The British adopted equipment and methods that rapidly defeated the Senussi in 1915 and 1916. The British methods succeeded in Sinai, Palestine and Syria from 1917 to 1918. In 2010, Andrea Del Boca wrote that in Libya, Italian casualties were 5,600 killed, several thousand wounded and about 2,000 prisoners from January to July 1915. By March 1917, Senussi forces had been ordered to withdraw from Egypt into Libya. The attack by
5500-462: A party from the Camel Corps and an Italian yacht, Misurat , attacked a party of about forty muhafazalar at Wadi Sanal in Libya, 40 mi (64 km) west of Ras el Mehl. The party was scattered and served as a warning that there was no sanctuary on either side of the border. Patrols continued for the year and a camel convoy was captured near Jaghbub, a Senussi stronghold 135 mi (217 km) from Sollum; Italian–British raids took place during
5720-548: A possibility. This was accentuated by British and Russian support for France against Germany during the 1911 Agadir Crisis . German economic and industrial strength continued to expand rapidly post-1871. Backed by Wilhelm II, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz sought to use this growth to build an Imperial German Navy , that could compete with the British Royal Navy . This policy was based on the work of US naval author Alfred Thayer Mahan , who argued that possession of
5940-429: A post 30 mi (48 km) south-east of Sollum was attacked and when the news arrived civil unrest began at Alexandria. The British commanders adopted a policy of avoiding reverses, before attempting to defeat the Senussi. Sollum was 280 mi (450 km) from Alexandria, too far west for a base and too exposed to German submarines, with the lack of fast patrol boats to guard ships in the bay. Mersa Matruh (Matruh)
6160-478: A prominent feature, towering five stories above the modern town and lit at night by floodlights. It is most easily approached from its southwest side, south of the end of the paved road which curves around from the north side of the Shali. Several uneven pedestrian streets lead from the southwest end of the Shali into it, and the ground is rent in places by deep cracks. Many of the unreinforced kershif buildings bordering
6380-575: A reconnaissance flight three days later found no Senussi. The oasis at Farafra was occupied at the same time and then the Senussi moved on to the oasis at Dakhla, where they were seen on 27 February, after the RFC detachment at Minya had moved to Asyut and then established advanced landing grounds to watch the Kharga and Dalka oases, reaching out to a radius of 225 mi (362 km). The 159th Brigade had already been sent to Wadi Natrun, north-west of Cairo and
6600-460: A revival, and by January the Senussi were in south-eastern Cyrenaica. The Senussi had about 10,000 men armed with modern rifles, with ammunition from a factory which produced 1,000 rounds a day. Intermittent fighting continued between the Italians in fortified towns and the Senussi ranging through the desert. The British declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 5 November and the Ottomans encouraged
6820-834: A revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw a reduction in nationalist activity. Leaders from the Indian National Congress and other groups believed support for the British war effort would hasten Indian Home Rule , a promise allegedly made explicit in 1917 by Edwin Montagu , the Secretary of State for India . In 1914, the British Indian Army was larger than the British Army itself, and between 1914 and 1918 an estimated 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and
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7040-516: A significant escalation, ending any chance of Austria cooperating with Russia in the Balkans, while also damaging diplomatic relations between Serbia and Italy. Tensions increased after the 1911–1912 Italo-Turkish War demonstrated Ottoman weakness and led to the formation of the Balkan League , an alliance of Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro , and Greece . The League quickly overran most of
7260-558: A smaller force went to garrison Wadi Natrun, 45 mi (72 km) south of Alexandria. On the night of 23/24 November, about 300 men of the 15th Sikhs left Alexandria by trawler for Matruh and then to withdraw the garrison from Sollum but found that the 100-odd Egyptians from Sollum were already at Matruh, having sailed east on a coastguard ship Rasheed . The garrison at Sidi Barrani repulsed an attack late on 22 November and retreated before dawn, arriving at Matruh on 24 November. Buq Buq (Baqbaq) 100 mi (160 km) west of Matruh
7480-473: A surprise and make a determined attack that was repulsed but they escaped. The British concluded that had the rest of the column been as well-trained as the 15th Sikhs, the Senussi defeat would have been greater. The weather from 15 to 24 December, prevented operations from Matruh and the time was used for organisation; the WFF was reinforced by the 1st Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade . The Senussi gathered on
7700-406: A third of the riders ( 58 of the 184 who took part) but dispersed the column, caused about 500 casualties, took 39 prisoners, captured the Senussi baggage train and pursued the survivors into the desert. After burying the dead and resting the survivors, Lukin advanced to Sidi Barrani and entered unopposed on 28 February. On 2 March, two reconnaissance aircraft was sent from Matruh and on 8 March
7920-416: A type of bird of prey, and hence to Amun-Ra , one of whose symbols was the falcon. Some classical authors referred to the site as "Ammonium". Although the site is known to have been settled since at least the 10th millennium BCE , the earliest evidence of any connection with Ancient Egypt is the 26th Dynasty , when a necropolis was established. Ancient Greek settlers at Cyrene made contact with
8140-536: A vital source of income. Much attention has been given to creating hotels that use local materials and display local styles. In the mid-20th century, Egyptian archaeologist Ahmed Fakhry worked at Siwa (and elsewhere in the Western Desert). In 1995, Greek archaeologist Liana Souvaltzi announced that she had identified the tomb of Alexander the Great in the oasis of Siwa. She made the following statement to
8360-478: A war on two fronts; the Schlieffen Plan envisaged using 80% of the army to defeat France, then switching to Russia. Since this required them to move quickly, mobilization orders were issued that afternoon. Once the German ultimatum to Russia expired on the morning of 1 August, the two countries were at war. At a meeting on 29 July, the British cabinet had narrowly decided its obligations to Belgium under
8580-402: A weak Ottoman government, rather than an ambitious Slav power like Bulgaria . Russia had ambitions in northeastern Anatolia while its clients had overlapping claims in the Balkans. These competing interests divided Russian policy-makers and added to regional instability. Austrian statesmen viewed the Balkans as essential for the continued existence of their Empire and saw Serbian expansion as
8800-455: A whole, the Somme offensive led to an estimated 420,000 British casualties, along with 200,000 French and 500,000 Germans. The diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides. The living conditions led to disease and infection, such as trench foot , lice , typhus , trench fever , and the ' Spanish flu '. At the start of the war, German cruisers were scattered across
9020-557: A wireless station was built. Ottoman troops established about twenty posts on the coast and by 1918 had 20,000 regular troops, a similar number in training and another 40,000 untrained reservists. In September 1918, having been prevented from entering Tripolitania by the Ottoman forces, Sayed Ahmed boarded a German submarine at al-Aqaila and went into exile in Turkey. In Tripolitania, local troops under al-Shtaiwi and Ottoman regular soldiers under Nuri Bey and Suliman al-Baruni , resisted
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9240-671: Is an official map for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory which belongs to North Africa Campaign. The fifth mission from the game Sniper Elite III takes place on the Siwa Oasis. Siwa is prominently featured in the videogame Assassin's Creed: Origins and is the birthplace and home of the protagonist Bayek of Siwa . In British author Anthony Horowitz 's Alex Rider series, the ninth and eleventh instalments Scorpia Rising and Never Say Die feature Siwa. In Australian author Matthew Reilly 's Jack West series of seven novels starting with Seven Ancient Wonders feature prominently
9460-513: Is bound by a stringent code of obligations." In 1937, the anthropologist Walter Cline wrote the first detailed ethnography of the Siwans in which he noted: "All normal Siwan men and boys practice sodomy...among themselves the natives are not ashamed of this; they talk about it as openly as they talk about love of women, and many if not most of their fights arise from homosexual competition....Prominent men lend their sons to each other. All Siwans know
9680-446: Is dusty in summer and glutinous in the rainy season from December to March, when the days are relatively cool and the nights bitter cold. South of the coastal strip is a bare limestone plateau, about 50 mi (80 km) wide at Dabaa and 150 mi (240 km) broad at Sollum. To the south lies the desert, with sand dunes for several hundred miles. Siwa Oasis , a Senussi stronghold, lies 160 mi (260 km) south of Sollum on
9900-453: Is known, however, that from 1908 to 1913, military spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms. The years before 1914 were marked by a series of crises in the Balkans, as other powers sought to benefit from the Ottoman decline. While Pan-Slavic and Orthodox Russia considered itself the protector of Serbia and other Slav states, they preferred the strategically vital Bosporus straits to be controlled by
10120-498: Is of special interest to anthropologists and sociologists because of its historical acceptance of intergenerational male homosexuality and rituals celebrating same-sex marriage – traditions that the Egyptian authorities have sought to repress, with increasing success, since the early 20th century. The German Egyptologist Georg Steindorff explored the Oasis in 1900 and reported that pederastic relations were common and often extended to
10340-574: The Schutzkorps was established, and carried out the persecution of Serbs. The assassination initiated the July Crisis, a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain. Believing that Serbian intelligence helped organise Franz Ferdinand's murder, Austrian officials wanted to use the opportunity to end their interference in Bosnia and saw war as
10560-641: The World War . In August 1914, the magazine The Independent wrote "This is the Great War. It names itself". In October 1914, the Canadian magazine Maclean's similarly wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War." Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as " the war to end war " and it was also described as "the war to end all wars" due to their perception of its unparalleled scale, devastation, and loss of life. The first recorded use of
10780-648: The Accords of Acroma were agreed in April. The questions of disarming the populace and of the status of Islamic law were left for the future but the fighting in Cyrenaica came to an end. Italian troops captured Ghat in the south-west of the province in August 1914, which prompted an uprising and forced the Italians out of Ghat and Ghadames. The call to jihad had more effect among the Senussi than elsewhere and Ahmad began
11000-695: The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landed on the island of New Britain , then part of German New Guinea . On 28 October, the German cruiser SMS Emden sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug in the Battle of Penang . Japan declared war on Germany before seizing territories in the Pacific, which later became the South Seas Mandate , as well as German Treaty ports on
11220-783: The First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War , was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers . Fighting took place mainly in Europe and the Middle East , as well as in parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific , and in Europe was characterised by trench warfare ; the widespread use of artillery , machine guns, and chemical weapons (gas); and
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#173277252569411440-721: The Rüstungswende or 'armaments turning point', when he switched expenditure from the navy to the army. This decision was not driven by a reduction in political tensions but by German concern over Russia's quick recovery from its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and subsequent 1905 Russian Revolution . Economic reforms led to a significant post-1908 expansion of railways and transportation infrastructure, particularly in its western border regions. Since Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for their numerical inferiority compared to Russia,
11660-828: The United States entered the war on the Allied side following Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare against Atlantic shipping. Later that year, the Bolsheviks seized power in the Russian October Revolution , and Soviet Russia signed an armistice with the Central Powers in December, followed by a separate peace in March 1918. That month, Germany launched an offensive in
11880-831: The Western Desert were small engagements and when the Senussi began hostilities, the British garrison of Egypt had been depleted by the Sinai and Palestine campaign and the Gallipoli campaign . Small numbers of troops on both sides ranged over great distances and the troops involved in the Gallipoli expedition returned before the conclusion of the Senussi Campaign, increasing the garrison in Egypt to 275,000 men on 2 March 1916. The total of British and Commonwealth forces
12100-423: The hydrophone and depth charges were introduced, destroyers could potentially successfully attack a submerged submarine. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies since ships had to wait as convoys were assembled; the solution was an extensive program of building new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys. The U-boats sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at
12320-442: The tank . After the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, Allied and German forces unsuccessfully tried to outflank each other, a series of manoeuvres later known as the " Race to the Sea ". By the end of 1914, the opposing forces confronted each other along an uninterrupted line of entrenched positions from the Channel to the Swiss border. Since the Germans were normally able to choose where to stand, they generally held
12540-437: The 1/1st North Midland Mounted Brigade to Faiyum, about 60 mi (97 km) to the south-west of Cairo, with smaller forces along the Nile. The British reinforced the detachments covering the Nile Valley and named the command Southern Force (Major-General J. Adye) based at Beni Suef, conveniently placed to resist an advance from the west. The defeats inflicted on the Senussi during the coastal campaign made it possible to extend
12760-588: The 1839 Treaty of London did not require it to oppose a German invasion with military force; however, Prime Minister Asquith and his senior Cabinet ministers were already committed to supporting France, the Royal Navy had been mobilised, and public opinion was strongly in favour of intervention. On 31 July, Britain sent notes to Germany and France, asking them to respect Belgian neutrality; France pledged to do so, but Germany did not reply. Aware of German plans to attack through Belgium, French Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre asked his government for permission to cross
12980-431: The 1879 Dual Alliance , which became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882. For Bismarck, the purpose of these agreements was to isolate France by ensuring the three Empires resolve any disputes between themselves. In 1887, Bismarck set up the Reinsurance Treaty , a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary. For Bismarck, peace with Russia
13200-441: The 1913 Treaty of London , which had created an independent Albania while enlarging the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. However, disputes between the victors sparked the 33-day Second Balkan War , when Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913; it was defeated, losing most of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece, and Southern Dobruja to Romania. The result was that even countries which benefited from
13420-441: The 19th-century explorer Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti , called this site the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon . Siwa was annexed by Muhammad Ali of Egypt in 1820, but the Egyptian representative in Siwa was assassinated in 1838. At some point, Muhammad al-Sanusi stayed at Siwa for a few months and gathered some followers there. Later, Siwa was a base of the Sanusiyya in their fight against the British from 1915 to 1917. Meanwhile, in
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#173277252569413640-427: The 1st South African Battalion, the 4th South African Battalion, the Hong Kong Mountain Battery and a Field Ambulance detachment. On 12 March the reduced force ascended the plateau via the passes to Bir el Siwiat. During 13 March, the forces with Peyton advanced to Bir Tegdida, 19 mi (31 km) from Sollum but the cavalry remained at Buq Buq, after an erroneous report of insufficient water at Tegdida. On 14 March,
13860-412: The 2/7th Middlesex left Sollum to raid an ammunition dump at Moraisa, 18 mi (29 km) to the north-west and destroyed artillery ammunition and about 120,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition; other patrols during the month uncovered another 167,000 rounds. The Italian Army posted two battalions at Bardia to co-operate and from 25 to 26 July, a raiding force from Sollum and Italian cars from Bardia,
14080-408: The 4th century BCE, lie within the ruins of Aghurmi. The revelations of the oracle fell into disrepute under the Roman occupation of Egypt. Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh), as the rest of Egypt . The traditional culture of Siwa shows many unique elements, some reflecting its longstanding links with the isolated Oasis life and the fact that
14300-409: The Austrians and Serbs clashed at the battles of the Cer and Kolubara ; over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening their efforts against Russia. Serbia's victory against Austria-Hungary in the 1914 invasion has been called one of the major upset victories of the twentieth century. In 1915,
14520-593: The Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital, Belgrade . A Serbian counter-attack in the Battle of Kolubara succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first 10 months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join the attack on Serbia. The Austro-Hungarian provinces of Slovenia , Croatia and Bosnia provided troops for Austria-Hungary. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 14 October 1915 and joined in
14740-493: The Balkan Wars, such as Serbia and Greece, felt cheated of their "rightful gains", while for Austria it demonstrated the apparent indifference with which other powers viewed their concerns, including Germany. This complex mix of resentment, nationalism and insecurity helps explain why the pre-1914 Balkans became known as the " powder keg of Europe ". On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria , heir presumptive to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria , visited Sarajevo ,
14960-469: The British in Egypt from the west although his decision was not supported by all Senussi. The Ottomans provided machine guns and artillery, using ships and German submarines, to deliver weapons, equipment and money. By November 1915, the size of the British garrison in Egypt was much reduced by the expeditions to Gallipoli and Mesopotamia . The Western Frontier of Egypt was protected by the Egyptian Coast Guard (Lieutenant-Colonel C. L. Snow), whose commander
15180-412: The British used the light railway to transport the Kharga Detachment (Lieutenant-Colonel A. J. McNeill), an all-arms force of 1,600 men to the oasis on 15 April. On 20 March, an outpost was set up at Moghara Oasis, about 95 mi (153 km) west of Cairo. Murray ordered an extension of the light railway from Kharga to the Moghara Oasis, a new light railway from the Nile at Beni Mazar to Bahariya and
15400-690: The Camel Corps arrived at Bir Sheikh Mohammed, at the west end of Dakhla, on 19 March and took another forty prisoners. The British began to patrol all round and took another fifty prisoners and some politically-suspect civilians. By the end of March, the oasis and its 20,000 occupants had been cleared of the Senussi. Garrisons were installed at Dakhla and Bahariya and civilian government resumed. In November, an expedition to Farafra took more prisoners. In January 1917, Murray learned that Sayed Ahmed intended to retire from Siwa to Jaghbub with his 1,200 retainers . On 21 January, Murray ordered an operation to capture him and inflict losses on his remaining followers. It
15620-404: The Central Powers. However, the pro-German King Constantine I dismissed the pro-Allied government of Eleftherios Venizelos before the Allied expeditionary force arrived. The Macedonian front was at first mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturing Bitola on 19 November 1916 following the costly Monastir offensive , which brought stabilisation of
15840-649: The Chinese Shandong peninsula at Tsingtao . After Vienna refused to withdraw its cruiser SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth from Tsingtao, Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary, and the ship was sunk in November 1914. Within a few months, Allied forces had seized all German territories in the Pacific, leaving only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea. Some of the first clashes of
16060-589: The Cyrenaica coast to prevent supplies being landed by Greek boats at first and then German submarines from late 1915, guarding the Cyrenaica–Egyptian border to prevent arms smuggling, which was being done openly by the Ottomans with German connivance. The need for troops on the Italian Front led to the Italian occupation force being reduced from 100,000 to 70,000 men in the area around Tripoli , which
16280-533: The Egyptian t̠ꜣ(j) n d̠rw "tꜣj on the fringe" where t̠ꜣ transcribed the local Palaeo-Berber name *Se or *Sa . This name survived in the works of Muslim geographers as سنترية Santariyyah. Siwah is the Arabic name of the oasis called Sali in Berber . The oasis is also called Isiwan in modern Berber. The etymology of the word سيوة Siwah is unclear. Champollion derives it from Coptic ⲥⲟⲟⲩϩ (soouh) –
16500-423: The Egyptian capital city of Cairo . It is famed from its role in ancient Egypt as the home to an oracle of Amun , the ruins of which are a popular tourist attraction, giving it the ancient name Oasis of Amun-Ra , after the major Egyptian deity . The Oasis is in a deep depression that reaches −19 metres (−62 ft) below sea level. To the west, the al Jaghbub Oasis rests in a similar depression and to
16720-687: The French, they had been a "relatively peaceful religious sect of the Sahara Desert, opposed to fanaticism". In the Italo-Turkish War (29 September 1911 – 18 October 1912) , Italian forces occupied enclaves along the Libyan coast and the Senussi resisted from the interior, maintaining generally friendly relations with the British in Egypt. In 1913, the Italians had been defeated at the action of Etangi but in 1914 Italian reinforcements led to
16940-623: The German High Seas Fleet was confined to port. German U-boats attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain. The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival. The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the sinking of the passenger ship RMS Lusitania in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond
17160-640: The German Army increased in size from 1908 to 1914, he changed the allocation of forces between the two wings to 70:30. He also considered Dutch neutrality essential for German trade and cancelled the incursion into the Netherlands, which meant any delays in Belgium threatened the viability of the plan. Historian Richard Holmes argues that these changes meant the right wing was not strong enough to achieve decisive success. The initial German advance in
17380-751: The German right wing would sweep through the Netherlands and Belgium , then swing south, encircling Paris and trapping the French army against the Swiss border. The plan's creator, Alfred von Schlieffen , head of the German General Staff from 1891 to 1906, estimated that this would take six weeks, after which the German army would transfer to the East and defeat the Russians. The plan was substantially modified by his successor, Helmuth von Moltke
17600-541: The Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000 to 975,000 casualties between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice. The Battle of the Somme was an Anglo-French offensive from July to November 1916. The opening day on 1 July 1916 was the bloodiest single day in the history of the British Army , which suffered 57,500 casualties, including 19,200 dead. As
17820-581: The Grand Senussi to Muslim leaders and journalists in Arabia and India, urging jihad . The British continued to appease the Senussi, being in negotiations with the Sherif of Mecca and reluctant to inflame Muslim opinion. On 30 September, Snow met with the Grand Senussi and Jaafar Pasha, who discussed the undisciplined nature of desert nomads but Snow judged the Senussi forces to be potentially formidable. Soon afterwards, news arrived of another Senussi victory over
18040-469: The Grand Senussi to dismiss the Ottoman envoys, in return for money; German submarine raids encouraged Senussi intransigence. On 6 November, Egyptian coastguard boats in Sollum Bay were attacked by SM U-35 , Abbas was sunk and Nuhr el Bahr was damaged. On the night of 17 November, Senussi fired into the camp at Sollum, two Bedouin were murdered and the coast telegraph was cut. The next night,
18260-491: The Greek media: But I am speaking to every Greek all over the world. I want every one of you to feel proud because Greek hands have found this very important monument. This statement was an answer to the, at the time, Greek prime minister Costas Simitis who urged the archaeologists to stop their research in Egypt and sent a Greek Embassy advisor to ask the Egyptian government to withdraw Mrs Souvaltzi’s permission to excavate in
18480-709: The Italians at Tobruk, ostensibly seeking food for the starving peoples of the Marmarica . The Italians induced him to convince the Aibadat people to surrender 1,000 rifles in exchange for food. His good offices were used to enter the port of al-Burdi Sulaiman unopposed in May and then Sayed Ahmed's old camp at Masa'ad . His activities disgraced Sayed Idris and negotiations between an Anglo-Italian commission and Idris at al-Zuwaitina broke down. The British began an offensive and by early 1917, talks resumed at Akrama (Acroma)
18700-400: The Italians near Tripoli and the capture of much weaponry and money. Senussi aggression against the British increased in November, when German submarines torpedoed an armed steamer HMS Tara and the transport ship Moorina , then handed over the crews to the Senussi at Port Suleiman in Cyrenaica. Sayed Ahmed affected ignorance when the British complained and negotiations began to persuade
18920-604: The Italians until the end of the war. Archaeological analysis of the salt pan of Kallaya, the site of a minor skirmish between Libyans on 14 November 1918, shows that they had Russian rifles captured by the Germans and Austro-Hungarians on the Eastern Front and sent to Libya via the Ottomans. On 13 September 1915, a Senussi commander, Khalifa ben Asker, invaded the French Protectorate of Tunisia and took Dehiba , south of Tataouine . The French, distracted by
19140-476: The Italians, coincided with Ottoman war aims. In 1914, the British chose to appease the Senussi but the accession of Italy to the Entente in May 1915 led to the British applying pressure to the Senussi to recognise the Italian occupation and stopping cross-border trade. The Senussi became more dependent on German and Ottoman imports and had to move to find food. The attempt by Mannesmann, a German agent, to fabricate
19360-786: The Khedival Road at Gabel Medwa, 6 mi (9.7 km) west of Matruh, which air reconnaissance and spies estimated as a force of 5,000 men, a number of Muhafizia four guns and several machine-guns. A B.E.2c air observer of 14 Squadron sketched the Senussi encampment and copies were used by the ground commanders. Jaafar later wrote that three battalions of muhafazalar had 300 men each, four mountain guns and two machine-guns, which had been sent to Dabaa to cut communications with Alexandria. Another three battalions four guns and eight machine-guns were at Halazin, 15 mi (24 km) south-west of Gebel Medwa. Both forces were accompanied by Bedouin irregulars, who could be relied on to join in if
19580-688: The Middle East. In all, 140,000 soldiers served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East, with 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded. The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India afterward, bred disillusionment, resulting in the campaign for full independence led by Mahatma Gandhi . Pre-war military tactics that had emphasised open warfare and individual riflemen proved obsolete when confronted with conditions prevailing in 1914. Technological advances allowed
19800-619: The Nile Valley and isolated in the oases that they still occupied. By late May 1916, four blockhouses had been built along the Darb el Rubi track, and slow progress had been made building the railway to Bahariya. The main Senussi force, estimated at 1,800 men, was at Dakhla, and on 4 October, Murray ordered the new Western Force commander, Major-General W. A. Watson, to commence operations against it. News leaked to Sayed Ahmed, who had advanced from Dakhla to Bahariya with most of his force, which
20020-876: The Ottoman Empire , which disturbed the long-standing balance of power in Europe, as well as economic competition between nations triggered by industrialisation and imperialism . Growing tensions between the great powers and in the Balkans reached a breaking point on 28 June 1914, when a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand , heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Austria-Hungary held Serbia responsible, and declared war on 28 July. After Russia mobilised in Serbia's defence, Germany declared war on Russia and France , who had an alliance . The United Kingdom entered after Germany invaded Belgium , whose neutrality it guaranteed, and
20240-729: The Ottomans joined the Central Powers in November. Germany's strategy in 1914 was to quickly defeat France, then to transfer its forces to the east, but its advance was halted in September , and by the end of the year the Western Front consisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. The Eastern Front was more dynamic, but neither side gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives. Italy , Bulgaria , Romania , Greece and others joined in from 1915 onward. In April 1917,
20460-613: The Ottomans' territory in the Balkans during the 1912–1913 First Balkan War , much to the surprise of outside observers. The Serbian capture of ports on the Adriatic resulted in partial Austrian mobilisation, starting on 21 November 1912, including units along the Russian border in Galicia . The Russian government decided not to mobilise in response, unprepared to precipitate a war. The Great Powers sought to re-assert control through
20680-613: The Russian Stavka agreed with the French to attack Germany within fifteen days of mobilisation, ten days before the Germans had anticipated, although it meant the two Russian armies that entered East Prussia on 17 August did so without many of their support elements. By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France, controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields, and inflicted 230,000 more casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany
20900-457: The Senussi advance. The Sikh advance in the centre had continued as the flanks were pushed back but the Sikh, South African and New Zealand infantry pressed on and at 2:45 p.m. reached the Senussi entrenchments, at which the defenders gave way and retreated into the desert. The cavalry were not able to pursue when the Senussi on the flanks retreated, for lack of water for the horses, the condition of
21120-505: The Senussi defeated the British. Wallace decided to try a night advance to surprise the Senussi, and at 5:00 a.m. on 25 December, two columns advanced from Matruh. The right column was to advance direct to Gebel Medwa, and the left column was to move via Wadi Toweiwia south of Matruh and then west round the Senussi flank to cut off their retreat. An Azalea-class sloop , HMS Clematis was to provide gunfire support to any target in range. The cavalry left Wadi Toweiwia by 7:30 a.m. but moving
21340-412: The Senussi in several engagements, culminating in the action of Agagia , followed the re-capture of the coast in March 1916. In the interior, the band of oases campaign continued until February 1917, after which a peace was negotiated and the area became a backwater for the rest of the war, patrolled by British aircraft and armoured cars. Before 1906, when the Senussi became involved in resistance against
21560-462: The Senussi on Egypt had not helped the Ottoman Empire to defeat the British east of the Suez Canal and most of the Egyptian population did not join the jihad and rise against the British. Sayed Ahmed was undermined by the defeat and his nephew, Sayyid Mohammed Idris , who had opposed the campaign, gained favour at his expense. The peace deal, the modus vivendi of Acroma , between the British and
21780-455: The Senussi retreat, having been engaged since 8:00 a.m. 4 mi (6.4 km) south of Gebel Medwa, with the Senussi horsemen apparently placed there to foil an outflanking move. Eventually, machine-gun fire forced back the covering party, but the column did not resume the advance until 9:00 a.m. and then tried to cut off small parties. Attempts to signal the left column to advance direct to Wadi Majid took until near 1:00 p.m. to arrive and
22000-486: The Senussi to attack Egypt from the west. The Ottomans wanted the Senussi to conduct operations against the rear of the defenders of the Suez Canal ; the Ottomans had failed in previous attacks against British forces from Sinai in the east and wanted them to be distracted by attacks from the opposite direction. In February 1915, Ottoman envoys, including Nuri Bey , the half-brother of Enver Pasha and Jaafar Pasha ,
22220-532: The Senussi was agreed on 12 April 1917 and recognised Idris as emir of Cyrenaica (he eventually became King Idris I of Libya). Idris was required to hand over all British, Egyptian or Allied citizens who had been shipwrecked and to surrender or expel Ottoman officers and their allies. A fifty-strong police force was allowed at Jaghbub but no other military force were allowed there, at Siwa or in Egypt. The British undertook to allow trade through Sollum and that, although Jaghbub would remain Egyptian, it would be under
22440-441: The Senussi were seen retiring through a pass to the rear and disappeared. The raiders destroyed the camp, sent patrols towards Siwa and entered the next day unopposed, where the inhabitants appeared happy to be rid of the Senussi. The main party at Munassib Pass failed to intercept the Senussi because the escarpment was too steep to get closer than 18 mi (29 km), and only the light cars and an armoured car managed to descend
22660-468: The Senussi, who soon lost contact with the Nile Valley and were then isolated in oases until overrun or forced out by starvation and disease. In 2001, the military historian, Hew Strachan , described the hostilities in Libya as a war independent of the First World War, beginning in 1911 and ending in 1931. A colonial land-grab was resisted by the local population and the resistance developed into
22880-650: The Serbian retreat toward the Adriatic coast in the Battle of Mojkovac on 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians also conquered Montenegro. The surviving Serbian soldiers were evacuated to Greece. After the conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece to offer assistance and to pressure its government to declare war against
23100-438: The Siwan's dates and olive oil . Siwa's Berbers are close to 30,000 in number. The hot springs are an attraction to visitors. Women have traditionally played a prominent role in Siwan households, often being in charge of a household's financial decisions. They have also been responsible for raising children; the town's deputy mayor said in 1985, "If our children speak Siwi, it to our womenfolk that they owe it." Siwa
23320-445: The WFF returned via Dabaa as the rest of the column returned to Matruh on 16 January with 13 prisoners and booty of 140 camels and 50 cattle. On 19 January, air reconnaissance found the main Senussi camp at Halazin, 22 mi (35 km) south-west of Matruh, with 300 tents, including that of the Grand Senussi and it was decided to attack as soon as possible. The WFF advanced on 22 January to Bir Shola 12 mi (19 km) to
23540-651: The West was very successful. By the end of August, the Allied left, which included the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), was in full retreat , and the French offensive in Alsace-Lorraine was a disastrous failure, with casualties exceeding 260,000. German planning provided broad strategic instructions while allowing army commanders considerable freedom in carrying them out at the front, but von Kluck used this freedom to disobey orders, opening
23760-594: The Western Frontier Force (WFF) had arrived with an artillery battery, two 4 in (100 mm) guns of the Royal Marine Artillery Heavy Battery from Alexandria and two Royal Flying Corps (RFC) B.E.2c aircraft from A Flight of 14 Squadron RFC, which began operations on 5 December. On 11 December, Wallace sent a column (Lieutenant-Colonel J. L. R. Gordon) from Matruh to Duwwar Hussein 16 mi (26 km) to
23980-485: The Younger . Under Schlieffen, 85% of German forces in the west were assigned to the right wing, with the remainder holding along the frontier. By keeping his left-wing deliberately weak, he hoped to lure the French into an offensive into the "lost provinces" of Alsace-Lorraine , which was the strategy envisaged by their Plan XVII . However, Moltke grew concerned that the French might push too hard on his left flank and as
24200-497: The actual writing, until the end of World War II. Now the practice is not followed." Despite the multiplicity of sources for these practices, the Egyptian authorities and even the Siwan tribal elders have attempted to repress the historical and anthropological record. When the Siwa-born anthropologist Fathi Malim included reference to Siwan homosexuality (especially a love poem from a man to a youth) in his book Oasis Siwa (2001),
24420-525: The administration of Idris as long as the undertaking not to allow military forces to enter Egypt was honoured. Two days later, Idris came to terms with the Italians, signed a modus vivendi and the Western Frontier remained calm for the rest of the war. Sayed Ahmed lingered for a year, in August 1918, he travelled to Constantinople in an Austro-Hungarian submarine and conducted pan-Islamic propaganda. First World War World War I or
24640-446: The aggressor, German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg delayed the commencement of war preparations until 31 July. That afternoon, the Russian government were handed a note requiring them to "cease all war measures against Germany and Austria-Hungary" within 12 hours. A further German demand for neutrality was refused by the French who ordered general mobilization but delayed declaring war. The German General Staff had long assumed they faced
24860-556: The aircraft flew to Sidi Barrani to search from Sidi Barrani to Sollum. The WFF had gained a base 90 mi (140 km) further west than Matruh but could only land supplies in good weather and had to rely on the overland route until the Navy caught up. As soon as the British were established at Sidi Barrani, Lukin returned as many horses and gunners as possible to reduce the demand for food, which by camel convoy took four days and needed 50–100 escorts per journey. Delivery of supplies by sea
25080-470: The area. This was the first time in human history that one country's government intervened in another country's internal affairs to stop an archaeological excavation. The case is still active in the Greek courts of law. An extremely old hominid footprint was discovered in 2007 at Siwa Oasis. Egyptian scientists claimed it could be 2–3 million years old, which would make it the oldest fossilized hominid footprint ever found. However, no proof of this conjecture
25300-474: The attack by the Austro-Hungarian army under Mackensen's army of 250,000 that was already underway. Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops in total. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northern Albania . The Serbs suffered defeat in the Battle of Kosovo . Montenegro covered
25520-543: The best way of achieving this. However, the Foreign Ministry had no solid proof of Serbian involvement. On 23 July, Austria delivered an ultimatum to Serbia, listing ten demands made intentionally unacceptable to provide an excuse for starting hostilities. Serbia ordered general mobilization on 25 July, but accepted all the terms, except for those empowering Austrian representatives to suppress "subversive elements" inside Serbia, and take part in
25740-483: The border and pre-empt such a move. To avoid violating Belgian neutrality, he was told any advance could come only after a German invasion. Instead, the French cabinet ordered its Army to withdraw 10 km behind the German frontier, to avoid provoking war. On 2 August, Germany occupied Luxembourg and exchanged fire with French units when German patrols entered French territory; on 3 August, they declared war on France and demanded free passage across Belgium, which
25960-399: The bridal silver and the ensemble of silver ornaments and beads that women wore in abundance to weddings and other ceremonies. These pieces were decorated with symbols which related to Siwa's history and beliefs and attitudes. The best known of these pieces is a huge silver disc called ' adrim ' and a round necklace, called ' aghraw', from which it hung over the breast. A girl would give up
26180-399: The building of a line of blockhouses along the Darb el Rubi track from Samalut to Bahariya, the route of the new railway. The Imperial Camel Corps had been formed in November 1915 mainly from companies of the 1st Australian Division and 2nd Australian Division , the Australian Light Horse, New Zealand troops, British Yeomanry and Territorial infantry. The corps became the principal force in
26400-467: The camp for ten days. The rain stopped on 9 January but it took a day for the ground to recover and a mixed column reached Baqqush late on 13 January. On the next day, the camp was found to be deserted but smaller camps were found with camels and livestock; the tents were burned and the livestock looted before the column returned to Baqqush. During the raid, the telegraph from Matruh to Dabaa was repaired and on 15 January, troops who were being transferred from
26620-473: The camp was spotted by air reconnaissance. The column returned on 30 December having met no resistance, with Bedouin fleeing as the column approached. Eighty tents were destroyed along with some grain; 100 camels and 500 sheep were looted, which forced the local Bedouin into acquiescence. On 1 January 1916, eighty tents were seen by a reconnaissance aircrew at Gebel Howeimil, 35 mi (56 km) south-east of Matruh, but torrential rains prevented an attack on
26840-486: The campaign saw the first use of anti-aircraft warfare after an Austrian plane was shot down with ground-to-air fire, as well as the first medical evacuation by the Serbian army. Upon mobilisation, in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan , 80% of the German Army was located on the Western Front, with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. Rather than a direct attack across their shared frontier,
27060-649: The capital of the recently annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina . Cvjetko Popović , Gavrilo Princip , Nedeljko Čabrinović , Trifko Grabež , Vaso Čubrilović ( Bosnian Serbs ) and Muhamed Mehmedbašić (from the Bosniaks community), from the movement known as Young Bosnia , took up positions along the Archduke's motorcade route, to assassinate him. Supplied with arms by extremists within the Serbian Black Hand intelligence organisation, they hoped his death would free Bosnia from Austrian rule. Čabrinović threw
27280-423: The cavalry took until 3:00 p.m. to reach the wadi, by when the Senussi had escaped. The infantry had killed about 100 Senussi, captured 80 camels and then burned the encampment. The British faced north against the Senussi rearguard backed against the sea but most of the Senussi had retreated westwards with their livestock and as dark fell, the rearguard was able to slip away from Wadi Senab and Wadi Majid along
27500-438: The center of Siwa – declaring ending of festivals, and beginning of a new year without hatred or grudge, and with love, respect and reconciliation. Siwi children traditionally also celebrated Ashura by lighting torches, singing, and exchanging sweets. Adults' celebration was limited to the preparation of a large meal. Siwans are preferentially endogamous , only rarely marrying non-Siwans. Nonetheless, Bedouin brides command
27720-578: The chance of a decisive outcome, while it had failed to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two-front war. As was apparent to several German leaders, this amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after the First Battle of the Marne , Crown Prince Wilhelm told an American reporter "We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost it is already." On 30 August 1914, New Zealand occupied German Samoa (now Samoa ). On 11 September,
27940-485: The column was recalled due to the volume of fire being received. The artillery joined in and an Australian Light Horse squadron arrived, after which the Senussi were driven back from the Wadi Senab. The force of about 300 Senussi lost 80 men killed and seven prisoners against 16 killed and 17 wounded, one of whom was Snow, who was killed trying to capture a wounded Bedouin. Gordon heard the engagement and received
28160-520: The cost of 199 submarines. World War I also saw the first use of aircraft carriers in combat, with HMS Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a successful raid against the Zeppelin hangars at Tondern in July 1918, as well as blimps for antisubmarine patrol. Faced with Russia in the east, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses,
28380-522: The creation of new independent states, including Poland , Finland , the Baltic states , Czechoslovakia , and Yugoslavia . The League of Nations was established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during the interwar period contributed to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Before World War II , the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply
28600-449: The creation of strong defensive systems largely impervious to massed infantry advances, such as barbed wire , machine guns and above all far more powerful artillery , which dominated the battlefield and made crossing open ground extremely difficult. Both sides struggled to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, technology enabled the production of new offensive weapons, such as gas warfare and
28820-965: The crowds listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened." Nevertheless, the impact of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and has been described by historian Christopher Clark as a "9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna". Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged subsequent anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo . Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian-controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned approximately 5,500 prominent Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as
29040-451: The day, when some cars managed to work forward another 400 yd (370 m) and maintain machine-gun fire on the Senussi defences. Deserters said that there were about 850 Senussi at Girba and another 400 at Siwa with Mohammed Saleh, who had moved to Girba to command the defence as Sayed Ahmed prepared to retreat to the west. The night was quiet until 5:00 a.m., when the Senussi opened fire and began to burn their stores. As dawn broke,
29260-480: The defence of western Egypt, combining camel transport and motor vehicles. Patrols of light Ford cars and light armoured motor batteries revolutionised the occupation of the Western Desert, increasing the range of patrols from tens of miles by camel to hundreds of miles by vehicle. Because of the distances involved, patrols operated independently but proved so effective that the Senussi were quickly cut off from
29480-547: The desert to a point 185 mi (298 km) south-west of Matruh and 13 mi (21 km) north of the Shegga Pass on 2 February. At 9:00 a.m. the next day, the force entered the oasis 5 mi (8.0 km) south-east of the Neqb el Shegga and advanced on Girba. The cars surprised the Senussi, who exchanged fire, but the British found that the ground was too rough to get closer than 800 yd (730 m) until later in
29700-459: The desert, apart from a small Ottoman contingent. The Ottomans were overrun and killed; thirty prisoners were taken, with three field guns, nine machine-guns and 250,000 rounds of ammunition, for no British casualties. The cars pursued for 10 mi (16 km), shooting down the Senussi as they ran. In Sollum, a letter from Captain R. S. Gwatkin-Williams, the commander of the Tara was found, giving
29920-438: The disc at a special ceremony in the spring the day she was married. The jewelry, which was made by local silversmiths, consisted of silver necklaces, earrings, bangles, hair ornaments, pendants, and many rings. For a wealthy woman, the full ensemble could weigh as much as five or six kilos. These pieces are decorated with symbols common to Berber people across North Africa designed to promote good health, fertility and to protect
30140-562: The east, the large Qattara Depression is also below sea level. The depression is fertile due to both natural flowing artesian wells and irrigation . It is the site of about 200 natural springs. Siwa is directly adjacent to the Libyan Desert plateau. The geology is characterised by horizontal layers of porous limestones alternated with marls and clays dating back to the Miocene . The limestone plateau and inselbergs resulting from
30360-555: The edge of the sand sea. To the east is a string of oases, some close enough to the Nile Valley to be in range of Senussi raiders travelling on camels. A standard-gauge railway ran along the coast from Alexandria, intended to terminate at Sollum, which in 1915 had reached Dabaa. A track, known as the Khedival Motor Road, fit for motor vehicles in dry weather, continued to the frontier although when hostilities began.
30580-538: The end of the year, the British had about 40,000 troops in the Western Desert. On 21 November, the 2nd Battalion New Zealand Rifle Brigade , a company of the 15th Sikhs, parties of the Bikanir Camel Corps and an armoured train crewed by Egyptian gunners, was sent to Dabaa to guard the railway and patrol to the Moghara Oasis. Later on, the 1/1st North Midland Mounted Brigade was sent to Faiyum and
30800-547: The escarpment and close the pass. On 4 February, the party ambushed a convoy from the west that was carrying mail and on the next day met the advanced parties of Senussi, which were retreating from Girba. The raiders were foiled when the Senussi held them off and diverted convoys following on behind through sand dunes around the pass. The cars returned to the rendezvous, and the raiders estimated that they had killed forty Senussi, forty camels and inflicted 200 wounded. Rifles and equipment had been destroyed and three British members of
31020-487: The escarpments but no signs of defensive works at the passes. The slower moving infantry were to set off on 9 March, to arrive at dawn on 12 March and capture the Median and Eragib passes. The horsed column of the 2nd Mounted Brigade, artillery and the camel corps, were to leave on 11 March and rendezvous with Lukin on 13 March at Augerin. The infantry column reached Buq Buq on 11 March, the cavalry reached Alem abu Sheiba and on
31240-641: The expansion of the French colonial empire . In 1873, Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors , which included Austria-Hungary , Russia and Germany. After the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War , the League was dissolved due to Austrian concerns over the expansion of Russian influence in the Balkans , an area they considered to be of vital strategic interest. Germany and Austria-Hungary then formed
31460-651: The famine, surrendered to Peyton and public unrest in Alexandria diminished. The South African Brigade returned to Alexandria and two battalions of the Composite Brigade, a company of the Camel Corps, two guns of the Hong Kong Battery, the light armoured cars and the reconnaissance aircraft remained in Sollum, with an RFC half-flight. On 7 April, four light armoured cars and a machine-gun section of
31680-414: The famous historical practices of the inhabitants. About 80 km (50 mi) in length and 20 km (12 mi) wide, Siwa Oasis is one of Egypt 's most isolated settlements, with about 25,000 people, mostly Siwi Berbers ( Siwi : Isiwan . The municipality hosts the easternmost Berber-speaking community, whose language, called Siwi ( Jlan n Isiwan ), shares many linguistic features with
31900-400: The first time on the Western Front. Several types of gas soon became widely used by both sides and though it never proved a decisive, battle-winning weapon, it became one of the most feared and best-remembered horrors of the war. In February 1916, the Germans attacked French defensive positions at the Battle of Verdun , lasting until December 1916. Casualties were greater for the French, but
32120-595: The front. Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough in September 1918 in the Vardar offensive , after most German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians were defeated at the Battle of Dobro Pole , and by 25 September British and French troops had crossed the border into Bulgaria proper as the Bulgarian army collapsed. Bulgaria capitulated four days later, on 29 September 1918. The German high command responded by despatching troops to hold
32340-472: The garrisons southwards and at the end of March, the south end of the line of posts was at Isna. Egyptian officials at Kharga, where there was a light railway connecting with the main line along the Nile, were withdrawn when Dakhla was occupied. No attempt was made to attack the Senussi but frequent reconnaissance sorties by aircraft kept watch. By 19 March, Senussi defeats on the coast had lowered their morale. The Senussi retired from Kharga of their own accord and
32560-408: The globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Allied merchant shipping . These were systematically hunted down by the Royal Navy, though not before causing considerable damage. One of the most successful was the SMS Emden , part of the German East Asia Squadron stationed at Qingdao , which seized or sank 15 merchantmen, a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. Most of the squadron
32780-558: The ground made an armoured car advance impossible. British casualties were 31 killed and 291 wounded. Senussi prisoners estimated that 200 had been killed and 500 wounded but the bulk of the Senussi force remained intact and air reconnaissance on 24 January, found them at Bir Tuta towards Sidi Barrani. The British set up a bivouac close by and the troops spent the night without shelter or food. The column returned to Bir Shola, through even worse mud and wounded men who could not sit on horses were carried by stretcher. The night of 24 January
33000-403: The guns and ammunition took another two hours as the rest of the column moved towards the Khedival Road 12 mi (19 km) west of Matruh. The right column moved forward silently but at 6:00 a.m., Senussi outposts raised the alarm and engaged the column which stopped until the light improved. Many Senussi could be seen in the hills to the south and south-east but not on Gebel Medwa because of
33220-421: The high ground, while their trenches tended to be better built; those constructed by the French and English were initially considered "temporary", only needed until an offensive would destroy the German defences. Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915, at the Second Battle of Ypres , the Germans (violating the Hague Convention ) used chlorine gas for
33440-446: The infantry attacked as the cavalry were sent against the right flank of the Senussi. At 10:00 a.m. the infantry advanced towards a defensive position about 1.5 mi (2.4 km) long, which was obscured by a mirage. The Senussi were thought to be retiring on a prepared position with considerable skill and handling three guns and five machine-guns well. A party of Senussi appeared on the British right and then another party appeared on
33660-570: The inhabitants are Siwi Berbers. Until a tarmac road was built to the Mediterranean coast in the 1980s Siwa's only links with the outside world were by arduous camel tracks through the desert. These were used to export dates and olives, bring trade goods, or carry pilgrims on the route which linked the Maghreb to Cairo and hence to Mecca. As a result of this isolation, Siwis developed a unique natural culture manifested in its crafts of basketry, pottery, silverwork and embroidery and in its style of dress. The most visible and celebrated examples of this were
33880-435: The introductions of tanks and aircraft . World War I was one of the deadliest conflicts in history , resulting in an estimated 10 million military dead and more than 20 million wounded , plus some 10 million civilian dead from causes including genocide . The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic. The causes of World War I included the rise of Germany and decline of
34100-422: The investigation and trial of Serbians linked to the assassination. Claiming this amounted to rejection, Austria broke off diplomatic relations and ordered partial mobilisation the next day; on 28 July, they declared war on Serbia and began shelling Belgrade . Russia ordered general mobilization in support of Serbia on 30 July. Anxious to ensure backing from the SPD political opposition by presenting Russia as
34320-436: The jihad in Fezzan in southern Libya. The Italians re-captured Ghadames in February 1916 but the blockade on the Senussi had little military effect, since they were well stocked with captured Italian weapons. Italian garrisons in Cyrenaica were withdrawn to reinforce the west. Ottoman–German operations in Tripolitania were based at Misratah, where a submarine visited every couple of weeks to deliver arms and ammunition; in May 1917
34540-423: The languages of Sokna and El Foqaha in Libya , partially also with the Zenati group , and which has been heavily influenced by Arabic . While the majority of the population of Siwa is Berber , the oasis is also home to a Bedouin community related to the Awlad Ali, the Shahibaat, as well as to a growing number of other Egyptian settlers. Currently, the entire population of the oasis speaks Arabic as either
34760-414: The large oasis of Kharga, 100 mi (160 km) from Suhag on the Nile. On 11 February 1916, 500 Senussi and Sayyid Ahmed ash-Sharif occupied the oasis at Bahariya, just before Peyton was ready to begin a march from Matruh to Sollum. The Senussi were seen by air observers from a 17 Squadron detachment at Faiyum. On 12 February, the aircraft bombed the oasis with eight 20 lb (9.1 kg) bombs and
34980-457: The late 1940s, a Siwan merchant told the visiting British novelist Robin Maugham that the Siwan women were "badly neglected", but that Siwan men "will kill each other for boy. Never for a woman", although as Maugham noted, marriage to a boy had become illegal by then. The Egyptian archaeologist Ahmed Fakhry, who studied Siwa for three decades, observed in 1973 that "While the Siwans were still living inside their walled town, none of these bachelors
35200-461: The left flank. By 9:30 a.m., the Sikhs had closed to within 800 yd (730 m) of the main Senussi position and saw that they were retiring. The Sikhs pressed on with the 1st New Zealand Rifles and took the ridge by 10:00 a.m. Some Senussi were trapped in caves and gullies and killed, as artillery bombarded the rest of the Senussi during their retreat. The cavalry in the left column had been delayed by Senussi cavalry and were not able to cut off
35420-404: The left, as the British right flank guard was driven back under machine-gun fire. New Zealand reinforcements were sent to the flank with machine-guns and stopped the Senussi attack but were then outflanked and reinforced again. The Senussi outflanking move on the left was more threatening, it stopped the left column at 1:30 p.m. and gradually drove it back, until two New Zealand companies stopped
35640-403: The line, but these forces were too weak to re-establish a front. Siwa Oasis The Siwa Oasis ( Arabic : واحة سيوة Wāḥat Sīwah [ˈwæːħet ˈsiːwæ] ) is an urban oasis in Egypt . It is situated between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert , 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of the Egypt–Libya border and 560 kilometres (350 mi) from
35860-432: The matings which have taken place among their sheiks and their sheiks' sons....Most of the boys used in sodomy are between 12 and 18 years of age." After an expedition to Siwa, the archaeologist Count Byron de Prorok reported in 1937 "an enthusiasm [that] could not have been approached even in Sodom... Homosexuality was not merely rampant, it was raging...Every dancer had his boyfriend...[and] chiefs had harems of boys". In
36080-402: The next day, the infantry column reached Augerin; armoured cars occupied the Median and Eragib passes. The water supply was found to be insufficient for the cavalry column or all of the infantry. Peyton ordered Lukin to advance with two battalions and artillery and send the rest back to Buq Buq with the cavalry column, to join with Peyton and make a slow advance along the coast. Lukin advanced with
36300-461: The next day. The Duke of Westminster's armoured cars pressed on to Bir Waer, which air reconnaissance reported to have been abandoned, to pursue the Senussi westwards. The armoured cars managed to drive at up to 40 mph (64 km/h) on the hard desert surface and by-passed hundreds of Senussi. Having driven 25 mi (40 km) west of Sollum, the main Senussi force was sighted and attacked. The Senussi could not stand their ground and fled into
36520-461: The next day. The former prisoners had reported that there had been no mistreatment but that they had suffered from the famine caused by the military operations in the region and that four of the prisoners had died, mainly from hunger. The Senussi defeats in the coastal campaign forced the survivors over the border into Libya. To prevent a Senussi revival, the light Fords and armoured cars continued their patrols. The Aulad Ali, having also gone hungry in
36740-458: The oasis around the same time (7th century BCE), and the oracle temple of Amun (Greek: Zeus Ammon ), who, Herodotus was told, took the image here of a ram. Herodotus knew of a "fountain of the Sun" that ran coldest in the noontime heat. During his campaign to conquer the Persian Empire , Alexander the Great reached the oasis, supposedly by following birds across the desert. The oracle, Alexander's court historians alleged, confirmed him as both
36960-437: The oasis' erosion along the dunes create reliefs that the Isiwan describe as mountains ( adrar in Tamizight ). Two large salt lakes are fed by drainage water of agricultural origin. The oasis supports the cultivation of thousands of date palms and olives . Siwa has a temperate desert climate. The Ancient Egyptian name of the oasis was sḫt jꜣmw , meaning "Field of Trees". The native Libyan toponym may be preserved in
37180-409: The oasis, a tiny Egyptian puppet government-in-exile was set up at Siwa. The oasis makes a brief appearance as a base of the LRDG in the 1958 war film Ice Cold in Alex . The ancient fortress of Siwa, known as the Shali Ghadi ( Shali being the name of the town, and Ghadi meaning "remote"), was built on natural rock (an inselberg ) and made of kershif (salt and mud-brick) and palm logs. After it
37400-409: The ocean, even to neutral ships. Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare. The Battle of Jutland in May/June 1916 was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. The clash was indecisive, though the Germans inflicted more damage than they received; thereafter the bulk of
37620-412: The party had been wounded. The force returned to Matruh on 8 February, as Sayyid Ahmed withdrew to Jaghbub. Negotiations between Sayed Idris and the British and the Italians at Tobruk, which had begun in late January, were galvanised by news of the Senussi defeat at Siwa. At Akramah on 12 April, Idris acted on British insinuations that they regarded him as the legitimate Senussi leader and that Sayed Ahmed
37840-681: The protection of the " cruiser rules ", which demanded warning and movement of crews to "a place of safety" (a standard that lifeboats did not meet). Finally, in early 1917, Germany adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare , realising the Americans would eventually enter the war. Germany sought to strangle Allied sea lanes before the United States could transport a large army overseas, but, after initial successes, eventually failed to do so. The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling in convoys , escorted by destroyers . This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after
38060-437: The rebellion in southern Algeria, had left the south of Tunisia undefended. The Senussi found little support from the local population and the Senussi leaders were angry at Khalifa ben Asker for drawing the French into battle. Their war was against the Italians and the British and did wished to avoid angerin the French. Khalifa ben Asker was arrested by the Senussi and their forces withdrew from Tunisia. The affairs and actions in
38280-447: The rocky shore, where the cavalry could not follow. At 5:00 p.m. Gordon ended the pursuit and ordered the infantry to bivouac at Gebel Medwa and the cavalry to return to Matruh. The defeat lowered Senussi prestige but the inability of the British cavalry to exploit the victory, left the Senussi main body intact. British casualties were 13 killed and 51 wounded and about 300 Senussi were killed and 20 captured. Jaafar Pasha's baggage
38500-509: The semi-desert coastal strip but with several oases, some quite big and supporting sizeable populations, administered by the Egyptian government. Bedouin (Arab nomads) moved between the oases, traded with the inhabitants and took refuge at them when wells ran dry. Along the Mediterranean coast of Egypt is a strip of land, well-enough watered to support grazing for camels and sheep; digging for water generally succeeds but wells and cisterns are often far apart and can unexpectedly run dry. The earth
38720-414: The skin of the sheep (along with its innards) as a festival delicacy, after removing the hair. They also eat heart of palm ( agroz ). The Siyaha Festival (Eid El Solh–Eid El Hasad), in honour of the town's traditional patron saint Sidi Sulayman, is unique to Siwa (the name is often misunderstood as a reference to "tourism", but in fact predates tourism). It is known that on this occasion Siwi men meet on
38940-410: The south-west and moved on Halazin in two columns, next morning. The infantry column on the right followed a compass bearing towards the camp and the cavalry moved forward in echelon on the left flank. It rained and the baggage train was left behind, motor ambulances bogged down and the armoured cars were sent back to Matruh. After a 7 mi (11 km) advance, the Senussi were seen and an hour later
39160-492: The spring of 1893, German explorer and photographer Hermann Burchardt took photographs of the architecture of the town of Siwa, now stored at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin . Egyptian rule from distant Cairo was at first tenuous and marked by several revolts. Egypt began to assert firmer control after a 1928 visit to the Oasis by King Fuad I , who berated the locals for homosexual practices and specified punishments to bring Siwan behaviour in line with Egyptian morals. Siwa
39380-411: The streets of the Shali are also split by large cracks, or they are partially collapsed. Other local historic sites of interest include the remains of the oracle temple; the Gebel al Mawta (the Mountain of the Dead), a Roman-era necropolis featuring dozens of rock-cut tombs; and "Cleopatra's Bath", an antique natural spring. The fragmentary remains of the oracle temple, with some inscriptions dating from
39600-457: The sudden appearance of the British. The Gebel Medwa was occupied to guard the right flank and then the advance was to continue down the road, when a Senussi field gun fired on the road with some accuracy. The Notts battery replied and silenced the gun; shells from Clematis 10,000 yd (5.7 mi; 9.1 km) away, fell on the Senussi position. The 15th Sikhs advanced astride the road at 8:45 a.m. , as other troops followed on or attacked on
39820-415: The term First World War was in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel who stated, "There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word." For much of the 19th century, the major European powers maintained a tenuous balance of power , known as the Concert of Europe . After 1848, this
40040-584: The threat posed by the closing of this gap was more important than competing with the Royal Navy. After Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 troops in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures were taken by the Balkan powers and Italy, which led to increased expenditure by the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are difficult to calculate due to differences in categorising expenditure since they often omit civilian infrastructure projects like railways which had logistical importance and military use. It
40260-423: The three columns concentrated near Halfaya Pass, 3 mi (4.8 km) short of Sollum, the cavalry having caught up and the battalions with Lukin carrying water on camels. Peyton sent the 2nd South African Infantry Battalion up the pass to join Lukin and continued along the coast. The approach march turned into an anti-climax as the Senussi had departed from Sollum before the columns arrived and supply ships arrived
40480-421: The tribal council demanded that he blank out the material in the current edition of the book and remove it from future editions, or be expelled from the community. Malim reluctantly agreed and physically deleted the passages in the first edition of his book, and excluded them from the second. A newer book, Siwa Past and Present (2005) by A. Dumairy, the Director of Siwa Antiquities, discreetly omits all mention of
40700-519: The wadi to Duwwar Hussein. Wallace agreed to send four armoured cars to co-operate. Overnight, two companies of the Royal Scots arrived with a convoy of supplies and the march began at 8:30 a.m. behind a cavalry screen. Just east of Wadi Hashefiat, the force was fired on from the left at about 9:15 a.m. and the flank guard retired northwards, chased by what appeared to be British troops. They were identified as Senussi and observed advancing in open order and firing from behind cover and eventually seen to be
40920-429: The war ended with the Armistice of 11 November 1918 . The Paris Peace Conference of 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, most notably the Treaty of Versailles , by which Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay large war reparations to the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in
41140-413: The war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorates of Togoland and Kamerun . On 10 August, German forces in South-West Africa attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces in German East Africa , led by Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck , fought
41360-420: The wearer from misfortune. Some of the same signs and patterns are found on the embroidery which embellishes women's dresses, trousers, and shawls. The arrival of the road and of television exposed the oasis to the styles and fashions of the outside world and the traditional silver ornaments were gradually replaced by jewelry made of gold. Evidence of the old styles and traditions are however still in evidence in
41580-418: The west , which despite initial successes left the German Army exhausted and demoralised. A successful Allied counter-offensive from August 1918 caused a collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facing a revolution at home , Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on 9 November, and
41800-429: The west European scramble for Africa. In the summer of 1915, the Ottomans persuaded the Grand Senussi, Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi , to declare jihad , attack British-occupied Egypt from the west and encourage insurrection in Egypt, to divert British forces. The Senussi crossed the Libyan–Egyptian border in November 1915 and fought a campaign along the Egyptian coast. At first, British Empire forces withdrew, then defeated
42020-400: The west, with infantry, artillery and four armoured cars, three Ford light cars and a wireless car from the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division, the Composite Yeomanry Regiment and most of the Composite Infantry Brigade. The cavalry had moved about 9 mi (14 km) when they received small-arms fire from the right and tried to outflank their assailants, with support from the armoured cars but
42240-404: The wet season was imminent. German and Ottoman officers made their headquarters at Siwa Oasis with a Senussi force of 5,000 combatants, supported by mountain guns and machine-guns, to attack Sollum , Mersa Matruh and El Dabaa on the coast and the oases further south at Bahariya , Farafra , Dakhla and Kharga . On 15 August, a British submarine commander saw people onshore near Sollum and
42460-515: The whereabouts of the survivors of the vessels sunk the previous November. Senussi prisoners admitted that the crews were being held at Bir Hakeim , about 120 mi (190 km) west of Sollum. The Duke of Westminster set off with 45 light cars and ambulances on 17 March and drove from 1:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. over unfamiliar ground, strewn with boulders, to conduct the Bir Hakeim rescue . The 91 men were fed then driven back to an Australian Camel Corps outpost at Bir Waer, returning to Alexandria
42680-406: The winter. Over 300 mi (480 km) west of the Nile lies Siwa Oasis, from which there are two routes to the Nile Valley through lines of oases. The northern route lies to the east past several small oases and wells to the big oasis at Bahariya, which at its eastern fringe is about 100 mi (160 km) from the Nile at Minya. The southern route goes south-east through Farafra and Dakhla to
42900-417: The women stay behind in the village, and celebrate with dancing, singing, and drums. The food for the festival is bought collectively, with funds gathered by the oasis' mosques, celebrations last for 3 Qamari days, and in the early morning of the fourth day, siwian men form a big march, while holding flags and singing spiritual songs. The march starts from Gabal El – Dakrour and ends in Sidi Solayman square – in
43120-548: The women's embroidery and costume. The material for the "tarfutet", the distinctive all-enveloping shawl worn by women, are brought from outside the oasis, specifically from the town of Kirdasa , in the Giza Governorate. Siwi people are very religious so on Ramadan , they tend to close all the shops and stay at home for the whole month. Like other Muslim Egyptians, Siwis celebrate Eid al-Fitr ( lʕid ahakkik ,"the Little Eid") and Eid al-Adha ( lʕid azuwwar ,"the Big Eid"). Unlike other Egyptians, however, on Eid al-Adha Siwis cook
43340-475: Was 120 mi (190 km) closer to Alexandria and had a good water supply. The Western Frontier posts were ordered back to Matruh to concentrate and to be reinforced by troops moved along the coast by trawler and on the Khedival Railway as far as Dabaa, 75 mi (121 km) short of Matruh. Orders were given on 20 November to form a Western Frontier Force (Major-General William Peyton ) made up of composite horse and infantry brigades and supporting arms. By
43560-425: Was 25 mi (40 km) from the coast at Sidi Barrani converged with the coast at Sollum. To avoid an ascent of the escarpment by the Halfaya Pass with the Senussi waiting at the top, Peyton chose an inland route via the Median Pass 20 mi (32 km) south-east of Sollum, using wells at Augerin and cisterns at Median and Siwiat on the plateau for water. Reconnaissance flights by the RFC found small camps near
43780-461: Was a nuisance. Idris accepted British terms and settled with Italy on 14 April. After the open resumption of aid deliveries to the Senussi from the Ottoman Empire in July 1915, Italy responded with a declaration of war on 21 August. Hostilities allowed Italy formally to rescind all the privileges the Ottoman sultan enjoyed in Libya under the Treaty of Ouchy (17 October 1912), that had ended the first Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912). The British blockaded
44000-452: Was about 40,000 men but only 2,400 took part in the action of Agagia . The campaign was fought using traditional methods of warfare together with modern technology, a process begun by the Italians, who had pioneered the military use of aeroplanes in the Italo-Turkish War. In 1915 the British exploited the internal combustion engine to drive on the desert and fly over it, adding a new dimension of speed and mobility to their operations, that
44220-475: Was allowed to spend the night in the town and had to sleep outside the gates...Under such circumstances it is not surprising that homosexuality was common among them....Up to the year 1928, it was not unusual that some kind of written agreement, which was sometimes called a marriage contract, was made between two males; but since the visit of King Fu'ad to this oasis it has been completely forbidden...However, such agreements continued, but in great secrecy, and without
44440-414: Was also abandoned, although about 134 members of the Egyptian coastguard deserted to the Senussi with their equipment and 176 camels, after which a small force of Egyptian cavalry and infantry at Matruh were sent back to the delta in disgrace. As soon as Sollum was evacuated, ships arrived full of munitions for the Senussi. By 3 December, the Matruh garrison had increased to 1,400 men and by 10 November,
44660-408: Was also the site of some fighting during World War I and World War II . The British Army 's Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was based here, but Rommel's Afrika Korps also took possession three times. German soldiers went skinny dipping in the lake of the oracle, contrary to local customs which prohibit public nudity. In 1942, while the Italian 136th Infantry Division Giovani Fascisti occupied
44880-406: Was also wet but conditions were much better, with food water and tents for the wounded. In February 1916, a seaplane carrier , HMS Ben-my-Chree was sent from Port Said; on 11 February, its aircraft observed Sidi Barrani and Sollum and on 15 February discovered the Senussi were encamped at Agagia. The WFF was reinforced by the 1st South African Brigade (Brigadier-General Henry Lukin ) and
45100-410: Was based at Girba and Hodgson planned to attack with a detachment of armoured motor batteries blocking Munassib Pass near Gagaib, 24 mi (39 km) to the north-west. The Girba–Jaghbub track descends from the plateau through the pass. The British anticipated that the Senussi would retreat along the pass and be trapped. The three light armoured batteries and three light car patrols struggled through
45320-480: Was beyond the capacity of the Senussi to challenge. The British integrated naval operations with the air and ground campaign as well as using older methods of warfare, with camels as beasts of burden to increase the range of ground troops and by conducting espionage and sowing dissent among the Senussi leaders and their Ottoman and German sponsors. Light car patrols and light armoured motor batteries made long-distance patrols and raids, collecting information and surprising
45540-399: Was calculated at 6.1 million rifle and machine-gun rounds, 37 artillery pieces, twenty machine guns, 9,048 rifles, 28,281 artillery shells, and 37 trucks. The Senussi captured more Italian arms than those delivered by the Ottomans and Germans. The Italians soon abandoned Bu Njem and in 1916, a Senussi contingent, commanded by Ramadan al-Shtaiwi, invaded Tripolitania. The Senussi routed
45760-403: Was challenged by Britain's withdrawal into so-called splendid isolation , the decline of the Ottoman Empire , New Imperialism , and the rise of Prussia under Otto von Bismarck . Victory in the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War allowed Bismarck to consolidate a German Empire . Post-1871, the primary aim of French policy was to avenge this defeat, but by the early 1890s, this had switched to
45980-408: Was complicated by the fear of German submarines but had been completed by 4 March, which made it feasible to return the bulk of the WFF to Sidi Barrani by 7 March. Many units had been posted away and new ones sent forward, including the Cavalry Corps Motor Machine-Gun Battery, with 17 light armoured cars and 21 motorbikes. The Khedival Road to Sollum followed the coast and the inland escarpment which
46200-414: Was damaged by three days of heavy rains in 1926 it was abandoned for similar unreinforced construction housing on the plain surrounding it, and in some cases those, in turn, have been replaced by more modern cinder block and sheet metal roof buildings. Only one building in the Shali complex has been repaired and is in use, a mosque. Gradually eroded by infrequent rains and slowly collapsing, the Shali remains
46420-419: Was ever presented. In late 2013, an announcement was made regarding the apparent Archaeoastronomy discovery of precise spring and fall Equinox sunrise alignments over the Aghurmi mound/Amun Oracle when viewed from Timasirayn temple in the Western Desert, 12 km away across Lake Siwa. The first known recent public viewing of this event occurred on March 21, 2014, during the spring Equinox. Siwa Oasis
46640-399: Was expected to take a month to prepare an expedition of cars and camels abd to travel the 200 mi (320 km) of waterless desert from Matruh but news arrived that Ahmed was ready to leave. Murray ordered Brigadier-General Henry Hodgson to attack immediately by using only the cars. The Girba and Siwa Oases are almost contiguous, with Girba lying north-west of Siwa. The main Senussi force
46860-460: Was fired on when he went to investigate, which caused a diplomatic incident until the Senussi pretended that the party mistook the submarine for an Italian boat. Sir John Maxwell , the commander of British troops in Egypt, pretended to believe the excuse, assuming that it had been a provocation to force the Grand Senussi's hand. Soon afterwards, the Senussi began training around Sollum with artillery and machine-guns, then Maxwell obtained documents from
47080-449: Was pacified by resorting to atrocities. The hinterland and the coastal strip was depopulated from Khums to Benghazi , Derna and Tobruk . The fortress of Bu Njem , which had been captured from its Ottoman garrison in 1914, was the forward Italian post in the Sirtica . The interior was either evacuated (Waddan, Hun and Suknan) or its posts left to isolated garrisons besieged by the Senussi and Bedouin. The Senussi objective of expelling
47300-654: Was refused. Early on the morning of 4 August, the Germans invaded, and Albert I of Belgium called for assistance under the Treaty of London . Britain sent Germany an ultimatum demanding they withdraw from Belgium; when this expired at midnight, without a response, the two empires were at war. Germany promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia. Beginning on 12 August,
47520-438: Was responsible for maintaining good relations with the local Bedouin and the Senussi. The western frontier of Egypt had not been defined in 1914 because negotiations with the Ottomans had been interrupted by the Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912) and then negated by the cession of Tripoli to Italy. A notional frontier ran south from Sollum, to the east of which was an area of 200,000 sq mi (520,000 km) all desert south of
47740-600: Was returning to Germany when it sank two British armoured cruisers at the Battle of Coronel in November 1914, before being virtually destroyed at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December. The SMS Dresden escaped with a few auxiliaries, but after the Battle of Más a Tierra , these too were either destroyed or interned. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a naval blockade of Germany . This proved effective in cutting off vital supplies, though it violated accepted international law. Britain also mined international waters which closed off entire sections of
47960-465: Was taken and some of the dead were seen to be the Egyptian coastguards who had deserted. Several Indian prisoners taken from the Moorina , escaped from the Senussi in the confusion and returned to their units; Wallace was able to begin operations between Matruh and Dabaa after a brief rest. Following the Affair of the Wadi Majid, after a brief rest, Wallace sent a column to Bir Gerawla, 12 mi (19 km) south-east of Matruh late on 28 December, after
48180-586: Was the foundation of German foreign policy but in 1890, he was forced to retire by Wilhelm II . The latter was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by his new Chancellor , Leo von Caprivi . This gave France an opening to agree the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1894, which was then followed by the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Britain. The Triple Entente was completed by the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention . While not formal alliances, by settling long-standing colonial disputes in Asia and Africa, British support for France or Russia in any future conflict became
48400-420: Was weakened by illness and hunger, and Ahmed retreated to Siwa from 8 to 10 October. The Western Force tried to trap the Senussi rearguard west of Bahariya with a force of light cars, but the distance and bad going enabled the Senussi to get away. The British realised that the garrison at Dakhla was much smaller and likely to retire soon, and Watson decided to attack from Kharga. The force contained sixty men with
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