The Mesopotamian campaign or Mesopotamian front (Turkish: Irak Cephesi) was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the British Empire, with troops from Britain, Australia and the vast majority from the British Raj, and the Central Powers, primarily the Ottoman Empire, over control of Ottoman Iraq. It started after the British Fao Landing in 1914, which sought to protect Anglo-Persian Oil Company oil fields in Khuzestan province and the Shatt al-Arab waterway. The front later evolved into a larger campaign that sought to capture the city of Baghdad and divert Ottoman forces from other fronts. It ended with the Armistice of Mudros in 1918, leading to the cession of Iraq and further partition of the Ottoman Empire.
The British advanced from Al-Faw to the city of Basra to secure British oil fields in nearby Iran. Following the landings, British forces won a string of victories along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, including the repulse of an Ottoman attempt to retake Basra at the Battle of Shaiba. The advance stalled when the British reached the town of Kut, south of the city of Baghdad in December 1915. The Siege of Kut led to the defeat of the British force, later called "the worst defeat of the Allies in World War I". The British re-organised and began a new campaign to take Baghdad. Despite fierce Ottoman resistance, Baghdad was captured in March 1917 and the Ottomans suffered more defeats until the Armistice at Mudros.
