Britain’s Worst Defeat of WWI - Russia's Great Winter Victory

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Kings and Generals animated historical documentary series on modern warfare the Great War and the Ottoman history during the World War I. Previously we covered the Rise of the Ottoman Empire from the humble beginnings as a small Turkic Beylik to the Fall of Constantinople 1453 covering all the major battles including () and the reign of Mehmet II (). After the Ottoman victory at Gallipoli and Bulgaria’s entry into the First World War, Istanbul shifted troops across a vast empire to meet the challenges of 1916. In the frozen Caucasus, General Nikolai Yudenich launches a meticulously prepared Russian offensive against the supposedly impregnable fortress of Erzurum. Winter marches, surprise attacks, and brutal fighting for mountain forts shatter the Ottoman Third Army and send it reeling westward. But while the Ottomans lose Erzurum, they strike back elsewhere. In the Sinai desert, Kress von Kressenstein’s forces raid British outposts near Katia, exposing the vulnerability of the Suez Canal. Farther east, the siege of Kut becomes a catastrophe for the British Empire. Relief columns repeatedly smash against Ottoman trenches at Sheikh Sa’ad, the Wadi, Hanna, Dujaila, and Sannaiyatsuffering appalling losses as General Charles Townshend’s starving garrison waits in vain. This episode follows the Russian advance through Persia, the fall of Kut after 147 days, and the strategic consequences of Britain’s twin failures at Gallipoli and Mesopotamia. It is a story of snowbound assaults, desert raids, and one of the most devastating surrenders of the Great War. Across three fronts, commanders gamble men, artillery, supply lines, and imperial prestige at terrible human cost.

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Video: Leif Sick

Script: Craig Watson

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