Battle of Ctesiphon (1915)

Battle of Ctesiphon
Part of the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I
British advance towards Baghdad, 1915.
Date 22 November 1915 – 25 November 1915 Location Ctesiphon, present-day Iraq Result Tactically inconclusive, strategic Ottoman victory
Commanders and leaders
Charles Townshend	Colonel Nureddin
Strength
11,000 troops, 2 warships	18,000 troops, 52 guns
Casualties and losses
4,600	6,200 to 9,500

The Battle of Ctesiphon (Turkish: Selman-ı Pak Muharebesi) was fought in November 1915 by the British Empire and British India, against the Ottoman Empire, within the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I.

Indian Expeditionary Force D, mostly made up of Indian units and under the command of Gen. Sir John Nixon, had met with success in Mesopotamia since landing at Al Faw upon the Ottoman Empire's Declaration of War on November 5, 1914.

One of the primary reasons for initiating the campaign in Mesopotamia was to defend the oil refinery at Abadan at the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab. Adopting a forward defence policy, the British army under General Townshend fought off a series of small Ottoman forces. Then after a year of a string of defeats, the Ottoman forces were able to halt the British advance in two days of hard fighting at Ctesiphon.

Ctesiphon lies on the Western bank of the Tigris River in the barren Iraqi desert, about 380 miles (610 km) upstream from Basra, 40 miles (64 km) north of Kut al-Amara, and 16 miles (26 km) south-east of Baghdad. It is a good defensive position located in a 6-mile-long (9.7 km) loop of the Tigris river. At the town there are ruins, the remains of the capital of the Parthian and Sassanid Empires.

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