Telegrama

Telegrama
29 July 1914, 1 a.m.

Peter’s Court Palais, 29 July 2014
Sa Majeste l Palais
Am glad you are back. In this serious moment, I appeal to you to help me. An
ignoble war has been declared to a week country. The indignation in Russia shared fully
by me is enourmous. I foresee that very soon I shall be overwhelmed by the pressure
forced upon me and be forced to take extreme measures which will lead to war. To try
and avoid such calamity as a European War I beg you in the name of our old friendship
to do what you can to stop your allies from going too far.
Kaiser to Tsar
29 July 1914, 1.45 a.m. (this and the previous telegraph crossed)
28 July 1914
It is with the gravest concern that I hear of the impression which the action of
Austria against Serbia is creating in your country. The unscrupulous agitation that has
been going to Serbia for years has resulted in the outrageous crime, to which Archduke
Francis Ferdinand fell a victim. The spirit that led Serbians to murder their own king nd
his wife still dominates the country. You will doubtless agree with me that we both, you
and me, have a common interest as well as all Sovereigns to insist that all the persons
morally responsible to the dastardly murder should receive their deserved punishment.
In this case politics plays no part at all. On the other hand, I fully understand how
difficult it is for you and your government to face the drift of public opinion. Therefore,
with regard to the hearty and tender friendship which binds us both from long ago with
frim ties, I am exerting my utmost influence to induce the Austrians to deal straightly to
arrive to a satisfactory understanding with you. I confidently hope that you will help me
in my efforts to smooth over difficulties that may still arise.
www.firstworldwar.com
Talaarawan
Introduction from Bob Mackay
This is the First World War Diary of my grandfather, Robert Lindsay Mackay (1896-
1981), OBE, MC, MB, CHB, MD, DPH, giving an account of his day-to-day life with the
11th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders from 1915 until the end of the
war1972
Introduction from Robert Lindsay Mackay
2 August 1972
My Dear Alan, Sheila, Mary and Murray.
I finished, two days ago, what I intended to be positively the last contribution to my side
of the family story, quite certain that apart from minor corrections here and there nothing
more could be added. Then I looked around for something to do. It occurred to me to
look at my diary of War I which had been in my desk or on my shelves, almost
unopened and unread, for over fifty years!
Indeed, only three persons had read it, namely John Buchan (Lord Tweedsmuir) who
had asked for a perusal of personal war diaries for his History of the 15th. Scottish
Division, my friend the late Dr. D.T. McAinsh, M.C., and the third, strange to say, my
next-door neighbour, Chatwin. About a month ago, Chatwin had been talking about the
Somme Offensive of which he was a survivor when I mentioned I still had my Somme
Diary, and he asked for the loan of it to compare with his experience in that prolonged
battle.
I am not quite clear why I wrote this diary, day by day, a scrappy record of a scrappy
period. I had no literary or military ambitions. My parents did not read it. Perhaps it was
to provide a kind of continuous alibi, to remind me where I had been, perhaps an
interesting memorial if I failed to return.
Like cakes off a hot griddle, it was written as events occurred, or immediately thereafter,
in four little brown leather covered notebooks, and when the war ended these were in
no state to last long for, they were soiled and grubby, and, where written in pencil, the
writing was fading. So, in 1919, I copied their contents, straight off, without editing, into
two larger note-books, and destroyed the four little ones.
You, Mary, arrived last night from Hull, with your two children, and the talk drifted on to
the Highlands and to my family history. Urged on by you, and by Judith, whose family
roots in England go back a century or two further than
mine in Scotland, urged too by your Mother, I'll type out a copy for each of you, for your
deed-box, and for futurity!
Love to you all,

Fat0her
Background To the Diary
On 5th November 1914 Britain declared war on Turkey and a few days later the first
echelon of an expeditionary force, consisting of the 16th Infantry brigade and two Indian
mountain batteries under Brigadier-General Delamain, landed at Fao, a fortified town
near the head of the Persian Gulf.
After two stubbornly contested engagements both Fao and Basra were captured. The
invasion of Mesopotamia was ostensibly to protect the oil wells at the head of the
Persian Gulf. This motive became obscured, however, when, lured by the prospect of
capturing the legendary Baghdad, the British commander Gen. Sir John Nixon sent
forces under Maj. Gen. Charles Townshend up the Tigris. After overwhelming a Turkish
outpost near Qurna in an amphibious assault on May 31 1915, Townshend began to
move inland. By September the British had taken Kut-el-Amara. Refusing to stop there,
Nixon ordered the
reluctant Townshend to continue northward.
Arriving (November) at Ctesiphon, Townshend discovered that the Turks had fortified
extensively and had been reinforced to a strength of 18,000 regulars and additional
Arabs, with 45 guns. Townshend mustered approximately 10,000 infantry, 1,000
cavalry, and 30 guns. He also had, for the first time in that theatre, a squadron of 7
aeroplanes. Townshend attacked Ctesiphon savagely on November 22, but after 4 days
of bitter battle, during which more Turkish reinforcements arrived, Townshend withdrew
to Kut. Kut was invested by the Turks on December 7.
In Mesopotamia, Townshend's besieged force at Kut-el-Amara vainly waited for help.

The
British suffered 21,000 casualties in a series of unsuccessful rescue attempts, and with
starvation near, Townshend capitulated on April 29, surrendering 2,680 British of the 6th
Division. By the time the Armistice was signed in 1918 1306 of these had perished and
449 remained untraced.
Of the 10486 Indians who surrendered, 1290 perished and 1773 were never traced.
British and Indians alike left a trail of whitening bones along the awful road from Kut to
Baghdad, to Mosul from there to Fion Kara Hissar in Asia Minor, Aleppo and even
Constantinople. Never, until the disaster at Singapore in 1941, in the whole history of
the British Army, had there been a surrender on the same scale.
This diary was put together by Lt. Edwin Jones who experienced many of the privations
of the campaign. It provides a unique glimpse into the everyday life of a junior officer at
the time. It is a pity that the diary finishes when it does for Edwin later took part in the
drive towards Damascus under General Allenby before being demobbed in 1919.

Telegrama

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Telegrama

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Telegrama

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Telegrama

29 July 1914, 1 a.m.

My Dear Alan, Sheila, Mary and Murray.

Love to you all,

In Mesopotamia, Townshend's besieged force at Kut-el-Amara vainly waited for help.

You might also like