History of the Great War – The Campaign in Mesopotamia

The official British government history of the Mesopotamian theatre of the First World War. Compiled from military archives at the request of the Government of India, these volumes document strategy, logistics, intelligence failures, command disputes, and the long struggle for control of Baghdad and the surrounding regions.

Unlike memoir literature, this is the institutional memory of empire: maps, orders, casualty analysis, and political consequences presented with bureaucratic precision. These volumes became foundational references for later military historians and remain crucial to understanding Britain’s eastern war effort.

Sets are increasingly difficult to assemble intact.

Official histories were printed in relatively small numbers for libraries, officers, and administrators, not the trade. Complete runs survive far less often than individual volumes.

Interest in imperial campaigns, Middle Eastern military history, and the documentary basis of state decision-making continues to grow. For collectors building serious WWI shelves, this is core material.