World War I Retrospective: The Battle of Basra

Editor's Note: In recognition of the 100-year anniversary of World War I, Stratfor will periodically examine significant events from the Great War. This installment looks at the beginning of the British Mesopotamian campaign and the battle for the strategic port city of Basra.

This month marks the 100-year anniversary of the Battle of Basra, the decisive opening action of the World War I Mesopotamian campaign. In fall 1914, the United Kingdom dispatched an expeditionary force to modern-day Iraq, then governed by the Ottoman Empire. The force's mission was to protect the critical oil facilities south of Basra. Having achieved what it set out to, the perils of mission creep ultimately led the British army to push onward to Baghdad, seeking decisive battle with the Turks — with disastrous consequences.

Global oil production expanded from a few million barrels per day at the start of the 20th century to around 80 million bpd in 2003, the year Western forces, including the British, found themselves back in Iraq, fighting over the same ground and arriving once more in Basra. Given the city's strategic location, it is unlikely to be the last time wars are fought over and around it.