Indian troops marching through New Street, Baghdad, 1917

Photograph, World War One, Mesopotamia (1914-1918), 1917.

On the morning of 11 March 1917, General Sir Frederick Maude's Anglo-Indian army entered Baghdad, capital of the Ottoman province of Mesopotamia. The soldiers were initially greeted with enthusiasm by the local population and Maude issued a proclamation a week later:

'Our military operations have as their object the defeat of the enemy, and the driving of him from these territories. In order to complete this task, I am charged with absolute and supreme control of all regions in which British troops operate; but our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators'.

Despite Maude's words, the Army remained in the region and the new state of Iraq became a British mandate. Between 1920 and 1922, the British suppressed a major revolt in the country.

From album of 103 official photographs compiled by Colonel A H McCleverty, 2nd Queen Victoria's Own Rajput Light Infantry.