Movatterモバイル変換

[0]ホーム

Jump to content

Blockade of the Eastern Mediterranean

Edit links

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blockade of the Eastern Mediterranean

Part ofWorld War I

Date	25 August 1915 – 1918
Location	Eastern Mediterranean
Result	Allied victory

Belligerents

Units involved

Royal Navy
Marine Nationale

Ottoman Navy

v t e Mediterranean Operations 1914–1918
Goeben andBreslau Dardanelles U-boat Campaign Convoy operations Blockade of Europe Adriatic Campaign Antivari Raid on Porto Buso Ancona Vieste 8 June 1915 1st Durazzo Eastern Mediterranean Strait of Otranto USN operations Imbros Bakar 2nd Durazzo Premuda [fr] Pula

On 25 August 1915, theAllied forces officially declared a blockade of theeastern coast of the Mediterranean. The declared area begins in the north at the intersection of theAegean Sea and the Mediterranean and ends in the south at the Egyptian frontier. This measure was directed against the Ottoman Empire, which had joined the Central Powers. It had a severe impact on the food supply and needs of the civilian population and prices "sky-rocketed".^[1] In contrast to theblockade of Germany, the Anglo-French blockade was not extensively studied.^[2]

The British Prime Minister,David Lloyd George justifies the use of the naval blockade as a tool of war:

In a war of this order, sea power was the key to ultimate victory so long as either policy could manage just to hold their own on land. If we maintained control of the seas without actually breaking on shore, theCentral Powers could in the end be starved into surrender… Potential famine was therefore the most powerful weapon in the army of belligerents. As long as Britain kept her rule over the waves, neither she nor her Allies could be beaten by any shortage of food or essential material for waging war… It was a ruthless calculation, but war is organized cruelty… The sum total of the agony inflicted on mankind by war was never as great as it proved to be in the World War of 1914-18.^[3]

It also directly led to famine in Mount Lebanon and mass migrations. The British believed that the blockade would be effective on the Levantine Sea after persuadingSharif Hussein to revolt against the Ottomans and thus lift the blockade on theRed Sea.^[4] The French were less motivated to continue the blockade after news of famine and food shortages, as I noticed that sending aid would be more effective than a blockade for the Allies.