The recent damage done to the Iron Bridge over the Tigris in Baghdad-Sarafya Bridge-made me so sad. It was built by the British in the 1920's under the Mandate of Mesopotamia when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Versailles following World War I.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Ottoman Empire planned to construct a Baghdad Railway under German control. The Baghdad Railway consisted of the already constructed Orient Express line and the newer Constantinople-Baghdad line through Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Through this railway, Germany sought to establish a port on the Persian Gulf. The Ottoman Empire aimed to maintain its grip on Arabia and to expand its influence across the Red Sea into Egypt, which was controlled by Great Britain. The railway became a source of international tensions in the years leading up to World War I although it has been argued that they were resolved in 1914 before the war began, it has also been argued that the railroad was a leading cause of the First World War.
The Baghdad Concession
During 1898 and 1899 the Ottoman Ministry of Public Works received many applications for permission to construct a railway to Baghdad, it was not because of lack of competition that the Deutsche Bank was finally awarded the concession. A Russian plan was rejected for fear of it extending Russian influence in Constantinople. A well-financed British plan collapsed due to the outbreak of the Boer War. A well-financed French proposal became financiers of the winning Deutsche Bank plan.[8]
Other nations of Europe paid little attention to the building of the railway lines until 1903 when the Ottoman Government gave permission to an Ottoman corporation to build the railway line from Konia to Baghdad. This Baghdad Railway Company was controlled by a few German banks.
There was concern in Russia, France, and Britain after 1903 as the implications of the German scheme to construct a great Berlin-Baghdad railway became apparent. A railway that would link Berlin to the Persian Gulf would provide Germany with a connection to her colonies in Africa, i.e. with German East Africa and German South-West Africa (present-day Tanzania and Namibia). The railroad might eventually strengthen the Ottoman Empire and its ties to Germany and might shift the balance of power in the region..
Despite obstructions at the diplomatic level, work was slowly begun on the railway. Both geographical and political obstacles prevented the completion of the Baghdad Railway before World War I commenced in 1914.
