Kut
| Kut | |||
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| location | |||
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| Coordinates | 32 ° 30 ′ N , 45 ° 49 ′ E | ||
| Country |
 Iraq
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| Governorate | al-Wasit | ||
| Basic data | |||
| height | 23 m | ||
| Residents | 315,167 (2005) | ||
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Kut , ( Arabic الكوت al-Kūt ; also called Kut al-Imara or Kut al-Amara ) is a city in eastern Iraq with 315,167 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2005). It is the capital of the province of al-Wasit , which was also called Kut until the 1960s.
The city lies in a loop of the Tigris on the left bank of the river about 160 km southeast of Baghdad . The old town is almost completely enclosed by the Tigris, making it a natural fortress . The majority of the population is of the Twelve Shiite faith.
history
During the First World War , Kut was the scene of two battles between British and Ottoman forces . The British expeditionary force in Mesopotamia was trapped in Kut in December 1915 and had to surrender on April 29, 1916 after a siege of almost five months . More than 13,000 soldiers in the British Army, including more than 10,000 Indians and Gurkhas , 4 generals and 481 officers, were taken prisoner by the Ottoman Turks. Along with the Battle of Gallipoli, this was the second major defeat of the British on the "Orient Front" and the heaviest on the Mesopotamia Front . But only ten months later, on February 24, 1917, the British decisively defeated the Turks at the same point in the “Second Battle of Kut” and took the city again.
economy
Kut is located in a fertile area where grain is traditionally grown. The city has also long been an important trading center for carpets .
See also
literature
- Waldemar Frey: Kût-el-'Amâra - war journeys and souvenir pictures from the Orient . Brunnen-Verlag - Willi Bischoff, Berlin 1932.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Moynihan: Black Bread and Barbed Wire: Prisoners in the First World War . Cooper, London 1978, ISBN 0-85052-239-0 , pp. 158-159.
- ↑ Tim Watts: Kut, Second Battle of . In: Spencer C. Tucker (ed.): World War I. The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara 2014, ISBN 978-1-85109-964-1 , Vol. 3: K-Q , pp. 910-911.