Baghdad was captured by the British on 11 March 1917. Although it had never been clear as to what purpose the Baghdad campaign was meant to serve in the overall strategy of the world war, the capture of the ancient capital, glamorous from its association with the Arabian Nights, caught the imagination of the new Prime Minister. It brought him cheer at a time when it was badly needed, and inspired him to aim at Jerusalem for Britain’s next great triumph.

The liberation of what he called “the most famous city in the world” was what the Prime Minister had wanted for Christmas; with it, he later wrote, Christendom had been able “to regain possession of its sacred shrines.” The capture of Baghdad and Jerusalem had produced a tremendous psychological effect.

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The Western fascination with the Orient and its history is a deep sentiment that has historical and religious roots:
Babylon, Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor, all hold a special place in the mind and heart of the West.

This is because a great part of what the Western civilization was founded on finds its roots in the Orient. Christianity and Judaism and their holy places are all in the Orient. Babylon, Persia, Egypt all have mythical and emotional significance to the West. (Even Greece, the cradle of Europe was not entirely Western, and had deep contacts and connections with the East).

دائمًا ما يُنظَر لبلاد الشرق بأنها ذات سحر خاص وتاريخ عميق، إذ أسَرَت الفِكر الأوروبي قديمِه وحديثِه. لهذا ارتدى الإسكندر المقدوني الأُرجوان الفارسي عندما احتلّ فارس وأراد أنْ يجعل بابل عاصمة إمبراطوريته الواسعة (وانتقده جنوده لأجل ذلك). ولهذا كان اليونان يرون في مصر، وهي القديمة قِدَمَ التاريخ، حضارةً أعرقَ مِن حضارتهم. ولهذا أيضًا نرى الحرب على طروادة وتدخلات آلهة الأوليمبوس تجري أحداثها في آسيا الصغرى (تركيا الحالية) وليس في أوروبا. بالنسبة للغرب، صحارى الشرق وواحاته دائمًا ما كانت بلاد السِحر والوحي وأساطير الخلق.

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Vanitas By Roberto Ferri

"Famine" by Charles Dollman

I would observe, by the way, that it costs me nothing for curtains, for I have no gazers to shut out but the sun and moon, and I am willing that they should look in. The moon will not sour milk nor taint meat of mine, nor will the sun injure my furniture or fade my carpet, and if he is sometimes too warm a friend, I find it still better economy to retreat behind some curtain which nature has provided.