WORLD WAR 443 WORLD WAR William and Foreign Secretary, Dr. Von Kuhlmann, paid an official visit to King Ferdinand of Bulgaria. There had al- ready been rumors to the effect that the loyalty of the Bulgarians to the Quad- ruple Entente needed stimulation. Mesopotamia and Palestine. — In Febru- ary, 1917, the British forces on the Tigris began in earnest their advance on Kut-el-Amara, and by the middle of the month they had the Turks at that point completely hemmed in. They suc- ceeded in escaping, however, and on February 26 Kut-el-Amara was once more in the hands of the British. They then continued their pursuit of the re- treating Turks, During the first week of March the British advanced as far as Ctesiphon, the farthest point of their first Meso- potamian campaign. In another week they had advanced so rapidly that they found themselves within twenty miles of Bagdad. Here the Turks were re-en- forced, and a pitched battle took place, but again the Turks were defeated, and on March 11 Greneral Maude entered Bagdad at the head of his troops. From that time on the pressure on the Turks was continuous. The British advanced far beyond and around Bag- dad, meeting with comparatively little resistance. On Sept. 29, 1917, the Turkish Mesopotamian Army command- ed by Ahmed Bey was routed by the British»and historic Beersheba, in Pales- tine, was occupied on October 31. On November 18 General Maude unexpect- edly died, but this had no deterrent effect on the further progress of the campaign. Late in November the British reached the suburbs of Jerusalem and began to besiege it. On Dec. 8, 1917, the Holy City, which had been held by the Turks for nearly seven cen- turies, surrendered to the British Gen- eral Allenby. The utmost consideration was at once shown for the religious sentiments of all the peoples whose holy shrines were to be found in the city, all being scrupulously protected by spe- cial guards, that they might not be dese- crated. The Mosque of Omar was placed under Moslem control and a cordon of Mohammedan officers and soldiers placed around it. Within this cordon no Chris- tian or Jew might enter without a spe- cial pass. Naval War. — During the beginning of 1917 the activities of the German sub- marines became especially intensive. It was on Feb. 1, 1917, that the German ad- miralty announced its determination to carry on its submarine attacks without restriction. Within a week the lists of sunken vessels grew and presently these lists could no longer be published. Be- fore July 16, 1917, the United States alone had lost about forty merchant vessels, amounting to more than 100,000 tons. During one week, ending on April 22, the British lost forty vessels over 1,600 tons, and fifteen under that ton- nage. In twenty-two weeks England lost 438 vessels over 1,600 tons, 170 vessels under 1,600 tons, and 137 fishing vessels. All together the total loss in tonnage was close to 2,000,000 tons. During the rest of the year this rate of loss con- tinued unabated. Aside from the submarine warfare the year 1917 was unmarked by any naval engagements of the first magni- tude. On Feb. 25, 1917, German destroyers bombarded Broadstairs and Margate on the English coast. At about the same time, on February 15, it was announced that a British cruiser had fought a successful engagement against three German raiders off the coast of Brazil, damaging two of them, while the third escaped. On March 22, 1917, the German Government announced that the raider "Moewe" had returned to her home port from a very successful second raid- ing trip in the Atlantic Ocean which had jrielded twenty-seven captured vessels, most of which had been sunk. The "Seeadler" was another successful raider operating during the year in the Atlan- tic. She was the former American bark "Pass" of the Bahamas, which had been captured in 1915 and at that time had been taken into Cuxhaven, She had left Germany in December, 1916, escorted by a submarine, and had successfully passed through the British patrols. During March, 1917, the British Gov^ ernment announced an extension of the danger area in the North Sea. On April 21 six German destroyers attempted an attack on Dover. Two of them were sunk by British destroyers. Six days later another similar attack was made on Ramsgate, Both Calais and Dunkirk were bombarded by Ger- man destroyers. In the early part of September, Ger- man submarines appeared in the Gulf of Riga and bombarded that city. In October it became known that the "See- adler" had run ashore on Lord Howe Island, one of the Society Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, leaving forty-seven pri& oners on the island in a state of destitu- tion. On the morning of October 2 the British cruiser "Drake" was torpedoed off the N. coast of Ireland. She succeeded in making the harbor, but was sunk in shallow water. In the middle of October strong Geraian naval forces took part in the fighting in the Gulf of Riga, pro-
