Panorama of Jerusalem from Palestine and Syria with Routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia and with the Island of Cyprus by Karl Baedeker, a 1912 guide book.
Panorama di Jérusalem
In June 1917, British General Edmund Allenby took command on the Syria/Palestine Front under instructions to reach Jerusalem by the end of the year. Victory in the Third Battle of Gaza in early November, in which the British broke the Turkish defensive line in Palestine, made this possible.From May 1916 to March 1917, the British built the infrastructure — roads and rail to transport men, materiel, and, crucially, water — from Egypt to Palestine to support offensives against the Turks, crossing Sinai along the Mediterranean coast. They were defeated by the Turks in the First and Second Battles of Gaza (March 26 to 28, April 20), but victorious in the Third Battle (November 1 to 6). With Arab forces fighting further inland, the entire Turkish defensive line was broken shortly after.On November 16, New Zealand cavalrymen on the coast entered Jaffa. With that city lost, the Turkish Seventh and Eighth Armies defended a line from the coast north of Jaffa running to the southeast before Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Welsh troops advanced towards Bethlehem on December 4 and were in position to strike Jerusalem by the 6th.On December 8, Allenby struck across the entire front. That night, December 8–9, Turkish forces evacuated Jerusalem.Allenby recognized the religious and historical importance of the city, holy to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and prevented troops from entering. He officially entered Jerusalem at noon on December 11, with some of his staff, commanders of the French and Italian detachments, the heads of the political missions, and the Military Attachés of France, Italy, and the United States, all of them walking.
Jerusalem is a city in Palestine.
