In consequence of this report Mr. Chamberlain resigned as secretary for India.  In the House of Commons, Mr. Balfour, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, supported Lord Hardinge, who, at the time of the report, was Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs.  He declared the criticism of Baron Hardinge to be grossly unjust.  After some discussion the House of Commons supported Mr. Balfour’s refusal to accept Baron Hardinge’s resignation, by a vote of 176 to 81.  It seems to be agreed that the civil administration of India were not responsible for the blunders of the expedition.  Ten years before, Lord Kitchener, after a bitter controversy with Lord Curzon, had made the military side of the Indian Government free of all civilian criticism and control.  The blunders here were military blunders.

The English, of course, were not satisfied to leave the situation in such a condition, and at once began their plans for a new attempt to capture Bagdad.  The summer campaign, however, was uneventful, though on May 18th a band of Cossacks from the Russian armies in Persia joined the British camp.  A few days afterwards the British army went up the Tigris and captured the Dujailah redoubt, where they had been so badly defeated on the 8th of March.  They then approached close to Kut, but the weather was unsuitable, and there was now no object in capturing the city.

In August Sir Percy Lake was succeeded by Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Stanley Maude, who carefully and thoroughly proceeded to prepare for an expedition which should capture Bagdad.  A dispatch from General Maude dated July 10, 1917, gives a full account of this expedition.  It was thoroughly successful.  This time with a sufficient army and a thorough equipment the British found no difficulties, and on February 26th they captured Kut-el-Amara, not after a hard-fought battle, but as the result of a successful series of small engagements.  The Turks kept up a steady resistance, but the British blood was up.  They were remembering General Townshend’s surrender, and the Turks were driven before them in great confusion.

The capture of Kut, however, was not an object in itself, and the British pushed steadily on up the Tigris.  The Turks occasionally made a stand, but without effect.  On the 28th of February the English had arrived at Azizie, half way to Bagdad, where a halt was made.  On the 5th of March the advance was renewed.  The Ctesiphon position, which had defied General Townshend, was found to be strongly intrenched, but empty.  On March 7th the enemy made a stand on the River Diala, which enters the Tigris eight miles below Bagdad.  Some lively fighting followed, the enemy resisting four attempts to cross the Diala.  However, on March 10th the British forces crossed, and were now close to Bagdad.  The enemy suddenly retired and the British troops found that their main opponent was a dust storm.  The enemy retired beyond Bagdad, and on March 11th the city was occupied by the English.