Imperialism, Patriotism, and Class: Comparing the Group Identities of British Combatants Taken Prisoner of War in Mesopotamia and on the Western Front

Considerable research has been carried out into the group identity and morale of combatants on the western front. Far less is known regarding other fronts – in particular, the British campaign in Mesopotamia. This paper – looking at the 1916 siege of Kut-el-Amara - proposes a comparative cultural history of combat motivation, looking at the group identity and motivation of British troops fighting in Mesopotamia and comparing the results of this Mesopotamian investigation with the existing historiographical conclusions based on studies of the western front. My hypothesis is that the different conditions in Mesopotamia led to different forms of identities developing, in comparison to the British army in France and Belgium. I will focus on two key themes: first, the role of imperial identity among white British soldiers who, in Mesopotamia, fought alongside Indian troops; and, second, the role of class identity. Whereas class differences began to break down on the western front, class differentiations remained integral to the functioning of the British army in Mesopotamia: nowhere is this more evident than after the fall of Kut-el-Amara, when officer prisoners, both British and Indian, were given privileged treatment by the Ottoman army. In contrast, the other rank prisoners suffered a horrific death march. These events caused a scandal and considerable debate in wartime Britain – the role of class in this debate will be explored in this paper. Third, the paper will explore combatant attitudes to violence and how these changed over time. Ultimately, my aim is a) to broaden our understanding of how class, patriotism and imperial identities functioned within the wartime British army and were influenced by factors such as front location and interaction with other national and ethnic groups, and b) to explore how combat experience influenced social change and attitudes to Empire within Britain.