Battle of Kut
1916 CE · Iraq
The Battle of Kut was fought in 1916 CE in Iraq between Ottoman Empire vs the British Empire; Ottoman victory; the besieged British garrison surrendered after 147 days.
Battle of Kut: quick facts
- Date
- 1916 CE
- Location
- Iraq
- Belligerents
- Ottoman Empire vs the British Empire
- Commanders
- Khalil Pasha and Colmar von der Goltz vs Charles Townshend
- Result
- Ottoman victory; the besieged British garrison surrendered after 147 days.
- Era
- ⚔️ Ottoman & Islamic Empires
- Quiz difficulty
- hard
What happened at the Battle of Kut?
Ottoman forces besieged a British-Indian garrison of around 13,000 troops under General Townshend at Kut-al-Amara on the Tigris River. After 147 days of siege and multiple failed relief attempts that cost 23,000 additional British casualties, Townshend surrendered. It was one of Britain's worst military humiliations, with thousands of captured soldiers dying in Ottoman captivity. The disaster led to a complete overhaul of the British Mesopotamian campaign.
Did you know?
After the fall of Kut, approximately 70% of the British-Indian prisoners died in Ottoman captivity from disease, starvation, and forced marches, one of the worst POW death rates of World War I.
Sources and further reading
- Battle of Kut on Wikipedia for the full account, historiography and primary sources.
- How BattleGuess compiles and checks battle facts: see the About page.
Entry last reviewed 26 September 2026.