Baghdad Railway

Baghdad Railway railroad of international importance linking Europe with Asia Minor and the Middle East. The line runs from Istanbul, Turkey, to Basra, Iraq; it connected what were distant regions of the Ottoman Empire . The railroad was initially financed chiefly by German capital; its Anatolian sections were completed in 1896. The ambitious project was then formed to extend the railroad to Baghdad, and a company, again backed chiefly by German capital, was organized for the purpose. Immediate protests were made to Turkey by France, Russia, and, particularly, Great Britain, which saw in the projected line a direct threat to its empire in India. Operations were held up for several years by these international representations and by engineering difficulties, but in 1911 work was resumed. By playing on imperialistic rivalries, the construction of the railroad was a factor in bringing about World War I. By the end of the war only a stretch between Mosul and Samarra remained to be completed on the main line, which Syria and Iraq later undertook and finished.

Berlin–Baghdad railway An enterprise to build a railway from Baghdad to Constantinople (which was connected to Berlin by rail), begun in 1903 with substantial German financial involvement. It became controversial because it was a potential challenge to British and Russian involvement in Persia and the Middle East. In recognition of this the German government was always lukewarm about the project, but through skilful negotiations it managed to gain Russian acceptance in 1911, and British approval as late as June 1914. Hence the scheme is notable less for the minor irritation which it caused to international relations than for the demonstration that German diplomacy in the years before World War I could be low-key, tactful, and successful. After many interruptions the railway was finally completed in 1940.