TRENDEFRARAtlas of the Sultans · Wars, battles and treaties
Battle · 1917
In the last years of the First World War the situation on the Palestine front turned in favour of Britain and its allies. According to the TDV article on the First World War, the British army under General Allenby launched an offensive on 31 October 1917 against the Yıldırım Army Group headed by the German Field Marshal Falkenhayn and entered Jerusalem on 9 December 1917. At the end of operations in which the Arabs also helped, the Turkish forces evacuated Syria and left Damascus on 1 October 1918. Despite this withdrawal in the south, the Turks achieved success in eastern Anatolia.
| Date | 31 October – 9 December 1917 |
|---|---|
| Location | Palestine and Jerusalem |
| Result | Jerusalem fell to the British; Syria was evacuated the following year |
| Belligerents | Ottoman Empire | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Commanders | Erich von Falkenhayn | Edmund Allenby |
Took place during the reign of Mehmed V (1909–1918). Mehmed V
The atlas records this territorial change for the year:
By the atlas's calculation the Ottoman lands covered about 1,132,000 km² in 1917; at the start of Mehmed V's reign they measured 2,996,000 km², at its end 742,000 km².
During Mehmed V (1909–1918) the atlas records 3 regions gained and 16 regions lost.
Regions gained: Kars–Ardahan–Artvin (1918), Batumi (Adjara) (1918), Akhaltsikhe (Childir) (1918).
Regions lost: Tripolitania (1912), Benghazi–Barca (1912), Fezzan (1912), Macedonia (Skopje–Bitola) (1912), Thessaloniki–Chalkidiki–Mount Athos (1912), Kosovo (1912), Southern and Central Albania (Vlorë–Berat–Elbasan) (1912), Aegean Islands (Lesbos–Lemnos–Samos) (1912), and 8 more.
The first Ottoman sultan whose powers were limited by the constitution; real power lay with the Committee of Union and Progress. In nine years the African and Balkan territories were lost and the empire entered the First World War.
Areas are land area computed from the atlas's region data; see Method and sources.
Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, “BİRİNCİ DÜNYA SAVAŞI” (Turkish); text written for the atlas.
Cite as: Atlas of the Sultans, “Battle of Jerusalem (1917): Date, Commanders and Outcome”, https://padisahlaratlasi.com/en/events/battle-of-jerusalem/ (last updated 12 November 2026). Corrections