TR EN DE FR ARAtlas of the Sultans · Wars, battles and treaties

Raid on the Suez Canal

Battle · 1915

The Ottoman operational plan also envisaged attacking Britain at the Suez Canal. According to the TDV article on the First World War, after the defeat at Sarıkamış the Fourth Army marched by night from Beersheba towards the Suez Canal from 14 January 1915. Turkish forces under the Navy Minister Cemal Pasha tried to cross the canal on 3 February but failed and returned to their starting point on 15 February.

About the event

Date	14 January – 15 February 1915 (crossing attempt 3 February)
Location	Suez Canal
Result	The attempt to cross the canal failed; the forces returned to Beersheba

Belligerents	Ottoman Empire	United Kingdom
Commanders	Cemal Pasha

This event in the atlas

Took place during the reign of Mehmed V (1909–1918). Mehmed V

Open the reign of Mehmed V on the map

Context of the period

By the atlas's calculation the Ottoman lands covered about 1,532,000 km² in 1915; 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.

Mehmed V in brief

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.

Other battles and treaties of Mehmed V

Yemeni revolt (Imam Yahya) (1911)
Treaty of Ouchy (1912)
Battle of Kumanovo (1912)
Battle of Kunfuda Bay (1912)
Battle of Elli (1912)
Albanian revolts (1908–1912) (1912)
Battle of Lule Burgas (1912)
Siege of Adrianople (1913) (1913)
Treaty of London (1913) (1913)
Treaty of Bucharest (1913) (1913)
Treaty of Constantinople (1913) (1913)
Battle of Lemnos (1913) (1913)
Battle of Bizani (1913)
Treaty of Athens (1913) (1913)
1913 Ottoman coup d'état (1913)
German–Ottoman alliance (1914)
Black Sea raid (1914)
Battle of Sarikamish (1914)
Gallipoli campaign (1915)
Naval operations in the Dardanelles campaign (1915)
Siege of Kut (1916)
Arab Revolt (1916)
Battle of Jerusalem (1917)
Battle of Imbros (1918)

In nearby years (1918–1920), under other sultans

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, “Raid on the Suez Canal (1915): Date, Commanders and Outcome”, https://padisahlaratlasi.com/en/events/raid-on-the-suez-canal/ (last updated 12 November 2026). Corrections