General Townshend and Lev Trotsky's Büyükada days

One of the difficulties experienced by the Ottoman Empire between 1908 and 1918 was undoubtedly the outbreak of World War I. The Iraqi front, which concerned the occupation of the Baghdad and Abadan oil resources in World War I, attracted attention. General Charles Townshend was assigned to the Iraqi Front in early 1915 after being assigned to the 6th Division in the First World War. General Townshend and his troops, who were besieged by Halil (Kut) Pasha in Kut al-Amara, were defeated and taken prisoner on April 29, 1916. General Townshend's life in captivity was spent in Heybeliada and Büyükada, and every convenience was shown to him throughout his captivity. He was entertained as a guest, not a prisoner. Istanbul was occupied with the Armistice of Mudros, which was signed with the mediation of General Townshend. Problems such as the high cost of foodstuffs, the inability to deliver salaries on time and unemployment began to be experience the first inflation. Life in Istanbul has changed with the fires that constantly broke out in Istanbul and caused many people to be victims and the social life of the refugees coming from Russia. After Lenin's death in the Soviet Union, Trotsky lost the power struggle between Josef Stalin and Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( Trotsky) and was exiled. One of his stops on his exile journey was Istanbul Büyükada, where he would spend 4 years. Keywords: Kut al-Amara, General Townshend, Tsarist Russia, Leon Trotsky, Istanbul, Büyükada, Heybeliada