The \'German Spirit\' in the Ottoman and Turkish Army, 1908-1938. A History of Military Knowledge Transfer - Gerhard Grüßhaber

Ultimately,sendingOttomanofficerstoGermanywasonecornerstoneofa successfuldevelopmenttowardsanallianceandpavedthewayforthetransfe ...

OntheeveoftheBalkanWars,theGerman-Ottomanmilitarycooperation wastightened butquestionedbypartsoftheOttomanmilitaryleadership. Th ...

fairsundertheruleofAbdülhamidII.Theprohibitionoflivefiretrainingand maneuversinthefieldhadlefttraces,whichcouldnotbeovercomeeasi ...

Inadditiontothepoorlypreparedcampaign,mostofthereservetroopshad notreceivedsufficienttraining.Thesmallerportionofactiveunitscoul ...

[...][And]itwasnotastonishingthatmisunderstandingsoccurreddaily,orderswerenotor nottimelygivenetc.”¹³⁸ ThepoliticizationoftheOtt ...

AlthoughthemajorityoftheGermanofficersservingwiththeOttomanarmy weredisgustedbytheprofessionalapproachoftheOttomanmilitaryleader ...

naryeffectonofficersandsoldiersalike.Thenaturalgloomoftheretreatchangedatonce. [...]Fromthismomenton,Ihadmytroopsundercontrol.Di ...

tothearmy’sprestige.ColmarvonderGoltz’essaysweretranslatedandcirculat- edamongtheofficersoftheOttomanarmy,inthehopeofpreventinga ...

vonderGoltzarguedthatmostoftheinternalandinsomecasesalsopublicdis- courseconveyedawrongpictureofthisconflict.ForGoltz,theconside ...

paignsaswellastheneedofcombinedarmswarfarebetweenthearmy,navy andthenascentairforce,wereestablished.However,mostofthoseconsidera ...

goingtoFrancefornotbeingthe“mosttalented”ones.IntheOttomanarmyof thefutureitwouldbe“aquitedifferentrecommendationtoknowtheGerman ...

lectedconceptsthaninimitatingonesinglerolemodel.¹⁷³Inareactiontothe BulgariandeclarationoffullindependencefromOttomanrulein1908, ...

Nevertheless,thingswerequitedifferentregardingtheOttomanpoliticalsystem. In 1908 theOttomanstatehadreintroducedtheconstitutional ...

miliarwiththismindset.Enver,theformerOttomanmilitaryattachétoBerlin, wasnotaversetoanauthoritarianrule,whichheadmittedinalettert ...

tarymissionwastohavenopowerofcommandovertheFirstOttomanarmy, whichwasdeployedinthedefenseofthestraits.¹⁸⁶ ColmarvonderGoltzsuppo ...

Incontrasttotheseassessments,OttoLimanvonSanders(18 55 – 19 29)wasnoth- ingbutamilitary‘leftover’withquiteacharacter,ashisGerman ...

militaryʼs1 944 officialhistoryoftheGeneralStaff,sincetheregulationhad broughtan advantageous“Germanscent”(“Almanlıkkokusu”)toOt ...

academy.Backintroducedafasttracktrainingprogrammeforseniorcandidates inordertocompensatethelossesoftheBalkanWars.Theywerepostedt ...

TheseideaswerequitetothelikingoftheOttomanmilitaryleadership.Afterthe traumaticdefeatintheempire’swesternterritories,measureswer ...

ReluctantAlliesandDisappointedExpectations, JulytoNovember 1914 Thepoliticaldevelopmentsof 191 4leftnotimeforthoroughreformsinth ...