andlatertheGermanEmpirewasanunsuspiciousmiddlepowerinthesensethat
GermanyhadnoimperialinterestsintheMiddleEast.⁴⁰Afterthedefeatin 1871 ,the
Frenchprestigediminished.⁴¹TheunifiedGermanEmpirehadbecomeanalterna-
tivetothebalanceOttomandependencyonGreatBritainandFranceformilitary
assistance.Additionally,Prussiandiplomatshadtakenonanintermediaryrole
inthe 1829 andespeciallythe 1878 peacetalksinBerlin.⁴²Beyondthat,thePrus-
sianarmyhadthenimbusofinvincibility,afteritsshareinthedefeatofNapoleonic
Francein1 81 4anditsvictoryovertheFrenchRepublicin 1871 .FortheOttoman
SultanAbdülhamidII,Prussiafunctionedasarolemodel,especiallyafterthede-
featagainstRussiain 1877 /78.Until 191 8anintensifiedGerman-Ottomanexchange
ofmilitaryofficialstookplace.
TheGermanmissionarrivedintheOttomancapitalin 188 2onrequestofSul-
tanAbdülhamidII.⁴³ItsmostinfluentialmemberwasColmarvonderGoltz,who
ledthemissionbetween 188 5and 1895 .Heshapedtheworldviewofhisfellow
studentofficersandpavedthewayfortheGerman-Ottomanalliancein 191 4.
GoltzmanagedtopromoteGermanasanequallyimportantlanguageofinstruc-
tion,nexttoFrench.NeverthelessFrenchremainedtheprimaryforeignlanguage
amongstmajorityoftheOttomanmilitarystudents.LessonsinGermanrequired
thepresenceofanOttomaninterpreter,anobstacletotheGerman-Ottoman/
TurkishknowledgetransferuntiltheRepublicanperiod.Consequently,German
instructors,includingKarlAuler(18 54 – 19 30),whowereabletoteachinFrench
enjoyedpopularityamongtheirstudents,sincetheywerenotdependentonthe
ratherunreliableOttomaninterpreters.⁴⁴
Butthetheoreticalapproachandtherestrictionsrelatedtopracticalfield-
workcouldnotbeovercomebyColmarvonderGoltz.Regardingtheabolish-
mentofcorporalpunishmentformilitarystudents,hismostfaithfulfollower
ThischangedslightlyintheendofChancellorBismarck’sterminthelate1880s,cf.Gregor
Schöllgen,“ZwischenAbstinenzundEngagement:BismarckunddieorientalischeFrage,”in
BismarckundseineZeit,ed.JohannesKunisch(Berlin:Duncker&Humblot,1 99 2),1 55 – 16 9.
KlausKreiser,“PreußenundOsmanen:WahrnehmungenundBegegnungen,”inDeutsch-tür-
kischeBegegnungen.AlmanTürkTesadüfleri.FestschriftfürKemalBeydilli,ed.HeddaReindl-Kiel
etal.(Berlin:EB-Verlag, 20 13), 20 4.
Wallach,AnatomieeinerMilitärhilfe,17.
ForthismissioncfYeşil,“KaraKuvvetlerindeAvrupalıDanışmanlar,” 91 – 97.
ZiyaYergök,TuğgeneralZiyaYergökʼünAnıları:Harbiye’denDersim’e1 890 – 191 4;Askeri
Öğrencilik,Erzurum,ErzincanveDersim[TheMemoirsofBrigadierGeneralZiyaYergök:From
theHarbiyetoDersim, 1890 – 191 4;TheTimeasaMilitaryStudent,Erzurum,ErzincanandDer-
sim](Istanbul:RemziKitabevi, 20 06), 10 7.ForAuler’spersonalfilecf.HStASM4 30 /2Bü48.
10 1Introduction