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

TheTurkishPresidentialassesmentofthealliancewithGermanybecamepartof
theTurkishofficialview,tobereproducedbyactiveandretiredofficersalike.⁴⁶
PostwarstatementsofGermansupremecommandersabouttheOttomanally
alsoirritatedTurkishofficersandcanbereadasproofofthelatter’sallegations.
ForHindenburg,theallieshadfoughtwell,buttheGermanshadshownthe
greatestefforts.⁴⁷AccordingtoLudendorff,theOttomanarmyhadonlydone
wellaslongastheyhadfollowedthe‘GermanSpirit’:

“WhenTurkishtroops[...]wereunderunifiedGermancommand,thentheyfoughtpassa-

bly,evenwell;whentheywereunderTurkishcommandtheyquicklyforgotwhatGerman

seriousness[DeutscherErnst]hadtaughtthem.”⁴⁸

ThatiswhyitstandsforreasonthattheTurkishpresidentwasnoadmirerofthe
formerGermanvicechiefofstaff.⁴⁹Justliketheircommanderinchief,alsoother
Turkishstaffofficersjoinedthegroupofcritics.

RejectingtheJuniorPartnerRole

Withthebeginningofthemobilizationin 191 4,Karabekirhadbeenpromoted
headoftheGeneralStaff’smilitaryintelligencesection.Inhismemoirsheclaim-
edthathehadspecialinsightintotheactivitiesoftheGermanswithintheOtto-
mansupremecommand.ForKâzımKarabekir,theterribleoutcomeofthewar
wasnottheworkofasingleperson,butabundleofwrongdecisions.Oneof
themhadbeentheappointmentofFriedrichBronsartvonSchellendorfasthe
viceheadoftheGeneralStaff:

“WhathasaGermanheadoftheGeneralstafftodoincommandofthemobilizedTurkish

army?[...]TheGermanheadoftheGeneralstaffconsiderstheordershewillreceivefrom

Kenan,“İstiklalSavaşımızdaBüyükSevkveİdareBakımındanMüdafaaSistemimiz,” 12 7.
Seethe 195 2articlebyÇambel,“BirİmparatorlukNasılBattı?”[HowdidanEmpireFall?]inMa-
kalelerHȃtıralar,47;Gündüz,Hatıralarım,31.
Hindenburg,AusmeinemLeben,1 32 – 13 3.TurkishtranslationwiththetitleHindenburg:Hay-
atım,trans.Tahsinİsmail(Istanbul:Matbaa-iAskeriye,1 34 1/ 1925 ).
ErichLudendorff,MeineKriegserinnerungen 1914 – 1918 ,4thed.(Berlin:Mittler,1919), 20 0.
Turkishtranslation:Ludendorff’unHatırat-ıHarbiyesi(Istanbul:Erkân-ıHarbiyeMektebiMat-
baası 1336 /1 92 0).
MustafaKemalinanInterviewin 1930 :“AGeneralisalwaysdangerousasaruler,ifheis
nothingelsethanthatandifnobodycheckshim.YouhaveexperiencedthatinGermany.[...]
Ludendorff[...]isnotaleader:amanwhorunsawayin[thefaceof]breakdown.”EmilLudwig,
“BesuchbeiMustafaKemal:DieneueTürkei,”NeueFreiePresse,9March1 93 0,2.

RejectingtheJuniorPartnerRole 171