MediatoroftheʻGermanSpiritʼ:
TheMilitaryAttachéWaltervonStrempel
Afterthediscontinuationofregularmilitary-politicalreportsbyColmarvonder
GoltzfromtheOttomancapitalin 1895 ,theGermanembassywasurgedtoposta
permanentmilitaryattachéintheOttomancapital.Throughtheanalysisof
Goltz’activities,theOttomanmilitaryleadershipcametothesameconclusion.¹⁴
ThetasksoftheGermanmilitaryattachéshadbeenoutlinedinthe1890s
instructions.Theyhadtostayincontactwithofficersoftheforeignpowerand
readtheperiodicalsandthemilitarypressoftheirhostnation.TheGermanmili-
taryattacheswerealsourgedtotakeontheresponsibilityofanavalattaché,in
casetherewasnosuchpositionsinthelocalGermanembassy.Thiswasthecase
intheOttomancapitaluntil 1913 .Aspartoftheirregularduties,theyhadtocom-
pileregularmilitaryreportsthathadtobesentdirectlytotheGermanforeign
office.Thiswasaspecialprecautionbecausethesereportscouldalsoincludepo-
liticalviews,andpoliticswereasensitivetopicforGermanofficers.Themilitary
attachésdidnotreportdirectlytotheirmilitarysuperior,buttheheadoftheGer-
manGeneralStaff.TheGermanforeignministrythenforwardedthosereportsto
theGermanministryofwar.¹⁵Yet,thoseattachéshadtokeepoutoflocalpolit-
icalaffairsandmonitorthedevelopmentsoftheforeignpower’sarmyandnavy
aswellastheirtraining,armamentandmilitarytechniques.Consequently,the
military reports often contained information on espionageand armament
sales.¹⁶Unfortunately,asthediplomaticdocumentsofthelateOttomanperiod
arenotyetavailableforresearch,thisstudyoftheGermanreportswillprovide
afarreaching,butone-sidedinsightintothedevelopmentsintheOttomanarmy.
ThishastobekeptinmindandStrempel’sviewsshouldnotbeoverrated.¹⁷
MajorWaltervonStrempel(186 7 – 19 35)servedasthemilitaryattachéinthe
Ottomancapitalbetween 1908 and 1913 ,oneofthemostcrucialperiodsofthe
lateOttomanstate.HefollowedthedevelopmentsintheOttomanarmyand
GültekinYildiz,“OsmanlıDışAskerîİstihbaratındaFormelleşme:ElçiliklerdeAtaşemiliter-
liğinİhdasıveOsmanlıAskerîAtaşeRaporları’’[TheFormationoftheOttomanForeignMilitary
Intelligence:TheCreationoftheMilitaryAttachéintheEmbassiesandtheOttomanMilitary
Attché’sReports]HacettepeÜniversitesiTürkiyatAraştırmalarıDergisi 17 (2 012 ), 246 – 24 7.
GerhardA.Ritter,DiedeutschenMilitär-AttachésunddasAuswärtigeAmt:Ausdenverbrannt-
enAktendesGroßenGeneralstabes(Heidelberg:CarlWinter, 195 9), 35.
Ritter,DiedeutschenMilitär-Attachés,6.
TheperiodofStrempelwillbeanalyzedindetailhere,sincemostofthereportsforthe 1913 –
1918 period(attachésKarlvonLaffert,ErichvonLeipzig,OttovonLossow)andespeciallyforthe
1935 – 1944 period(attachéHansRohde)fromthearchivesoftheGermanForeignMinistry(AA-
PA)weredestroyedinWorldWarTwo.
MediatoroftheʻGermanSpiritʼ:TheMilitaryAttachéWaltervonStrempel 31