miliarwiththismindset.Enver,theformerOttomanmilitaryattachétoBerlin,
wasnotaversetoanauthoritarianrule,whichheadmittedinalettertoaGer-
manfriendontheeveoftheFirstBalkanWar:
“Asasoldier,Ibelieveintheabsolutismofthearmyandagovernmentalsysteminamod-
erateconstitutionlikeyours.Onehastocrushallthemediocreheadsthatwanttoshare
politicalpower.AFrenchman[GustaveleBon;G.G.]hassaiditverywell:‘Beforetherepub-
lic,wehadonedespotinFrance,nowhundredsofthembecauseallthedeputieswantto
makeitclearthattheythemselvesareinpower.’[...]Tocontrolthepowerofthestate,I
believeintheneedforaparliament,however,forthemaintenanceofinteriorpeace,one
hastobeharsherthan[theRomanemperor]Nero.[...]Onehastotreatenemiesveryharsh-
ly,otherwisethiscrisiswillendbadly.”¹⁸³Inthisregard,EnverPashafollowedtheYoungTurkZeitgeist,whichfavoredan
authoritarianruleoverthepeople.¹⁸⁴Accordingtotheseideas,itwasonlyalog-
icalstepthattheOttomanarmyandtheCUPseizedpowerinJanuary 1913 .From
whathasbeensaidsofar,Germanyhadmanagedtodominatenotonlyinthe
fieldofmilitary,butalsopoliticalaffairs.ThedangeroftheFrenchcompetitor
gaininggroundintheOttomanlandswaswardedoffsuccessfully.NowGermany
hadtoexpanditsmilitaryleadbetweenBosphorusandBaghdad.
FromÇatalcatoÇanakkale:AlltheOtto’smen,
July 1913 – August 1914
AlreadybeforetheOttomandefeatintheBalkanWars,EmperorWilhelmIIhad
favoredamoreactiveGermanpolicyintheOttomanEmpire.Afterthe 1908 rev-
olutionfortheemperorBismarck’sreluctancetoriskPomeraniansoldier’sbones
soonwastobe“aninterestinghistoricalreminiscence”,andin 1912 hewascon-
vincedthat“theOrientalQuestionhastobesolvedwithironandblood.”¹⁸⁵Part
ofthesolutionwastosendaGermanmilitarymission.Afterthedisastrousout-
comeoftheBalkanWars,theOttomanmilitarycommandhadacceptedtheidea
ofamilitarymissionalthoughtheproposalhadcausedseriousresistancefrom
theRussiandiplomats.Asaformofcompromise,theheadoftheGermanmili-
MehmedŞükrüHanioğlu,KendiMektuplarındaEnverPaşa[EnverPashainHisOwnLetters]
(Istanbul:DerYayınevi,1989), 17 4.
Hanioğlu,Atatürk,4 4 – 45.
QuotedafterRöhl,WilhelmII.,vol.3, 124 ,9 37.
68 2ThePeakofKnowledgeTransfer