“[...]PrussiangeneralsrevolutionizetheOttomanpeoplethroughtheTurkisharmy,noton
purpose-bynomeans!–asbearerandtransmitteroftheGermanSpirit,whichisnoteven
suffocatedbythePrussiandrill.”³TheauthorPaulRohrbachdidnotadvocateadirectGermanruleorcolonization
oftheOttomanlands,but“[...]theinduction[Hineinleitung]oftheGermanSpirit
intothebignationalrenewalprocess”⁴oftheOttomanEmpire.TheseGerman
intellectualswereawarethatthe‘GermanSpirit’wascompetingwiththeFrench
culturalinfluenceintheOttomanstate,especiallyduringWorldWarI.Therefore
theOrientalistCarlHeinrichBeckerhighlightedthefavoritemilitaryvirtuesin-
herentintheGermanmindset:
“TheGermanSpiritisnotasamicableandimpressive,butalsonotasabsorbingasthe
Frenchone.Itismoreseriousandcumbersome,thereforediscouraginganddoesnotallure
tosuperficialitybuttoeducatingthoroughness.”⁵FocusoftheStudy
Idecidedtofocusmystudynotonthewell-studiedGermanmilitarymissionbe-
tween 1882 and1918,butratheronthecontactsbetweenGermanandTurkish
militarymembersthatoutlastedtheofficialendofthealliancein1918.Thepe-
riodofthestudycoversmostofthe“YoungTurkEra”⁶betweenthe 1908 revolu-
tionandthedeathofpresidentMustafaKemalAtatürkin 19 38.Itisagainstthis
backgroundthattheactivitiesofGermanmilitaryinstructorsintheOttomanEm-
pire/Turkeyaswellasthe‘apprenticeshipyears’ofOttomanandTurkishofficers
inGermanybeforeandaftertheFirstWorldWarwillbeanalyzed.Thisstudyfo-
cusesontheOttomanlandforces.⁷
AccordingtothehistorianHartmutKaelble,transferisdefinedas“adapta-
tionofconcepts,values,norms,attitudesandidentitiesatthemigrationofper-
ErnstJäckh,DeraufsteigendeHalbmond:BeiträgezurtürkischenRenaissance(Berlin:Schöne-
berg,1911),31.NotethepositivereviewofthisbookbyaGermanofficer,formerlyinOttoman
service:[Karl]Imhoff,“DeraufsteigendeHalbmond,”MWB 90 (1911),cols.2 085 – 2086.
PaulRohrbach,DerdeutscheGedankeinderWelt(Düsseldorf,Leipzig:KarlRobertLangewie-
sche,1912), 23 8.
CarlHeinrichBecker,DastürkischeBildungsproblem(Bonn:FriedrichCohen,1916), 27.
ErikJ.Zürcher,Turkey:AModernHistory(London:I.B.Tauris, 199 3), 97 – 21 4.
ForanoverviewoftheGermanroleintheOttomannavyandairforceuntil 1918 see:Bernd
Langensiepenetal.,HalbmondundKaiseradler:GoebenundBreslauamBosporus, 1914 – 1918 ,
(Hamburg,Berlin,Bonn:Mittler,1999);HansWernerNeulen,DieAdlerdesKaisersimOrient
1915 – 1919 .UnserFreund,derFeind(Aachen:Helios,2016).
2 1Introduction