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

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hecommentedonsendingyoungOttomancivilianandmilitarystudentstoEu-
rope:“Theyremainonlyaslongasitisnecessarytotakeabrieflookattheciv-
ilizationoftheWest,toseewhatgoodthereistolearn,andtoreporthome.A
shortstaybearslessdangersrelatedtotheharmfulinfluenceofthepoisonof
theEuropeancivilization.”¹⁵Eventuallytheappropriationoftechnologyalso
ledtoarapprochement totheGerman culturalfundamentof themilitary
power,especiallyafterAbdülhamid’scarefulpolicywasnolongerincharge.
The‘poisonous’ʻGermanSpiritʼhadadeepinfluenceontheshapingoftheTurk-
ishofficercorps.ItisthusnoexaggerationtosaythatfortheRepublicanarmy
after 1923 “theGermanmilitarydoctrinenotonlyinfluencedtheTurkishwar
strategy,[butalso] thestateofmind oftheTurkish GeneralStaff’sofficer
corps,inotherwords,whatkindofofficercorpswasaspired.”¹⁶
Thisstudywillconcentrateonthecontentandpracticesofthemilitary
knowledgetransferinordertobetterunderstandtheimpactandthelimitations
oftheGerman-Ottoman/Turkishmilitarycooperation.Itshould,however,be
pointedoutthatthetransferbetweentheGermanandtheOttomanEmpire
wasnotrestrictedtothelate19thandtheearly20thcenturyandtheGerman
militarywasnotthesolerolemodelfortheOttomanmilitary.


GermanandOttomanMilitaryTransfersincethe


earlyModernAge


Intheearlymodernage,thearmiesoftheHolyRomanEmpireoftheGerman
NationandtheOttomansoftenfacedeachotheronthebattlefield.Thesemartial
confrontationswereaccompaniedbyacontinuoustransferofmilitaryrelated
knowledgeonbothsides,aswasalsothecaseamongtherivalingEuropean
powers.¹⁷ThedevelopmentofOttomanfirearmswasclearlyinspiredbyEurope-
anmodels.OnthetacticalleveltheOttomantroopsalsoappropriatedEuropean
practices,includingthevolleyfire(firstreportedin1605),andadaptedthemfor
theirownconditions.¹⁸Inthe 16 thcentury,forsomeoftheWestEuropeanspec-


AbdülhamidII,AvantlaDébâcledelaTurquie:PenséesetSouvenirsdel’Ex-SultanAbdul-
Hamid,ed.AliMerad(Paris:Publisud, 2007 ), 189.
ÜmitÖzdağ,Ordu-Siyasetİlişkisi:Atatürk,İnönüDönemleriArmy-PoliticsRelations:The
AtatürkandİnönüPeriods
, 11 7.
GültekinYıldız,“OttomanMilitaryOrganization(1800–1918),”inTheEncyclopediaofWar,
ed.GordonMartel,vol.3(London:Wiley-Blackwell, 2012 ), 1615.
GáborÁgoston,“FirearmsandMilitaryAdaptation:TheOttomansandtheEuropeanMilitary
Revolution, 1450 – 1800 ,”JournalofWorldHistory 25 – 1( 2014 ),98.


4 1Introduction

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