mentlawbasedonthePrussian 181 4law²⁴andcontributedtothetopographical
surveyofnewmapsofthecapitalanditssurroundings.Afterthedeathofhis
predecessorinNovember1 88 5,GoltzrosetotheheadoftheGermanmilitary
missionandnowalsooccupiedtheadvisorypositionforthereformationof
theOttomanGeneralStaff.HeintroducedthemodelofthePrussianWarAcad-
emytherebyreplacingtheformerFrenchbasedOttomanhighermilitaryeduca-
tionsystem.Itwas,aboveall,Goltz’sproposaltosendpreselectedOttomanof-
ficersfor 2 – 3yearsforspecializedtrainingatspecificbranchesoftheGerman
armythatdeepenedtheconnectiontotheGermanmilitarysystem.Sincethe
Goltzera,theOttomanarmysolelyreliedonbolt-actionriflesmadeinGermany.²⁵
ThePrussianinstructorfoundenthusiasticfollowersofhisideasamongthe
studentsofthewaracademy.TheseideashadbeenexpressedbythePrussian
Generalinhis 188 3treatise,TheNationinArms.Goltzarguedforwarpreparation
bythewholeGermannationbeginningwithmaleyouth.Militarynormsand
practicesweretobecomeaneverydayelementofcivilsociety.Goltzclaimed
thatofficersshouldenjoytheprestigeoftheirpositionandhavealeading
roleinsociety.Goltz’ideasbecameattractivetoofficersaroundtheworld.The
numeroustranslationsofhistreatiseareaneloquenttestimonyofthisfact.In-
structorsattheOttomanmilitaryacademyrecommendedTheNationinArmsto
theirstudents.MostoftheyoungOttomanofficersuseditas“akindofbible,
fromwheretheydrewhopefortheresurgenceoftheirnation.”²⁶Itistherefore
nowonderthatyoungofficersofmostlyMuslimoriginreadthebookasifit
hadbeenwrittenespecificallyforthem.TheFreudianmisspellingorrathermis-
readingoftheOttomanscriptinGoltz’booktitleastheNationoftheMuslimsin
anofficial 194 5militarymonographonthehistoryofthewarschoolisquitetell-
ing.²⁷Goltzofferedamodelforthepotentialhomogeneousnationstate;onethat
shouldbedominatedbytheMuslimshareofthepopulation.
SeeElkeHartmann,DieReichweitedesStaates:WehrpflichtundmoderneStaatlichkeitimOs-
manischenReich 1869 – 1910 (Paderborn:Schöningh, 20 16), 111 – 14 3.
CarlAlexanderKrethlow,GeneralfeldmarschallColmarFreiherrvonderGoltzPascha:EineBi-
ographie(Paderborn:Schöningh,2012), 125 – 138.
KlausKreiser,Atatürk:EineBiographie(Munich:C.H.Beck, 20 08), 43.
ThemilitaryhistorianmentionedColmarvonderGoltzastheauthorofabookunderthe
sametitle,probablymisreadingthetermMüsellaha:“[...]MilletiMüslime[sic!]yazarıGolç
Paşa”.Anonymous,HarpOkuluTarihçesi, 1834 – 1945 [HistoryoftheWarSchool, 1834 – 194 5](Is-
tanbul:HarpOkuluMatbaası,n.d.[c. 194 5]), 27 .OntheimpactofGoltzontheTurkishMuslim
militaristenvironmentseealsoFuatDündar,ModernTürkiyeʼninŞifresi:İttihatveTerakkiʼninEt-
nisiteMühendis-liği, 1913 – 1918 [TheCypherofModernTurkey:TheEthnicalEngineeringofthe
ComiteeforUnionandProgress,1 913 – 1918](Istanbul:İletişim, 20 08), 65 – 67.
34 2ThePeakofKnowledgeTransfer