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

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AfterhisreturntoGermanyin1 895 ,Goltzcontinuedtofollowthedevelop-
mentsintheOttomanarmy,resortingtohisregularexchangeofletterswithOtto-
manofficers,amongthemalsoPertev[Demirhan].InGermany,Goltzusedmain-
lypublicjournalsandnewspaperstoreachabroaderaudience,acommonplace
strategyofcontemporaryofficers.²⁸Asearlyasthe1880s,Goltzhadrealizedthat
GermanyneededtheOttomanarmymoreinatwo-frontwarasanalliancewith
GermanywouldbeofusefortheOttomanside.²⁹Goltzthereforesethimselfthe
goalofkeepingtheGermanmilitaryandcivilianreadershipuptodatewiththe
progressoftheOttomanmilitarymodernizationprocess.
Goltz’sratherbenevolentviewoftheOttomanprivatewasexpressedinsev-
eralpublications.TheformerOttomanPashahadtoadmitthatthe“joyfulnessto
serve[Dienstfreudigkeit]”andpunctualitytowhichhewasusedtoinGermany
werenotagivenintheOttomanarmy.³⁰Badnewswasnotconveyed,careless-
nesswasacommonplaceduringmilitaryoperations,andtheOttomanofficer’s
carefortheirsoldierswasinexistent.
AfterthereinstatementoftheOttomanconstitutionon 24 July1908,Goltz
hadaclearpictureoftheroleoftheofficercorpsinsocietythatseemedtoderive
directlyfromhistreatiseTheNationinArms.ForGoltz,theOttomanarmywas
theonlyinstitutionthatcouldchangethepoliticalcrisisofthesummerof
1908,sincemostofthemilitaryleadershadundergonemoderneducation.The
armyhadsufferedinlong‘colonialwars’withinternalenemiesintheirdistant
possessionsandcouldnotpreventthelossoffurtherprovinces.PursuedbySul-
tanAbdülhamid’sspies,theyhadhadnootherchoicethantoriseagainstthis
regime.Inthefuturetheyweretoreturntotheirprofessions-aclearreference
tothePrussianidealoftheapoliticalsoldier.TheOttomantroopshadtobeoc-
cupiedwithdailytrainingassoonaspossible.Anarmythattrainshardfrom
dusktilldawndoes“notthinkofrevolts.[...]Politics[...]isnotthesoldier’sbusi-
ness.”³¹Inaddition,GoltzurgedtheOttomanofficialstodraftnon-Muslimsfor
militaryservice.Thismeasurewas“animperativeofself-preservation”³²oftheOt-
tomanMuslims,initsSocialDarwinistterminologyanotherclearreferencetothe


MarkusPöhlmann,“DasunentdeckteLand:KriegsbildundZukunftskriegindeutschenMil-
itärzeitschriften,”inVordemSprunginsDunkle:DiemilitärischenDebattenüberdenKriegder
Zukunft 1880 – 1914 ,ed.StigFörster(Paderborn:Schöningh,2016), 29.
Krethlow,GeneralfeldmarschallGoltz,1 73.
ColmarvonderGoltz,“EinigesvomtürkischenHeereundseinenSoldaten,”Daheim 16
(1903), 16.
ColmarvonderGoltz,“DieverjüngteTürkeiundihreArmee,”NeueFreiePresse,9August
1908,1.
Goltz,“DieverjüngteTürkeiundihreArmee,”2.


TheGoltzEra:NewHopefortheOttomanOfficerCorps 35
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