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

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Incontrasttotheseassessments,OttoLimanvonSanders(18 55 – 19 29)wasnoth-
ingbutamilitary‘leftover’withquiteacharacter,ashisGermanandOttoman
staffmembersweresoontodiscover.TogetherwithLimanandnineotherGer-
manstaffofficers,hewassenttotheOttomancapitalinDecember 1913 .This
time,thenumberofexperiencedseniorofficerswashigher;morethanfortyof-
ficerswerehiredpriortothespringof 191 4.Theirmaingoalwastopreparethe
Ottomanarmyforthenextconflict,ifpossible,atthesideoftheGermanarmy.
LimanvonSanderswaspromotedInspector-GeneraloftheOttomanarmy.Inthe
followingsmonthsheandhisstaffproceededwithmilitaryreforms.Justlikebe-
foreGermanofficerswerepostedascommandersofthemodelregiments,inad-
ditiontoalsobeinggiveninfluentialpositionsintheOttomanministryofwar
andintheGeneralStaff.However,theGermanmilitarymissionkeptitsdistance
fromtheGermanembassyandreporteddirectlytotheGermanGeneralStaff.It
wastherebyfreefrompoliticalcontrol.¹⁹²Inthefollowingyears,themissionwas
thetargetofmuchcriticismfromtheGermanembassy,theGermanmilitaryat-
tachéinparticular.¹⁹³However,thedualismofGermanmilitaryandpoliticalrep-
resentationsremainedintactuntil1918.
OneofthebiggestshortcomingsoftheOttomanwarfarehadbeenthefailure
offull-scalemobilization.Inthisfield,thePrussianstaffofficerOttovonFeld-
mann(18 73 – 194 5),whohadpreviouslyservedintherailwaydepartmentof
theGermanGeneralStaff,waspostedbyEnvertothefirstdepartmentoftheOt-
tomanGeneralStaff,followingashortteachingobligationinthewaracademy.
HereFeldmannandhisassistantİsmet[İnönü]providedanoverviewofthedis-
locationofallOttomanunitswiththeircurrentstateofmanpowerandequip-
mentaftertheSecondBalkanWar.FeldmanncontrivedtoadapttotheOttoman
wayofcommunicationandconvincedtheOttomanQuartermaster-Generalto
supporthiswork foramoreeconomicprovision oftheOttomangarrisons.
Thankstohiskindbehavior,healsomasteredtheproblemsofpreparingformo-
bilization.¹⁹⁴Atthesametime,aspartofajointefforttheGermanofficersem-
ployedattheOttomanGeneralStaffalsopreparedanewserviceregulation
(Hidemat-ıErkânıharbiyeTalimatnamesi).ItwasratedpositivelyintheTurkish


Römer,MilitärhilfefürdasOsmanischeReich,86.
EspeciallyOttovonLossow,anenemyofLimanvonSanders,statedin 1916 that“themili-
tarymissioninitscurrentformwithallthespecialrightsofthemission’sheadcannotcontinue
toexistafterthewar.”QuotedafterGotthardJäschke,“DieDeutsch-TürkischeMilitärkonvention
vom18. 10 .1 91 7,”DieWeltdesIslam 10 – 3/4(1966), 196.
OttovonFeldmann,Türkei,Weimar,Hitler:LebenserinnerungeneinespreußischenOffiziers
unddeutschnationalenPolitikers,ed.PetervonFeldmann(Borsdorf:EditionWinterwork, 20 13),
60 – 62.


70 2ThePeakofKnowledgeTransfer

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