The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World WarWhy did the Ottoman Empire enter the First World War in late October 1914, months after the war's devastations had become clear? Were its leaders 'simple-minded,' 'below-average' individuals, as the doyen of Turkish diplomatic history has argued? Or, as others have claimed, did the Ottomans enter the war because War Minister Enver Pasha, dictating Ottoman decisions, was in thrall to the Germans and to his own expansionist dreams? Based on previously untapped Ottoman and European sources, Mustafa Aksakal's dramatic study challenges this consensus. It demonstrates that responsibility went far beyond Enver, that the road to war was paved by the demands of a politically interested public, and that the Ottoman leadership sought the German alliance as the only way out of a web of international threats and domestic insecurities, opting for an escape whose catastrophic consequences for the empire and seismic impact on the Middle East are felt even today. |
Contents
The intellectual and emotional climate after the Balkan | |
The Ottomans within the international order | |
Penelopes game | |
Other editions - View all
The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War Mustafa Aksakal No preview available - 2010 |
The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War Mustafa Aksakal No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
action Admiral Souchon Aegean Ahmed alliance with Germany ambassador Armenian army ATASE attack August 15 AustriaHungary AustroHungarian Auswärtiges Amt Balkan Wars BAMA Benckendorff BEO.NGG Berlin Bethmann Hollweg Black Sea Breslau Britain British Bulgaria cabinet Cemal Cemal Pasha Cemil Central Powers Dardanelles declared diplomatic eastern Anatolia empire’s Entente Enver Pasha European Fihrist Foreign Minister German German–Ottoman alliance Germany’s Giers to Sazonov Goeben Goltz Grand Vezir Greece Greek Halil Halim Hilmi Humann Ibid IBZI intervention Istanbul Izvolskii Kaiser Klasör Kütübhanei Leontiev Liman von Sanders Matbaası Ministry mobilization Muslim naval navy negotiations neutrality November October October 25 Ottoman alliance Ottoman Empire Ottoman leaders PA/AA Petersburg political Porte’s reported Romania Russian fleet September September 14 Serbia Series sheet ships Sofia Straits Sublime Porte Talat Tanin Temmuz 1330 August treaty Triple Alliance Triple Entente troops Türk Turkey Turkish Wangenheim to Auswärtiges Wilhelm Yeni Dosya Zimmermann to Jagow