The Ottoman Road to War in 1914 by Mustafa Aksakal

Author:Mustafa Aksakal [Aksakal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2015-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

The arrival of the SMS Goeben and the SMS Breslau

The events on the western front were yet to unfold when Enver made the request that became one of the war’s most notorious episodes: the dispatch of the German battleship SMS Goeben to Istanbul. Like Wangenheim, Liman supported Enver’s request and on August 2 wrote to Berlin that the “transfer of the Goeben is highly desired here to bring the very passive Ottoman fleet to action and to paralyze the Russian Black Sea Fleet. A free hand in the Black Sea is of the greatest importance for all operations [on land].”72 The German navy ministry granted Liman’s request immediately, informing the Goeben’s captain, Admiral Wilhelm Souchon, of the new alliance by radio and instructing him to go to Istanbul right away.73 Meanwhile, the news of an ostensibly secret German–Ottoman alliance reached St. Petersburg with remarkable speed. Already on August 2, at 9.08 a.m., Commander of the Russian Naval Forces in the Black Sea Eberhardt informed his navy ministry: “From an intercepted telegram. Turkey has declared full mobilization and has joined our enemies.”74

On the eve of the war, the Russian Black Sea Fleet was still considered superior to the Ottoman navy, but Istanbul had been rebuilding its naval forces and catching up rapidly. It had added two German warships of an older model to its fleet in 1910 and ordered two dreadnoughts from British companies in August 1911, with a delivery time of three years. Russian military leaders were alarmed, and they warned of the grave dangers that resulted from losing mastery over the Black Sea. Persuaded, the Duma authorized the launching of a naval program in June 1912 that provided for a major expansion of the naval forces in the Black Sea. The expansion was premised on the formula to afford the Russian fleet superiority one and a half times that of the Ottoman fleet.75

The signing of the German–Ottoman alliance on August 2 followed the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia on July 28 and the German declaration of war on Russia on August 1. Liman pressed Enver for immediate and active contribution to the Central Powers’ war efforts. Fully aware that no Ottoman forces were ready for battle and that both the German and the Austro-Hungarian ambassadors actually opposed entry at this point, Enver claimed to support Liman’s call for immediate intervention nonetheless. This was a mere gesture; Enver did not yet issue any orders for an attack. Unable to see through Enver’s intentions, Wangenheim wrote to Berlin that “Enver and Liman want to declare war on Russia immediately in order to confiscate three valuable Russian steamers with wireless equipment here [in Istanbul]. The grand vezir and I are opposed to it.” Continuing to advise against intervention himself, the German ambassador pointed to the incomplete state of mobilization. He also reminded the Auswärtiges Amt that Sofia had not yet committed itself to action, and he speculated that if the Ottomans declared war, Britain would confiscate the warship Sultan Osman, already

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