Different opinions on Ottoman and German political military and economic relations

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to surf through history and emphasize some of the important events took place between the Ottoman Empire and German Kingdoms like Prussia, Kingdom of Bavaria up to the ending of WW-1. The importance of this paper is to put forward the immense political, social, judicial and military relations between Ottoman Empire and German Kingdoms for the past millennium. At the request of Sultan Mahmut II, the appointment of Captain Moltke's (Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke), a young (Captain-officer) in the German Army, as an advisor to Anatolia in the year 1838, started the military interrelations between Ottoman Empire and Prussia. When he returned to Germany, he had written a book on Russian-Turkish conflicts and this raised the attention of Germans about Turks. Moeltke in 1857 was Chief of General Staff of Prussian Army for 30 years, and in 1871 he was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal (Karal, 1961, p.165). This first initiative formed a strong base for a firm military relation between the two empires and the German-Ottoman relations reached to peak during the reign of Abdulhamit II. Prior to the foundation of Germany’s National Unity, the relations at the time of reign of Bismarck came closer but Bismarck was a pacifist and did not want to get involved in the Eastern Question Abdulhamit II’s sympathy (or need) of Germany started to establish cultural relations, some officers were being sent to Germany for education. Germany sent a Military Advisors group under command of Wettendorf. Few years later this was substituted by a larger group (1883-1895) under Von der Goltz. German Deutsche Bank opened a branch in Istanbul and import of German military equipment and goods started (Karal,1961, p.174 ). In 1888 Germans were given the right to operate the Istanbul Izmit railway and extend it to Ankara. The portion Eskisehir to Konya was completed in 1896. The plan was to complete the railway line all the way to Bagdad and Basra. Britain was competing with Germany to get the concession of this railway but the project was given to Germans. These interactive military, social, cultural and economic relations between the Ottoman Empire and German Kingdoms got stronger each decade more than the previous and fortified the ties between the two countries.