the beginnings of ottoman-german partnership - Bilkent University

potential enemy. Bismarck had managed to avoid having both France and Russia
hostile to Germany at the same time. It was Germany's reaction to Russia’s alliance
with Britain and France that caused it to enter a defensive alliance against Russia
with the Ottomans, who thought that the Russian threat would be eliminated with a
German victory.
By establishing close ties with Abdulhamid II, Wilhelm II secured
permission to construct the Baghdad Railroad, which opened Ottoman dominions to
German economic penetration. This was a real threat to Russian ambitions in
Anatolia as well as to French and British interests in Iraq. Abdulhamid II and
Wilhelm II, two real autocrats, appeared to the other Great Powers as real friends.
Abdulhamid II tried to use German economic penetration as a means of balancing the
economic domination of France and Britain in the Ottoman Empire as well as to
establish security in his dominions. Abdulhamid II attracted more reactions from the
Great Powers when he convinced Wilhelm II to send a Military Reform Mission to
Istanbul. His grandfather, Mahmud II (1808-1839) had brought the first Prussian
officers to the Empire. Among them, von Moltke had made a major impact on the
new Ottoman army created during the Tanzimat. During Abdulhamid II's reign Von
der Goltz made an even bigger impact. The young Ottoman officers who were
trained by these German officers admired the Prussian militarism characterized in the
personality of Wilhelm II. The latter tried to use the German Military Support
Missions to deepen German economic penetration into the Ottoman Empire. He
supplemented this work by visiting the Ottoman Empire twice, in 1889 and 1898,
appealing to the Ottomans, and through them to all Muslims, to demonstrate that he
was the real protector of the Muslims and Islam.
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