the beginnings of ottoman-german partnership - Bilkent University

against Russia, culminated in Ottoman involvement in the First World War as a
partner of Germany.
It is difficult to argue that Germany and the Ottoman Empire were involved
in a close partnership after the early eighteenth century. Throughout the whole
period, the two countries followed policies best fitted to their interests. Germany
sought for economic and political domination in the Ottoman Empire, and the
Ottoman Empire wanted to reform and reconstruct its army and economy in order to
survive. In the last two centuries of its existence, the Ottoman Empire lacked the
presence of a professionally staffed foreign office, which could dominate its conduct
in foreign affairs. Instead, the individual acts and decisions of the Ottoman
politicians and sultans shaped its relations toward the Great Powers, including
Germany. Germany, on the other side, was strongly motivated by its economic
ventures in the Ottoman territories, but it also lacked a consistent policy towards the
Ottoman Empire. The biggest factor that caused the rapprochement of the two
countries was their historical enemy, Russia.
Contrary to the arguments in many secondary sources, thus, the German
traditions in the Ottoman Army and the services of the German officers in the
Ottoman Empire did not eventually lead to the alliance of Germany and the Ottoman
Empire in the First World War. They were factors in the final decision, but not the
major one. As Germany faced the belligerency between Austria-Hungary and Serbia,
which led to the potential belligerency of Russia against Germany, Germany
concluded an alliance with the Ottoman Empire. In the last three months before the
Ottoman Empire's entry into the First World War, the willingness of Enver and Talat
combined with the determination of Wangenheim and the aggression of Souchon
prepared the end of the Ottoman Empire.
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