the beginnings of ottoman-german partnership - Bilkent University

Prussia. 3 Ottoman ambassadors like Ali Efendi informed the Sultan of the diplomatic
and military developments of Napoleonic Europe.
Until the rise to power of Otto von Bismarck during the last quarter of the
19 th century, Prussia's attitude was basically sympathetic to the Ottoman Empire, but
at the same time it refrained from acting in a manner that would distort what it
considered more important interests, namely its relations with the other members of
the Concert of Europe. Prussia did, however, act as a friendly mediator when
possible, favoring the Ottomans in the negotiations regarding the Near Eastern crisis,
which led to the Treaty of Edirne, signed in 1829, and also in the peace negotiations
that followed the Crimean War (1853-1856).
Throughout the 19th century, the Ottoman Army needed reorganization and
reform if the state was to maintain a status as a respected power in Europe. Selim III
began the process at the start of the 19th century by trying to create a new and
modern Ottoman army as part of his Nizam-ı Cedid (New Order) reforms, for which
a Prussian officer, Colonel von Goetze provided overall supervision, and other
Prussian officers joined the Ottoman campaigns against Russia that followed. 4
Selim III's efforts were largely unsuccessful due to many factors, among
which was resistance by members of the Janissary corps, who sought to retain the old
order to keep their position in Ottoman society. As a result, in 1826 Mahmud II
(1808-1839) abolished the Janissary corps entirely, killing many of its members,
making it far more possible to introduce far more comprehensive reforms in Ottoman
society as well as the army in the reform movement which came to be known as the
Reformation (Tanzimat). Once again, Prussia provided the Ottomans with military
3 Yılmaz, p.21, Süleyman Kocabaş, Pancermenizm’in Şarka Doğru Politikası: Tarihte Türkler ve
Almanlar (İstanbul: Vatan Yayınları, 1988), p.19.
4 Jehuda Lotthar Wallach, Bir Askeri Yardımın Anatomisi: Türkiye’de Prusya-Almanya Askeri
Heyetleri (1835-1919), (Ankara: Genelkurmay Basımevi, 1985), p. 7.
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