the beginnings of ottoman-german partnership - Bilkent University

architect of the establishment of German influence in İstanbul 104 was replaced with
Baron von Wangenheim. Later his government appointed him to London. 105
As a matter of fact, it was not the German military techniques but the
German diplomacy or policies that harmed the Ottoman Empire. From the Young
Turk Revolution of 1908 to the Bab-ı Ali coup d’etat, German-Ottoman relations did
not follow a consistent path. The Ottomans began to favor the Germans when they
requested the second service of Goltz, and Germany provided the loan that the
Ottomans needed in 1910. However, the Italian and Balkan Wars proved to the
Ottomans that they were actually isolated in European diplomatic circles. The
international developments showed that all of the Great powers had imperialistic
designs on the Ottoman Empire, which constituted the core of the Eastern Question.
Germany provided an exception only in the sense that unlike the other Great Powers,
it did not want the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Germany wanted to transform
Turkey into a minor partner or a satellite state in the Near East. “While Britain,
France, and Russia were each tugging at the best portions of the Empire from
outside, the Reich was endeavoring to hold it together by capturing the whole from
within.” 106 With its penetration pacifique policy, Germany favored the policy of
controlling the economy and military of the Ottoman Empire in friendly terms, while
at the same time trying to stay in the new ‘Concert of Europe’ that was based on
disagreements and deterrence rather than agreements.
104 Trumpener, ‘Almanya ve Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun Sonu’, pp. 131-132.
105 BOA, HR. SYS., Dosya: 24, Gömlek: 9.
106 Gottlieb, p. 32.
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