Treaty with Germany[edit]

A secret treaty was concluded between the two empires on August 2, 1914. The Ottomans were to enter the war on the side of the Central Powers one day after the German Empire declared war on Russia.[6] The alliance was ratified on 2 August by many high-ranking Ottoman officials including Grand Vizier Said Halim Pasha, the Minister of War Enver Pasha, the Interior Minister Talat Pasha, and Head of Parliament Halil Bey.[7] Austria-Hungary adhered to the Ottoman–German treaty on 5 August.


However, not all members of the Ottoman government accepted the alliance. There was no signature from the Sultan Mehmed V, who was nominally in charge of the army but had little power. The third member of the cabinet of the Three Pashas, Cemal Pasha, also did not sign the treaty, as he had tried to form an alliance with France.[8]


Berlin grew annoyed as the Ottomans stalled, but offered two ships and a large loan. Two German cruisers reached Dardanelles with great difficulties on 10th August, and on 16th they were transferred to the Turkish Navy, which was very popular with local population because Britain requisitioned two Turkish battleships earlier.


In August, Germany—still expecting a swift victory—was content for the Ottoman Empire to remain neutral. The mere presence of a powerful warship like Goeben in the Sea of Marmara would be enough to occupy a British naval squadron guarding the Dardanelles. However, following German reverses at the First Battle of the Marne in September, and with Russian successes against Austria-Hungary, Germany began to regard the Ottoman Empire as a useful ally. Tensions began to escalate when the Ottoman Empire closed the Dardanelles to all shipping on 27 September, blocking Russia's exit from the Black Sea—that accounted for over 90 percent of Russia's import and export traffic.


On 10 October 1914 a gold loan agreement to finance Turkish mobilization with 5 millions liras (worth 2 months of Turkish total public spending or about 10 months of warfare by contemporary estimates) was signed,[9] and on October 29 the Ottomans entered the war after their fleet bombarded Russian ports on orders from Enver Pasha.[10]


On January 22, 1915, a more general alliance was signed between the Ottoman Empire and Germany that was to last five years. On September 28, 1916, the two agreed not to sign a separate peace with the Allies. In October 1917, the 1915 treaty was amended to enhance military cooperation between the empires. On March 21, 1916, Austria-Hungary joined the Ottoman-German pact.[11]

Ottoman entry into World War I

Diplomatic history of World War I

Germany–Turkey relations

Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau

Ottoman–Bulgarian alliance

Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

Beckett, F.W. "Turkey's Momentous Moment" History Today (June 2013) 63#6 pp 47–53 pn October 1914.

Erickson, Edward J. Gallipoli & the Middle East 1914–1918: From the Dardanelles to Mesopotamia (Amber Books Ltd, 2014).

Johnson, Rob. The Great War and the Middle East (Oxford UP, 2016).

Miller, Geoffrey. . December 1999.

"Turkey Enters the War and British Actions"

Silberstein, Gerard E. "The Central Powers and the Second Turkish Alliance, 1915." Slavic Review 24.1 (1965): 77–89.

in JSTOR

Strachan, Hew. The First World War: Volume I: To Arms. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press, 2003) pp 644-93.

Ulrichsen, Kristian Coates. The First World War in the Middle East (Hurst, 2014).

Van Der Vat, Dan. The ship that changed the world ( 9780586069295)

ISBN

Weber, Frank G. Eagles on the Crescent: Germany, Austria, and the diplomacy of the Turkish alliance, 1914-1918 (Cornell University Press, 1970).