Allied ultimatum to Turkey

News of the Ottoman fleet’s attack on Russian ports reached the Entente ambassadors in Constantinople on the afternoon of 29 October 1914. The British ambassador, Louis Mallet, and his French colleague, Maurice Bompard, went at once to the Russian ambassador, Mikhail Girs. They agreed to ask their governments for permission to put the Sublime Porte before a choice: a break in relations with the Entente or the expulsion of the German military and naval missions.

On 30 October the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, sent Mallet his instructions. The ambassador was to hand the Porte a note in which the British government expressed its “utmost surprise” at the wanton attacks on “open and undefended towns of a friendly country”, made without warning and without the slightest provocation. The note recalled that Russia, supported by Great Britain and France, had long tolerated Turkish violations of neutrality. It also stated that a return to genuine neutrality was impossible as long as the German missions remained in Constantinople.

The terms were clear. The Ottoman government was to disclaim responsibility for the attack by expelling the German military and naval missions and fulfilling its repeated promises regarding the German crews of Goeben and Breslau. If no satisfactory reply arrived within 12 hours of the note’s delivery, Mallet was to ask for his passports and leave Constantinople with the embassy staff. During the night of 30/31 October the Admiralty warned the Mediterranean commands of the expiring deadline.

Events, however, overtook the instructions from London. On 30 October Girs had already received orders to ask for his passports immediately, and Mallet and Bompard decided to follow his example. In a conversation with the Grand Vizier, Said Halim Pasha, Mallet put the same alternative: only the immediate dismissal of the Germans could prevent war with the Allies. In the evening the Ottoman government discussed dismissing the German naval officers but took no decision, and no one even dared to propose expelling the military mission. Instead of a reply, Constantinople issued a communiqué claiming that it was the Russians who had first opened hostilities in the Black Sea. The Allied demands went unanswered.