Secret alliance between Germany and the Ottoman Empire

British chronicles of the war recorded the conclusion of a secret alliance between Germany and the Ottoman Empire under the date of 4 August 1914. In fact the treaty had been signed two days earlier, on 2 August, in Constantinople, the day after Germany declared war on Russia. It was signed on the German side by the ambassador, Baron Hans von Wangenheim, and on the Ottoman side by the Grand Vizier, Said Halim Pasha.

The road to the treaty

The initiative came from Constantinople. The empire, weakened by the war with Italy and the Balkan Wars, was looking for an ally among the great powers, and the leaders of the ruling Committee of Union and Progress feared Russia above all. On 22 July the Minister of War, Enver Pasha, proposed an alliance to Wangenheim, who turned it down: many Germans regarded the empire as a military and economic liability. A few days later, however, Emperor Wilhelm II overruled his ambassador and agreed to the alliance. On 28 July the Ottoman government formally presented its proposal, and the negotiations went on while Europe moved from mobilisation to war.

The terms

The treaty had eight short articles. Both sides undertook to observe strict neutrality in the Austro-Serbian conflict. If, however, Russia intervened militarily and so obliged Germany to fulfil its alliance obligations towards Austria-Hungary, the same obligation (casus foederis) would arise for the Ottoman Empire. Since Germany was already at war with Russia, this clause bound Constantinople from the moment of signing.

In case of war Germany placed its military mission, headed by General Otto Liman von Sanders, at the empire’s disposal, and the Ottoman side assured it an “effective influence” on the general conduct of the army. Wangenheim explained to Berlin that the Turks wanted this wording because the sultan was formally commander-in-chief, but that Liman had agreed a detailed arrangement with Enver which in practice gave the mission the supreme command. Germany undertook to defend Ottoman territory, by force of arms if necessary. The treaty was valid until 31 December 1918, could be extended by five years, and was to remain secret.

A secret of a narrow circle

The agreement was the work of a few men. Besides Said Halim and Enver, it was known to the Minister of the Interior, Talaat Pasha, and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Halil Bey. The other ministers, parliament and the Ottoman ambassador in Berlin were not informed, and probably neither was Sultan Mehmed V. The Finance Minister, Cavid Bey, who learned of the treaty on the eve of its signing, opposed it. Sources differ on the role of the third member of the triumvirate, the Navy Minister Djemal Pasha, who had earlier sought a rapprochement with France.

The leaders in Constantinople were pushed to hurry by a decision in London. At the beginning of August the British Admiralty requisitioned two battleships being built in Britain for the Ottoman navy. One of them entered the Royal Navy as HMS Agincourt. Officially, however, the empire declared armed neutrality, and presented the mobilisation that had just begun as a precaution. Germany, then counting on a quick victory, accepted such neutrality for the first weeks. On 5 August Austria-Hungary acceded to the treaty.

A look ahead

Over the following months Constantinople delayed entering the war. The situation was changed by the arrival of the German warships Goeben and Breslau, which entered the Dardanelles on 10 August and were formally “bought” by the Ottoman navy. At the end of October 1914 these ships, under the Ottoman flag and the command of a German admiral, attacked Russian ports on the Black Sea. At the beginning of November Russia, Britain and France declared war on the Ottoman Empire.