2. Widening of the War: New Allies
Allies needed to be found on both sides to
change impasse by fall of 1914
To Join or Not to Join? On which Side?
When?
4. Enter Turkey
October 1914 Turkey joined Central Powers
AJP Taylor “In October 1914 Turkey or, to give it a more grandiloquent name,
the Ottoman Empire, entered the war on the German side. It is difficult to
think of any rational motive for this act. The Turks could not possibly gain
from the war even if Germany won; indeed the only remote chance of
survival for their ramshackle Empire was that they should keep out
altogether.” (p. 77)
Entered with hopes of a jihad to revitalize and expand empire. Became
another casualty of war.
Postcard of Central powers left to right
Germany, Turkey, Austria.
5. Young Turks
1908: Young Turk Movement deposed Sultan; established
reforming, modernizing gov’t
Pre-1914: German gov’t sought influence. Kaiser William
II visited Constantinople
Economic ties strengthened: Berlin-Baghdad railroad (f.
1908).
Military ties: German military advisors offered expertise
in reorganizing Ottoman army (1913). Turkish gov’t made
secret treaty with Germany that bound Turkey to military
alliance if Germany had to take A-H side against
Russia. Russia as common enemy, Turkey disliked Russian
bullying attitude and Dardanelles focus of contention.
1908 Postcard
6. Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’
October 1914: two German cruisers sought
refuge in Turkish port; then led Turkish fleet
across the Black Sea to bombard Russia ports
(Odessa and others). October 29-30 attacks
done without warning; constituted a declaration
of war. On November 1, Russia gov’t responds
with formal declaration.
Enver Pasha
SMS Goeben SMS Breslau
7. The Turkish Dilemma
• Turks: 120,000 soldiers, poorly equipped and trained.
• In December 29, 1914 Battle of Sarikamish, Turkish advance
over Caucasus; stopped with incredible loss of
life. Thousands froze to death (30,000). Out of 120,000 men
only 18,000 retreat. 81% casualty rate; conventionally a
10% rate considered a disaster. Caucasian campaign
disaster; but regrouped effectively in 1915 Gallipoli
Campaign
• Allied Gallipoli campaign aimed to break the Turkish hold
on the Straits; allies failed
• Turkish defeat of Sarikamish had far-reaching, tragic
consequences for Armenians and Greeks living in Turkey
Battle of Sarikamish
12. 1915 Chronology: Intensification of War
• January Introduction of food rationing in Germany
• Feb.-March Allied attempts to take the Dardanelles
• Feb.-Sept. Intensive German submarine warfare begins
• March 21 First German air raid on Paris
• April 8 Turkey initiates deportation and massacre of
Armenians
• April 22-May 27 Second Battle of Ypres; introduction of gas
warfare
• April 25 Allied land campaign against Turks in Gallipoli begins
• May 7 Sinking of the Lusitania by German U-boat
• May 23 Italy enters war on Allied side
• July Coal miners strike in South Wales; Munitions of War
Act passed in Britain
• Sept. 24 Battle of Loos
13. War on Civilians
• “By summer 1915 the Great War had already
become a humanitarian catastrophe.” (A
History of the Great War, Brose, 166)
• Rapes, forced labor/labor battalions, u-boats
(Lusitania May 7, 1915), refugees, hostages
• Armenian population of 1.8-2.1 million
halved; Greek population of 2.3-2.5 million—
one-third killed or deported. Death marches.
14. Persecution, Deportation, Death
25 February 1915: War Minister Enver Pasha's
Directive 8682 released on "Increased security
and precautions" to all military units calling for
the removal of all ethnic Armenians serving in
the Ottoman forces from their posts and for
their demobilization. Assigned to the unarmed
Labor battalions. Blamed for poor showing of
Turkish efforts, seen as disloyal.
15. How Genocides Occur
Armenian civilians marched to prison in
Mezireh by armed Ottoman soldiers.
Kharpert, Ottoman Empire, April 1915.
16. Genocide without Qualifiers
Systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, mostly
citizens within the Ottoman Empire
24 April 1915: Ottoman authorities rounded up, arrested,
deported from Constantinople to region of Ankara 235 to 270
Armenian intellectuals and community leaders. Majority
eventually murdered.
Wholesale killing of able-bodied male population commenced
Deportation and Death Marches into Syrian Desert of women,
children, elderly. Deprived of food and water; subjected to
robbery, rape, and massacre.
Turkey denies was a genocide.
http://www.armenian-genocide.org/
New York Times, December 15, 1915
18. The Gallipoli Campaign
Allies’ Objectives: Relieve pressure; break
deadlock in west; Dardanelles Strait highly
desirable.
Winston Churchill big proponent of Dardanelles
Campaign: Use British naval might (“ships
alone”) to open up Constantinople.
Army expedition necessary to dislodge Turkish
guns. Turkish guns higher up than allies.
Large-scale amphibious operation botched.
19. Map of the Dardanelles drawn by G.F. Morrell,
1915. The map shows the Gallipoli peninsula
and west coast of Turkey, and the location of
front line troops and landings.
20. Where do the Australians Fit In?
Gallipoli Peninsula, April-December 1915: Over
50,000 Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand
Army Corps) with at least 7594 (and up to 8709)
killed in action and buried under Turkish soil.
Quinn’s Post: “hottest spot”
distance between opposing
trenches at points only 6 yards.
216 inches. 18 feet.
Australian sniper using periscope rifle at Gallipoli, 1915.
Aided by spotter with periscope. Believed to belong to the
Australian 2nd Light Horse Regiment. Location probably
Quinn's Post.
21. Australia’s “Coming of Age”
• Anzac Day created on April 25, 1916 as
Australian day of Commemoration and
Mourning. Nationalism.
• Becomes the signifier of separate and
distinctive identity and creation of the Anzac
myth
• Gallipoli as Australians’ “birth story”
• Australian values? The Australian spirit?
22. Bean’s Gallipoli
Charles Edwin Woodrow (C.E.W.) Bean (1879–
1968), Australian World War I war
correspondent, and editor of 12-volume Official
History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918.
Instrumental in establishment of the Australian
War Memorial, and of creation of the ANZAC
legend.
23. War as an Imaginative Event
Hynes in War Imagined: How people thought about
war
Anzac Legend: British sacrificed heroic ANZACs
Become Australians during war, not subject or
colonial. Young men from the new world sacrificed
by old men in the old world.
Brotherhood of mates. Self-reliant
Regarded as a defining moment in Turkey’s history,
victory and defense of motherland
Ottoman machine-gun teams
equipped with MG 08s
26. Widening of the War: Empire and Colonies
Redrew map
Post-war post-colonies
National myths/consciousness
Personal experiences
Worth of Empire
Self-interests determine sides
Fundraising poster for the American
Committee for Relief in the Near East
27. Going Global
• 36 nations involved in combat
• Manpower and Economic Resources
• British Empire covered 32 million sq. km. and
population of 400 million in 1914
• French Empire: 10.5 million sq km and
population of 44 million
29. British Empire’s Dominions
• Australia: 416,000 enlist, 331,000 overseas. Anzac Day
25 April 1916
• New Zealand: 1/10th of pop.; 128,000 enlist, 112,000
overseas (“the silent division”)
• Canada: CEF “British born” (Quebec opposed); 628,000
enlist, 365,000 overseas. Vimy Ridge (April 1917)
• South Africa: Active in German East Africa, 136,000
enlisted, 76,000 overseas (France)
• Newfoundland: 790 men wiped out on 7-1-16 (272
killed, 438 wounded)
• S. Rhodesia: 5,716 from scratch
30. British Empire’s Dominions
India: 1.4 million men and £146 million
Mesopotamia focus
Men from an Indian Cavalry regiment on the Western front 1914
2nd Queen Victoria's Own Rajput Light Infantry,
in action in Flanders, during winter of 1914-15
31. Making Sense of Imperialism
Indian bicycle troops at a crossroads on the
Fricourt-Mametz Road, Somme, France.
32. Indian Second Cavalry during the Battle of
Bazentin Ridge (14–17 July 1916) part of the
Battle of the Somme (1 July–18 November)
33. “Labor Corps” from colonies
1 million Africans plus all other colonies. Racism
and violence. The South African Native Labor
Contingent (SANLC) formed in 1916
35. French colonies
122,000 indigenous troops in 1914, 600,000
during war (about 6.6 % of army) plus large
numbers of laborers (122,000 Algerians, 50,000
Indo-Chinese, and 96,000 Chinese)
36. French Colonial 75 mm artillery gun in action
near Sedd el Bahr at Cape Helles, Gallipoli
Campaign, during the Third Battle of Krithia, 4
June 1915.
39. War and empire in British popular culture:
“A Fight with the Zulus”.
Englishmen – looking like the public school
boys that publication was aimed at
– fight Zulu warriors.
From “Chums”, 1916.
http://britishempireatwar.org
41. Join with Central Powers
• Turkey: End of October 1914
• Bulgaria: 1915 Wants Macedonia
Mobilization of Bulgarian soldiers.
42. Join with Allied Powers:
• Montenegro: Aug. 1914, small (pop. of 250,000) A-H occupied Jan. 1916
• Japan: 23 August 1914
• Italy: 1915 Rivalry with A-H (800,000 Italians in A-H), Trieste. Italian
Foreign Minister in Sept 1914: “the ideal situation for us would be if
Austria and France were both beaten.”
• San Marino: 1915
• Portugal: 1916 “The Pork and Beans” Expeditionary Force
• Albania: 1916 (Serbia retreats through Albania and evacuated to Corfu
Oct. 1915)
• Romania: 1916 Wants Transylvania (A-H province) and 3 million under A-
H. Gets crushed, separate Armistice in 1918
• Greece: 1916 “It’s Complicated”, coup involved. Salonika as base of EP ops
43. Late in the Game
• USA: 1917
• China: 14 Aug. 1917. May 1916 gov’t agreed to
50,000 laborers to France; 96,000 to G.B.
• Liberia: 1917
• Siam: 1917 Sent 1,300 men to France
• Latin American and Caribbean Countries and
Others (1917-18) include: Brazil, Panama, Cuba,
Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras,
Haiti, Liberia, Onondago American Indian Nation
44. Neutral States
• Scandinavian Countries: Denmark, Norway,
and Sweden
• Switzerland
• Netherlands
• Spain: “Sanchopancisme”
