The Ottoman Empire and Germany - 1914

In this episode of Explaining History, we delve into the intricate web of diplomacy, ambition, and betrayal that led the Ottoman Empire into the Great War. Drawing from Eugene Rogan's "The Fall of the Ottomans," we explore the Empire's precarious position in the years before 1914, caught between the competing interests of Europe's great powers.

Discover Germany's strategic "Weltpolitik," which saw the Ottomans as a key partner to challenge British and Russian dominance, leading to ambitious projects like the Berlin-to-Baghdad railway and the controversial appointment of a German military mission to modernize the Ottoman army. We'll unpack the diplomatic crisis that this provoked with Russia, which viewed Istanbul and the Straits as its own sphere of influence.

As the clouds of war gathered over Europe in the summer of 1914, the Ottoman leadership desperately sought a powerful ally to protect its vulnerable territory. We'll follow the fascinating, and ultimately failed, attempts to forge an alliance with Britain and France. Learn about the final act of betrayal—Britain's seizure of two newly built Ottoman dreadnoughts—that served as a national humiliation and pushed the wavering Empire into a secret alliance with Germany, a decision that would seal its fate and reshape the Middle East forever.

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