Or…try living life as a minority in
a dying empire…
The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle
East, by Eugene Rogan
We
are now at the end of the Second Balkan War. Having recovered some of the
previously lost territories, there was a new sense of optimism. For
decades, the outskirts of Empire were whittled away, mostly by colonial Western
powers – a dying empire. The end result of this most recent war was to
turn the tide…if only momentarily.
The
Ottomans were determined to play both sides against the other in the
fast-approaching war, delaying for an extended period any real commitment to
one side or the other. Ultimately, there was only one choice that was
likely.
On
the one hand, Britain, France and Russia; on the other, Germany. The
Triple Entente was represented by the colonialists: France and Britain already
making moves on Ottoman territories, Russia, the perennial foe, with an eye on
the Straits and the Christian communities in Eastern Anatolia – bordering the
Russian Caucasus Mountains. The Entente powers might talk nice in order
to win the Ottomans to their cause, but their actions spoke louder than words.
It
was not helpful when the two state-of-the-art dreadnoughts – commissioned by
the Ottomans, scheduled for delivery by the British shipbuilders Vickers and
Armstrong in July 1914 – were requisitioned by the British shortly before the
(ever-delayed) scheduled delivery.
The
day after the British decision, the Ottomans concluded a secret treaty of
alliance with Germany, a nation with whom they already held a close
relationship. While the Germans would be the strong friend that the
Ottomans needed, the Muslims might prove to be the right ally for the Germans
in their fight against the colonialist British and French – and the envious
Russians.
Once
war would later break out, the Germans established a jihad bureau in Berlin,
dedicated to producing pan-Islamic propaganda; they treated Muslim POWs
(captured while fighting for colonial Britain) with respect toward their
Islamic traditions, hoping to convince them to switch sides and fight for the
German cause.
The
Germans had previously established a military mission to the Ottoman Empire at
the end of 1913. Otto Liman von Sanders was nominated; he was appointed
command over the forces that secured the Straits. To the Russians, this
was tantamount to the Germans having control over the Straits – an intolerable
situation.
Two
German ships, the heavy battleship Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau,
were brought into the Straits – this in order to protect them from the more
capable ships of Britain and France. The Ottomans demanded significant
concessions from the Germans in order to allow this escape; the Germans had
little choice but to agree. The ships were to be flown under Ottoman
flag, in some manner replacing the two ships confiscated by the British.
Consider
the accomplishments by the so-called sick man of Europe: they secured an
alliance with a powerful European power in order to protect their territory
from Russian aggression; they had mobilized their armed forces; they acquired
modern warships. They did all this without having to get entangled in any
actual war-fighting!
But
war did break out: North Africa lost; Mesopotamia occupied. The Russians
made advances through the Caucasus and into eastern Anatolia, with the Ottoman
forces being routed in the initial conflicts; the British attacked at Gallipoli,
where the defenses – directed by the Germans – held. There were times on
both fronts where the end of Ottoman rule seemed inevitable.
What
does this have to do with genocide? The Christian Armenian minority in
Turkey numbered something approaching 2 million at the start of the Great
War. By the end of the war, the number could be counted in the
tens-of-thousands. The vast majority were killed or forced out in
mass-migration.
I have written about this genocide three years
ago – at the time of the 100th anniversary commemoration. I
based my post on a chapter from Rogan’s book – a book that only now I am
returning to. I took advantage of the commemoration to skip ahead in the
book…after which it remained on my shelf for too long.
For those who believe “diversity” is marvelous or that
open borders for people with vastly different cultural values and traditions is
the path to peace and liberty, consider living in a place – especially a dying
empire – where you are the minority. Consider what happens when the
inevitable scapegoating begins.
There are too many examples in history that demonstrate
the disaster for those who find themselves in this situation. What
happened to the Armenians (and other Christian populations in the region) is
just one example.