Two war years in Constantinople : $b sketches of German and Young Turkish ethics and politicsStürmer, Harry
History
Two war years in Constantinople : $b sketches of German and Young Turkish ethics and politics
Stürmer, Harry
World War, 1914-1918 -- Turkey
There was a great deal of nervous calculation about the probable
attitude of Bulgaria among both the Turks and the thousands of
thoroughly illoyal citizens of the Ottoman Empire composing the
population of the capital. From lack of information and also as a
result of Bulgaria's long delay in declaring her attitude, an undue
optimism ruled right up to the last moment among those who desired the
overthrow of the Turks.
The Bulgarian question was closely bound up with the question of the
munitions supply. The Turkish resistance on Gallipoli threatened to
collapse through lack of munitions, and general interest centred--with
very varied desires with regard to the outcome--on the rare ammunition
trains that were brought through Rumania only after an enormous
expenditure of Turkish powers of persuasion and the application of any
amount of "palm-oil."
I was present at Sedd-ul-Bahr at the beginning of July, when, owing to
lack of ammunition, the German-Turkish artillery could only reply with
one shot to every ten British ones, while the insufficiently equipped
factories of Top-hané and Zeitun-burnu, under the control of General
Pieper, Director of Munitions, were turning out as many shells as was
possible with the inferior material at their disposal, and the Turkish
fortresses in the Interior had to send their supply of often very
antiquated ammunition to the Dardanelles. The whole dramatic import of
the situation, which might any day give rise to epoch-making events,
was only too evident in Constantinople. It is not to be wondered at
that everyone looked forward with feverish impatience to Bulgaria's
entry either on one side or the other.
But, in spite of all this, the Turks could scarcely bear the sight
of the first Bulgarian soldiers who appeared in autumn 1915 in full
uniform in the streets of "Carihrad." The necessary surrender of the
land along the Maritza right to the gates of the holy city of "Edirne"
(Adrianople) was but little to the liking of the Turkish patriots,
and even the successful issue of the Dardanelles campaign, only made
possible by Bulgaria's joining the Central Powers, was not sufficient
to win the real sympathies of the Turks for their new allies.
It was not until much later that the position was altered as a result
of the combined fighting in Dobrudja. Practically right up to the end
of 1916, the real, short-sighted, jingoistic Turk looked askance at
his new ally and viewed with irritation and distrust the desecration
of his sacred "Edirne," the symbol of his national renaissance, while
the ambition of all politicians was to bring Bulgaria one day to a
surrender of the lost territory and more.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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