AMBASSADOR MORGENTHAU'S STORY
CHAPTER VIII
A CLASSIC INSTANCE OF GERMAN PROPAGANDA
In those August and September days Germany had no intention of precipitating
Turkey immediately into the war. As I then had a deep interest in the welfare of
the Turkish people and in maintaining peace, I telegraphed Washington asking if
I might use my influence to keep Turkey neutral. I received a reply that I might
do this provided that I made my representations unofficially and purely upon
humanitarian grounds. As the English and the French ambassadors were exerting
all their efforts to keep Turkey out of the war, I knew that my intervention in
the same interest would not displease the British Government. Germany, however,
might regard any interference on my part as an unneutral act, and I asked
Wangenheim if there would be any objection from that source.
His reply somewhat surprised me, though I saw through it soon afterward. "Not at
all," he said. "Germany desires, above all, that Turkey shall remain neutral."
Undoubtedly Turkey's policy at that moment precisely fitted in with German
plans. Wangenheim was steadily increasing his ascendancy over the Turkish
Cabinet, and Turkey was then pursuing the course that best served the German
aims. Her policy was keeping the Entente on tenterhooks; it never knew from day
to day where Turkey stood, whether she would remain neutral or enter the war on
Germany's side. Because Turkey's attitude was so uncertain, Russia was compelled
to. keep large forces in the Caucasus, England was obliged to strengthen her
forces in Egypt and India, and to maintain a considerable fleet at the mouth of
the Dardanelles. All this worked in beautifully with Germany's plans, for these
detached forces just so much weakened England and Russia on the European battle
front. I am now speaking of the period just before the Marne, when Germany
expected to defeat France and Russia with the aid of her ally, Austria,: and
thus obtain a victory that would have enabled her to dictate the future of
Europe. Should Turkey at that time be actually engaged in military operations,
she could do no more toward bringing about this victory than she was doing now,
by keeping considerable Russian and English forces away from the most important
fronts. But should Germany win this easy victory, with Turkey's aid, she might
find her new ally an embarrassment. Turkey would certainly demand compensation
and she would not be particularly modest in her demands, which most likely would
include the full control of Egypt and perhaps the return of Balkan territories.
Such readjustments would have interfered with the Kaiser's plans. Thus he had no
interest in having Turkey as an active ally, except in the event that he did not
speedily win his anticipated triumph. But if Russia should make great progress
against Austria, then Turkey's active alliance would have great value,
especially if her entry should be so timed as to bring in Bulgaria and Rumania
as allies. Meanwhile, Wangenheim was playing a waiting game, making Turkey a
potential German ally, strengthening her army and her navy, and preparing to use
her, whenever the moment arrived for using her to the best advantage. If Germany
could not win the war without Turkey's aid, Germany was prepared to take her in
as an ally; if she could win without Turkey, then she would not have to pay the
Turk for his cooperation. Meanwhile, the sensible course was to keep her
prepared in case the Turkish forces became essential to German success.
The duel that now took place between Germany and the Entente for Turkey's favour
was a most unequal one. The fact was that Germany had won the victory when she
smuggled the Goeben and the Breslau into the Sea of Marmora. The English,
French, and Russian ambassadors well understood this, and they knew that they
could not make Turkey an active ally of the Entente; they probably had no desire
to do so, but they did hope that they might keep her neutral. To this end they
now directed all their efforts. "You have had enough of war," they would tell
Talaat and Enver. "You have fought two wars in the last four years; you will
ruin your country absolutely if you get involved in this one." The Entente had
only one consideration to offer Turkey for her neutrality, and this was an offer
to guarantee the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. The Entente ambassadors showed
their great desire to keep Turkey out of the war by their disinclination to
press to the limit their case against the Breslau and the Goeben. It is true
that they repeatedly protested against the continued presence of these ships,
but every time the Turkish officials maintained that they were Turkish vessels.
"If that is so," Sir Louis Mallet would urge, and his argument was unassailable,
"why don't you remove the German officers and crews?" That was the intention,
the Grand Vizier would answer; the Turkish crews that had been sent to man the
ships which had been built in England, he would say, were returning to Turkey
and they would be put on board the Goeben and the Breslau as soon as they
reached Constantinople. But days and weeks went by; these crews came home, and
still Germany manned and officered the cruisers. These backings and fillings
naturally did not deceive the British and French foreign offices. The presence
of the Goeben and the Breslau was a standing casus belli, but the Entente
ambassadors did not demand their passports, for such an act would have
precipitated the very crisis which they were seeking to delay, and, if possible,
to avoid---Turkey's entrance as Germany's ally. Unhappily the Entente's promise
to guarantee Turkey's integrity did not win Turkey to their side.
"They promised that we should not be dismembered after the Balkan wars," Talaat
would tell me, "and see what happened to European Turkey then."
Wangenheim constantly harped upon this fact. "You can't trust anything they
say," he would tell Talaat and Enver, "didn't they all go back on you a year
ago?" And then with great cleverness he would play upon the only emotion which
really actuates the Turk. The descendants of Osman hardly resemble any people I
have ever known. They do not hate, they do not love; they have no lasting
animosities or affections. They only fear. And naturally they attribute to
others the motives which regulate their own conduct. "How stupid you are,"
Wangenheim would tell Talaat and Enver, discussing the English attitude. "Don't
you see why the English want you to keep out? It is because they fear you. Don't
you see that, with the help of Germany, you have again become a great military
power? No wonder England doesn't want to fight you! " He dinned this so
continually in their ears that they finally believed it, for this argument not
only completely explained to them the attitude of the Entente, but it flattered
Turkish pride.
Whatever may have been the attitude of Enver and Talaat, I think that England
and France were more popular with all classes in Turkey than was Germany. The
Sultan was opposed to war; the heir apparent, Youssouff Isseddin, was openly
pro-Ally; the Grand Vizier, Saïd Halim, favoured England rather than Germany;
Djemal, the third member of the ruling triumvirate, had the reputation of being
a Francophile---he had recently returned from Paris, where the reception he had
received had greatly flattered him; a majority of the Cabinet had no enthusiasm
for Germany; and public opinion, so far as public opinion existed in Turkey,
regarded England, not Germany, as Turkey's historic friend. Wangenheim,
therefore, had much opposition to overcome, and the methods which he took to
break it down form a classic illustration of German propaganda. He started a
lavish publicity campaign against England, France, and Russia. I have described
the feelings of the Turks at losing their ships in England. Wangenheim's agents
now filled columns of purchased space in the newspapers with bitter attacks on
England for taking over these vessels. The whole Turkish press rapidly passed
under the control of Germany. Wangenheim purchased the Ikdam, one of the largest
Turkish newspapers, which immediately began to sing the praises of Germany and
to abuse the Entente. The Osmanischer Lloyd, published in French and German,
became an organ of the German Embassy. Although the Turkish Constitution
guaranteed a free press, a censorship was established in the interest of the
Central Powers. All Turkish editors were ordered to write in Germany's favour
and they obeyed instructions. The Jeune Turc, a pro-Entente newspaper, printed
in French, was suppressed. The Turkish papers exaggerated German victories and
completely manufactured others; they were constantly printing the news of
Entente defeats, most of them wholly imaginary. In the evening Wangenheim and
Pallavicini would show me official telegrams giving the details of military
operations, but when, in the morning, I would look in the newspapers, I would
find that this news had been twisted or falsified in Germany's favour. A certain
Baron Oppenheim. travelled all over Turkey manufacturing public opinion against
England and France. Ostensibly he was an archaeologist, while in reality he
opened offices everywhere from which issued streams of slander against the
Entente. Huge maps were pasted on walls, showing all the territory which Turkey
had lost in the course of a century. Russia was portrayed as the nation chiefly
responsible for these "robberies," and attention was drawn to the fact that
England had now become Russia's ally. Pictures were published, showing the
grasping powers of the Entente as rapacious animals, snatching at poor Turkey.
Enver was advertised as the "hero" who had recovered Adrianople; Germany was
pictured as Turkey's friend; the Kaiser suddenly became "Hadji Wilhelm," the
great protector of Islam, and stories were even printed that he had become a
convert to Mohammedanism. The Turkish populace was informed that the Moslems of
India and of Egypt were about to revolt and throw off their English "tyrants."
The Turkish man-on-the-street was taught to say, "Gott Strafe England," and all
the time the motive power of this infamous campaign was German money.
But Germany was doing more than poisoning the Turkish mind; she was
appropriating Turkey's military resources. I have already described how, in
January, 1914, the Kaiser had taken over the Turkish army and rehabilitated it
in preparation for the European war. He now proceeded to do the same thing with
the Turkish navy. In August, Wangenheim boasted to me that, " We now control
both the Turkish army and navy." At the time the Goeben and Breslau arrived, an
English mission, headed by Admiral Limpus, was hard at work restoring the
Turkish navy. Soon afterward Limpus and his associates were unceremoniously
dismissed; the manner of their going was really disgraceful, for not even the
most ordinary courtesies were shown them. The English naval officers quietly and
unobservedly left Constantinople for England---all except the Admiral himself,
who had to remain longer because of his daughter's illness.
Night after night whole carloads of Germans landed at Constantinople from
Berlin; the aggregations to the population finally amounted to 3,800 men, most
of them sent to man the Turkish navy and to manufacture ammunition. They filled
the cafés every night, and they paraded the streets of Constantinople in the
small hours of the morning, howling and singing German patriotic songs. Many of
them were skilled mechanics, who immediately went to work repairing the
destroyers and other ships and putting them in shape for war. The British firm
of Armstrong & Vickers had a splendid dock in Constantinople, and this the
Germans now appropriated. All day and night we could hear this work going on and
we could hardly sleep because of the hubbub of riveting and hammering.
Wangenheim, now found another opportunity for instilling more poison into the
minds of Enver, Talaat, and Djemal. The German workers, he declared, had found
that the Turkish ships were in a desperate state of disrepair, and for this he
naturally blamed the English naval mission. He said that England had
deliberately let the Turkish navy go to decay and he asserted that this was all
a part of England's plot to ruin Turkey! "Look!" he would exclaim, "see what we
Germans have done for the Turkish army, and see what the English have done for
your ships!" As a matter of fact, all this was untrue, for Admiral Limpus had
worked hard and conscientiously to improve the navy and had accomplished
excellent results in that direction.
All this time the Germans were working at the Dardanelles, seeking to strengthen
the fortifications, and preparing for a possible Allied attack. As September
lengthened into October, the Sublime Porte practically ceased to be the
headquarters of the Ottoman Empire. I really think that the most influential
seat of authority at that time was a German merchant ship, the General. It was
moored in the Golden Horn, at the Galata Bridge, and a permanent stairway had
been built, leading to its deck. I knew well one of the most frequent visitors
to this ship, an American who used to come to the embassy and entertain me with
stories of what was going on.
The General, this American now informed me, was practically a German club or
hotel. The officers of the Goeben and the Breslau and other German officers who
had been sent to command the Turkish ships ate and slept on board. Admiral
Souchon, who had brought the German cruisers to Constantinople, presided over
these gatherings. Souchon was a man of French Huguenot extraction; he was a
short, dapper, clean-cut sailor, very energetic and alert, and to the German
passion for command and thoroughness he added much of the Gallic geniality and
buoyancy. Naturally he gave much liveliness to the evening parties on the
General, and the beer and champagne which were liberally dispensed on these
occasions loosened the tongues of his fellow officers. Their conversation showed
that they entertained no illusions as to who really controlled the Turkish navy.
Night after night their impatience for action grew; they kept declaring that, if
Turkey did not presently attack the Russians, they would force her to do so.
They would relate how they had sent German ships into the Black Sea, in the hope
of provoking the Russian fleet to some action that would make war inevitable.
Toward the end of October my friend told me that hostilities could not much
longer be avoided; the Turkish fleet had been fitted for action, everything was
ready, and the impetuosity of these kriegslustige German officers could not much
longer be restrained.
"They are just like a lot of boys with chips on their shoulders! They are simply
spoiling for a fight!" he said.
Continue >
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TABLE OF CONTENTS  Introduction
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Chapter XXV
Chapter XXVI
Chapter XXVII
Chapter XXVIII
Chapter XXIX
PLACE YOUR ORDER
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