Turkey, the Great Powers, and the Bagdad Railway: A study in imperialism

by Edward Mead Earle

[11] C. C. Repington, The First World War, 1914–1918 (2 volumes, London, 1920), Volume I, pp. 42, 51, etc. ad lib.; Churchill, op. cit., pp. 537–538.

[12] The italics are mine. The proposed debarkation of troops, however, was certain to involve a breach of Persian neutrality. Cf. Parliamentary Papers, 1917, No. Cd. 8610.

[13] Ibid. Regarding the Franco-German agreement of February 15, 1914, cf. supra, pp. 246–250.

[14] The text of the agreement between England, France and Russia regarding the disposition of Constantinople and other portions of Turkey is to be found in Full Texts of the Secret Treaties as Revealed at Petrograd (New York, The Evening Post, 1918); cf., also, R. S. Baker, Woodrow Wilson and World Settlement (3 volumes, Garden City, 1922), Volume I, Chapter III. The text of the Treaty of London between Italy and the Allies is to be found in Parliamentary Papers, 1920, No. Cmd. 671, Miscellaneous No. 7.

[15] The best single work on military operations in Turkey during the Great War is Edmund Dane’s British Campaigns in the Nearer East, 1914–1918 (2 volumes, London, 1919). Regarding the Caucasus campaigns of 1914–1915 cf. M. P. Price, War and Revolution in Asiatic Russia (London, 1918), Chapter I; R. Machray, “The Campaign in the Caucasus,” in the Fortnightly Review, Volume 97 (1915), pp. 458–471. Excellent accounts of the first Turkish offensive against the Suez Canal are to be found in G. Douin, Un épisode de la guerre mondiale: l’attaque du canal de Suez, 3 Fevrier, 1915 (Paris, 1922); C. Stiénon, “Sur le chemin de fer de Bagdad,” in Revue des deux mondes, 6 series, Volume 5 (1916), pp. 148–174; T. Wiegand, Sinai (Berlin, 1920); N. Moutran, La Syrie de demain: France et Syrie (Paris, 1916); R. Hennig, Der Kampf um den Suezkanal (Stuttgart, 1915); E. Serman, Mit den Türken an der Front (Berlin, 1915); J. Walther, Zum Kampf in der Wüste am Sinai und Nil (Leipzig, 1916); P. Schweder, Im türkischen Hauptquartier (Leipzig, 1916); Eine Geschichte der Türkei im Weltkriege (Munich, 1919). For the Mesopotamian expedition of 1914–1915 consult Despatches Regarding Operations in the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia (London, the War Office, 1915); G. M. Chesney, “The Mesopotamian Breakdown,” in the Fortnightly Review, Volume 102 (1917), pp. 247–256; H. B. Reynardson, Mesopotamia, 1914–1915 (London, 1919); C. H. Barber, Besieged in Kut and After (Edinburgh, 1917). Of the great quantity of material available on the Dardanelles campaign, cf., in particular, the following: Gallipoli: der Kampf um den Orient, von einem Offizier aus dem Stab des Marschalls Liman von Sanders (Berlin, 1916); General Sir Ian Hamilton, Gallipoli Diary (London, 1920); H. W. Nevinson, The Dardanelles Campaign (London, 1918); S. A. Moseley, The Truth About the Dardanelles (London, 1916); John Masefield, Gallipoli (London, 1916).

[16] Parliamentary Papers, 1917, No. Cd. 8610; C. V. F. Townshend, My Campaign in Mesopotamia (London, 1920).

[17] Regarding renewed German activity and interest in the Near East after the elimination of Serbia from the war seemed to bring the Drang nach Osten within the realm of practical politics, cf.: R. Zabel, Im Kampfe um Konstantinopel und die wirtschaftliche Lage der Türkei während des Weltkrieges (Leipzig, 1916); C. H. Müller, Die wirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Bagdadbahn (Hamburg, 1917); R. Junge, Die deutsch-türkischen Wirtschaftsbeziehungen (Weimar, 1916); E. Marré, Die Türken und wir nach dem Kriege: ein praktisches Wirtschaftsprogramm (Berlin, 1916); H. Rohde, Deutschland in Vorderasien (Berlin, 1916); H. W. Schmidt, Auskunftsbuch für den Handel mit der Türkei (Leipzig, 1917); E. Mygind, Anatolien und seine wirtschaftliche Bedeutung (Berlin, 1916); C. V. Bichtligen, “Die Bagdadbahn, eine Hochstrasse des Weltverkehrs in ihrer wirtschaftliche Bedeutung,” in Soziale Revue, 16 year (1916), pp. 1–11, 123–139; F. C. Endres, Die Türkei (Munich, 1916); A. Philippsohn, Das türkische Reich (Weimar, 1916); H. Kettner, Vom Goldenen Tor zum Goldenen Horn und nach Bagdad (Berlin, 1917). For the point of view of Allied sympathizers, cf.: E. F. Benson, Deutschland über Allah (London, 1917), and Crescent and Iron Cross (New York, 1918); E. A. Martel, L’emprise austro-allemande sur la Turquie et l’Asie Mineure (Paris, 1918); H. C. Woods, The Cradle of the War (New York, 1919), and an article, “The Bagdad Railway in the War,” in the Fortnightly Review, Volume 102 (1917), pp. 235–247; J. Thureau, “La pénétration allemande en Asie Mineure,” in Revue politique et parlementaire, Volume 86 (1916), pp. 19–44; R. Lane, “Turkey under Germany’s Tutelage,” in Unpopular Review, Volume 9 (1918), pp. 328 et seq.; N. Markovitch, Le pangermanisme en Orient (Nice, 1916); A. J. Toynbee, Turkey, a Past and a Future (New York, 1917).

[18] Quoted in The Near East, November 12, 1915. For other material regarding construction of the Bagdad Railway during the war and its utilization for military purposes, cf.: Report of the Bagdad Railway Company, 1914, pp. 6–7; 1915, pp. 3–6; The Engineer, February 4, 1915; “Transportation in the War—The Railways of Mesopotamia,” in Modern Transport (London), November, 1919; D. G. Heslop, “The Bagdad Railway,” in The Engineer (London), November 12 and 26 and December 3 and 17, 1920; “Railways of Mesopotamia,” in the Railway Gazette (London), War Transportation Number, September 21, 1920, pp. 129–140; “Die Bagdadbahn und der Durchschlag des letzten grossen Tunnels,” in Asien, 14 year (1917), pp. 97–101.

[19] Dane, op. cit., Volume I, Chapters VIII-XII, inclusive; “The German-Turkish Expedition Against the Suez Canal in 1916,” in Journal of the United Service Institution, Volume 65 (London, 1920), pp. 353–357.

[20] Hayes, op. cit., pp. 142–143.