The First World War was an unprecedented tragedy that killed million and set the continent of Europe on the path to further tragedy two decades by and by . But it did n’t add up out of nowhere . With the centenary of the outbreak of hostilities coming up in 2014 , Erik Sass will be looking back at the lead - up to the warfare , when seemingly minor moment of friction accumulated until the office was quick to explode . He ’ll be covering those event 100 year after they come about . This is the 95th installment in the serial .
3 December 2024: British Back Russians on von Sanders
In the fall of 1913 , Europe was gripped by yet another in a prospicient series of diplomatic crises , this time trigger by thenewsthat a German officeholder , Lieutenant General Liman von Sanders , was to be appoint commander of the Turkish First Army Corps guarding Constantinople . The Russians in particular vehementlyopposedthis transcription , arguing that it would effectively turn control of the Ottoman capital over to Germany , thus threaten Russia ’s strange patronage , one-half of which flowed through the Turkish straits ; the Russians also hoped to curb Constantinople for themselves someday .
As in the previouscrisescaused by the Balkan Wars , Europe ’s Great Powers tried to annul a wider conflict but nevertheless found themselves hang back into a cycle of escalation by less potent customer states — in this case , the Ottoman Empire .
For the Committee of Union and Progress ( Young Turks ) conduct by Enver Pasha , the German military military mission was more than just a step towards overhauling the Turkish army ; it also held out the possibility of a more serious commitment from Germany to protect the beleaguered Ottoman Empire against the other Great Powers . If the Turks could just get Germany to sign a formal defensive attitude alliance , it would buy them time to impart out sweeping reforms to get the empire back on its feet . For their part the Germans were wary of deeper Turkish web , regard the ramshackle conglomerate as fundamentally alost causeand a dangerous liability in military terms ( the von Sanders deputation was as much about venture a call to Turkish territory as it was about defending it ) . But the Young Turks were willing to act hardball with their loath partners .
On December 4 , 1913 , the Turks render a fait accompli to the Great Powers — let in Germany — by formally announcing von Sanders ’ naming as commanding officer of the First Army Corps . By escalate the situation the Turks trust to squeeze the Germans to make a cleared rack at the side of the Ottoman Empire , using the diplomatical crisis surrounding the von Sanders Affair as leveraging ; with their prestige on the occupation , it would be harder for the Germans to back down and leave the Turks hanging .
Unsurprisingly the Russians were not at all happy with this act of event . On December 6 , Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov rang the alarm doorbell in St. Petersburg , monish Tsar Nicholas II that “ to abandon the Straits to a knock-down state would be to place the economic development of the whole of South Russia at the mercy of that state . ” And two could play the escalation game : on December 7 , Sazonov bring up the stakes by intimate that Russia might be coerce to seek recompense in the form of Turkish dominion — specifically the province of Erzurum in Turkish Armenia . Thus the tricksy alien minister of religion , ever opportunistic , hoped to either get rid of von Sanders or utilise the crisis to advance Russia ’s devious foresighted - termplanto annex Turkish territory .
As intend , Sazonov ’s threat triggered serious dismay in Western capitals , with France and Britain hurrying to restrain their Entente collaborator while also urging Germany to back down — not unlike friends trying to prevent a drunken bar battle . But their effort were overtaken by events : von Sanders left Berlin for Constantinople on December 9 , arriving five days later . Meanwhile on December 12 Sazonov inform Britain and France that Russia look at this a test of the Entente , add , “ This lack of … solidarity between the three Entente Powers invoke our serious arrest … ”
Up to this full stop British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey ( top ) hadavoidedinvolvement in the von Sanders Affair , which did n’t now affect British sake . But with war in the atmosphere , on December 15 , 1913 , the phlegmatic alien secretary at long last left the sideline , warn the German ambassador , Prince Lichnowsky , that “ Russia might demand compensations in Constantinople in the form of the transference to her of a command in Armenia . Such a solution seemed to him to be fraught with risk , as it might entail the origin of the end — the showtime of the sectionalization of Turkey in Asia . ” Later Grey told Lichnowsky “ the Russians are more interested than ever and must be satisfied somehow … ”
Lichnowsky conveyed Grey ’s warnings to Berlin , and the Germans — who had no desire for a confrontation with the Entente over the von Sanders mission — began thinking of ways to satisfy Russian demands while still maintaining German and Turkish prestige . The answer was clear enough : to save face von Sanders would give up command of the Constantinople U. S. Army but stay in Turkey in a military capacitance , which , in the Kabuki - similar world of European power politics , would technically think of no one had backed down .
On December 18 , von Sanders ( with a jog from the German ambassador to Constantinople , Baron von Wangenheim ) of a sudden realized that reforming the Turkish army and command an active army corps was too much for one person to handle , and request a transfer to bid of the Turkish army corps at Adrianople , bequeath Constantinople in Turkish hands once again . This was n’t quite the oddment of the von Sanders Affair , as the Turks still expect some convincing , but it showed that the Germans were trying to defuse the situation , and tensions begin to subside .
However the Liman von Sanders Affair revealed dynamic that would help precipitate the First World War less than a year by and by . For one thing , the Turks ’ decision to intensify the crisis showed that Germany , having encouraged its friend in a particular course of action , could n’t necessarily check them once they embark on it . At the same time Grey ’s initial hesitation to take sides , which allowed the situation to step up dangerously , foreshadowed Britain ’s belated intervention during the last crisis of July 1914 , when the world ’s fortune hung in the balance .
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