With the notable exceptions of Gallipoli and the Arab Revolt, the Ottoman Empire’s role in the First World War received limited attention for many years from military historians. Over the past two decades, this has ceased to be the case. The centenary of the war in 2014, combined with the rise of Islamic militancy, led to renewed interest in the Middle Eastern war and in the collapse of the empire once dubbed the ‘Sick Man of Europe’.
Research in the official Turkish archives has begun to shed light on forgotten campaigns. Low literacy levels in the empire’s mainly agricultural population – only 11% of male peasants could read and write – meant that rank-and-file Ottoman soldiers left almost no written records. However, there is an abundance of diaries and other narratives penned by the Turkish officer class and high-ranking German personnel attached to Ottoman forces. We now know much more about the Ottoman army’s performance in the last, ultimately disastrous conflict in which it took part.
Modern accounts stress the remarkable resilience of the empire’s troops. The Ottoman army had to contend with severe logistical and technological weaknesses and with shortages of trained manpower. The strategic thinking of its senior leadership was seriously flawed and the empire was plagued by administrative inefficiency and corruption. The army had suffered severe losses of men and equipment during the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. The once-extensive Ottoman realm in south-east Europe was now reduced to Eastern Thrace, the area surrounding the capital Constantinople (modern Istanbul).
