Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Author's note
- Abbreviations
- Glossary
- Maps
- Introduction: pursuing sovereignty in the age of imperialism
- 1 The intellectual and emotional climate after the Balkan Wars
- 2 1914: war with Greece?
- 3 The Ottomans within the international order
- 4 The Great War as great opportunity: the Ottoman July Crisis
- 5 Tug of war: Penelope's game
- 6 Salvation through war?
- Conclusion: the decision for war remembered
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion: the decision for war remembered
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Author's note
- Abbreviations
- Glossary
- Maps
- Introduction: pursuing sovereignty in the age of imperialism
- 1 The intellectual and emotional climate after the Balkan Wars
- 2 1914: war with Greece?
- 3 The Ottomans within the international order
- 4 The Great War as great opportunity: the Ottoman July Crisis
- 5 Tug of war: Penelope's game
- 6 Salvation through war?
- Conclusion: the decision for war remembered
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In the war's final month of fighting, Enver Pasha issued the following letter to his general staff on October 18, 1918:
The situation that has been created by the attack of the Entente on the Macedonian front and the riots in Bulgaria have forced the Bulgarian government to propose a separate peace with our enemies. Bulgaria is therefore no longer our ally. In consultation with our allies we have jointly proposed peace negotiations to our enemies on the basis of the Wilsonian principles. The purpose of our entry into the war on the side of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria was to engage as many enemy troops as possible and to keep these away from the European theater, where the outcome of the war would be decided. The Ottoman army and navy fully pursued this objective without interruption. And they have until now completely fulfilled this task on all fronts despite many sacrifices. As a result of the new situation, the present government has decided to resign. As a member of this government, I have also asked our commander-in-chief [Sultan Mehmed Reşad V] to release me from the office of the chief of the general staff.
For the Ottomans, the war was over.
Following the collapse of their armies in the second half of 1918, the Central Powers had no choice but to sue for peace. In Istanbul, a new cabinet headed by Ahmed İzzet Pasha replaced the wartime government.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Ottoman Road to War in 1914The Ottoman Empire and the First World War, pp. 188 - 194Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008