December 21, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
13 
Unification of 
By Sir William M. Ramsay 
i 
SOME months ago, in an article in tins paper, 
on the Kaiser's diplomacy, I pomted out that 
while his methods were calculated to outrage 
the feelings of high spirited races, they are 
extraordinarily effective with nations of a submissive 
spirit like the Turks, and with individuals of either 
a cowardly or a selfish nature. A glance at the progress 
of affairs in the South Eastern region of the war shows 
how well calculated his diplomacy is to secure certain 
results with certain races. From all that can be learned 
about Turkey, it seems beyond doubt that the strength 
of the Empire available at the present moment is dis- 
tinctly greater than it was at the beginning of the war. 
The two greatest weaknesses in the nation, as distinct 
from the Government, were the low standard of education, 
making it difficult to turn the peasantry into soldiers 
adequate to the performance of the duties of modern war, 
and the many lines of cleavage between the great variety 
of Moslem races which people the country. 
Unbridgeable Gulfs 
We set aside the two great ■ divisions (i) between 
Christian and Moslem, (2) between Turk and Arab, 
which are both unbridgeable. With regard to educa- 
tion, the mere fact of two years of training has un- 
doubtedly produced an immense influence on the mass 
of the soldiers. Even in time of peace the education of 
the Turkish young man begins as a rule when he is old 
enough to work for a master in some occupation where 
method and organisation are necessary. That is a fact 
which has been often mentioned during the last thirty 
years. There is absolutely no home training of children, 
beyond the exercise in religion and ritual, whicli are in 
themselves useful, but not very extensive. School train- 
■ ing falls to the lot of only a small number of the children, 
and is of the simplest and most elementary character, 
though Abd-ul-Hamid made a very noteworthy attempt 
t) enlarg(f greatly the sphere of school education by 
'multiplying the number of schools throughout the country. 
The difference which was produced in the stupid, 
offensive, ill-mar .nred young man of the villages by a 
few years' service in some of the. great Western centres 
of industry was often to me astonishing. From the louc 
who was useless, unfit to speak to, and often offensive 
in his amusements and habits, one found that these 
few years of hard work produced a man self respecting, 
orderly, and in a way trustworthy. 
I know that there is a tendency among tourists who 
have seen a little of Turkey to exaggerate the honesty 
of the Turk ; when one sees more of the life of the villages, 
one finds that the same man who plays quite fair to his 
EuiQiean master, and. carries out instructions with 
abschite loyalty, and can be trusted to transport or 
guard valuables and money belonging to his employer, 
will cheat his fellow-villagers out of a few farthings with 
the most extraordinary unscrupulousness. I have noticed 
quite marvellous examples of faithlessness of one Turk 
to another in the humbler ranks of life, not to mention 
the official and influential classes (where no one except, 
the most enthusiastic and inexperienced of tourists ever 
has thought that honesty existed, apart from two or three 
persons whom I have known in thirty-five years and who 
were famous all over Turkey on that account ); the dis- 
trust with which each regards the other in matters of cash 
is a striking fact. 
But take one thing with another the Turks who \yere 
educated for a few years in industrial occupations 
constituted a class of men who possessed the dignity and 
aristoca ic t^ne which Islam seems usually to carry with 
it, and combined this with a quite fair amount of 
usefulness and an extraordinary amount of faithfulness 
in obeying instr,uctions. Similar results were produced 
by training in the Army under European officers. This 
1 had noticed both in old men who had come in contact 
with British ofiiccrs, and in young men who liad been 
drilled by German-trained Turks or by Germans. This 
process has been going on on a greatly increased scale 
for the last two years ; and even in peace it used to pro 
duce very noteworthy effects. •_ 
Moslem Jealousies 
Moreover, the divisions, and dislikes and jealousies 
which separate so many of the Moslem tribes and races- 
in Anatolia from one another were not so deep-seated as 
to last through the experiences of these two years. 
Training and drill side by side in the army have un- 
doubtedly done much to obliterate such feelings. One cause 
of the wcf.kness of Turkey formerly lay in the fact that 
many of the nomad tribes could not be relied upon to 
contribute men to the army. It was not that they were 
peaceable and indisposed to fight, for in former ages 
their unruliness and predatory habits made them an 
unceasing danger to the communicatiori and transport 
of tracie across the country, but they could not be relied 
on for drill or for regular service. 
This weakness was perceived by Abd-ul-HaniicI. and 
he encouraged various changes, with a view of obliterat- 
ing the lines of division, and the process was carried much 
further by the new administration which succeeded 
him. I do not doubt for a moment that an immensely 
larger area of recruiting has been available during the 
last two years than ever was attempted in the history of 
Turkey since the Turks were conquering their Empire, 
when every man was a soldier. 
The credit for this unification of Turkey must be 
largely attributed to German influence. It is from Berlin 
that ideas of method and persons fit to perform the duties 
of rough miUtary training have come, and the effective- 
ness of their work has greatly increased their hold upon 
the country. The Germans are not beloved ; on the 
contrary, I have never heard any person speak with 
such bitterness of the Germans as do the Turks and the 
native population generally. But the Germans rule 
by fear, which is enhanced by real respect for their 
effectiveness and devotion to work. The contrast between 
the intense spirit of work with the zealous application 
to duty which characterises apparently all Germans who 
come to Turkey, on the one hand, and the devotion to 
amusements during a large part of the day— amusements 
indeed of quite healthy and athletic character— which 
characterises the British residents and officials, on the 
other hand, has been noticed very much by the Turks, 
and has produced a strong effect upon them. They do 
not at all appreciate the health-giving effects of athletics 
and healthy amusements, but they do observe the vast 
amount of time which is spent in that way by the 
Enghsh. 
A good many years ago I knew very well the Pasha in 
command of one of the greatest Provinces of Turkey. 
He passed publicly for a Germanophil, but in private 
Ufe I knew something of his real feelings, because he 
paid me the compliment to believe in my trustworthiness, 
and he had the Turkish habit of speaking freely in 
private fife. He was thinking seriously of sending his 
second son to be educated in England ; and he asked 
. my advice, and the advice of a friend of mine on this 
subject : his eldest son was being educated in Switzer- 
land. This Pasha was called to Constantinople, to occupy 
the highest official position in the Empire. After 
some experience there, he abandoned his intention of 
sending his son to 'be educated in England, and stated 
the reason quite plainly. He saw that all the Germans 
were working hard for certain big ends from morning to 
night, and that they were all co-ordinating their labour 
for certain well-defined purposes, while the English were 
occupying their time for the most part in lawn-tennis and 
shooting, and very few c;"; the officials seemed to take any 
interest in the affairs, or the people, or the language of 
Turkey. He said that he did not want his son to grow 
up a good lawn-tennis player, but a hard worker, and 
he would therefore not send him to Britain for education. 
Whether the course of study which he chose for his sou 
produced the desired results I am unable to say, ■ as 
I ha\c not seen the Pasha since 1909, nor his son since 
