June 6, 19 1 8 
Land & Water 
The Turkish Conspiracy — IV 
The Narrative of Mr. Morgenthau, American Ambassador in Turkey, 
1913-1916. 
T, H 1 S proceeding 
had great inter- 
national impor- 
tance. Von San- 
ders's \'anity had 
led Jiim to betray a diplo- 
matic secret ; he was not 
merely a drill-master sent 
to instruct the Turkish 
Army ; he was precisely 
what he claimed to be — the 
personal representative of 
the Kaiser. The Kaiser had 
selected him just as he had 
selected Wangcnheim, as an instrument for working 
liis will in Turkey. Afterward von Sanders told me, with 
all that pride which- German aristocrats manifest when 
speaking of their imperial master, how the Kaiser had talked 
to him a couple of hours the day he had appointed him to 
this Constantinople mission, and how, the day that he had 
started, Wilhelm had spent another hour giving him final 
instructions. I reported this dinner incident to my Govern- 
ment as indicating Germany's growing ascendancy in Turkey ; 
I presume the other Ambassadors likewise reported it to their 
governments. The American military attache, Major R. M. 
Taylor, who was present, attributed the utmost significance 
to it. A month later he and Captain McCauley, commanding 
the Scorpion, the American stalionaire at Constantinople, 
had lunch at Cairo with Lord Kitchener. The luncheon 
was a small one, only the Americans, Lord Kitchener, his 
sister, and an aide making up the party. Major Taylor 
related this incident, and Kitchener displayed much interest. 
"What do you think it signifies ?" asked Kitchener. 
"I think it means," Major Taylor said, "that when the 
big war comes, Turkey will probably be an ally of Germany. 
If she is not in direct aUiance, at least I think that she will 
mobilise on the line of the Caucasus and thus divert three 
Russian army corps from the European theatre of operations." 
Kitchener thought for a moment and then said, "I agree 
with you." 
And now for several months we had before our eyes this 
spectacle of the Turkish army actually under the control 
of Germany. German officers drilled the troops daily— all, 
I am now convinced, in preparation for the approaching 
war. Just what results had been accomplished appeared 
when, in July, there was a great military review. The 
occasion was a splendid and a gala affair. The Sultan 
attended in state ; he 'sat unde'r a beautifully decorated 
tent and held a little court. The Khedive of Egypt, the 
Crown Prince of Turkey, the Princes of the Imperial blood 
and the entire Cabinet were on hand. We now saw that, 
in the preceding six months, the Turkish army had been 
completely Prussianized. What in January had been an 
undisciplined, ragged rabble now paraded with the goose 
step ; the men were- 
clad in German 
field grey, and they 
even wore a casque 
shaped head cover- 
ing, which slightly 
suggested the Ger- 
man pickelhauhe. 
The German offi- 
cers were immense- 
ly proud ; and the 
transformation of 
the wretched Tur- 
kish soldiers of 
January into these 
neatly dressed, 
smartly stepping, 
splendidly maii- 
(Eu vring troops was 
really a creditable 
military achieve- 
ment. When the 
Sultan invited me 
to his tent I natur- 
ally congratulated 
him upon the 
Field-Marshal Liman vm Sanders, who had arrived in 
Ccnstantinople in Dece-mher, 1913, was appointed General 
Commanding the First Turkish Army Carps. On the British, 
French and Russian Ambassadors protesting, his appoint- 
ment was changed to Inspector-General. In February, 1914, 
Mr. Morgenthau gdvj his first diplomatic dinner. .Accord- 
ing to the order of precedence, settled by the Austrian 
A mbassador, doyen of the diplomatic corps, von Sanders was 
placed below ForSign Ministers. This led to a scene in which 
Wangenheim.the German .Ambassador ,t'^ok part. Subsequently 
von Sanders w. is given precedence ever Foreign Ministers with 
the result he was never again invited to a diplomatic dinner. 
Talaat and Enver at a Military Review 
Obtcrving the tran9form.ition worked in the Turkish army by it-« German drill-masters. This was in 
early July, 1914, almost a month before the war broke out. Talaat is the huge broad-shouldered man 
at the right ; Envcr is the smaller figure to the left. 
excellent showing of his men. 
He did not manifest mucli 
enthusiasm ; he said that he 
regretted the possibihty of 
war ; he was at heart a 
pacifist. I noticed certain 
conspicuous absences from 
this great German fete ; the 
French, British, Russian, 
and Italian Ambassadors had 
kept away. Bompard said 
that he had received his ten 
tickets but that he did not 
regard that as an invitation. 
Wangcnheim told me, with some satisfaction, that the other 
Ambassadors were jealous ; that they did not care to see the 
progress which the Turkish army had made under German 
tutelage. I did not have the slightest question that these 
Ambassadors refused to attend because they had no desire 
to grace this Genuan holiday ; nor did 1 blame them. 
« * • « 
Meanwhile, I had other evidences that Germany was 
playing her part in Turkish politics. In June the relations 
between Greece and Turkey reached the breaking point. 
The treaty of Bucharest had left Greece temporarily in 
possession of the islands of Chios and Mitylene. These 
islands stand in the .lEgean Sea like guardians controlling 
the Bay and the great port of Smyrna. It is quite apparent 
that any strong mihtary nation which permanently held 
these vantage points would ultimately control Smyrna and 
the whole .iEgean coast of Asia Minor. The racial situation 
made the continued retention of these islands by Greece 
a constant military danger to Turkey. Their population 
was Greek and had been Greek since the days of Homer ; the 
coast of Asia Minor itself was also Greek ; more than half 
the population of Smyrna, Turkey's greatest Mediterranean 
seaport, was Greek ; in its industries, its commerce, and 
its culture the city was so predominantly Greek that the 
Turks usually referred to it as giaour Ismir — "infidel Smyrna." 
Though this Greek population was nominally Ottoman in 
nationality it made practically no secret of its affection 
for the Greek fatherland ; these Asiatic Greeks even made 
contributions to the Greek Government. The ^Egean islands 
and the mainland, in fact, constituted Graecia Irredenta ; 
that Greece was determined to redeem them, precisely as 
she had recently redeemed Crete, was no diplomatic secret. 
Should the Greeks ever land an army on this Asia Minor 
coast, there was not the slightest question that the native 
Greek population would welcome it enthusiastically and 
co-operate with it. 
Germany, however, had her own "'plans for Asia Minor, 
and naturally the Greeks in this region formed a barrier 
to Pan-German aspirations. As long as this region remained 
Greek, it formed a natural obstacle to Germany's road to 
the Persian Gulf, 
precisely as did 
Serbia. An\one 
who has read even 
cursorily the litera- 
ture of Pan-Ger- 
mania understands 
the peculiar Ger- 
man method advo- 
cated for dealing 
with populations 
that stand in 
Germany's way^ — 
that is b}' depor- 
tation- The violent 
shifting of whole 
peoples from one 
part of Europe to 
another as though 
they were so many 
lierds of cattle has 
for years been part 
of the Kaiser's 
plans for Genuan 
expansion. This 
is the treatment 
Tl^!Kt' . <lPte,. tbJ|*^l 
