8 
Land & Water 
June 27, 19 i<i 
M 
The Turkish Conspiracy— VII 
How Germany forced Turkey into the War 
Narrated by Mr. Morgenthau, late American Ambassador in Constantinople 
R MORGENTHA U is able to furnish a classic example of Gennan propaganda. It was due to 
this that Turk".)' vjas forced into the War, the Dardanelles being closed on the sole responsibility ot 
the German General in command of the fortifications, ivithout the sanctipn of the Turkish Cabinet. 
TJhe duel that now took place between Germany and the En- 
tente for Turkey's favour was a most unequal one. Germany 
had won the victory when she smuggled the Goeben and the 
Breslau into the SCa of Marmora. The Enghsh, French, 
and Russian Ambassadors well understood this, and they 
knew that they could not make Turkey an active ally of the 
Entente ; they probably had no desire to do so ; however, 
they did hope that they could keep her neutral. To this 
end they now directed all their efforts. "You have had 
enough of war," they would tell Talaat and Enver. "You 
have fought three wars in the last four years ; you will ruin 
your country absolutely if you get involved in this one." 
On condition that Turkey should n main neutral, they 
offered to guarantee the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. 
So greatly did the Entente Ambassadors desire to keep 
Turkey out of the war that they did not press !0 the limit 
their case against the Breslau and the Goehen. It is true 
that they repeatedly protested against the continued presence 
of these ships, but 
every time the Turkish 
officials maintained 
that they were Turkish 
vessels. 
"If that is so," Sir 
Louis Mallet would 
urge, and his argu- 
ment was unassailable, 
"why don't you re- 
move the German 
officers and crew ? " 
That was. the inten- 
tion, the Grand Vizier 
would answer ; the 
Turkish crews that had 
been sent to man the 
ships built in Eng- 
land, he would say, 
were returning to Tur- 
key, and would be put 
on board the Goeben 
and the Breslau as soon as they reached Constantinople. 
But days and weeks went by.; these crews came home ; 
and still Germany manned and officered the cruisers. These 
backings and filhngs naturally did not deceive the British 
and French Foreign Offices. The presence of the Goeben and 
the Breslau was a standing casus belli ; but the Entente 
Ambassadors did not demand their passports, for such an 
act would have precipitated the very crisis which they were 
seeking to delay, and, if possible, to avoid — Turkey's entrance 
as Germany's ally. Unhappily, the Entente's promise to 
guarantee Turkey's integrity did not win Turkey to their side. 
"They promised that we should not be dismembered after 
the Balkan wars," Talaat would tell me, "and see what 
happened to European Turkey then." 
Wangenheim constantly harped upon this fact. "You 
can't trust anything they say," he would tell Talaat and 
Enver. "Didn't they all go back on you a year ago?" 
And then, with great cleverness, he would play upon the 
only emotion which really actuates the Turk. The descend- 
ants of Osman hardly resemble any people I have ever known. 
They do not hate, they do not love ; they have no lasting 
animosities or affections. They only fear. And, naturally, 
they- attribute to others the motives which regulate their 
own conduct. "How stupid you are," Wangenheim would 
tell Talaat and Enver, discussing the Enghsh attitude. 
"Don't you see why the English want you to keep out? 
It is because they fear you. Don't you see that, with the 
help of Germany, you have again become a great mihtary 
Power? No wonder England doesn't want to fight you 1" 
He dinned this so continually in the ears that they finally 
beheved it, for this argument not only completely explained 
the attitude of the Entente, but it flattered Turkish pride. 
Docks of Constantinople 
Whatever may have been the attitude ci Enver and T.^luat, 
I think that England and France were mo,e popular wilh all 
classes in Turkey than was Germany llie Sultan was 
opposed to war; the heir apparent, Youssouff Izz.idin, was 
openly pro-Ally ; the Grand Vizier, Said Halim, favoured 
England rather than Germany; Djemal, the third member 
of the ruling Triumvirate, had the reputation of being a 
Francophile— he had recently returned from Paris, where 
the reception he had received had greatly flattered him ; 
a majority of the Cabinet had no enthusiasm for Germany ; 
and public opinion, so far as public opinion existed in Turkey, 
regarded England, not Germany, as Turkey's historic friend. 
Wangenheim, therefore, had much opposition to overcome 
and the methods which he took to break it down form a 
classic illustration of German 'propaganda. 
He F^arted a lavish pubhcity campaign against England, 
France, and Russia. I have described Turkish feelings at 
iosmg their ships in England. Wangenheim's agents now 
filled columns of pur- 
chased space in the 
Pi ess with bitter at- 
tacks on England for 
taking over these 
vessels. The whole 
Turkish Press rapidly 
passed under the con- 
trol of Germany. Wan- 
genheim purchased the 
Jkdam, one of the 
largest Turkish news- 
papers, which imme- 
diately began to sing 
the praises ol Germany 
.and to abuse the 
Entente. The Osman- 
ischer Lloyd, published 
in French and German, 
became an organ of the 
German Embassy. Al- 
though the Turkish 
Constitution guaranteed a free Press, a censorship was estab- 
lished in the interest of the Central Powers. All Turkish editors 
were ordered to write in Germany's favour, and they obeyed 
instructions. The Jeune Turc, a pro-Entente newspaper, 
printed in French, was suppressed. The Turkish papers 
exaggerated German victories and completely manufactured 
others ; they were constantly printing the news of Entente 
defeats, most of them wholly imaginary. In the evening 
Wangenheim and Pallavicini would show me official tele- 
grams giving the details of military operations ; but when, 
in the morning. I would look in the newspapers, 
I would find that this news had been twisted in Germany's 
favour. 
A certain Baron Oppenheim travelled all over Turkey, 
manufacturing pubUc opinion against England and 
France. Ostensibly he was an archaeologist, while in reality 
he opened offices everywhere, from which issued streams of 
slanders against the Entente. Huge maps were pasted on 
walls, Showing all the territory which Turkey had lost in the 
course of a century. Russia was portrayed as the nation 
chiefly responsible for these "robberies," and attention was 
drawn to the fact that England had now become Russia's 
ally. Pictures were published showing the grasping Powers 
of the Entente as rapacious animals, snatching away at poor 
Turkey. Enver was advertised as the "hero" who had 
recovered Adrianople ; Germany was pictured as Turkey's 
friend; the Kaiser suddenly became "Hadji Wilhelm," the 
great protector of Islam ; stories were even printed that he 
had become a convert to Mohammedanism. The Turkish 
populace was informed that the Moslems of India and of 
Egypt were about to revolt and throw off their English 
"tyrants." The Turkish man-in-the-street was taught to- 
