August 2 2, 1 91 8 
Land & Water 
The Turkish Conspiracy 
By HENRY MORGENTHAU 
XIII — The Dardanelles Bombardment 
Pi 
The German Marshal von der Goltz,for some time the 
real ruler of Turkey, expressed the opinion that by the 
sacrifice of ten ships England could force the passage of 
the Dardanelles, and so certain were the Germans in 
Constantinople that the attempt would succeed that 
they actually made preparations for flight, while the 
situation in Constantinople became desperate when 
it was know7t that a bombardment Jiad begun. In 
this part of his story Mr. Morgeiithau tells of the 
state of affairs as he saw it in the Turkish capital. 
ROBABLY one 
jthing that stimu- 
lated the German 
desire for peace 
was the situation 
at the Dardanelles. In 
early January, when 
Wangeiiheim persuaded me 
to write my letter to Wash- 
ington, Constantinople was 
in a state of the utmost 
excitement. It was re- 
ported that the Allies had 
assembled a fleet of forty 
warships at the mouth of the Dardanelles and that they 
intended to attempt the forcing of the Strait. What made 
the situation particularly tense was the belief, which then 
generally prevailed in Constantinople, that such an attempt 
would succeed. Wangenheim shared this belief, and so, 
in a modified form, did von der Goltz, who probably 
bardment, I find that 
Lord Fisher, then First 
Sea Lord, placed the price 
of success at twelve ships. 
Evidently von der Goltz 
and Fisher did not differ 
materially in their esti- 
mates. 
The situation of Turkey, 
when these first rumours 
of an allied bombardment 
reached us, was fairly- 
desperate. On all hands 
there were evidences of 
fear and panic that had seized not only the populace, 
but the official classes. Calamities from all sides were 
apparently closing in on the country. Up to January ist, 
1915, Turkey had done nothing to justify her participa- 
tion in the war ; on the contrary," she had met defeat 
practically everywhere. Djemal, as already recorded, had 
knew as much about the Dardanelles defences as any other left Constantinople as the prospective "Conqueror of Egypt," 
man, as he had for years been Turkey's military instructor, but his expedition had proved to be a bloody and humili- 
I find in my diary von der Goltz's precise opinion on this ating failure. Enver's attempt to redeem the Caucasus 
point, as reported to me by Wangenheim, and I quote it from Russian rule had resulted in an even more frightful 
exactly as written at that time. "Although he thought it military disaster. He had ignored the advice of the Ger- 
was almost impossible to force the Dardanelles, still, if England mans, which was to let the Russians advance to Sivas and 
thought it an important move of the general war, they could, make his stand there, and, instead, he had boldly attempted 
by sacrificing ten ships, force the entrance, and do it very 
fast, and be up in the Marmora within ten hours from the time 
they forced it." 
The very day that Wangenheim gave me this expert 
to gain Russian territory in the Caucasus. This army had 
been defeated at every point, but the military reverses did 
not end its^ sufferings. The Turks had a most inadequate 
medical or sanitary service ; typhus and dysentery broke 
opinion of von der Goltz, he asked me to store several cases out in all the camps, the deaths from these diseases reaching 
of his valuables in the American Embassy. Evidently he 100,000 men. Dreadful stories were constantly coming in 
was making preparations for his own departure. telling of the sufferings of these soldiers. That England was 
Reading the Cromer report on the Dardanelles bom- preparing an invasion of Mesopotamia was well known, and 
Von der Goltz and Turkish Officers 
The German Field Marshal (fourth from left) who served for many years as Turkey's military instructor. He probably knew more about 
the Dardanelles defences than any other living man. It was his opinion that the Allied fleet, by sacrificing ten ships, could take Constantinople. 
