"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. مجلد I" [و‎‎٢‎٤] (٤٥٤/٥٢)

THE TURKS IN MESOPOTAMIA
27
At this period was introduced a new policy regarding recruit
ment, under which the liability to compulsory service, hitherto
limited to certain classes of Moslems, was extended to include
practically all subject races, whether Christian, Jew or Moslem.
The introduction of this law caused much controversy and met
with considerable opposition in Kurdistan and Arabia. It was
a change from a policy which had, in the past, invested wars
waged against Christian powers with a religious character ;*
it was disliked by the majority of Christians and Jews, who
feared attempts at conversion during the period of colour
service and displayed no enthusiasm at the idea of serving in
the army and, moreover, whose martial qualities were con
sidered by their Moslem fellow-subjects as of a low standard ;
it seemed likely to interfere with the liberty of some of the
semi-independent subject races ; and it was a departure from
custom, a sufficient reason in an oriental country to invoke
distrust and obstruction. Although in the Balkan war the
Armenians had fought well, in contradistinction to the Greeks
and Slavs who had proved unreliable, the experiment so far
failed that, in 1914-1915, the great majority of the Christians
and Jews who had been enrolled were drafted into unarmed
labour battalions, used for road-making, etc.
The Sultan was the supreme head of the army, whose
administrative chief was the Minister for War,| controlled
nominally by Parliament. He was assisted by a Superior
Military Council with consultative and advisory duties, of
which the Vice-President was Field-Marshal von der Holtz
Pasha, who, in 1914, still retained this position although for
three or four years previously he had carried out few of the
duties attaching to the appointment. Early in 1915 he
returned to Turkey. From 1913 a military mission of some
seventy German officers, under General Liman von Sanders
Pasha, had instituted a system of more intensive training.
The army was divided into :—
(i) Active Army (Nizam) ;
(ii) Active Army Reserve (Ihtiyat) ;
(hi) Territorial Army (Mustahfiz).
The actual numbers in the forces at the outbreak of war are
* “ Everyone in Turkey, every Turkish officer, will at once inforni you
that the reason for their defeat by the Bulgars was because all religious
element had been stupidly disregarded by the “ Young Turk party . . ■
and without the religious ‘ touch ’ the Anatolian soldier • • ; • would
not fight.”—“ My Campaign in Mesopotamia,” by Major-General Sir C. V. F.
Townshend.
f When war broke out this post was held by Enver Pasha.