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'THE WAR WITH TURKEY. Memorandum by Political Department, India Office.' [51r] (1/8)
The record is made up of 4 folios. It was created in 20 Jun 1916. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
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t 4 i
This DQcument is the property of His Britannic Majesty s Government.
SECRET.
THE WAR WITH TURKEY.
Meinorandiini by Political Department,
India Office
The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors.
.
" // the alliance bet iceen Central Europe and the East can be broken up
Encjlish urorld-power is saved. If not, even tolerablij favourable term* of
peace elseirhcre will hardly compensate. " —Dr. Rohrbach in tl Deutsche
rolitik.r Hth February 1916, page 292.
The surrender of Kut, following on the evacuation of Gallipoli and the
failure of British arms to achieve success against the Turks, suggests the
desirability that His Majesty's Government should examine more closely the
question of what the war with Turkey means to Great Britain. Dr. Rohrbach s
summary statement represents the view that has been urged by the Political
Department of the
India Office
The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors.
for the last year, and it is proposed to set
forth in this memorandum the considerations which make the Turco-German
alliance, and consequently the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, so important
to Germany, and their dissolution correspondingly important to Great
Britain.
1. After the war Germany will require a great addition to her supply of
raw materials, and this she hopes to find—whatever the fate of her overseas
trade may be - -in Asiatic Turkey. In the first rosy optimism that followed
the opening of the way to Constantinople it was thought that raw material
would flow in at once from that source ; it is realised now that it must be
some years before the great natural resources of Asiatic Turkey can be
exploited, and that there are great difficulties to be overcome first. But the
Germans have already set themselves with characteristic thoroughness to
study the problem. The way is 'being paved not only by the Germanisation
of Turkey—18 German professors are revivifying the University of
Constantinople and eight more the High School at Stamboul—but by the
spread throughout the principal commercial centres of Germany of accurate
knowledge of the Middle East; and the scale on which the process is being
carried on indicates that it is not inconsistent with the policy of Government.
2. Whether or not Asiatic Turkey will suffice to take the place of
overseas sources of supply, Germany has learnt by bitter experience that she
must to some extent at least place her supplies beyond the reach of the
British Fleet. For the Rohrbach school not only the Berlin-Bagdad scheme
(involving the disappearance of Serbia and the retention of Bulgaria in the
German alliance) but also a lirst-class fleet are essential to their conception of
German world-power. The blue-water school, realising that this is fantastic,
and fearing lest, if a choice has to be made, the sea will be sacrificed to the
land, are more modest. It must remain a matter of speculation which will
carry the day; but in view of the facts (a) that too many other Powers are
interested in the freedom of the seas, (b) that the German Fleet will have
failed to justify the hopes formed of it, and (c) that, being especially a
Hohenzollern toy, it will probably share the discredit into which an un-
successful war may be expected to bring the dynasty—it is a reasonable
conjecture that it will be the land scheme for which the German Government
will fight longest aird most desperately.
3. However that may be, it being recognised that British sea power and
Russian land power cannot be destroyed, Germany requires the means of
insuring that neither will be used to her disadvantage, and she hopes to find
these in the constant threat which her predominant position in the Middle
East would be to the Suez Canal and the Dardanelles. With the Syrian
railway extended to the Egyptian frontier and under her influence, she would
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Memorandum, written by Sir Frederic Arthur Hirtzel, dated 25 May 1916, examining the implications of war with Turkey on Great Britain particularly the importance to Germany of a Turco-Ottoman alliance and the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, and the corresponding importance of its dissolution to Great Britain.
The memorandum discusses Germany's need for raw materials and its realisation that supplies from Asiatic Turkey may take years to establish; the German threat to the Suez Canal and the Dardanelles; the threat to India from Mesopotamia; the dangers of Pan-islamism; the potential risks of waging war on a Moslem [Muslim] power, particularly given British relations in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; and the possible outcomes of the war with Germany and the likely position of Turkey in relation to them.
Enclosed with the memorandum are two appendices:
- Appendix I: Extract from an article by Dr Hans Delbrück in the Schwäbische Merkur 17 May 1916, summarising the German ideal of 'weltpolitik' (world policy);
- Appendix II: Extract memorandum by Sir Mark Sykes on "The problem of the Near East", dated 20 June 1916.
Sir Frederic Arthur Hirtzel is not named on the memorandum as its author, however IOR/L/PS/18/B234 refers to him as its author.
- Extent and format
- 4 folios
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation for this description commences at folio 51 and terminates at folio 54, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is also present in the volume; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence.
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/18/B233
- Title
- 'THE WAR WITH TURKEY. Memorandum by Political Department, India Office.'
- Pages
- 51r:53v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence