The Ottoman Mobilization of Manpower in the First World War: Between Voluntarism and Resistance

360 Pages·2012·1.51 MB·English

by  Mehmet Beşikçi

The Ottoman Mobilization of Manpower
in the First World War
The Ottoman Empire
and its Heritage
Politics, Society and Economy
Edited by
Suraiya Faroqhi, Halil İnalcık and Boğaç Ergene
Advisory Board
fikret adanir – antonis anastasopoulos – idris bostan
palmira brummett – amnon cohen – jane hathaway
klaus kreiser – hans georg majer – ahmet yaşar ocak
abdeljelil temimi – gilles veinstein
VOLUME 52
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/oeh
The Ottoman Mobilization
of Manpower in the
First World War
Between Voluntarism and Resistance
By
Mehmet Beşikçi
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2012
Cover illustration: on the right, regular troops in uniform departing for battlefield; on the left,
newly enlisted men on their way to military barracks (Istanbul, early days of the Great War).
Source: The Times History of the War, vol. 3 (London: The Times Printing House, 1915), p. 47.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Beşikçi, Mehmet.
 The Ottoman mobilization of manpower in the First World War : between voluntarism and
resistance / by Mehmet Beşikçi.
  p. cm. — (The Ottoman Empire and its heritage, ISSN 1380-6076 ; v. 52)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-22520-6 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-23529-8 (e-book)
 1. World War, 1914–1918—Social aspects—Turkey. 2. World War, 1914–1918—Manpower—Turkey.
3. World War, 1914–1918—Participation, Muslim. 4. Turkey. Ordu—Mobilization—History—
20th century. 5. Turkey—Politics and government—1909–1918. 6. Authoritarianism—Turkey—
History—20th century. 7. Nationalism—Turkey—History—20th century. I. Title.
D524.7.T8B47 2012
940.3’56—dc23
2012025550
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ISSN 1830-6076
ISBN 978 90 04 22520 6 (hardback)
ISBN 978 90 04 23529 8 (e-book)
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments  .......................................................................................... vii
List of Tables  .................................................................................................... ix
Abbreviations  ................................................................................................... xi
Map  ..................................................................................................................... xiii
Introduction  ..................................................................................................... 1
1 Organized Spontaneity: The Call to Arms in the
Ottoman Public Sphere on the Eve of the War  .............................. 33
2 Conscription under Total War Conditions  ...................................... 93
3 Volunteerism as a Relationship of Power:
Volunteers in the Ottoman Army  ....................................................... 157
4 Young Boys into Soldiers, the Home Front into
Barracks: Attempts at Permanent Mobilization through
Paramilitary Youth Organizations  ...................................................... 203
5 The Limits of Ottoman Manpower Mobilization:
The Problem of Desertion and Attempts to Remobilize  ............. 247
Conclusion  ........................................................................................................ 311
Bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 317
Index  ................................................................................................................... 337

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is based on my Ph.D. dissertation, completed at Boğaziçi Uni-
versity in 2009. Like the dissertation, the writing of this book has been a
collective journey, during which many people accompanied me at differ-
ent stages from the beginning through the end. The story that I tell in this
book would be incomplete and less interesting without these contribu-
tions, which have been as rewarding as the process of research itself.
Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to Selim Deringil, my adviser.
His encouragement, inspiration and orientation helped me immensely in
finding my way in the vast ocean of the late Ottoman history. An even
more valuable lesson I have learned from him is that archival research and
the composition of a book can be both serious and pleasurable activities.
The comments and criticisms I received from my dissertation committee
members, Edhem Eldem, Selçuk Esenbel, Cemil Koçak and Zafer Toprak,
for which I am grateful, constituted the basis of the revision process, which
allowed me to turn the dissertation into a book. I am particularly grateful
to Arzu Öztürkmen, who has been a mentor and a friend over the past few
years, and provided me with invaluable support and encouragement. I am
also thankful to Erik-Jan Zürcher who, after reading my dissertation, not
only encouraged me to publish it, but also recommended it to Brill Aca-
demic Publishers. I must thank him as well for his invitation to join the
research project on “Fighting for a Living: A Comparative Study of Military
Recruitment in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, 1500–2000 CE,” which
has been undertaken by the International Institute of Social History (The
Netherlands) from 2010 through 2012. This project allowed me to recon-
sider some of my preliminary findings regarding Ottoman conscription
within a broader and comparative context.
I have benefited a great deal from discussions with my friends in the
making of this book. I must first mention Kaya Şahin, who was always
available whenever I needed his help, which I most appreciated. He never
ignored my unending questions and requests. Moreover, he kindly read all
the chapters and provided me with valuable comments. I am grateful to
Gültekin Yıldız, whose theoretical vision of new military history in general
and his critical approach to Ottoman historiography in particular helped
me clarify some of my arguments here and formulate new questions for
further research. Christopher Markiewicz and Bill Walsh kindly undertook
viii acknowledgments
the task of copy-editing the manuscript, for which I am deeply thankful.
I also want to thank Yiğit Akın, Sabri Ateş, Lale Can, Y. Tolga Cora, Nesli-
han Erkan, Atabey Kaygun, Rita Koryan, Oktay Özel, Emre Sencer, Kerem
Ünüvar, Ömer Uzun, Anna Vakali, Yücel Yanıkdağ and Murat Yüksel, for
their various contributions at different stages of writing this book.
From Brill, I would like to thank the series editors Suraiya Faroqhi and
particularly Boğaç Ergene, whose professional approach helped expe-
dite the publication process, and Franca de Kort for her assistance. I am
also thankful to the two anonymous reviewers, who not only wrote very
encouraging reports, but also made significant suggestions.
I am indebted to various institutions for their support and help during
my research. I would like to mention the Boğaziçi University Foundation,
the American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) and the Turkish Cul-
tural Foundation for the financial support they provided me at the early
stages of my research. I have conducted my research in different archives
and libraries. For their help, I would like to thank the staffs of the Prime
Ministry Ottoman Archives (BOA) in Istanbul, the Turkish General Staff
Military Archives (ATASE) in Ankara, the National Archives of Britain in
London, the Library of the Centre for Islamic Studies (ISAM) in Istanbul,
the Metropolitan Municipality Atatürk Library in Istanbul, the Turkish
General Staff Military Museum Library in Istanbul, and Yapı Kredi Sermet
Çifter Library in Istanbul. In particular, I would like to express my spe-
cial thanks to Seyfi Berk and other employees of the Boğaziçi University
Library, the shining star of university libraries in Turkey, where I always
felt at home in a professional and friendly atmosphere. I am also deeply
grateful to the administrators, colleagues and friends at Yıldız Technical
University, where I have been working since 2005, for supporting me and
enabling me to work flexible hours, which helped me immensely in writ-
ing this book.
Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my family, especially
my mother Meryem Beşikçi, to whom I would like to dedicate this book,
and my sisters Hatice, Jale, Gül and Lale Nur, and my brother Murat, who
have always been available whenever I needed their help and provided me
with immense support. Finally, I would also like to express my gratitude
to Zevcan who, with her energy and optimism, helped make the comple-
tion of this book one of the most delightful periods of my life.
LIST OF TABLES
1. Disposition of the Ottoman armed forces, November 1914  ........ 105
2. Numbers of mobilized men in the Ottoman Empire,
1914–1918  ..................................................................................................... 113
3. Ottoman official casualty figures for the Great War,
1914–1918  ..................................................................................................... 114
4. Populations and total numbers of men mobilized in major
European countries, 1914–1918  ............................................................. 115
5. Days planned to get Ottoman corps ready for war compared
to actual days required to mobilize  ................................................... 118
6. Numbers of Turkish and non-Turkish potential draftees
(born in 1890–1893) on 14 April 1915  .................................................. 123
7. The labor battalions of the First Army (26 July 1915–28
August 1915)  ............................................................................................... 133
8. The cost of living index in the Ottoman Empire and major
European powers during the Great War (1914=100) ...................... 144
9. Number of reserve officers in the Ottoman army,
1914–1918  ..................................................................................................... 151
10. Deserters in Aydın from 2 August 1914 to June 1916  ..................... 254
11. Number of men enlisted in the Ottoman gendarmerie
(1879, 1912 and 1914–1918)  ...................................................................... 298
12. The plan of arming the pursuit squads, (19 June 1916)  ................ 299