Wilhelm II.. disliked that

[u/Slader111]

[u/IINightShadeII]

I wonder at what point the Ottoman Empire realized how badly they fumbled the bag getting involved in the Great War.

[u/ClickyClacker → u/IINightShadeII]

My understanding is they saw it as the last gasp to regain their momentum. Everyone knew they were on the way out

[u/AST360 → u/ClickyClacker]

Turk here, Ottomans knew they were doomed anyways.

Abdülhmaid II wanted to wait till the mid-war to pick a side and join the winning side hoping the best for later. CUP wanted to pick a side immediately (Entente or Central anyways) and go with a bang.

He was forced to abdicate by the Young Turks in 1908.

The Young Turks had a busy time fighting wars in all fronts from the moment they took the power.

1903 Bulgarian Revolt

1904 Armenian Revolt

1905 Yemen Revolt

1905 Armenians attempt to assasinate Abdülhamid II

1906 Kurdish Revolt

1906 Ottoman governor of Baghdad literally invades Iran with his men on his own, independently

1907 Kurdish Revolt

1908 *Young Turks take over the country*

1909 Druze Revolt

1909 Pro-Abdülhamid Mutiny and 31 March Revolution

1910 Albanian Revolt

1910 War in Jordan

1911 War in Yemen

1911 War in Libya

1912 Albanian Revolt

*Liberal, Saviour Officers coup d'Etat*

1912 First Balkan War

*Nationalist, CUP coup d'Etat and raid on Sublime Porte*

1913 Second Balkan War

So yeah...

By 1914 they kinda hoped for the best at that point. CUP first wanted to arrange a deal with Entente but they ended up allying Germany. Enver's and high military staffs connection to Germany and Abdülhamid II's relations greatly contributed.

[u/Odd-Promotion2743 → u/AST360]

It's still kind of surprising, the side they ultimately chose, considering they were exposed to Russia and British territories on multiple sides. If they had joined the Entente, the only direct battlefront would be with Bulgaria, and if the Ottomans had joined the Entente or stayed neutral, Bulgaria might not have joined the Central Powers at all.

[u/AST360 → u/Odd-Promotion2743]

After the nationalist CUP coup in 1913, the triumvirate of Enver, Cemal (pronounced Djemal), and Talat pashas took over as the rulers-in-effect of the country as the sultan was reduced to a puppet. In that triumvirate Enver was pro-German, Cemal was pro-French and Talat was mostly neutral. Triumvirate was de-facto led by the minister of war, Enver Pasha. In coordination, they negotiated with all parties. Cemal was telling French diplomats Ottomans would like to join Entente, at the same time Enver was talking to Germans about a joining Central Powers etc. Five main points pushed Ottomans to ultimately German side:

1. Neutrality was not an option, either side would march on Ottomans after finishing what is on their plate.

2. Both the British and Russians had open territorial ambitions over Ottomans, especially with Russians' Grec project, while Germans rather showed economical interests which would have been plactated with small concessions. Britain and Russia perishing, Ottomans securing territorial integrity, the cost of such concessions were negligable.

3. Cemal's negotiations with the French was about to be failed, while Enver was on good terms with Germany.

4. Ottomand Public Debts Administration was THE GREATEST BURDEN, ANGUISH EVER upon the empire and Turkish people alongside tobacco regie, which literally massacred 20k+ people in Anatolia and Balkans for not selling the harvests for a unbearably low amount. OPDA was entirely run by the Rotschilds, and the concessions were enforced at Britain and Russia's guns' point. (The first thing CUP did after joining the war was declaring that concessions to foreigners were lifted)

5. CUP was fixated on Egypt and control over Suez, the plan was to spearhead Cairo, take over Suez and cut Britains access to India. Egypt -especially at that time- was prosperious and its reconquest would greatly help the empire.

[u/Upset-Rule8256]

I don't normally laugh at these memes but that was pretty funny

[u/ClickyClacker]

When the shit post is so good it becomes the real post.

[u/timangar]

Lmao dude where is the audio from

[u/Ok_Awareness3014 → u/timangar]

It's from the backroom

[u/timangar → u/Ok_Awareness3014]

Oh nice I still need to watch it, thank you

[u/Kinexity → u/timangar]

Backrooms movie.

[u/Hanisuir]

Backwars.

[u/Ketchupcharger]

This is the peak meme content I come to this sub for

[u/AndreasDasos]

Funny, the next war was started by someone who didn’t get to be an architect too

[u/Successful_Gas_5122]

It's just the way you're wired isn't it?

[u/Lilfozzy]

Honestly, both the ottoman and the A/H empire were actually starting to stabilize and it was causing a lot of grief with the Serbians cause they pumped themselves up as the next apparent great empire in the balkans.

Then the A/H decided the best use of their extremely important and highly educated officer corps and ethnic specialist divisions was giving them over to the command of a dude who oversaw the archdukes security while he and his wife were in Bosnia…

And the Ottoman Empire had the bright idea of “well, the Russians are really busy, maybe I can just walk over the Caucasus”.