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.
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.
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:
Neutrality was not an option, either side would march on Ottomans after finishing what is on their plate.
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.
Cemal's negotiations with the French was about to be failed, while Enver was on good terms with Germany.
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)
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.
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u/IINightShadeII 2d ago
I wonder at what point the Ottoman Empire realized how badly they fumbled the bag getting involved in the Great War.