A tale of two military missions: The Germans in the Ottoman Empire and the Americans in the Republic of Turkey

Abstract

Turkey requested big and influential military advisory missions against the Russian threat both from Germany in 1913 and America in 1947. Although these missions were charged with revitalising an antiquated armed force to fight a modern war as soon as possible, in reality Turkish leaders saw both missions as the first step towards a comprehensive military alliance against the Russians. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 and the Korean War in 1950 provided chances to induce Germany and America to agree upon Turkish desires for long-term military alliance. The military missions had to transform themselves and assumed duties other than those originally contemplated. In both cases a snowballing process of growth started in a relatively short time. The inflow of thousands of military personnel, most of whom were independent of the mission command and pursued different objectives, resulted in fragmentation and sometimes anarchy. There were many similarities between the experiences of both missions. They both suffered from ignorance, insensitivity, and cultural prejudices due to their poor linguistic and cultural preparation.