1915:13 The Turks

The Turks

 

In 1915, Turkey was the hub of the Ottoman Empire and the Empire's security was built on a strong military tradition dating back to approximately 1300 AD.   The Ottomans were devout followers of Islam who felt they were protecting their homeland from the infidels who had come to destroy the Muslim people. Initially they thought it was the Greeks who were attacking them.  Their elite soldiers were known as "Janissaries" and in 1913, a German Military Mission was invited to train the Ottoman Army. The following year its peacetime strength was about 150,000 men, organised into 38 divisions. This number, boosted by conscripts could rise to four and a half million.

 

When the Anzacs landed on Gallipoli, they were met by an army that was more formidable than first imagined. Although initially outnumbered, they fought zealously to protect their homeland.

 

Kemal Ataturk (1881 - 1938)

 

"I don't order you to attack, I order you to die. In the time it takes us to die, other troops and commanders can come and take our places."
Mustafa Kemal, Turkish Commander opposing Anzac landing

 

Kemal Ataturk, or Mustafa Kemal, a then unknown Turkish Colonel, played a decisive role in the Gallipoli Campaign. He thwarted the Anzacs in reaching their objectives on 25 April 1915 and he regained Chunuk Bair on 10 August later that year.  He was the outstanding Turkish military figure of the First World War and established the Republic of Turkey, becoming their president in 1923. He later paid tribute to his enemies with these words.

 

"O Mothers of distant lands who sent their sons to battle here. Stop your tears. Your sons are in our bosoms. They are serenely at peace. Having fallen here now, they become our sons."