Gallipoli (5 page)

Prime Minister Cook repeats that assertion the next day at another meeting, in Colac, and goes a little further: ‘There is no use blinking at our responsibilities. If the Old Country is at war so are we. It is not a matter of chance at all … All obligations necessary for the defence of the Empire must be placed at the disposal of the responsible authorities whenever they are needed and at whatever time they were called for.'
¹⁴

Hurrah!
Hurrah!
HURRAH!

MORNING, 1 AUGUST 1914, IN LONDON, CHURCHILL CLIPS TURKEY'S WINGS

It is a great day for what is left of the Ottoman Empire. It is the day that Captain Hüseyin Rauf, the Ottoman Empire's greatest naval hero, arrives with his Turkish crew to Armstrong Whitworth's Elswick shipyard at Newcastle-on-Tyne, north-east England, where he is to formally take possession of
Sultan Osman I
– the bigger of the two dreadnoughts that have been built for the Ottoman Navy. The next morning, at 8 am sharp, the crew are to run the Turkish flag up on this powerful nautical beauty and hold a ceremony to mark this highly anticipated occasion.

Turkey has laboured long to raise the 2.3 million lira (some £6 million) to pay for these battleships. Extra taxes have been placed on such staples as tobacco and bread. The previous December, the monthly salaries of all civil servants had been summarily diverted into the ship fund. In every Turkish town and village, women had cut and sold their hair to wigmakers to raise yet more money. Donation boxes had been placed on bridges across the Golden Horn in Constantinople and on the ferryboats traversing the mighty Bosphorus. The purchase of these powerful dreadnoughts from Great Britain has been something that has brought the people of the nation together in difficult times, something that will give them security – allowing them, most importantly, to defend themselves against the Greeks to their west, and to rule the Black Sea and thwart Russian plans to invade their land.

And
what is this?

For as Captain Rauf is looking out across the dockyard, preparing himself for the pomp and pageantry of the handing-over ceremony, he suddenly notices men in uniform – and not Turkish uniforms – with guns and bayonets drawn, marching towards Turkey's ship. In minutes, these British Army troops of Sherwood Foresters Regiment have made an armed guard around the ship and claimed it for Great Britain.

How is this possible? What has happened? Who has done this?

It is typical Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty.

With war ever more imminent, it is ever more obvious that the British Empire will likely be needing every bullet, bomb and battleship it can get its hands on. Churchill had suddenly given the orders for the troops to move in and reclaim the two ships in the name of His Majesty, and now it is done. ‘In view of present circumstances,' the First Lord tells the builders of the ships, ‘the Government cannot permit the ships to be handed over to a Foreign Power.'
¹⁵

With this requisition of
Sultan Osman
(renamed
Agincourt
), and soon thereafter that of her sister ship
Reshadieh
(renamed
Erin
), Britain can now count on 26 dreadnoughts in the North Sea, against just 17 dreadnoughts for Germany.

And Turkey?

Well, in the final analysis, Churchill doesn't care.

It is not just that Britain is
always
in need of more vessels to rule the waves, as is her God-given right, it is that Turkey is of uncertain alliance in the coming war – for there can be no doubt that war is indeed upon them – and two warships on Turkey's side of the equation could alter the whole balance of power in the Balkans. It is what needs to be done.

While in New York, London and Berlin, the preferred time for serious meetings is in the morning, when all is fresh and clear, in Constantinople the time for meeting is ever nigh at night. Over coffee, whisky and cigarettes, the talk can go into the wee hours as, over the shoulders of those attending, the minarets muse in the moonlight.

Though unaware of the seizure of the Turkish battleships, the Turkish leadership are already engaged in heated debate over whether to join with the Triple Entente – Great Britain, France and Russia – or side with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Should the Triple Entente prevail, would the Dardanelles be given to the Russians? The Ottoman leadership first and foremost want to remain neutral and non-interventionist for as long as possible, not least because their military remains in disarray since the Balkan Wars. But serious negotiations for a
secret
alliance with Germany have been taking place throughout July and are swiftly coming to a head. Yet what might happen to Turkey in the event of Germany losing the war? The deliberations rage, and conditions for an alliance with Germany are fine-tuned.

Still there remains resistance to signing the document … until … a cable arrives from the Turkish Ambassador in London, informing his masters in Constantinople that the two dreadnoughts that Turkey had paid for have just been requisitioned by the British Government. Embargoed on a whim! Among the weary Ottoman leaders, there is uproar. Disbelief. Confirmation.
Outrage.
Under the circumstances, there is little more discussion.

4 PM, 2 AUGUST 1914, SAID HALIM'S VILLA, HANDS OFF TURKEY

Grand Vizier Said Halim and German Ambassador Baron von Wangenheim meet at the former's waterside residence to write their signatures and their paths to war. Although Turkey has no wish to be
in
the war, the treaty, if signed, will commit the Germans to coming to Turkey's aid if it is attacked. The Ottomans also agree that it will allow the German Military Mission to have ‘an effective influence on the general conduct of the army'.
¹⁶
Under the circumstances, there is little discussion, and the secret treaty is signed.
¹⁷

Navy Minister Cemal would later explain, ‘Germany, whatever else might be said, was the only power which desired to see Turkey strong. Germany's interests could be secured by the strengthening of Turkey, and that alone. Germany could not lay hands on Turkey as if she were a colony, for neither the geographical position nor her resources made that possible. The result was that Germany regarded Turkey as a link in the commercial and trading chain, and thus became her stoutest champion against the Entente Governments, which wanted to dismember her, particularly as the elimination of Turkey would mean the final “encirclement” of Germany. Her south-western front remained open thanks to Turkey alone. The only way in which she could escape the pressure of the iron ring was to prevent the dismemberment of Turkey.'
¹⁸

EVENING, 3 AUGUST 1914, CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR!

Strangely, it is the politeness of the message that is most shocking. For the note presented on this evening by the German Ambassador to France, Baron Wilhelm Eduard Freiherr von Schoen, to Monsieur le President de la Republique de France, Raymond Poincaré, is nothing if not elaborate in its courtesy:

The German Ambassador, according to protocol, also asks for, and receives, his passport and the passports of his senior staff, as they wish to leave Paris immediately, before the actual fighting begins.

France's sole solace, as expressed by the French President soon afterwards to his Chamber of Deputies, is that, ‘At the hour when the struggle is beginning … [we are] helped by Russia … [we are] supported by the loyal friendship of Great Britain.'
²⁰

At least, he hopes so.

For what will Great Britain do? The newly appointed Secretary for War, Lord Kitchener – backed by Sir Edward Grey – is firm in his insistence that ‘if Britain abandons France, it can never again claim the right to be a world power'.
²¹
The situation is further complicated by the fact that, even before declaring war on France, Germany had delivered an ultimatum to Belgium, demanding free passage for German troops to cross its territory to get to France. King Albert of Belgium had refused outright …

AFTERNOON, 3 AUGUST 1914, AUSTRALIA COMES TO THE PARTY

It has taken some time, given the exigencies of the election campaign, but after Governor-General Munro Ferguson's prod of four days earlier to Prime Minister Cook:

… it is organised. Finally, on this chilly afternoon in Melbourne, the caretaker Prime Minister and four members of his ten-man Cabinet are able to convene in Federal Parliament on Melbourne's Spring Street. Their deliberations as to what to do about the request from the British Government do not take long. Shortly after the meeting is over, the Governor-General is quick to send a cable to London, assuring the British Government's Secretary of State for the Colonies of the total fidelity of its most loyal son, and that, in the event of war, Australia is:

Of course, there has never been any doubt: just as Prime Minister Cook has stated, if Great Britain goes to war, Australia will not only be with her
but also cede control of its forces to Great Britain.
Yet, while loyalty to the British Empire is first and foremost, there are other reasons for Australia to offer to fight. With so many German territories scattered around the Pacific – New Britain, the Caroline Islands, the Marianas, the Marshall Islands, German Samoa and North-East New Guinea, not to mention their major base at Tsingtao in China for the cruisers of the German East Asia Squadron – it is obvious that if Britain goes on to lose the war, Germany will become even more powerful than it already is. And, of course, should Germany
lose
the war, there is every chance that Germany's territories will be ceded to Australia.

For its part, Lord Northcliffe's
Daily Mail
has no doubts as to the rights and wrongs of the affair:

2.35 AM, 4 AUGUST 1914, MOVES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

The matter is more than merely delicate; it is life and death. The previous evening at 1800 hours, Admiral Wilhelm Souchon had been in the western Mediterranean aboard his flagship
Goeben
– a German battlecruiser displacing 22,640 tons, with ten 11-inch guns – in the company of the light cruiser
Breslau
, when he had received a signal bearing stunning news.

Germany is at war with France!

Once he had told his crew, they had started singing and shouting all together, and were so joyous they had even lifted him on their shoulders!

After the declaration of war, he had immediately guided
Goeben
and
Breslau
towards the French North African coast, intent on sinking some French troopships that were taking the Algerian Corps back to defend France. It is at this time that he receives a surprising order from Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz:

4 AUGUST 1914, HOUSE OF COMMONS, WESTMINSTER, FOR KING, FOR COUNTRY

The atmosphere is electric. Germany had not only declared war on Belgium the day before – for having refused permission for German troops to march across its territory to invade France – but on this afternoon at Visé, Germans are pouring across the Meuse River and into Belgium regardless. ‘The Rape of Belgium' has begun.

What now? Will Great Britain honour her own treaties to France and Belgium and join what is certain to be a catastrophic conflagration, or will she remain aloof?

At 3 pm in the House of Commons, His Majesty's Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey – a distinguished-looking aristocrat, of rather regal bearing himself – stands to answer that very question. ‘It may be said, I suppose, that we might stand aside, husband our strength, and … at the end of it intervene with effect to put things right. If, in a crisis like this, we run away from those obligations of honour and interest as regards the Belgian treaty, I doubt whether, whatever material force we might have at the end, it would be of very much value in face of the respect that we should have lost.'
²⁶