Formerly American Ambassador to Turkey
ILLUSTRATED
Fig. 1. HENRY I MORGENTHAU,
American Ambassador at Constantinople from 1913 to 1916
GARDEN CITY NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1918
TO
WOODROW WILSON
THE EXPONENT IN AMERICA OF THE ENLIGHTENED PUBLIC OPINION OF THE WORLD, WHICH HAS DECREED THAT THE RIGHTS OF SMALL NATIONS SHALL BE RESPECTED AND THAT SUCH CRIMES AS ARE DESCRIBED IN THIS BOOK SHALL NEVER AGAIN DARKEN THE PAGES OF HISTORY
.
PREFACE
By this time the American people have probably become convinced that the Germans deliberately planned the conquest of the world. Yet they hesitate to convict on circumstantial evidence and for this reason all eye witnesses to this, the greatest crime in modern history, should volunteer their testimony.
I have therefore laid aside any scruples I had as to the propriety of disclosing to my fellow countrymen the facts which I learned while representing them in Turkey. I acquired this knowledge as the servant of the American people, and it is their property as much as it is mine.
I greatly regret that I have been obliged to omit an account of the splendid activities of the American Missionary and Educational Institutions in Turkey, but to do justice to this subject would require a book by itself. I have had to omit the story of the Jews in Turkey for the same reasons.
My thanks are due to my friend, Mr. Burton J. Hendrick, for the invaluable assistance he has rendered in the preparation of the book.
HENRY MORGENTHAU.
October, 1918.
CONTENTS
A German superman at Constantinople
The “Boss System” in the Ottoman Empire and how it proved useful to Germany
“The personal representative of the Kaiser.” Wangenheim opposes the sale of American warships to Greece
Germany mobilizes the Turkish army
Wangenheim smuggles the Goeben and the Breslau through the Dardanelles
Wangenheim tells the American Ambassador how the Kaiser started the war
Germany’s plans for new territories, coaling stations, and indemnities
A classic instance of German propaganda
Germany closes the Dardanelles and so separates Russia from her Allies
Turkey’s abrogation of the capitulations. Enver living in a palace, with plenty of money and an imperial bride
Germany forces Turkey into the war
The Turks attempt to treat alien enemies decently, but the Germans insist on persecuting them
The invasion of the Notre Dame de Sion School
Wangenheim and the Bethlehem Steel Company. A “Holy War” that was made in Germany
Djemal, a troublesome Mark Antony. The first German attempt to get a German peace
The Turks prepare to flee from Constantinople and establish a new capital in Asia Minor. The Allied fleet bombarding the Dardanelles
Enver as the man who demonstrated “the vulnerability of the British fleet.” Old-fashioned defenses of the Dardanelles
The Allied armada sails away, though on the brink of victory
XIX.
A fight for three thousand civilians
XX.
More adventures of the foreign residents
Bulgaria on the auction block
XXII.
The Turk reverts to the ancestral type
The “Revolution” at Van
XXIV.
The murder of a nation
XXV.
Talaat tells why he deports the Armenians
XXVI.
Enver Pasha discusses the Armenians
“I shall do nothing for the Armenians,” says the German Ambassador
Enver again moves for peace. Farewell to the Sultan and to Turkey
XXIX.
Von Jagow, Zimmermann, and German-Americans
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Henry Morgenthau.
Mrs. Henry Morgenthau with Soeur Jeanne
Constantinople from the American Embassy
Beylerbey palace on the Bosphorus
The American Embassy at Constantinople
Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador to Turkey, 1913-1916
Talaat Pasha, ex-Grand Vizier of Turkey
Turkish infantry
Turkish cavalry
Bustány Effendi
Mohammed V, late Sultan of Turkey
Sultan’s carriage at American Embassy
Wangenheim, the German Ambassador
The Sultan, Mohammed V, going to his regular Friday prayers
Talaat and Enver at a military review
Baron Von Wangenheim, German Ambassador to Turkey
Djemal Pasha, Minister of Marine
The Marquis Garroni, Italian Ambassador to the Sublime Porte in 1914
M. Tocheff, Bulgarian Minister at Constantinople
The American summer Embassy on the Bosphorus
Enver Pasha, Minister of War
Saïd Halim, Ex-grand Vizier
Sir Louis Mallet and M. Bompard
Gen. Liman von Sanders
German and Turkish officers on board the Goeben
Bedri Bey, Prefect of Police at Constantinople; Djavid Bey, Minister of Finance in Turkish Cabinet
The British Embassy
Robert College at Constantinople
The American Embassy Staff
The Modern Turkish soldier
29.
The Ministry of War
30.
The Ministry of Marine.
31.
Halil Bey in Berlin; Talaat and Kühlmann
32.
General Mertens
33.
The Red Crescent
34.
Enver Pasha
35.
Turkish quarters at the Dardanelles
36.
Looking north to the city of Gallipoli
37.
The British ship Albion
38.
The Dardanelles as it was March 16, 1915
39.
Tchemenlik and Fort Anadolu Hamidié
40.
Fort Dardanos
41.
The American ward of the Turkish hospital
42.
Students of the Constantinople College
43.
Abdul Hamid
44.
A characteristic view of the Armenian country
45.
Fishing village on Lake Van
46.
Refugees at Van crowding around a public oven, hoping to get bread
47.
Kaiser William II, in the uniform of a Turkish Field Marshal
48.
Interior of the Armenian church at Urfa
49.
Armenian soldiers
50.
Those who fell by the wayside . . . . . .
51.
A view of Harpoot
52.
View of Urfa
53.
A relic of the Armenian massacres at Erzingan
54.
The funeral of Baron von Wangenheim.
Chapter One: A German superman at Constantinople