This website has been prepared by
the first "hotel de charme" on the Gallipoli peninsula
The Turks from
Thrace and Anatolia were by
far the most suitable for military service. As farmers, living a humble life
and being used to hard labour, they possessed great powers of physical
endurance. Nevertheless due to under nourishment and insufficient immunity
against diseases in many regions signs of human deterioration of serious
proportions were visible. Those coming from cities were generally in poorer
shape due to the absence of hard labour and sports. In general the Turks had
a certain roughness and clumsiness but such attributes on the other hand
benefited the instructor. The exceptional sobriety and modesty, reinforced by
a fatalistic view of life, made the Turkish soldier capable of coping with
hardships and strains under which a European soldier would have collapsed both
physically and morally.
As all people who are rooted to their environment, the Turk brought with him
into military training a number of natural abilities: in general he was sharp,
had a good sense of orientation and a natural capacity to mount a horse.
Strong moral constitutions were very common, the result of a youth lived in a
pure environment. The Turk was abstinent and sober, modest and reserved,
faithful and reliable. From his youth he was brought up being used to
subordination, he was happy to be under the command to those higher up and
therefore submitted willingly to military discipline.
He did what was asked with a patience and composure, only witnessed in
Orientals, and he could cope with the harshest and most demanding situations.
A sense of duty, stemming in the main from obtuse obedience rather than a
motivating idealistic force, combined with the requirements and affirmation of
the Muslim Religion, qualified the Turk to perform a level of self-sacrifice
that can hardly be found in other people.
The mental development of the Turkish soldier however did not match his
physical and moral qualities. Turks lived their lives with either
insufficient or indeed no education at all with more then 90 % of the
population being
illiterate. Therefore
good mental abilities remained dormant and by not being exploited to the full
further deteriorated into mental inertness. Lack of practice in the use of
personal mental ability resulted in poor powers of judgement and consequently
the individuals powers of self direction hardly ever existed or developed.
The Turkish soldier needed to be under constant guidance, without such
supervision he lacked the ability to make a decision by himself; he became
unsure, could not brace himself into action, waited for orders and remained
inactive and did not respond by himself to the events surrounding him. As he
had grown up with the doctrine of kismet, believing in the unchangeable powers
of fate, he would easily slip into a state of indifference and down-heartiness.
As a result of this state of mind arose – as a sort of mass reaction- the so
feared “panic attacks”. These attacks would disappear with the same speed as
they appeared when a strong leadership made itself felt.
Translated from “The
Battle for The Dardanelles-1915”, (Berlin 1927), Major Dr. Carl Mühlmann, p. 17