A Move to the Front

The first world war started in the near east with a series of bungled operations. As
on the western front, the generals learnt as they went along, at terrible human cost.
The ottoman armies rushed in first suffered two defeats. Then the British attacked
and were also twice defeated. The ottomans paid a heavy price for their haste, the
British (and French) for their procrastination.

On 21 October, before the outbreak of hostilities, Enver sent to the German

high command a war plan which he had prepared with the help of his German chief
of staff, Bronsart von Schellendorf. In addition to the naval attack in the Black Sea, it
provided for an engagement with Russian army in the Caucasus, an attack on the
British in Egypt, and the proclamation of the jihad. The previous month, Enver had
informed the Ottoman military attache in Berlin that he had sent agents to organize
risings in Caucasus, Egypt, Algeria, Afganistan, other mutfa Kemal Wtaturk