POLICY OF PAN-ISLAMISM, THE BAGHDAD RAILWAY AND

ESCALATION OF INTERNATIONAL RIVALRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

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What is Pan-Islamism?

• Pan-Islamism is a political movement whichaims the unity of diversified Muslims underone Islamic state, often a Caliphate, or an international organization similar to EuropeanUnion.

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What’s the source of Pan-Islamism?

• The idea of Pan-Islamism dates back to the time of Prophet Mohammad and some instances in our holybook, Qur’an which emphasises the concept of Muslim brotherhood and good feelings for the fellow Muslims.

• However, the political unity of the Muslims under one caliph lasted till the fall of the Umayyads and theestablishment of Abbaside rule in 750 A.D. in Baghdad.

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• A parallel caliphate was founded by the Umayyad prince Abdur Rahman Al Dakhil in756 A.D. in Cordoba. Since then, Muslim theologians and scholars have not opposed the existence of more than one Muslim state in the world.

• It shows that the unity of Muslims under one ruler is desirable but not obligatory. However, the concept of Ummah) has been a cherished dream of the enthusiasts throughout Muslim history.

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Pan-Islamism in Ottoman Empire

• Pan-Islamism emerged as a modern political ideology in the 1860s and 1870s at the height of European colonialism, when Turkish intellectuals began discussing and writing about it as a way to save the Ottoman Empire from fragmentation.

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• Pan-Islamism becamethe favored state policy during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II (r. 1876 – 1909 ).

• The intellectuals later known as “Young Ottomans” supportedthe Sultan AbdulhamidII.

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• In the frame of the thoughts of The Young Ottomans upon that Turkey should have broadened its base of support, OttomanEmpire, under the reign of Sultan AbdulhamidII, started giving attention to organise the Muslims of the world.

• The Sultan began contacting Muslims in the Muslim World to get support for his policies.

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The Baghdad Railway

• The Baghdad Railway wasbuilt from 1903 to 1940 toconnect Berlin with the(then) Ottoman city of Baghdad, where theGermans wanted toestablish a port in thePersian Gulf with a 1,600 kilometres line throughmodern-dayTurkey, Syria, and Iraq.

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• In 1889, German financier Georg von Siemens of the Deutsche Bank came up with a proposal for an ‘Imperial Ottoman Baghdad Railway.’

• The railroad, traversing a Berlin-Byzantium-Baghdad route, would extend the existing Haidar Pasha Railway to Ankara to start.

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• Technical difficulties in the remote Taurus Mountains and diplomatic delays meant that by 1915 the railway was still 480 kilometers short of completion, severely limiting its use during the war in which Baghdad was occupied by the British while the Hejaz railway in the south was attacked by guerrilla forces. Construction resumed in the 1930s and was completed in 1940.

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The Escalation of International Rivalryin the Middle East

• In November of 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the World War I, havingconcluded a secret alliance with Germany against her long-time rival Russia, the conditions for war were met, and on November 11 Sultan Mehmed V declared jihad.

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• The terms of the Ottoman-German Alliance were simple; the treaty’s impetus came mainly from German investment and the technical advice of General Otto Liman von Sanders.

• It was signed during a secret ceremony on August 2, 1914. In the event of Germany coming to the aid of the Hapsburg Empire against Russia, Turkey would also join against Russia.

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• Over the first ten years of the Railwayproject, a line was built across Anatolia, and in 1899 the Sultan consented to the next phase of the project. At this point the Germans needed more investment capital, and French and English financiers were approached for it. They declined to participate. The French bankers were in favor, but Paris was opposed. In Britain, the situation was reversed, with Parliament supporting the project but the Square Mile in opposition.

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• By 1910, the situation had changed. Russia was now amenable towards the project and had plans to extend it to Tehran and much of Southern Persia. The Baghdad Railway, in addition to providing a simple transportation route (with the Orient Express as a baseline), would also provide a direct pipeline from Germany to its Middle Eastern interests. Were the railway to be completed, British control of the Mediterranean would be irrelevant, and Berlin would enjoy an uninterrupted direct flow of oil.

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• London was beginning to understand the importance of the oil in the region. Already 25,000 tons a month were being imported from Persia. While not possessing the fantastic strategic importance it would hold in only three or four years, the British were growing wise to the its potential. They managed to negotiate German shares in the oil companies near Basra down to 25% at the most, securing – if not favorable rates – then access to the oil itself.

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• Finally, on June 15, 1914, the British initialed an agreement which hinged on still further agreements of the British and the Germans with Turkey. The agreement involved recognition of the German railway monopoly in most parts of Turkey, a stoppage of the railway at Basra, British control south of Basra, the allowance of an increase in Turkishcustoms, German monopoly around Adana, British monopoly in Mesopotamia, and making the Shatt-al-Arab an open body of water.

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• There is no doubt that Britain got the best of this arrangement. In addition, she had so delayed construction of the Railway as to seriously hinder Turkish troop movements during the war. In return for these "tactical" advantages, Britain had contributed to German fears of encirclement and had strengthened the system of alliances which helped make World War I a terribly costly and protracted struggle.

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The Baghdad Railway as a Cause of the War

• According to some authors, the Railwayconcessions are one of the most important forms of economic imperialism because they involve political as well as economic interests. However, generally speaking, this economicimperialism is usually exaggerated as one of the underlying causes of the War. If the diplomatic correspondance of the years before the War is readed, one is struck by the relatively slight emphasis which is given to these economic rivalries, which haunt so largely the mind of the agitated business man and newspaper editor.

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• It is not so much questions of economic rivalry as those of prestige, boundaries, armies and navies, the balance of power, and possible shiftings in the system of alliances which provide reams of diplomatic correspondence and raise the temperature in the Foreign Offices to the danger point.

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Conclusion

The Railway was:

- A continued source of conflict between Germany and other world powers

- A key facet of German's national hopes and ambitions.

• There is remaining, however, the most important aspect of all: the role of the Railway in promoting the alliance system which had so much to do with the stupendous scale of World War I.

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• In 1875, Bismarck had stated in the Reichstagthat Germany's interests in the Turkish-Balkan area "were not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian Grenadier." Bismarck was determined not to be involved in an area where Austria and Russia were at odds. As he said in 1886, since Germany could not appease one of these nations in this area without offending the other—both extremely dangerous as enemies—it was not at all worthwhile to become involved.

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• In summing up: the Railway was a manifestation of a dramatic and alarming growth of German economic power.

• It played a role in the British-German trade rivalry, in their strategic maneuverings, and inthe German-English press controversies.

• The Railway helped unite the Entente powers against Germany and this led Germany into a fear of encirclement, her increasing involvement in the Balkans, and herdangerous alliance with Austria.

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• German hopes for the Railway undoubtedly were exaggerated, but failure to recognize these hopes on the part of the Entente powers helped bring on World War I.

• Allowing sources of national conflicts to grow without attending to them is to court disaster. The Railway involved a major conflict of national interests; failure to estimate these sources of this conflict correctly on both German and Entente sides definitely helped bring on World War I.

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THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO ME

EYUB ÖZKAYA

DECEMBER, 2013

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