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

I.

A German superman at Constantinople

II.

The "Boss System" in the Ottoman Empire and how it proved useful to Germany

III.

"The personal representative of the Kaiser." Wangenheim opposes the sale of American warships to Greece

IV.

Germany mobilizes the Turkish army

V.

Wangenheim smuggles the Goeben and the Breslau through the Dardanelles

VI.

Wangenheim tells the American Ambassador how the Kaiser started the war

VII.

Germany's plans for new territories, coaling stations, and indemnities

VIII.

A classic instance of German propaganda

IX.

Germany closes the Dardanelles and so separates Russia from her Allies

X.

Turkey's abrogation of the capitulations. Enver living in a palace, with plenty of money and an imperial bride

XI.

Germany forces Turkey into the war

XII.

The Turks attempt to treat alien enemies decently, but the Germans insist on persecuting them

XIII.

The invasion of the Notre Dame de Sion School

XIV.

Wangenheim and the Bethlehem Steel Company. A "Holy War" that was made in Germany

XV.

Djemal, a troublesome Mark Antony. The first German attempt to get a German peace

XVI.

The Turks prepare to flee from Constantinople and establish a new capital in Asia Minor. The Allied fleet bombarding the Dardanelles

XVII.

Enver as the man who demonstrated "the vulnerability of the British fleet." Old-fashioned defenses of the Dardanelles

XVIII.

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

XXI.

Bulgaria on the auction block

XXII.

The Turk reverts to the ancestral type

XXIII.

The "Revolution" at Van

XXIV.

The murder of a nation

XXV.

Talaat tells why he deports the Armenians

XXVI.

Enver Pasha discusses the Armenians

XXVII

"I shall do nothing for the Armenians," says the German Ambassador

XXVIII.

Enver again moves for peace. Farewell to the Sultan and to Turkey

XXIX.

Von Jagow, Zimmermann, and German-Americans

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1.

Henry Morgenthau.

2.

Mrs. Henry Morgenthau with Soeur Jeanne

3.

Constantinople from the American Embassy

4.

Beylerbey palace on the Bosphorus

5.

The American Embassy at Constantinople

6.

Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador to Turkey, 1913-1916

7.

Talaat Pasha, ex-Grand Vizier of Turkey

8a.

Turkish infantry

8b.

Turkish cavalry

9.

Bustány Effendi

10a.

Mohammed V, late Sultan of Turkey

 10b.

 Sultan's carriage at American Embassy

11.

Wangenheim, the German Ambassador

12.

The Sultan, Mohammed V, going to his regular Friday prayers

13.

Talaat and Enver at a military review

14.

Baron Von Wangenheim, German Ambassador to Turkey

15.

Djemal Pasha, Minister of Marine

16.

The Marquis Garroni, Italian Ambassador to the Sublime Porte in 1914

17.

M. Tocheff, Bulgarian Minister at Constantinople

18.

The American summer Embassy on the Bosphorus

19.

Enver Pasha, Minister of War

20.

Saïd Halim, Ex-grand Vizier

21.

Sir Louis Mallet and M. Bompard

22.

Gen. Liman von Sanders

23.

German and Turkish officers on board the Goeben

24.

Bedri Bey, Prefect of Police at Constantinople; Djavid Bey, Minister of Finance in Turkish Cabinet

25.

The British Embassy

26.

Robert College at Constantinople

27.

The American Embassy Staff

28.

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