‘Our Dear Reşadiye’: the legend and the loans behind Ottoman naval rearmament, 1908–1914
‘Our Dear Reşadiye’: the legend and the loans behind Ottoman naval rearmament, 1908–1914
The seizure of the newly-built Ottoman dreadnought Reşadiye by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill on 31 July 1914 is widely held to have spurred the Young Turk regime in Istanbul to contract an alliance with Germany and enter the Great War at its side. This owing to widespread belief (still held by historians today) that it and a second seized dreadnought had been fully paid for by donations to the Ottoman Navy League collected from across the Ottoman Empire and beyond. Drawing on the archives of banks and of Vickers, who constructed the Reşadiye, this article demonstrates that the warships were in fact paid for by funds lent by British, French and German banks—as well as by Vickers itself. Drawing on Ottoman newspapers of the time, it explains how the Navy League myth developed, constraining Ottoman room for manoeuvre in the crucial months of summer 1914.
Ottoman Navy League, Vickers, armaments industry, dreadnoughts
Conlin, Jonathan
3ab58a7d-d74b-48d9-99db-1ba2f3aada40
Conlin, Jonathan
3ab58a7d-d74b-48d9-99db-1ba2f3aada40
Conlin, Jonathan
(2021)
‘Our Dear Reşadiye’: the legend and the loans behind Ottoman naval rearmament, 1908–1914.
The International History Review.
(doi:10.1080/07075332.2021.1938634).
Abstract
The seizure of the newly-built Ottoman dreadnought Reşadiye by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill on 31 July 1914 is widely held to have spurred the Young Turk regime in Istanbul to contract an alliance with Germany and enter the Great War at its side. This owing to widespread belief (still held by historians today) that it and a second seized dreadnought had been fully paid for by donations to the Ottoman Navy League collected from across the Ottoman Empire and beyond. Drawing on the archives of banks and of Vickers, who constructed the Reşadiye, this article demonstrates that the warships were in fact paid for by funds lent by British, French and German banks—as well as by Vickers itself. Drawing on Ottoman newspapers of the time, it explains how the Navy League myth developed, constraining Ottoman room for manoeuvre in the crucial months of summer 1914.
Text
Our Dear Re adiye The Legend and the Loans behind Ottoman Naval Rearmament 1908 1914
- Version of Record
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 22 June 2021
Keywords:
Ottoman Navy League, Vickers, armaments industry, dreadnoughts
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 450698
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/450698
ISSN: 0707-5332
PURE UUID: aa5f9816-1170-4b41-85da-854724e25ae9
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 06 Aug 2021 16:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:08
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
