Osman Reborn; The Survival of Ottoman Democracy [An Ottoman TL set in the 1900s]

[Sārthākā]

Prologue

“The Legacy of the Italo-Ottoman War is one of incredulity in Italy, and one that of pride in the Ottoman Empire, and not without reason. The war did a lot to restore the pride of its citizens in the Ottoman Empire, and the people were once again proud to be called ‘Ottoman’ again. Ethnic boundaries like Turk, Greek, Albanian, Bulgarian, and Arab took a backseat in the war, and again for good reason.

Italy’s claim to Tripolitania and Cyrenaica was not exactly a new thing or new development. They dated as far back as the Ottoman Empire’s defeat to the Russians in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 and the subsequent discussions between the Great Powers during the Congress of Berlin, in which France were given Tunisia and Cyprus respectively. Italy had managed to weasel through a claim in the region, even though the Congress did not allow Italy to take the region in 1878. In 1887, the government of the Italian government exchanged a bunch of secret notes with the government of Great Britain in which the Italian government provided support to eh British occupation of Egypt, in exchange for British support of an Italian Libya sometime in the future. In 1902, the Italian and French governments set aside their historical rivalry by signing a secret treaty between Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Prinetti and French Ambassador Camille Barrere. The secret treaty signed by Italy and France most significantly allowed Italy to have full freedom of intervention in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica.

In 1909, Tsar Nicholas II and King Victor Emmanuel III signed the Racconigi Bargain in which the Russian government acknowledged the Italian claims to the North African region.

Despite these developments however, the Italian government made no real move against the Ottoman Empire other than creating a Libyan section in the Italian Colonial Office in 1908. However the Agadir Crisis in April 1911 saw the French use military action in Morocco turning the historical state into a French protectorate. At this point, the Italian nationalists were baying for Italian expansionism and popular papers like L’Idea Nazionale accompanied by nationalists like Enrico Corradini lobbied hard for the idea of an expanded Italian Colonial Empire. By this point, the Italian leadership decided that it could safely accede to public demands to a colonial project. The Triple Entente were highly supportive. British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey assured the Italian government that British assistance to the Ottoman government would not be in the cards, and thus by extension, Egyptian assistance to the Ottoman Empire was also out of the cards. The French government secretly contacted the Italian government, stating that they would not interfere in an Italian colonial project in Libya, and the Russian government meanwhile urged Italy to act ‘prompt and resolute manner’.

Giolitti and Italian Foreign Minister Antonino Paterno Castello agreed on 14th September, 1911 to launch a military campaign before the German and Austrian governments were aware of the fact. At that time the German government was locked in a diplomatic conflict with the British government to gain diplomatic influence in the Ottoman Empire, and was trying to thus mediate between Rome and Constantinople whilst the Austrian government wished to keep the Eastern Question down, noting their own large Slavic population within the Dual Monarchy. Austrian Foreign Minister Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal also warned the Italian government that any intervention in Libya would upset the fragile European Balance of Power.

Meanwhile within the Ottoman Empire, the restoration of Ottoman Democracy in 1908 following the 1908 Macedonian Uprising and the infamous IMRO involvement had been a tenuous affair. Democracy was restored in the nation and the monarchy was made into a Prussian-constitutionalist style constitutional monarchy, wherein the monarch still had a lot of soft influence, however was no longer an absolute monarchy. However Ottoman Democracy was trying for the nation. In 1909 a counter coup almost restored absolutist rule in the nation and in the aftermath of the countercoup Abdul Hamid II was dethroned and his relative, ascended to the Osman throne as Sultan and caliph Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire. Mehmed V by contrast to his relative, was relatively fine with remaining a constitutional monarch and supported the Chamber of Deputies and the Ottoman Parliament.


However within the polities of the Ottoman Empire itself, there was discontent. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) often clashed with the Ottoman Democratic Party led by Ibrahim Temo and the Liberal Union led by Prince Sabbahadin. The Liberal Union had been temporarily disbanded in 1909 following the 1909 coup attempt, however they were brought back in by successive Grand Viziers.

The two years under democratic rule, no matter how tenuous it had been, was also fruitful for the empire. Railroads were being laid down, literacy had gone up, and the economy of the nation was starting to recover at a first rate as well, and the country was truly leaving behind the vestiges of feudalism and turning into a modern Empire-state. The economy grew by 7.1% in 1909 and 8.2% in 1910 showing astounding progress, and the OPDA or the Ottoman Public Debt Administration showed a lowering in Ottoman debt by 13% in the two years, showing remarkable economic progress.

When the Libyan Question started to rise, the Ottoman Empire’s government was led by Grand Vizier Ibrahim Hakki Pasha. Hakki Pasha was a mediocre Grand Vizier all things considered, however one of his major contributions to the Empire was in the fact that on September 15, 1911 he opened the Chamber of Deputies asking the Chamber for authorization for military supplies and 4 divisions to be shipped over to Libya in case of a ‘state of conflict and intervention’ between the ‘Ottoman Empire’ and ‘Italian Kingdom’. [1]


The Chamber of Deputies was bitterly divided over this issue. The CUP was reluctant to do the following measures given by Hakki Pasha, and the Liberal Party and Democratic Party agitated for the government to take measures to defend Libya. It was in the end the votes of the Libyan deputies in the Chamber (14 out of the 60 Arab seats in the Chamber) that turned the vote in favor of preparations to take place. The Chamber voted 154-130 in favor of shipping 4 divisions to Libya by September 27th, and readying the Ottoman Armed Forces in the region, as well as the Libyan irregulars in the area.

That evening, the first troops started to board transport ships in Izmir, Constantinople and Mersin.

On September 24th, the Italian government still unaware of the fact that the Ottoman government was starting to recognize the danger that Italy posed to Libya, contacted the Austrian government to mediate negotiations with the Ottoman government. The Austrian government complied. The Italian delegation demanded Ottoman Libya to be given to Italy. The Ottoman government, still unsure whether it wanted a confrontation with Italy, nonetheless, sought a compromise and put out a proposal that would share sovereignty in Libya between the Ottoman Empire and Italy, much like Bosnia in Austria-Hungary and Cyprus with Britain. The Italian government rejected this offer, and on September 29, 1911 the Italian Kingdom declared War on the Ottoman Empire.”

Prologue of The War of Sands: A History of Ottoman Libya by Sir Douglass Howe, published in The University of London in 1988.

***
Footnotes:-

[1] – this motion was raised in the Chamber otl, however political bickering got in the way of the proposal. This of course does not happen ittl.

 

[Sārthākā]

“The Kingdom of Italy, seeking to conquer Libya from the Ottoman Empire, declared War on the Ottoman Empire on 29th September, 1911 starting the Italo-Ottoman War. After the declaration of war, an Italian naval squadron under Admiral Luigi Faravelli was sent to patrol the Libyan coast, especially the waters of Tripoli, as the government of Italy wished to bombard the coastal forts of Tripoli, which may have become a huge impediment to any Italian amphibious attack on the city. However Faravelli refrained from doing this, as he feared that it would spark retaliation against the European population of the city by the local Arabs. Faravelli offered to take foreign citizens aboard his ships, however the consuls of the neutral countries gave replies stating that they felt protected and secured enough by the Ottoman authorities, therefore only Italian citizens were evacuated from the city aboard Faravelli’s ships.

Within the city itself, Neshat Bey, the commander-in-chief of the city had around 3000 of the garrison troops that were placed within the city at all times, however the situation was less than optimal for him, as he did not exactly have huge stores of weapons. The ships Derna and Smyrna had restocked the coastal fortresses of the city however, and most of the reinforcements sent by the Ottoman government were mainly sent to Derna, Tobruk and Benghazi which were closer to the Ottoman Empire and easier to supply. His 3,000 troops were also ill-trained and not exactly professionals. They were well-equipped however and Neshat Bey would use that to his advantage, in the best manner that he could.

On the 2nd of October 1911, the Italian squadron was deployed in front of Tripoli Harbor in anticipation of the arrival of an expeditionary force from Italy that would land in Libya, the ships were also tasked with the stoppage of any and all reinforcements from the rest of the Ottoman Empire. Faravelli then demanded the surrender of the Ottoman garrison and in case of a refusal, to commence hostilities immediately. The admiral also complained to the army that the forts guarding the city, Fort Sultaniye and Fort Hamidiye were not only fully stocked, they were also training their guns at the enemy fleet, opposite to what Italian intelligence had told him, meaning that his ships were in danger. He stated that the Italian marines and troops aboard his ships would be insufficient to take the city and protect his squadron, however Rome sent a telegraph urging him to take swift and fast action.

Faravelli then invited the Turkish Defterdar, or accountant-general of the city, Ahmed Bessim Bey aboard his flagship, and he commanded Bessim Bey to surrender the city. Bessim Bey refused to do so and instead sought to buy time. He had been under command from Constantinople to garner as much time as possible for the Forts in Tripoli to become fully functional, and he deflected Italian questions, instead claiming that he was unable to contact Constantinople and ask for instructions. During this encounter, Colonel Neshat Bey ordered all but the 1000 troops commanding Fort Hamidiye and Fort Sultaniye (500 for each fort) to retreat from the city and into the barracks at Aziziya about ten kilometers to the south.

With negotiations between Faravelli and Bessim Bey failing, the Italian battleship, Emauele Filiberto followed by the armored cruisers Giuseppe Garibaldi and Carlo Alberto opened fire at the forts and the port at around 15:30 pm on the 3rd of October. However the day that Bessim Bey had managed to buy for the forts were precious and had been used to their full effect and the moment the guns of the ships opened fire, the forts opened fire as well, firing their shells at the Italian squadrons. The only Ottoman warship present in the harbor of Tripoli, the Seyyad also aided the forts by opening fire at the Italian ships before being struck by a shell sent by the Carlo Alberto and sinking in harbor killing several sailors aboard. However the covering fire sent by the Seyyad gained another round of precious time for the forts, and the fort batteries managed to concentrate their fire at Giuseppe Garibaldi and at 16:45 pm, the ship was hit by a barrage of shells from the coastal batteries, and with the sheer volume of the fire, the ship started to tip over sinking beneath the waves. The ship sank slowly, so the majority of the crewmen and marines aboard the ship managed to escape, however the loss of one of their iconic armored cruisers was a blow to the Italian morale.

However by 17:15 the forts were running out of ammunition, and Neshat Bey ordered that all of the remaining shells were to be transferred to Azizya, where they would use the shells with their artillery guns. By the evening of the 3rd, most of the fort’s weapons had been stripped to be transported to Azizya, and the forts were then allowed to keep a paltry 20% of their original stocks to delay the Italians.

The following day, 4th of October, the Italian squadron bombarded the Ottoman forts again, however with their stocks stripped, the forts only managed to return a small amount of fire, and were unable to stop a small Italian patrol from landing next to Fort Hamidiye. The small garrison left out at the fort surrendered, and the German consul present in the fort, Adrian Tilger, informed the patrol that the majority of the Ottoman troops had abandoned the city and asked them to occupy the city in order to prevent anarchy and looting.

The next day on the 5th of October, the Italian command took the decision to land two regiments of forces into the city under Captain Umberto Cagni. The landing began on 7:30 aided by the battleship Sicilia and by 10 am, the landings were more or less successful as the sapper units quickly took command of the forts Hamidiye and Sultaniye. And by 11 the marketplace of Tripoli was occupied by the Italians and the majority of the city soon fell quickly thereafter. Captain Cagni immediately organized a defensive line in order to safeguard the city. His situation was precarious, and the Italian troops that were his reinforcements were still launching about in Naples Harbor and Palermo Harbor and would not join their brethren in North Africa for another few days.

His situation deteriorated however. Neshat Bey ordered an artillery bombardment of the Italian positions to begin and 500 Libyan cavalrymen aided by 1000 Ottoman soldiers of the 6th Infantry Division were sent forward by Neshat Bey to capture Bu Meliana and the wells around the region which supplied the city of Tripoli with water. Tripoli had enough water to feed its civilians, however if the wells around Bu Meliana were captured, then the Italian troops would be sucked out without water and would be caught between the decisions of having no water or looting civilian wells and water stores. The 11th Bersaglieri Regiment was sent forward by Captain Cagni to secure the wells, however the 1500 Ottoman troops got there first and the fighting around the wells was aided by Ottoman gunners who attacked Italian positions, forcing them back into the main city, making the wells fall into the hands of the Ottomans.

And as such, the Battle of Tripoli ended, with a pyrrhic Italian victory, and a tactical Ottoman victory as well. For now, there were 6000 Italian troops in the city, ripe for dying of thirst.” [1]

- Chapter 3 of The War of Sands: A History of Ottoman Libya by Sir Douglass Howe, published in The University of London in 1988. ​

​

“In the eastern parts of the Ottoman Empire in North Africa, the Italian landing at Derna and Benghazi were rebuffed by the Ottoman forces, reinforced from the mainland. At Benghazi, the Italian landing attempt was not even attempted by the Italian army after seeing the city filled to the brim by the 4th Infantry Division whilst the landing at Derna was repelled by elements of the 8th Infantry Division, causing a small set of casualties between the two powers.

The only Italian landing that was successful after the first landing at Tripoli was the landing of Italian troops at Al-Khums. The port of Al-Khums was close to Tripoli (only 30 miles east of Tripoli) and was lightly defended by light Libyan irregulars which were pushed back into the interior by the well-armed Italian marines.” [2]

- Chapter 1 of The Ottoman War in Libya by Mustafa Ali Ahmed published in 1996 in the University of Constantinople. ​

​

“The once greatest fleet of the Mediterranean Sea, a fleet that once had the capability to even contest the seas with the mighty British Royal Navy, the Ottoman Fleet was a shadow of itself in 1911. And the disadvantage against the Italian navy was clear for all to see. The Ottoman Navy in the Mediterranean wasn’t necessarily obsolete, many were modern ships like the Turgut Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin and most of the ships were in their middle life, and still capable of fighting within their full capacity. However, the Italians had dreadnoughts, and a numerical advantage over the Ottoman Fleet and to some extents, the quality of the Italian sailors were far better than the quality of the Ottoman sailors too.


Therefore when the Chamber of Deputies contacted Ciballi Tahir Mehmed Bey on September 19, the fleet commander of the Ottoman Navy, they were given the direct answer from Mehmed Bey that the Ottoman Navy was in no condition to even think about attacking the Italian navy head on.

However nonetheless, the British Naval Mission in the Ottoman Empire led by Admiral Hugh Pigot Williams saw an opportunity. Williams knew about the diplomatic tug of war for influence that Germany and Britain was fighting for in the Ottoman Empire, and using the Naval Mission to their advantage in this war could become a benefit for the British influence in the Ottoman Empire, if the Naval Mission was successful in aiding the Ottoman Empire during this war.

Admiral Hugh Pigot Williams met with Mehmed Bey on September 21, and both of the naval commanders sat down to discuss strategy on the matter of the navy. Williams proposed that the 1st and 2nd Fleets in Constantinople be consolidated along with the Smyrna detachment and the Salonika Detachment. This would give the Ottomans the majority of their fleet stationed in the Aegean Sea, and prevent the Italians from conducting any trade interdiction against the Ottoman Empire, thus preserving the Ottoman Empire’s economy throughout the war, and prevent any Italian attack within the Aegean Sea, and Northeastern Mediterranean Sea.


The Preveza Detachment that formed the Ottoman Adriatic Fleet was ordered to move towards Beirut, with Williams acknowledging that the Ottomans could do little but attack the Italians with their coastal batteries in the Adriatic. Instead Williams believed that consolidating the Preveza Detachment with the Beirut detachment would create a strong enough fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean to protect the Ottoman coast in the Levant as well. It was in the Red Sea, however where Williams wanted the Ottomans to go on the offensive. The Ottoman ships in the Red Sea were medium tier ships, however capable in their own right and even outnumbered the Italian Red Sea Fleet in the area. Therefore, the Ottoman Red Sea fleet under Korvet Kaptan (Fleet Captain) Hamid Pasha was ordered to blockade the Red Sea to any and all Italian warships or trading ships.

The compilation of these naval plans were called ‘Plan 1’ by Mehmed Bey and on September 25th, as war seemed likely the fleets were ordered to follow the plan. On September 29, the Ottoman destroyer Moha in the Red Sea sank an Italian transport ship carrying 120 troops, killing all aboard. The naval war had started.” [3]

Chapter 19 of A History of the Ottoman Navy by Sir John Rackham published in 1988 in The University of Oxford.



***

Footnotes:-

[1] – Much of the battle is otl, of course other than the fact that Bey has orders ittl and the forts are active, causing a massive difference in the battle outcome than otl.

[2] – The landing attempt at Benghazi and Derna were lightly defended otl itself, and were many times too weak. The ottoman lack of orders led to the surrender of the cities otl, however that is clearly not the case ittl.

[3] – Historically the Ottoman fleet in 1911 was not bad, it was in fact on many levels capable in its own right, however the sudden attack of the Italians rendered the Ottoman navy incapable of making any plans. As you can see, that is not the case here ittl.

 

[Sārthākā]

aight, time to give the turks some love.

 

[Sārthākā]

Ah no replies and love for the ottomans? 😅😐☹️🥺

 

[gral]

Ah no replies and love for the ottomans? 😅😐☹🥺

Not much to say from my part other than 'continue'. I don't know enough about the Ottoman reforms to really comment on(other than, well, even with the success in fighting the Italians, there's bound to be another wave of reaction against it sooner or later).

 

[Sārthākā]

Not much to say from my part other than 'continue'. I don't know enough about the Ottoman reforms to really comment on(other than, well, even with the success in fighting the Italians, there's bound to be another wave of reaction against it sooner or later).

Indeed, the aftereffects of all of this will be interesting.

 

[Sārthākā]

“As the battles for Tripoli continued on in the western parts of Libya, the Italians who had turned back after seeing the reinforcements of the Ottomans had returned to the bay in front of Tobruk harbor, intent on landing and claiming Cyrenaica, this time having a total strength of 3000 marines available with them. The defenses of Tobruk were given to Captain Mustafa Kemal leading the detachments of battalions of the 9th Infantry Division alongside a group of Libyan volunteers fighting under the banner of the Senussi Order under Al Mabri Yassen.

The defenses at Tobruk were basically non-existent in comparison to the major earthworks, forts and redoubts that defended Tripoli and Benghazi. The Ottoman government had never given much thought to the other cities of Libya other than Benghazi and Tripoli, and this was evident in the fact that other than the two aforementioned two cities, the others basically had no defense against the shore bombardment that the Italian Navy threw at the Ottomans in the area.

Therefore on October 12th, when the Italian navy showed itself on the shores of Tobruk, Captain Mustafa Kemal ordered a tactical withdrawal from Tobruk into the hills and countrysides and ordered that the wells outside the city be held by the detachments of the Senussi order and the 6th Battalion, whilst the remainder of his other forces would lay siege to Tobruk and throw the Italians back into the sea.

He also had good news in the form that the rest of the 9th Infantry Division were ready to be deployed to Tobruk from Bardiyah and would be able to reach and group up with Kemal’s forces within a week at most. Kemal was now faced with the task of holding the lines against the Italians in Tobruk for only a week until he could use his overwhelming advantage in numbers to assault the city and drive the Italians out of the city.

However on October 13th, the Italian soldiers came out of the city and captured the Nadura Hill in Mureyra Valley and were busy with reinforcements and digging trenches. Captain Mustafa Kemal foresaw that this movement from the Italians which would consolidate Italian troops outside of Tobruk would jeopardize his position. Thus, he ordered Ali Mabri Yassen to attack as soon as possible to overcome further Italian reinforcements on the strategic Nadura hill which overlooked Tobruk. Under the approval of Enver Bey, a prominent CUP military official in Cyrenaica, Turkish soldiers and Libyan volunteers were ordered to recapture the hill. The ottoman forces approached the hill just before dawn on October 15th, and besieged the hill, followed by heavy fire and an all out attack. The Italian soldiers were surprised and responded in a disorganized manner under the command of General Carlo Caneva, unable to do much without the surveillance of the canon fire. Italian positions were captured in two hours and the Italian regiments retreated back into Tobruk leaving behind precious munitions and guns, most prominently 6 machine guns.

Meanwhile, the other Ottoman forces under the command of Mustafa Kemal, consisting of a thousand soldiers, destroyed Italian reinforcements who were supporting Italian forces near the hill. After five hours of brutal slogging and fighting, the Italian attack was repulsed and the Italians were forced to retreat back into Tobruk.

By October 18th, the 9th Infantry Division arrived at Tobruk in their full, and with the superiority of number with him, Kemal ordered the city of Tobruk to be besieged as the Siege of Tobruk began in earnest.”

Mustafa Kemal: A Biography by Fahad Ahmed Khan, published in University of Angora, in 1978.​

“The Italian landing at Al-Khums had been unopposed and soon they swung to the west with the intention of destroying the tactical railroads connecting Benghazi and Tripoli and to join up with the beleaguered forces in Tripoli. However the amount of forces under the Italian army at Al-Khums was a scant 5,000 and the Senussi Order was given the order to stop them from reinforcing Tripoli, which if it could be done, may risk losing the wells of Bu Meliana, which would end the predicament that Italy found itself in Tripoli, unable to loot the water wares of the civilians, lest the Europeans act outraged, or sit down and die of thirst.

The Senussi Order managed to garner around 7,000 arab cavalry troops led by Ahmed Sharif to protect the Ottoman forces gathering next to Tripoli that were currently choking the Italians in the city.

Ahmed Sharif led his 7,000 cavalrymen through the northern slopes and hills and instead of attacking the incoming Italians head on, he instead tried to shadow them, and keep himself at a distance from the Italians instead hoping to ambush them when the most opportune moment showed itself. While a sound plan, the arrival of Italian airplanes disrupted this idea. The Italian aviators saw the Senussi conducting a shadowing movement and soon contacted the soldiers on the ground about the Senussi movement and the Italians on the ground were made aware of the danger they were in.

Nonetheless, Ahmed Sharif had not survived the dangerous deserts and colonial wars against the French and British by being an idiot. When he saw the planes overhead and the planes taking their pictures, he knew his plans were in tatters and instead switched to another strategy. He quickly redirected his troops to hide in the mountains and passes of Northern Libya, allowing the Italian ground troops to remain scared whilst the Senussi remained hidden even from the Italian planes.

By October 22nd, the Italian troops marching from Al-Khums resumed their march to Tripoli believing that the danger was over. The danger was far from over. Ahmed Sharif planned to attack the Italians the moment they entered the roads leading to Alaluas. Alaluas was next to sloping hills and a good amount of small rivers in the area and Ahmed Sharif suddenly attacked the marching slow moving Italians near Alaluas and conducted a cavalry charge at the surprised Italians and forced them back.

The small battle of Alaluas saw the Italians pushed back and with no other option in front of them, as the Italians were far from their supply depots, the Italians retreated back to Al-Khums with the intention of being reinforced them as Ahmed Sharif conducted multiple harassing attacks on the retreating Italians wearing them down bit by bit.”

From The War in the Sands, published in 1998 in the University of Angora.​

“On October 29th, 1911 about a month into the Italo-Ottoman War, the Italian fleet in the Ionian Sea after reinforcing the Italian Central Mediterranean Fleet began searching for Ottoman warships in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. At around 2 pm, or so, five Italian destroyers under the command of Prince Luigi Amedeo sighted three Ottoman gunboats near Preveza. Outnumbered, the Ottomans opened fire but soon chose to flee without making any hits. The torpedo boat, Tokat steered to the north whilst the Anatolia veered south. After several moments of firing, one of the Italian destroyers managed to sink the Tokat in which 9 sailors were killed, including the ship’s captain.

However the Anatolia managed to successfully retreat from the engagement and became docked at Preveza harbor, where the Ottoman defenses there were made aware of the fact that the Italians were in the vicinity and the Preveza Castle and all of its defenses were readied by the castle’s commanders. The castle contained 25 modern heavy artillery batteries and were capable of firing at long distances, and the commander of the castle, Reis Pasha was ordered to fire at anything ‘that was Italian’. The next morning the Italians under Prince Amedeo attacked the next day towards the castle. The gunboats at Preveza harbor were all sunk by the Italians however one of the five Italian destroyers were also sunk by the castle defenses before Prince Amedeo decided to retreat in good order, having successfully destroyed any hopes of Ottoman hit and run tactics in the Ionian Sea against the Italians.

But, whilst this was a naval defeat for the Ottomans in the Ionian Sea, the situation in the Red Sea was quite different than the Ionian Sea. Both sides had old decrepit ships in the area with second standard sailors, however in the region, the Ottomans held a significant numerical advantage against the Italians and on October 18th, the Ottoman government declared a blockade of Italian Eritrea and Italian Somalia declaring weapons, munitions, extra supply of food, to be contraband.

Nonetheless, as the Ottomans weren’t exactly a stellar naval power, not many really cared about the declaration and Giolitti was not exactly taken aback by the Ottoman declaration at all, stating that the Italian fleets in the area would be more than enough to take care of the Ottomans in the Red Sea and take out this so called blockade. The ottomans were intent on proving him wrong on that point.

In the beginning of November, 1911 the Italians had a fleet of 1 protected cruiser, 3 destroyers, and 2 gunboats in the Red Sea whilst the Ottomans had the torpedo Cruiser, Peyk-I-Sevket alongside 4 gunboats and 3 destroyers themselves, having a slight edge ready for service. The Italian naval commanders decided that in order to clear the way to Suez and stop the Ottoman disruption of transport ships, they would sally out and destroy the Ottoman fleet in good order.

However there was a problem. Ottoman spotters from the Yemeni Viyalet in Al-Hudayda and Kamaran had been ordered by the Sublime Porte to keep tabs on the Ottoman coastline in the region and they immediately responded back to Jeddah reporting the Italian fleet that was moving northwards. The Ottomans had learned the presence of the Italian ships, and the Ottoman fleet in the region set out to meet their Italian adversary. The Italians were taken by surprise when the Ottoman lead ships opened fire at a range of 3,500 yards and a tense naval battle soon followed. The Italian fleet was led by the small Italian protected cruiser Calabria and the ship paled in its armaments in comparison to the Peyk-i-Sevket which was a very modern ship, perhaps the most modern class in the entire Ottoman Navy, commissioned in 1908 and 1909. Her sister ship was in the Smyrna detachment of the Ottoman fleet.

The Peyk-i-Sevket soon rounded against the Calabria and after a quarter of an hour of intense naval bombardment the Peyk-i-Sevket managed to sink the Calabria and instead turned towards the other Ottoman ships intent on helping them, as the battle between the gunboats and destroyers between the Ottomans and the Italians remained a bloody stalemate.

The battle unfolded at Kunfuda bay near the Ottoman Hejaz coast and before the Peyk-i-Sevket entered the fray between the destroyers and gunboats both sides were fighting each other on equal terms. 3 Ottoman gunboats had been taken out of the fight (1 sunk) whilst on the same level 2 Italian gunboats were taken out of the fight (1 sunk) leaving both sides having 2 gunboats and 3 destroyers firing at each other.

At around 1 pm, the Peyk-i-sevket arrived to reinforce the Ottoman fleet and managed to force the gunboats to flee as the gunboats really could do nothing against the guns of a cruiser, and the destroyers of the Italians were now stuck between a rock and hard place as the Ottoman destroyers concentrated from the north and the gunboats aided them using covering fire. The Peyk-i-Sevket concentrated from behind. By 1:15 pm, they came to a decision to conduct a strategic withdrawal and started to disengage from the battle, and even though one destroyer was lost during the retreat, mainly due to one of the gunboat’s hitting the stern of the ship, the other two managed to retreat in good order and grouped up with the retreating Italian gunboats to return back to their naval bases in Eritrea.

The ottomans thus were able to lose one naval battle, and win another. The Ottomans were ecstatic about their victory in the Red Sea, at least for now, and decided to reinforce the Red Sea fleet with the Beirut Detachment, knowing that defending that portion of the Ottoman coasts with naval power was futile against the Italians and the 2 Destroyers and 3 gunboats from the region were immediately transferred to the Red Sea through the Suez Canal.

The Battle of Kunfuda Bay was an embarrassment for Italy. Giolitti came under significant scrutiny and so did the Ministry of Naval Affairs. In response Giolitti ordered the Italian Indian Ocean Fleet based in Mogadishu to move north to Eritrea to reinforce the Eritrean fleet and force the Ottoman fleet to stay bottled up in the Red Sea, dampening the effects of the Ottoman victory. Nonetheless, this forced around 7,000 Somali reinforcements to Libya to stay put.”

A Naval History of the Ottoman Empire by Sir Douglass Howe​

“Ibrahim Hakki Pasha was able to remain as Grand Vizier by the skin of his teeth mainly due to his good decision to prepare for the war against Italy, which gained him a lot of votes in his favor in the Chamber of Deputies. On October 27th, 1911 the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies also passed the ‘Bill of Bonds’ in which the government issued debt securities and war bonds to the people of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman economy was still within a recovery phase and the country was not capable of going into a full war economy. As such the Ottomans decided to sell retail bonds, at affordable prices for the citizens of the empire, at least within urban areas such as Salonika, Constantinople, Skopje, Tirana, Angora, Smyrna, Baghdad, Damascus and Jerusalem. The Ottoman government knew that it could not count on advances from the banks to meet the costs of war, and the Ottoman bond loans followed a pre-arranged plan and were issued half yearly intervals for a five year term.

The government also temporarily nationalized all military industries in the country and instead focused the production of rifles, mobile artillery and rations for the army, recognizing the logistical difficulties of the ottoman army, in these particular areas. Some stocks were sold by the government in order to raise funds as well. The Ottoman Public Debt Administration was asked by the government to create a credit launch by the government from the amount of money that the government had paid to the OPDA, and the OPDA was partially successful in the endeavor which did lighten a good amount of the economic strains on the Ottoman Empire.

Politically, Hakki Pasha created a War Cabinet, consisting of himself, the Grand Vizier, the Minister of War, Mahmud Shevket Pasha, the Minister of Naval Affairs, Ciballi Mehmed Bey, Ahmet Riza, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, and Ibrahim Temo, the leader of the Opposition.

Ahmet Riza, who was a gifted polymath and diplomat was assigned with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mehmed Rifat Pasha to conduct diplomatic meetings with the ambassadors to Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Britain and France to ensure their neutrality within the context of the war, and in the case of Britain, Riza was asked to find a favorable outcome to the Egyptian question in the war and the placement of orders for 2 dreadnoughts for the Ottoman Navy, for which the government had managed to scrape just enough money.

On the former, Riza was not successful, as Sir Gerard Lowther, the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire carefully danced around the issue and did not give a concrete answer to Riza regarding Egypt and its accessibility to Ottoman troops as a subject to the Sultan. However in regards to the Dreadnoughts, when presented with the money, Lowther agreed and two dreadnoughts were contracted in British dockyards to be built for the Ottoman Empire.

In terms of Egypt, the Khedive of Egypt, Abbas II, he was staunchly in favor of aiding the Ottomans. Abbas II called the Italian war in Libya ‘a national disgrace for moslems’ and instead tried to convince his british governor-general Sir Eldon Gorst to aid the Ottoman Empire in the war. Gorst and Abbas II had good relations, unlike Gorst’s predecessor Sir Cromer, and did cooperate with Egyptian authorities on many matters. However Gorst did not accept this idea from Abbas II stating that it would go against legislation from London and against direct orders, much to the disappointment of Abbas II. Nonetheless, whilst officially Abbas II remained at the sidelines, he did secretly aid the Ottoman Empire, turning a blind eye to Ottoman smugglers going through Egypt, not reporting them to the British, and sending ‘Religious Volunteers’ to fight in Libya in support of the Ottoman Empire. In order to deflect the Italian blockade of Ottoman goods, he also allowed the Ottoman Merchant Marine to use the Egyptian flag and stay at Egyptian ports. Much of these would be invaluable aid to the Ottoman War Effort.”

Excerpts from The Ottoman War in Libya​

 

[Sārthākā]

What do you guys think will be the effects of a stronger ottoman empire in the early 1910s and Balkans?

 

[ATP]

What do you guys think will be the effects of a stronger ottoman empire in the early 1910s and Balkans?

No Balkans wars.And if they were smart,they would not join war for any side,and as a result Russia would not fall to revolution.And both Turkey competitors - AH and Russia - would bleed themselves.
No armenian genocide,too - it was not only cryminal,but also stupid.

 

[Sārthākā]

Chapter 3: The Balkan Powder keg.

***

“The Ottoman Empire at the start of November, 1911 was at the crossroads. It had successfully reinforced Ottoman Libya, and whilst the Italians had got a toehold on Libya, the majority of the lands remained in Ottoman hands, the Italian troops remained cooped up in Tripoli, Al-Khums and Tobruk, all under siege from the Ottoman forces. The Egyptian Khedive Abbas II was secretly supporting the Ottomans, and Ottoman supplies were smuggled through Egypt multiple times to keep the troops supplied. Often times, Ottoman merchant marine in Constantinople would fly the Egyptian flag, sail down to Sidi Barrani and El Salloum and then smuggle the goods they had to Libya. The Egyptian government had also garnered around 5000 Egyptian troops as a volunteer force that were sent to Libya as well. In naval matters, the Ottomans had managed to gain a medium scale victory in the Red Sea and had prevented Italian reinforcements to come from Somalia and Eritrea, and had imposed a blockade on Italian goods on the Red Sea temporarily, knowing that when Italian naval reinforcements arrived, the fleet would have to sail back into harbor.

Meanwhile, within the Ottoman Ministry of War, Minister of War Mahmud Shevket Pasha was extremely busy with regards to the war. He was working with a project that had been an ambitious project of his since 1909. On the 2nd of December, 1909, Louis Bleriot and the Belgian pilot baron Pierre de Caters performed the first pilot aviation demonstration in the Ottoman Empire. After witnessing the growing importance of an air combat support branch, the Ottoman government decided to organize its own military aviation program, and for this purpose, officers were sent to Europe by the end of 1910 for pilot training, however they returned back to the Ottoman Empire due to financial constraints on the empire. Although without any guidelines, Mahmud Shevket Pasha had continued to encourage the idea of a military aviation program and in June, 1911 secret aviation written examinations were conducted. The passing aviators were then sent to Bleriot School in Paris, by the end of July 1911, to be trained to fly.


Now, the Ottoman Empire at the start of the Italo-Ottoman War had around 5 planes in their aviation corps, all of whom were stationed in Constantinople. The planes were sent to the Levant provinces in order to scout out in the sea for Italian warships. The scouts would be used to scout for Italian warships approaching the Eastern Mediterranean. They would then return back to base and tell the local defenses about the approaching Italians and the local defenders would ready their coastal defenses.

However in comparison to the Italians, who were using their planes with impunity in Libya, the Ottomans did not have any planes in Libya, and when news arrived to Mahmud Shevket Pasha about the utilization of planes by the Italians in their invasion of Libya, the necessity of an Ottoman aviation corps being an official part of the armed forces arose. In November 4th, it finally received approval from Ibrahim Hakki Pasha, and the Ottoman Air Corps was officially established on that day, boasting a total of 5 airplanes, 8 pilots and 26 logistics staff. Not exactly something to be scared off. Nonetheless, it was a start. The Air Corps was still under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War.

Mahmud Shevket Pasha and the Ottoman Ministry of War also had links with the Parisian aviation clubs and aviation producers, and on November 7th, an order was placed in the Bleriot aviation industry in Paris to produce 10 Bleriot XI Militaire which was a military version of the Bleriot XI plane. The Ottoman War Ministry was also looking into other planes from France and Britain, with the Ministry of War debating over the usage of the REP plane made by Robert Esnault-Pelterie. The government and ministry planned to send the planes to Libya by flying over the Eastern Mediterranean from Palestine.

The Ottoman Ministry of Navy was also pretty busy and doing their part for the war. The Ottoman Navy prior to the war had based its future plans based on the lessons learned from the Russo-Japanese War. The Ottomans did not have the money for a large fleet, however did have enough to start creating a medium-scale modern fleet. In 1909 a new naval program was put together called the 5 year plan intending to bring the dismal state of the Ottoman navy up to standards. This 5 year program was a 46 ship program, consisting of 6 Battleships, 4 scouts (cruisers), 20 destroyers, 6 submarines, and 2 minelayers alongside 1 training ship, 1 repair ship and 3 floating docks costing about 3.4 million pounds a year. The plan had been passed by the cabinet in early 1910. On the naval plan, the Ottoman Navy had made good progress in the auxiliary portion of the plan as by the start of the Italo-Ottoman War, they already had 1 training ship, 1 repair ship, 1 minelayer and 2 repair docks. In terms of the others, however the Ottomans were making slow progress. They had two pre-dreadnought battleships brought from Germany, and 4 new destroyers from the planned 20. They hadn’t even ordered one of the planned four cruisers.

Nonetheless the order of two dreadnoughts from Great Britain had also revived the issue of the 1909 Naval Plan and the Ministry of Naval Affairs was currently expanding the date of the plan from 1914 to 1915, with the intention of the remaining 2 battleships being entirely dreadnoughts and the cruisers all being light cruisers. The Naval Ministry saw no need for heavy cruisers for the navy, as the light and speedy focused modern Ottoman navy did not need slow moving heavy cruisers, at least in comparison to light cruisers. The remaining 16 destroyers however were subject to great debate. Not in the manner they would be built, or of what kind, but from where? The Cruisers and Dreadnoughts (the remaining ones anyway), were all being discussed with the British Embassy, with some progress, and however relying too much on the British to build their fleet wasn’t exactly what the Ottoman Empire thought was sustainable. Neither was it sustainable to ask more destroyers to be built by Germany. Germany already had a massive level of influence in the Ottoman Armed Forces, and in the navy, and increasing their influence was not on the checklist of the Ottoman government either.

However after much deliberation on part of the Naval Ministry it was surprisingly decided that 8 destroyers would be ordered from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, whilst the remaining 8 destroyers would be ordered from Germany, lowering the need of the Ottoman Empire to rely on Germany for naval matters by a good margin. The 6 submarines that the Ottomans wanted were all ordered from Austria-Hungary. The amount of time that the naval program would take was estimated to be somewhere between late 1914 to early 1916. The dreadnoughts ordered from Britain were all based on the Iron Duke Class dreadnoughts, whilst the light cruisers ordered from Britain were based on the Drake Class Armored Cruisers Class. The destroyers ordered from Germany and Austria-Hungary were all based on the Peyk-i-Sevket class destroyers, and the submarines ordered from Austria-Hungary were based on the Austro-Hungarian U u-boat series. The money being used was taken from the reserves, bonds, and some loans, though payments for many ships were to be conducted on a slow basis, not really creating a major problem at all.

Diplomatically, the Ottoman Empire was juggling multiple amounts of work to turn the situation in its favor. Historically, Russo-Ottoman relations had a calm period after the 1877-78 war, and relations had turned from hostile to neutral. As such, the Ottoman Empire really saw no need to talk with Russia more than necessary and Ottoman diplomats sat down with their Russian counterparts, in which they received confirmation that the Russian government would not be intervening in the war. The Ottoman Government also convened with the Ottoman Public Debt Administration or the OPDA to talk about economic affairs of the state. The Ottoman Empire had not been at war with any country which had a representative in the Ottoman Public Debt Administration ever since it was founded, and as such this was a peculiar time for the Ottoman Public Debt Administration, as Italian administrators, still worked in the administration, having not been informed about their government’s intention to go to war, and had been stranded in Constantinople. The Ottoman government argued that during times of war, individual debt owed by the government of the Ottoman Empire to the government of the Kingdom of Italy was possible, as it preserved the economic sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire. However other OPDA administrators, such as the British and French, as well as Austrians and Germans were hesitant about allowing a default on Ottoman debt owed to Italy, as it set a precedent with which the Ottoman government could negate on its debt. However it was agreed by the end of the negotiations on November 10, 1911 that the Ottoman government would have no ‘legal need to pay private Italian companies with debt repayment in the situation of war, and the Sublime Porte only owed money to the individual governments of the debt administration’. Using this loophole, the Ottoman government defaulted on it’s debts owed to private Italian companies, which amounted to 37% of the Italian held debt in the OPDA. The Italian administrators, were also asked to freeze their operations, as the Italian sector of the OPDA was temporarily frozen by the government. Alberto Theodli, the leader of the Italian Representation in the OPDA, was asked to leave the country politely and was offered passage through Austria-Hungary back to Italy. The reduction of 37% of its debts owed to Italy freed up a total of around 9 million pounds for the Ottoman government, and the money was immediately funneled into the armament industry of the country, whilst some of it was used to pay off some minor debts from the OPDA as well. [1]


In Berlin, the Ottoman Ambassador to Berlin, Osman Nizami Pasha was told by the German government that Germany had a formal obligation to Italy as a part of the Triple Alliance, however would find it ‘easier to persuade Italy to make peace, if she suffered military defeats on land with greater propensity’. This was a tacit promise from the Germans that should military operations go in favor of the Ottoman Empire in Tobruk or Tripoli, then the Germans would start diplomatic negotiations in Rome. This was good news. [2]

In the Balkans, the Ottomans had only taken one division, the 6th Infantry Division to be diverted to Libya. The other divisions of the Ottoman Army remained in place, however the Sublime Porte was becoming increasingly fearful of a Balkan coalition against the Porte whilst being simultaneously in a war with Italy. The Third Army consisting of the 5th, 17th, 18th Infantry Divisions and the 3rd Cavalry Division was an army suited to defense, however it would not be able to survive an onslaught from Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece combined. Mahmud Shevket Pasha asked the porte on November 19th, to conduct a mobilization of the troops in the Third Army. However this request was denied, as Hakki Pasha was fearful of provoking Bulgarian or Greek reaction. However nonetheless, with the fear that the Balkans could be up to something with Italy, Hakki Pasha nonetheless, allowed the Third Army to retreat from their normal barracks back to defensive positions that were highlighted in von der Goltz’s defensive plans for the Ottoman Empire.

A war between Greece and the Ottomans could still be diverted however. Greek diplomats and consulates were watching the war in Libya closely, intent on watching every Ottoman move. And the Ottomans wanted to use that to their advantage. Ibrahim Hakki Pasha in early 1911 had proposed the recognition of Crete as Greek territory in return for an economic pact with Greece. However with war’s prospect back then unlikely, the idea was shot down. However with a real war going on, the idea was revived again. Many asked why recognizing the de-facto situation on the ground in Crete, which had been annexed by Greece in 1908, would be any cause for the Greeks to enter a non-aggression pact and an economic pact. However the foreign minister of the Ottoman Empire, Gabriel Noradunkyan, an ethnic Armenian, put the case forward. The Cretan union with Greece was unrecognized by the Great Powers and neither was it recognized by Greece itself, with Cretan deputies not allowed in the Greek parliament. The Great Power’s police force on Crete still operated in Souda Bay flouting the Greek annexation of Crete. The Cretan question was also a huge political debate in Greece, and recognizing the Cretan Union with Greece would make the Great Powers recognize Crete as Greek, allowing Greek and foreign investment back into the island, and Cretan problem would be solved for the Greeks once and for all. Allowing the Greek’s access through the Persian Gulf was also an offer put forward by the cabinet, as it would allow the Greeks to expand their economic base, and increase their trade links in Asia, mainly with China and Japan.

On November 21st, the cabinet agreed to offer Greece a reconciliation pact. The pact offered the following points:-

• Ottoman recognition, thus worldwide recognition, of the Cretan Union with Greece.
• Greek companies, and merchant marine as well banks would be allowed full access to the Persian Gulf under the control of the Ottoman Empire.
• Rights of Greek citizens in the Ottoman Empire to be reaffirmed by the Sublime Porte.

In return the Ottoman government asked for a non-aggression pact and economic pact with the Kingdom of Greece. The next day on the 22nd, the Greek ambassador to the Sublime Porte, was called to the cabinet, where he was presented with the offer. The ambassador then contacted Prime Minister Venizelos about the offer. Prime Minister Venizelos of Greece had been pretty alarmed by the amount of orders the Ottoman government was throwing around for tis navy, which if successful, would erode Greek naval dominance in the Aegean away from Greece. However Venizelos also did not wish to be entangled in any event in the Balkans until the Greek Army and Navy were fully reorganized and modernized, as well as revitalizing the Greek economy. He had also offered a similar deal at the beginning of 1911 to the Ottomans, however without the added bonus of an economic pact which would potentially make the process of Greek economic revitalization better. In light of this, he took the offer from the Ottoman government very seriously and the ending days of November was fractious in Greece, as the Greek parliament debated on the question. The parliament was in favor of the Cretan question’s solution presented to them, as they had proposed this to the Ottoman government before, and the added bonus of an economic pact was a good one.

Finally on December 3rd, 1911, the Greek parliament agreed to the reconciliation pact. Ottoman and Greek diplomats met each other in Salonika on the 11th, where they signed the Treaty of Salonika. The Treaty of Salonika was a quiet affair, in order to hide it from the Italians, and the Russians as well. The terms of the treaty were:-

• The Ottoman Government, representing Sultan Mehmed V would recognize the Cretan Union as a legitimate act, thus placing Crete as a province of the Kingdom of Greece.
• The Ottoman Government would reaffirm the rights of the Greek population of the Ottoman Empire.
• The Ottoman Empire would give full access to the Persian gulf to Greek companies, Greek banks as well as the Greek Merchant Marine.
• The Greek merchant marine would be allowed to dock at Ottoman docks in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf freely until 1918 after which they would be offered a discounted price until 1925.
• The Greek government would sign a non-aggression pact with the Ottoman Empire which would remain in force until December 31, 1915.
• The Greek government would sign a new trade treaty with the Ottoman Empire up for renewal every 3 years.
• The greek government would allow free passage of Cretan muslims into the Ottoman Empire should they wish to do so.
• The treaty would be enforced in December 30, 1911.

The Treaty of Salonika would be ratified on December 23rd. Both sides were pretty happy with the deal. Venizelos had managed to end the Cretan question once and for all, and had received a major boost in his economic reforms for the nation with the economic concessions he got from the Ottoman Empire, as well as the new trading pact. The Ottomans had managed to stave off Greece as a possible belligerent in any future conflict in the Balkans. All of the Third Army’s forces could be deployed against Bulgaria and Serbia in any future war now.

However as diplomats battled with pens and words in the political arena, the soldiers were the ones changing the military situation on the ground.”

- Excerpts from ‘Ottoman Diplomacy in the War over Libya’

“On November 14th, Ahmed Sharif, bolstered by the reinforcements of around 1,200 Senussi troops from Fezzan, decided that attacking the Italians bogged down in Al-Khums and driving them back to the sea, was now best possible. If he could do so, he could veer west and aid Neshat Bey with the Siege of Tripoli and increase the likelihood of an Italian surrender there. As such, his troops began moving from their base of operations in Msallata and started to move north.

On November 17, his 8,200 troops managed to reach Al-Khums. He immediately began an attack on the Italian forward positions, using his cavalry’s mobile speed to get around Italian defenses and attacking them at the rear. He continued to use a strategy which entailed swinging around Italian defenses, using the cavalry to their advantage and then running off the moment Italian defenses consolidated. And then, rinse and repeat. Using this technique, he managed to wear down the forward defenses of the Italian troops with great effect, with many redoubts reporting soldiers sleeping and falling into unconsciousness with fatigue, as well as exposure from the unfamiliar climate of Libya. In November 20, Ahmed Sharif closed in for the kill.

Using his precious few horse drawn artillery guns for the first time in the entire attack, he managed to surprise the Italian defenders enough for his cavalry shock troops to plug the redoubts and forward positions of the Italian defenders again and started a massive attack from all directions at the Italian defenses. With low supplies, being cut off from Tripoli, and being caught by total surprise, the Italians were driven back from the surroundings back into the city of Al-Khums, dangerously ill-defended. Many Senussi cavalrymen broke through into the city and started thoroughly looting Italian barracks before Ahmed Sharif restored order. Sharif then ordered a massive attack from two directions, the south east and south west concentrating at Al-Khums, which resulted in a melee between Italian troops and Senussi cavalrymen in the area, which close lethal point blank firing. However the Senussi advantage in numbers was too much, and soon enough they started to push. By 2 pm, the Italian captain at Al-Khums, Augusto Abry gave the order for the Italian regiments to retreat back into the ships in harbor and retreat back into the sea and back to Italy, with a potential deployment to Tripoli later on.

By 6 pm, around 1200 Italians had been evacuated before the city of Al-Khums fell. Abry ordered the fleet to move after that, stranding 700 Italians in the city. Few of them were taken prisoner, despite Sharif’s best attempts at limiting massacres. To his surprise, much of the massacres were conducted by the population of Al-Khums against the Italian troops for their mistreatment of the Muslim population during their occupation.

As soon as he recuperated his troops, he swung west intent on reaching Tripoli by the end of the first week of December. However his actions would have huge consequences. With Al-Khums as an Italian foothold gone, only two areas were left in Libya in which the Italians could penetrate Libya. That would Tobruk and Tripoli. One was being held under siege, and the second was quickly starting to loose drinking water supplies.

At sea, the Italian Indian Ocean fleet started to move upwards into the Red Sea crossing the Bab al Mandab straits on December 13th, and started to reinforce the battered Italian Eritrean Fleet. Receiving news that the Italians were reinforcing the Red Sea, and knowing about their inability to contest the sea with Italian reinforcements, the Ottoman Red Sea fleet retreated back to Harbor. However even then, the Ottoman fleet was ordered to keep an eye out on Jeddah port, in order to save the ottoman fleet there from any attempts at destroying it from the Italians.”

- Excerpts from The War in the Sands.

“The string of defeats that the Italians faced had the Italian population back in the Italian peninsula coming up in arms. The government of Giolitti was becoming unpopular, and the socialists, who had retreated to simply writing anti-war articles, began rioting. San Giuliano, the Italian Foreign Minister had to conduct multiple meetings with foreign ambassadors to conduct what amounted to ‘these are small setbacks, nothing adverse will happen’. However, many Diplomats found this response lacking. In particular, British Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey, who had initially supported Italian ambitions in Libya, called Italy to be ‘temperate’ and warned that any proclamation of an annexation of Libya would make the situation in Libya ‘more complex and precipitous’.


Tensions between Austria and Italy had also been rising, and Austrian foreign minister Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal warned Italy to ‘make amends immediately so as to preserve the international status-quo before opportunity slipped from Italy’. By this point, Austria was clear in its belief that with the Italians only holding onto Tripoli and Tobruk, the military situation turning in favor of the Ottomans was only a question of time. As Italian intentions to extend the war into the Aegean became a possibility, both Aehrenthal and the German foreign minister, Alfred von Kilderen-Waechter both agitated for a mediated peace. However this time both the Austrian and German diplomats were surprised when they found that not only Italy rejected this mediation attempt, but also the Ottoman Empire. The proposed mediation basically handed over Fezzan and Tripolitania to Italy as protectorates whilst the Ottomans kept Cyrenaica. This was unacceptable to the Ottoman Empire, releasing a press statement:

……With military situation in Libya turning in favor of the Porte, it is not within the intention of the Porte to seek terms with Italy which will assume lost territory for the Porte. An equal peace, and status quo ante bellum are the only offers on the table….

In December 17th, Gabriel Noradunkyan, the Foreign Minister of the Ottoman Empire agreed to meet to go to Vienna to meet with Aehrenthal and the Italian attache there personally to start diplomatic negotiations, however he warned that unless the military situation turned decisively in favor of Italy, the Porte was not in the mood to discuss any concessions to Italy.

Resit Pasha, the Ottoman ambassador in Vienna, started to negotiate with the Italian ambassador to Vienna, Ambassador Averna about peace. Averna remained elusive and did not give a proper answer, wanting to wait it out until he received proper information from Rome on how to react. In Rome, General Spingaddi and Polio had given a document to King Emanuel III and Giolitti stating that if the Turks drove the Italians out of Tripoli and tobruk, then any hopes of winning the war was over, as the amphibious capability of Italy was in question, as well as the fact that the war was costing 110 million every month, rather than the thought 30 million, costing almost 4 times as much than what the Italian government had thought it would cost.

And the Ottomans were very much intent in pushing the Italians back out of Libya.”

Excerpts from the Great Concert of Europe in the 20th Century
***
Footnotes:-

[1] considered otl, did not go through.

[2] – exact offer given by the germans otl

***

 

[ATP]

Very probable.If i remember correctly,England in 1914 take over 2 battleships made for Turkey and another 2 for Greece.
P.S Considering Italy approach to Greece,i totally could see Greek-Turkey alliance here.Especially,that there is still greek minority in Anatolia,which live there from 2500 years or more.