2026/07/10 by Mehmet Beşikçi · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Ottoman and Turkish Studies #Turkey's Politics and Society #World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact
paper · doi:10.1093/9780198969631.003.0014
openalex publication_date 2026/07/10 · openalex created_date 2026/07/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Abstract This chapter presents a multi-layered profile of Ottoman enlisted men during the war. It essentially consists of two sections. First, it summarises the Ottoman manpower policies, and delineates some general characteristics of the mobilised soldiers in the First World War. In light of new research and recent archival findings, it analyses the composition of the Ottoman enlisted men in statistical, demographic, geographic, religious, and ethnic terms. It argues that the infrastructural and legal revisions which came after the Balkan Wars made the Ottoman Army more cosmopolitan (i.e. more multi-religious and multi-ethnic); yet, it also became more discriminatory. Second, it examines the personal experiences of Ottoman conscript soldiers in the war by using their own personal narratives, or ‘ego-documents’ (diaries, memoirs, and letters). Based on this material, the chapter tries to answer such questions as: How did Ottoman enlisted men respond to the announcement of mobilisation? Did they really see the war as a meaningful and sacred event, as propagated by the official war policies? What meaning(s) did they attribute to the Ottoman entry into the war? How did they cope with the difficulties at the front? In this sense, the chapter presents a ‘from below’ approach to the Ottoman military experience in the First World War.