Enver Pasha

Enver Pasha (then Enver Bey) depicted on a Young Turks flyer with the slogan "Long live the fatherland, long live the nation, long live liberty" written in Ottoman Turkish and French.

Enver, through the assistance of his uncle Halil Kut became the twelfth member of the Ottoman Freedom Society (OFS) while the organisation was still at an early phase of development.[20] The OFS merged later with the Paris-based Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) lead by Ahmed Rıza .[20] The CUP gained access to the Third Army through Enver.[20] In 1906 upon returning to Monastir (modern Bitola) Enver formed a CUP cell within the town and worked closely with an Ottoman officer Kâzım Karabekir.[20] Enver became the main figure in the CUP Monastir branch and he initiated Ottoman officers like Ahmet Niyazi bey and Eyüp Sabri into the CUP organisation.[21][20]

In the early twentieth century some prominent Young Turk members such as Enver developed a strong interest in the ideas of Gustave Le Bon.[22] For example, Enver saw deputies as mediocre and in reference to Le Bon he thought that as a collective mind they had the potential to become dangerous and be the same as a despotic leader.[23] As the CUP shifted away from the ideas of members who belonged to the old core of the organisation to those of the newer membership, this change assisted individuals like Enver in gaining a larger profile in the Young Turk movement.[24]

In Ohri (modern Ohrid) an armed band called the Special Muslim Organisation (SMO) composed mostly of notables was created in 1907 to protect local Muslims and fight Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) bands.[25] Enver along with Sabri recruited the SMO and turned it into the Ohri branch of the CUP with its band becoming the local CUP band.[26] CUP Internal headquarters proposed that Enver go form a CUP band in the countryside.[17] Approving the decision by the committee to assassinate his brother in law Lieutenant Colonel Ömer Nâzım, Enver under instructions from CUP headquarters traveled from Selanik to Tikveş on 26 June 1908 to establish a band.[17] CUP headquarters conferred upon Enver the title of "CUP Inspector General of Internal Organisation and Executive Forces".[17]

Postcard of Mehmed V flanked by Niyazi Bey (left) and Enver Bey (right)[27]

On July 3, 1908 Niyazi protesting the rule of Abdul Hamid II fled with his band from Resne (modern Resen) into the mountains where he initiated the Young Turk Revolution and issued a proclamation that called for the restoration of the constitution of 1876.[28] Following that example Enver in Tikveş and other officers such as Sabri in Ohri also went into the mountains and formed guerilla bands (çetes).[29][28] It is unclear whether the CUP had a fixed date for the revolution; in comments made in an interview following the event Enver stated that they planned for action on August 1908, yet events had forced them to begin the revolution at an earlier time.[30] For the revolt to get local support Enver and Niyazi played on fears of possible foreign intervention.[31] Enver led a band composed of volunteers and deserters.[32] For example, he allowed a deserter who had engaged in brigandage in areas west of the river Vardar to join his band at Tikveș.[26] Throughout the revolution, guerilla bands of both Enver and Niyazi consisted of Muslim (mostly Albanian) paramilitaries.[33]

Enver sent an ultimatum to the Inspector General on 11 July 1908 and demanded that within 48 hours Abdul Hamid II issue a decree for CUP members that had been arrested and sent to Constantinople to be freed.[32] He warned that if the ultimatum was not complied with by the Inspector General, he would refuse to accept any responsibility for future actions.[32] In Tikveș a handwritten appeal was distributed to locals calling for them to either stay neutral or join with him.[32] Enver possessed strong authority among fellow Muslims in the area where he resided and could communicate with them as he spoke both Albanian and Turkish.[34] During the revolution, Enver stayed in the homes of notables, and as a sign of respect they would kiss his hands since he had earlier saved them from an attack by an IMRO band.[35] He stated that the CUP had no support in the countryside apart from a few large landowners with CUP membership that lived in towns, yet they retained influence in their villages and were able to mobilise the population for the cause.[36] Whole settlements were enrolled into the CUP through councils of village elders convened by Enver in Turkish villages of the Tikveş region.[36] As the revolution spread by the third week and more officers deserted the army to join the cause, Enver and Niyazi got like minded officials and civilian notables to send multiple petitions to the Ottoman palace.[37] Enver wrote in his memoirs that while he still was involved in band activity in the days toward the end of the revolution he composed more detailed rules of engagement for use by paramilitary units and bands.[25] Facing a deteriorating situation in the Balkans on July 24 sultan Abdul Hamid II restored the constitution of 1876.[38]

Greek lithograph celebrating the 1908 revolution. Enver is depicted in the lower right hand corner with a large hammer freeing Lady Liberty from her chains.[39]

In the aftermath of the revolution Niyazi and Enver remained in the political background due to their youth and junior military ranks with both agreeing that photographs of them would not be distributed to the general public; however, this decision was rarely honoured.[40] Instead Niyazi and Enver as leaders of the revolution elevated their positions into near legendary status, with their images placed on postcards and distributed throughout the Ottoman state.[41][42] Toward the latter part of 1908, photographs of Niyazi and Enver had reached Constantinople and school children of the time played with masks on their faces that depicted the revolutionaries.[43] In other images produced of the time the sultan is presented in the centre flanked by Niyazi and Enver to either side.[27] As the actions of both men carried the appearance of initiating the revolution, Niyazi, an Albanian, and Enver, a Turk, later received popular acclaim as "heroes of freedom" (hürriyet kahramanları) and symbolised Albanian-Turkish cooperation.[44][45]

As a tribute to his role in the Young Turk Revolution that began the Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire, Niyazi is mentioned along with Enver in the March of the Deputies (Turkish: Mebusan Marşı or Meclis-i Mebusan Marşı), the anthem of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Ottoman parliament.[46][47] It was performed in 1909 upon the opening of the new parliament.[46][47] The fourth line of the anthem reads "Long live Niyazi, long live Enver" (Turkish: "Yaşasın Niyazi, yaşasın Enver").[47][48] The Ottoman newspaper Volkan, a strong supporter of the constitution published adulatory pieces about Enver and Niyazi in 1909.[49]

Following the revolution Enver rose within the ranks of the Ottoman military and had an important role within army committee relations.[50] By 1909 he was the military attaché at Berlin and formed personal ties with high ranking German state officials and the Kaiser.[50] It was during this time that Enver came to admire the culture of Germany and power of the German military.[50] He invited German officers to reform the Ottoman Army. In 1909 a reactionary conspiracy to organise a countercoup culminated in the 31 March Incident; the countercoup was put down.[50] Enver for a short time in April 1909 returned to Constantinople and joined the Action Army.[50] As such he took an active role in the suppression of the countercoup, which resulted in the overthrow of Abdul Hamid II, who was replaced by his brother Mehmed V, while the power of the CUP was consolidated.[50] Throughout the Young Turk era, Enver was a member of the CUP central committee from 1908 to 1918.[51]

Enver Bey in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War, 1911–12, wearing the style of hat named "Enveriye" after him.

In 1911, Italy launched an invasion of the Ottoman vilayet of Tripolitania (Trablus-i Garb, modern Libya), starting the Italo-Turkish War. Enver decided to join the defense of the province and left Berlin for Libya. There, he assumed the overall command after successfully mobilizing 20,000 troops.[52] Because of the outbreak of the Balkan Wars, however, Enver and other Ottoman generals in Libya were called back to Constantinople. This allowed Italy to take control of Libya. In 1912, thanks to his active role in the war, he was made lieutenant colonel.[53]

However, the loss of Libya cost the CUP in popularity, and it fell from government after rigging the 1912 elections (known as the Sopalı Seçimler, "Election of Clubs"), to be replaced by the Freedom and Accord Party (which was helped by its military arm, the Savior Officers, that denounced the CUP's actions during the 1912 elections).

Enver Bey (center) talking to the British attaché and press in Constantinople immediately after seizing power in the 1913 Raid on the Sublime Porte, also known as the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état.

In October 1912, the First Balkan War broke out, and the Ottoman armies suffered severe defeats at the hands of the Balkan League. These military reversals weakened the government, and gave the committee the chance to seize power from Freedom and Accord. In a coup in January 1913, Enver and CUP leader Mehmed Talaat regained power for the committee and introduced a triumvirate that came to be called the "Three Pashas" which included Enver, Talaat, and Ahmed Cemal Pasha). Turkey then withdrew from the peace negotiations then under way in London and did not sign the Treaty of London (1913), resuming the First Balkan War. The change in government did not change the fact that the war was lost, and the Ottoman Empire gave up almost all of its Balkan territory to the Balkan League. Afterwords the Grand Vizier Mahmud Shevket Pasha was assassinated, allowing the CUP to take full control over the empire.

In June 1913, however, the Second Balkan War broke out between the Balkan Allies. Enver Bey took advantage of the situation and led an army into Eastern Thrace, recovering Adrianople from the Bulgarians, who had concentrated their forces against the Serbs and Greeks, with the Treaty of Constantinople (1913). Enver is therefore recognised by some Turks as the "conqueror of Edirne".

In 1914, he became Minister of War in the cabinet of Said Halim Pasha, and married HIH Princess Emine Naciye Sultan (1898–1957), the daughter of Prince Süleyman, thus entering the royal family as a damat ("bridegroom" to the ruling House of Osman).

Enver Pasha in 1914

Enver Pasha assumed command of the Ottoman forces arrayed against the Russians in the Caucasus theatre. He wanted to encircle the Russians, force them out of Ottoman territory, and take back Kars and Batumi, which had been ceded after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. Enver thought of himself as a great military leader, while the German military adviser, Liman von Sanders, thought of him as incompetent.[55] Enver ordered a complex attack on the Russians, placed himself in personal control of the Third Army, and was utterly defeated at the Battle of Sarikamish in December 1914 – January 1915. His strategy seemed feasible on paper, but he had ignored external conditions, such as the terrain and the weather. Enver's army (118,000 men) was defeated by the Russian force (80,000 men), and in the subsequent retreat, tens of thousands of Turkish soldiers died. This was the single worst Ottoman defeat of World War I. On his return to Constantinople, Enver Pasha blamed his failure on his Armenian soldiers, although in January 1915, an Armenian named Hovannes had saved his life during a battle by carrying Enver through battle lines on his back.[56] Nonetheless, Enver Pasha later initiated the deportations and sporadic massacres of Western Armenians, culminating in the Armenian genocide.[57][58][59][60]

Wilhelm II and Enver Pasha in Gallipoli

After his defeat at Sarıkamısh, Enver returned to Istanbul (Constantinople) and took command of the Turkish forces around the capital. He was confident that the capital was safe from any Allied attacks.[61] The British and French were planning on forcing the approaches to Constantinople in the hope of knocking the Ottomans out of the war. A large Allied fleet assembled and staged an attack on the Dardanelles on 18 March 1915. The attack (the forerunner to the failed Gallipoli campaign) was a disaster, resulting in the loss of several ships. As a result, Enver turned over command to Liman von Sanders, who led the successful defence of Gallipoli. Enver then left to attend to pressing concerns on the Caucasus Front. Later, after many towns on the peninsula had been destroyed and women and children killed by the Allied bombardment, Enver proposed setting up a concentration camp for the remaining French and British citizens in the empire. Henry Morgenthau, the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, convinced Enver not to go through with this plan.[62]

Enver's plan for Falkenhayn’s Yildirim Army Group was to retake Baghdad, recently taken by Maude. This was nearly impossible for logistical reasons. Turkish troops were deserting freely, and when Enver visited Beirut in June 1917, soldiers were forbidden to be stationed along his route for fear that he would be assassinated. Lack of rolling stock meant that troops were often detrained at Damascus and marched south.[63]

Wilhelm II and Enver Pasha in 1917

During 1917, due to the Russian Revolution and subsequent Civil War, the Russian army in the Caucasus fell apart and dissolved. At the same time, the CUP managed to win the friendship of the Bolsheviks with the signing of the Ottoman-Russian friendship treaty (1 January 1918). Enver looked for victory when Russia withdrew from the Caucasus region. When Enver discussed his plans for taking over southern Russia, he ordered the creation of a new military force called the Army of Islam which would have no German officers. Enver's Army of Islam avoided Georgia and marched through Azerbaijan. The Third Army under Vehib Pasha was also moving forward to pre-war borders and towards the First Republic of Armenia, which formed the frontline in the Caucasus. General Tovmas Nazarbekian was the commander on the Caucasus front, and Andranik Ozanian took the command of Armenia within the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman advance was halted at the Battle of Sardarabad.

The Army of Islam, under the control of Nuri Pasha, moved forward and attacked Australian, New Zealand, British, and Canadian troops led by General Lionel Charles Dunsterville at Baku. General Dunsterville ordered the evacuation of the city on 14 September, after six weeks of occupation, and withdrew to Iran.[64] As the Army of Islam and their Azerbaijani allies entered the city on September 15 following the Battle of Baku, up to 30,000 Armenian civilians were massacred.

However, after the Armistice of Mudros between Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire on 30 October, Ottoman troops were obliged to withdraw and replaced by the Triple Entente. These conquests in the Caucasus counted for very little in the war as a whole but they did however ensure that Baku remained within the boundaries of Azerbaijan while a part of the Soviet Union and later as an independent nation.