Al Gillespie: Dying empire fanned flames of war

Australia and New Zealand remember the sacrifice their soldiers made. Photo / AP

Opinion

The victory medal for those who survived World War I proclaimed that their effort was part of the Great War for Civilisation. New Zealand contributed around 18,000 lives to this quest which would ultimately claim 10 million soldiers and 7 million civilians, after the governments of Europe lost control of a process whereby a bewildering set of commitments pulled them all into a black hole of industrialised killing.

The trigger was the assassination of the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand, on June 28, 1914. A chain reaction followed as the disagreement between Serbia and Austria sucked in all of their partners. The connection to Turkey began on August 1, when Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, refused to hand over to the Ottomans two new battleships despite being under contract to do so, requisitioning them both for the Royal Navy as a matter of national importance.

On August 2, the Ottomans concluded a secret treaty with Germany to fight against their shared enemy, Russia. Two days later on August 4, Britain, and then New Zealand, declared war on Germany after the Germans crossed the Belgian frontier in a pre-emptive strike in an attempt to attack the French from an unexpected direction. Britain responded because they had signed a treaty in 1839 which guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium.

Six weeks later at the end of October, the Ottomans began bombarding Russian ports. Russia then called upon France and Britain to assist them in accordance with their 1907 alliance whereby each had "a moral obligation" to help. France and Britain assisted by declaring war on the Ottoman Empire. The justification to defend a small and vulnerable Belgium was noble. The decision to use lethal force to assist in the war against the Ottomans was questionable, but not obnoxious.

Things changed in late March, 1915 when France, Britain and Russia concluded a secret agreement, promising Russia that they could have Constantinople and the Dardanelles, in the event of a final allied victory. A little over one month later on April 25, the Gallipoli campaign began during which more than 130,000 men would be killed, including 2779 Kiwis.

The day after the landings on April 26, the Allies enticed Italy to change sides, in another secret treaty whereby they were promised they too could have part of the Ottoman empire. Unbeknown to all those being killed, the leaders of the Allies had swapped from a justifiable approach, based on the defence of others, to one of raw imperialism based on the conquest and consumption of the land of the opposition.

This is not to suggest the target of consumption was any better. In addition to coveting the lands of Russia, the Ottoman government, that was rotten to the core, was trying to keep the lid on several insurgencies whereby populations wanted autonomy. In response, it became involved in acts of genocide against its own people.

The deportations and massacres that were common before the war accelerated after the Gallipoli landings. Within three years, between 300,000 and 1.8 million Armenians and other associated communities, which did not fit the desired Turkic-Islamic model, had been liquidated.

The intentions of the Allies and the Ottomans were not sustainable. When peace came, the Ottoman Empire splintered but the allies found their secret agreements were difficult to reconcile with the foundation goals of the League of Nations. The league attempted to pull some good out of what was a terrible situation.

This allowed for the birth of a modern and secular Turkey and the division of the Ottoman empire based on the principle that non-Turkish nationalities had the right to autonomy and independence, as guided by the victors. The cartographers then defined what became the territories of modern-day Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

One hundred years later, we are not only commemorating the memory of all the soldiers who were sacrificed on the beaches of the Ottoman Empire, we are also sending troops back into the region helping to defend the existence of some of these splinters, which fell out of the Great War for Civilisation.

• Al Gillespie is Pro Vice-Chancellor Research and Professor of Law at the University of Waikato.