During World War I, did the US and Ottoman Empire ever directly fight?

by George_S_Patton_III
Klarok

The short answer is "no".

A slightly longer answer is that the USA and Ottoman Empire never directly declared war on each other as the USA only declared war on Germany in April 1917 as a result of anger surrounding the Zimmerman Telegram (and unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic). Soon after, the Ottoman Empire broke off relations with the USA but war was never formally declared.

In Dec 1917, the USA declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The reality of separate declarations of war by USA were due to a variety of reasons. Firstly, the USA pursued a somewhat isolationist policy of non-intervention in the war for many years. Secondly, the USA was not part of the Triple Entente and the web of military alliances and obligations that bound the European states. The final reason was mixed public opinion that gradually shifted in favour of entry into the war as events unfolded.

Finally (and this is outside my area of knowledge), the Marine Corps Hymn famously refers to the "shores of Tripoli" which is a reference to the Barbary Wars. While those wars were fought against states within the Ottoman Empire, I don't believe that such conflict had any bearing on WW1 hostilities.

TheKingofKarmalot

No actually, in fact looking at a list of U.S war declarations you see declarations of war against the other central powers (Austria-Hungary and Germany) but never the Ottoman Empire. However, the Ottoman Empire did cut their relations with the United States under pressure from the Germans.

The reason the U.S didn't declare war against the Ottoman Empire is partly their anti-interventionist policy and also the simple fact that it there was almost no strategic benefit in doing so. The U.S declarations of war against the Germans on April of 1917 came amidst German violation of the "Sussex Agreement" in which they would restrict submarine attacks on civilians. However, the German military promptly ignored this agreement and resumed attacks anyways in the belief that it would hasten the end of the war. Additionally, the Germans sent the Zimmerman telegram to Mexico, which promised them territories taken from them in the Mexican-American war. When this information was revealed to the U.S it, of course, caused a large upstir and was another primary factor in the declaration of war against Germany. The declaration of war on Austria-Hungary in December of 1917 came amidst Austrian military victory in Italy that threatened to put Italy out of the war. Which would be a disadvantage to the U.S and her allies. The Ottoman Empire on the other had posed no such threat. Their fight had mostly focused on Ottoman territory itself, and by 1917 the British were managing the conflict just fine. I also suspect that the U.S and Woodrow Wilson understood that what they could lose a result of a declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire. The U.S had just ended a costly conflict with the Muslim minority in the Philippines in 1913. In the early stages, the Ottoman Empire helped the United States. The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1899 had written a letter to the Sulu Sultanate in which he called for them to put down their arms, the Moro obliged for the time being. However, the United States later violated treaties they had set in place with the Sulu's, causing a new breakout of conflict in 1904. This extended the rebellion until 1913. Having just ended this rebellion the United States must have been wary of another such conflict in the Philippines that would drain U.S resources. This would ring especially true in light of the Moro's acquiescence to he sultans letter as well as the fact that the Ottoman Empire declared a holy war on the Entente powers (although the declaration was mostly unsuccessful).

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/wwi

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL31133.pdf

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1135777.pdf

http://www.centenarynews.com/article/the-us-declares-war-on-austria-hungary-7-december-1917

https://books.google.com/books?id=PvVlS3ljx20C&pg=PA235&dq=Pleased+sultan+Philippines+khalif+Sulu+chiefs+understanding&hl=en#v=onepage&q=Pleased%20sultan%20Philippines%20khalif%20Sulu%20chiefs%20understanding&f=false

https://www.historytoday.com/david-motadel/jihad-1914