The Ottoman Empire fought the First World War for the sake of survival in the short term and independence and security in the long. Its diplomatic, territorial, economic, and domestic war aims were shaped to this end. Its military strategy acknowledged that it was an auxiliary, and that the war would be won or lost by its German and Austro-Hungarian allies. It envisaged an eventual peace which would enhance its standing within a European-dominated international system.

From start to finish, the Ottoman government’s working assumption was that even in the event of victory, peace would be negotiated, not dictated, and that Britain, Russia, and France would survive as Great Powers. Hence its concern to ensure that its alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary should outlast the war. Hence, too, its concern to induce Germany and Austria-Hungary to endorse its abrogation of the capitulations and other restrictive treaties in advance of any peace conference, and to obtain assurances that its allies would entertain no peace proposals which might compromise the Ottoman Empire’s sovereign independence and territorial integrity. This was a concern much reinforced by the substantial losses of territory Ottoman forces suffered in Anatolia and the Fertile Crescent during the campaigns of 1916 and 1917.For their part, Germany and Austria-Hungary were periodically disturbed by rumours that the Ottoman government might seek a separate peace with the Entente; these fears were exaggerated. Admittedly, in 1917 and 1918 the British did put out feelers to the Ottoman Empire, just as they put out feelers to Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. It seems doubtful that the Ottoman leadership took these contacts seriously, not least because the terms the British were prepared to offer, demanding the effective surrender of Arabia, the Fertile Crescent and “Armenia”, were such that only a defeated power could have contemplated. The contacts never reached the stage of negotiation and eventually petered out.The Ottoman government held to its view that the war would be won or lost in Europe and stood by its allies until Bulgaria’s defection forced it to conclude an armistice, shortly before Austria-Hungary dissolved and Germany itself sought an end to hostilities.