Abstract:

In the studies, it is stated that the wrong planning and practices of the German military mission of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War had a significant share in the defeats in the war. The most prominent figure is Liman von Sanders, the German military mission chief, and the fact that he served in important positions such as the First Army Command, the Fifth Army Command and the Lightning Armies Group Command during the war also supports the belief that he was involved in the defeats in the war. The reports written by Liman von Sanders in the German Military Archive and the Archive of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs were examined and the argument that he was not directly involved in the defeats in the war was emphasized. In his reports, strategic and more general errors were revealed rather than tactical errors in the military defeats of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War. In this context, our aim in the study was to bring a new perspective on the military defeats of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War through the German reports prepared by Liman von Sanders, and our study was carried out on the German reports and Turkish reference works.

Keywords: