La Prima guerra mondiale e l’Impero ottomano. Le carte di Ernesto Mombelli, addetto militare italiano a Costantinopoli (1914-1915)

The role played by the Ottoman Empire during World War I is often neglected by the rich historiography of this conflict. However, some events, such as the battles of Gallipoli, the Caucasus and the Middle East will influence the political happenings of the post-war period. In the early 20th century, the Ottoman Empire was similar to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both were multinational systems, aggregates of populations hostile to each others. The Ottoman Empire owned the city of Constantinople and the Straits, two territories considered by the European powers as desired targets. The Empire was declining, shaken by internal conflicts and struggles for power between the political and military establishments. Analysing the reports submitted by Mombelli, it is clear that the government of Constantinople, on the eve of the First World War, considered very important the relations with France, Britain and Germany. This arises also from the attempts of rapprochement made towards London and Paris. But when an agreement with these two of the Entente power sturned out to be impossible, the Ottoman government addressed to Germany. There were already close relationships with Germany concerning military cooperation, which led to the reform of the Ottoman military system. The official Turkish historiography of World War One is focused not only on this conflict but also in the Greco-Turkish war which is called also the war for national indipendence wich ended with the treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Besides Gallipoli, other battles were equally celebrated for example the one at Sarıkamış where the troops of Enver Pascià left on the battlefield eight thousand casualties. The story of this battle was often used by Kemalists in order to underline Enver’s faults. The historiography commented in this way the end of the war: We have not lost the war, our allies have been defeated! Ongoing studies are investigating the interpretation of the following years, always analysing the reports of the Italian military attaché, which represents an original source containing a very big deal of information.