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                       SECRETS OF THE BOSPHORUS

              [Illustration: Ambassador Henry Morgenthau.

                            [_Frontispiece_
                                   ]




                            SECRETS OF THE
                               BOSPHORUS

                                  By

                      AMBASSADOR HENRY MORGENTHAU

                       CONSTANTINOPLE, 1913-1916

                        _With 19 Illustrations_

                       [Illustration: colophon]

                       LONDON: HUTCHINSON & CO.
                            PATERNOSTER ROW




                                ERRATA

                       [Corrected in this etext]


            Page 16, line 4, read “_without_” for _with_.

            Page 18, line 13, read “_Mexico_” for _Turkey_.

            Page 18, line 35, read “_Humann_” instead of _Enver_.


   PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE ANCHOR PRESS LTD. TIPTREE ESSEX.




                           PUBLISHERS’ NOTE


Ambassador Henry Morgenthau requires no introduction to the British
public, but the American diplomat who may with justice be termed _The
Searchlight of Truth at the Golden Horn_, and whose Reminiscences will
rank now and in years to come as historical documents of the first
importance, modestly obscures in his graphic and fascinating narrative
one fact which requires emphasising:

That by his shrewd grasp of enemy psychology, by his unswerving
impartiality, by his tact and dignity, and unflinching courage, he
frustrated again and again the evil designs and machinations of that
trio of arch-schemers and villains, Wangenheim, Talaat, and Enver,
against the Allies, and thus earned a debt of lasting gratitude from the
British people.




                                PREFACE


By this time the American people have probably become convinced that the
Germans deliberately planned the conquest of the world. Yet they
hesitate to convict on circumstantial evidence, and for this reason all
eye-witnesses to this, the greatest crime in modern history, should
volunteer their testimony.

I have therefore laid aside any scruples I had as to the propriety of
disclosing to my fellow-countrymen the facts which I learned while
representing them in Turkey. I acquired this knowledge as the servant of
the American people, and it is their property as much as it is mine.

I greatly regret that I have been obliged to omit an account of the
splendid activities of the American Missionary and Educational
Institutions in Turkey, but to do justice to this subject would require
a book by itself. I have had to omit the story of the Jews in Turkey for
the same reasons.

My thanks are due to my friend, Mr. Burton J. Hendrick, for the
invaluable assistance he has rendered in the preparation of the book.

                                           HENRY MORGENTHAU.

_October, 1918._




                               CONTENTS


CHAPTER                                                             PAGE

I. A GERMAN SUPERMAN AT CONSTANTINOPLE                                 1

II. THE “BOSS SYSTEM” IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
AND HOW IT PROVED USEFUL TO GERMANY                                   12

III. “THE PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE
KAISER”--WANGENHEIM OPPOSES THE SALE OF
AMERICAN WARSHIPS IN GREECE                                           26

IV. GERMANY MOBILISES THE TURKISH ARMY                                39

V. WANGENHEIM SMUGGLES THE “GOEBEN” AND THE
“BRESLAU” THROUGH THE DARDANELLES                                     44

VI. WANGENHEIM TELLS THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR
HOW THE KAISER STARTED THE WAR                                        53

VII. GERMANY’S PLANS FOR NEW TERRITORIES, COALING
STATIONS, AND INDEMNITIES                                             58

VIII. A CLASSIC INSTANCE OF GERMAN PROPAGANDA                         62

IX. GERMANY CLOSES THE DARDANELLES AND SO
SEPARATES RUSSIA FROM HER ALLIES                                      68

X. TURKEY’S ABROGATION OF THE CAPITULATIONS--ENVER
LIVING IN A PALACE, WITH PLENTY OF
MONEY AND AN IMPERIAL BRIDE                                           73

XI. GERMANY COMPELS TURKEY TO ENTER THE WAR                           80

XII. THE TURKS ATTEMPT TO TREAT ALIEN ENEMIES
DECENTLY, BUT THE GERMANS INSIST ON PERSECUTING THEM                  85

XIII. THE INVASION OF THE ZION SISTERS’ SCHOOL                        96

XIV. WANGENHEIM AND THE BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY--A
HOLY WAR THAT WAS MADE IN GERMANY                                    103

XV. DJEMAL, A TROUBLESOME MARK ANTONY--AN
EARLY GERMAN ATTEMPT TO GET A GERMAN
PEACE                                                                112

XVI. THE TURKS PREPARE TO FLEE FROM CONSTANTINOPLE
AND ESTABLISH A NEW CAPITAL IN ASIA
MINOR--THE ALLIED FLEET BOMBARDING THE
DARDANELLES                                                          121

XVII. ENVER AS THE MAN WHO DEMONSTRATED “THE
VULNERABILITY OF THE BRITISH FLEET”--OLD-FASHIONED
DEFENCES OF THE DARDANELLES                                          133

XVIII. THE ALLIED ARMADA SAILS AWAY, THOUGH ON THE
BRINK OF VICTORY                                                     143

XIX. A FIGHT FOR THREE THOUSAND CIVILIANS                            153

XX. MORE ADVENTURES OF THE FOREIGN RESIDENTS                         167

XXI. BULGARIA ON THE AUCTION BLOCK                                   173

XXII. THE TURK REVERTS TO THE ANCESTRAL TYPE                         180

XXIII. THE “REVOLUTION” AT VAN                                       193

XXIV. THE MURDER OF A NATION                                         198

XXV. TALAAT TELLS WHY HE “ANNIHILATES” THE ARMENIANS                 215

XXVI. ENVER PASHA DISCUSSES THE ARMENIANS                            226

XXVII. “I SHALL DO NOTHING FOR THE ARMENIANS,”
SAYS THE GERMAN AMBASSADOR                                           240

XXVIII. ENVER AGAIN MOVES FOR PEACE--FAREWELL TO
THE SULTAN AND TO TURKEY                                             253

XXIX. VON JAGOW, ZIMMERMAN, AND GERMAN-AMERICANS                     261




                             ILLUSTRATIONS


AMBASSADOR HENRY MORGENTHAU                                _Frontispiece_

BARON WANGENHEIM, GERMAN AMBASSADOR                     _facing page_ 32

M. TOCHEFF, BULGARIAN MINISTER AT CONSTANTINOPLE                      33

“GOEBEN” IN THE SEA OF MARMORA                                        48

“BRESLAU” (_left_) AT THE GOLDEN HORN                                 49

ENVER PASHA, MINISTER OF WAR                                         112

TALAAT PASHA, GRAND VIZIER                                           112

BUSTÁNY EFFENDI, EX-MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND
AGRICULTURE                                                          113

DJEMAL PASHA, MINISTER OF MARINE                                     113

MR. MORGENTHAU AND SIR LOUIS MALLET                                  116

SIR LOUIS MALLET AND M. BOMPARD                                      116

BEDRI BEY, PREFECT OF POLICE                                         117

TALAAT AND VON KÜHLMANN                                              117

SEDD-UL-BAHR FORTIFICATION                                           144

FORT DARDANOS                                                        145

MOHAMMED V., SULTAN OF TURKEY                                        176

TCHEMENLIK AND FORT ANADOLU HAMIDIÉ                                  177

SHEIK-UL-ISLAM PROCLAIMING A HOLY WAR                                192

THE BOSPHORUS, KEY TO THE BLACK SEA                                  193




                       Secrets of the Bosphorus




CHAPTER I

A GERMAN SUPERMAN AT CONSTANTINOPLE


I am writing these reminiscences of my ambassadorship at a moment when
Germany’s schemes in the Turkish Empire and the Near East have achieved
an apparent success. The Central Powers have disintegrated Russia, have
transformed the Baltic and the Black Seas into German lakes, and have
obtained a new route to the East by way of the Caucasus. Germany now
dominates Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania, and Turkey, and regards her
aspirations for a new Teutonic Empire, extending from the North Sea to
the Persian Gulf, as practically realised. The world now knows, though
it did not clearly understand this fact in 1914, that Germany
precipitated the war to destroy Serbia, seize control of the Balkan
nations, transform Turkey into a vassal state, and thus obtain a huge
oriental empire that would form the basis for unlimited world dominion.
Do these German aggressions in the East mean that this extensive
programme has succeeded?

As I look upon the new map, which shows Germany’s recent military and
diplomatic triumphs, my experiences in Constantinople take on a new
meaning. I now see the events of these twenty-six months as part of a
connected, definite story. The several individuals that moved upon the
scene now appear as players in a carefully staged, superbly managed
drama. I see clearly enough now that Germany had made all her plans for
world dominion and that the country to which I had been accredited as
American Ambassador was the foundation of the Kaiser’s whole political
and military structure. Had Germany not acquired control of
Constantinople in the early days of the war, it is not unlikely that
hostilities would have ended a few months after the battle of the Marne.
It was certainly an amazing fate that landed me in this great
headquarters of intrigue at the very moment when the plans of the
Kaiser, carefully pursued for a quarter of a century, were about to
achieve