re: #351 ProBosniaLiberal

Turkey’s Toy Boat

Kind of old, sorta flippant, but it’s entertaining:

A sample:

Behind these maneuverings was our good friend Winston Churchill. While Germany had to negotiate for the use of the Sultan Osman, Churchill realized the coveted boat was in his very backyard. Another day’s discussions ensued, and on July 30th, the Foreign Office opined that “we must let the Admiralty deal with this question as they consider necessary and afterwards make such defence of our action to Turkey as we can”[12] The European situation darkened that afternoon when Russia, Turkey’s most likely enemy, mobilized her armies. Bright and early the next morning (July 31st), Churchill secretly told Armstrong Whitworth not to hand over the ship. He added “there was no reason why the money due [800,000] should not be accepted.” The fact that Churchill was going to steal the battleship didn’t mean he would balk at accepting the Turks’ final payment!. At 2:30 pm, dinner time in Turkey, word came that the money had been deposited in a British bank. Minutes later, British sailors boarded the ship and shooed the Turkish nationals off. No one in Turkey was told.

Back in Turkey, von Wangenheim was still negotiating with the Turks: it was becoming clear this war would not be contained to the Balkans. Everyone was invited to the party. On midnight of July 31st, the Turkish could see the wolves circling with nary a friend in sight. By the next day they wouldn’t even have the Osman.