The Ottoman Air Force Flight From Istanbul to Cairo in 1914
2009; Brill; Volume: 37; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1163/007865209x12555048403493
ISSN1877-8372
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Turkish Studies
ResumoIn 1910 the War Minister Mahmud ?evket Pasa requested reports from the military attaches of the War Ministry on the activities of European armies, including information on military organisations and aviation. To this end Enver Bey, who was to become War Minister and one of the Committee of Union and Progress triumvirate in charge of the empire at the beginning of the First World War, was sent to Germany, and Ali Fethi (Okyar), later to be the Turkish Republics ambassador in Paris, was sent to France. Having observed military manoeuvres in France, Fethi Bey prepared a report stressing the importance of aviation and the pressing need for an air force organisation within the Ottoman army.1 Following this report, General Chief of Staff engineer officer Lieutenant Colonel Sureyya Bey from the Second Division of the General Chief of Staff was appointed in June 1911 to head aviation oper ations.2 In order to gather more information about aviation, Sureyya Bey then requested that the military attaches in Berlin, Paris and Vienna obtain published books and documents on the subject.3 In the same period as the Ottomans were taking the first steps towards the creation of an air force, an event occurred which was to give a considerable impetus to this new endeavour. On 29 September 1911, Italy declared war on the Ottoman empire. Troops were despatched to Tripoli and Bengazi, then under Ottoman sovereignty, and the Italian fleet was sent to the Dardanelles. Despite the fact that the Ottomans performed very well on land, successfully engaging the Italians at Tripoli, it was the Italians who triumphed in the war,
Referência(s)