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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 November 2022
When World War I broke out in Europe, the British might have been expected to do all they could to attract the Ottoman Empire to their side. Having the Ottomans as allies would have been of great advantage to the British: the oil fields of Iran and the Suez Canal would have been protected without British effort or cost. The Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits would have been open to supply Russia. Failing an alliance, the British could hope for an Ottoman neutrality that would free British and Russian troops for battles in Europe. The questions for the British was what could they offer the Ottomans in return for alliance or neutrality and, for the Ottomans, whether British promises could be trusted.
The answer to the question of what the British would offer the Ottomans was simple – nothing. The British were stymied by their past actions, the true intentions of British politicians and popular feeling in Britain. One thing that could easily have been promised to the Ottomans was possession of the Aegean Islands, at least those closest to the mainland of Anatolia, but Greece was sacrosanct to the British. The British would never relinquish their own possessions and protectorates in Arabia, and surely not Egypt. Western Iran and the Caucasus were held by their Russian allies. Most of Macedonia was part of Serbia and Greece; British and Russian sympathy for the Serbs and Greeks would not allow any part of their new conquests to be taken away from them.
There were some carrots that the British might offer: first among these was money. The Ottomans were in a perpetual financial bind. Indeed, it was the provision of German gold that finally committed the Ottomans to the war. The long-sought increase in Ottoman customs duty, which Britain had singlehandedly opposed, might have been granted. Foreign Secretary Grey refused. The British could have accepted the abolition of the Capitulations. Grey again refused. He offered only vague assurances that abrogation might be considered in the future.
Ambassador Mallet
The Foreign Office replaced Ambassador Lowther and Chargé Marling with a much more able man, Louis du Pan Mallet.
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