The Unity of Opposites: The Image of the Turks and the Germans According to the Records of British War Prisoners after the Siege of Kut al-Amara Cover Image

Karşıtların Birliği: Kûtü’l-Amâre Kuşatması Sonrası İngiliz Savaş Esirlerinin Kayıt-larında Türkler ve Almanlar
The Unity of Opposites: The Image of the Turks and the Germans According to the Records of British War Prisoners after the Siege of Kut al-Amara

Author(s): Elnura Azizova
Subject(s): Military history, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919), The Ottoman Empire
Published by: Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi İlahyat Fakültesi
Keywords: History of Islam; World War I; Ottomans; Kut al-Amara; The Image of The Turks; The Image of The Germans; English Prisoners; Memoir;

Summary/Abstract: England, known as “the empire without sun settling down” and being among the final winners of the World War I (1914-1918), had one of the heaviest defeats of its history against the Ottoman Empire in the Kut al-Amara, which happened on 29 April 1916 close to Baghdad. Following the defeat of Kut al-Amara, which was the most important war trauma for England during the World War I, the Turks and Germans, as winner side of the battle were evaluated by British prisoners from military, political, cultural and socio-psychological aspects in their memories. Content analysis method is used in the article for qualitative evalution of the data related to the Turkish and German image reflected in the memories of British prisoners after the siege of Kut al-Amara. The alliance between Turks and Germans is regarded as contrast in terms of important elements as national and ethnic identity, language, religion and culture in the main sources of the research as My Compain by Charles Townshend, Besieged in Kut and After by Barber, A Kut Prisoner by Bishop, In Kut and Captivity with the Sixth Indian Division by Sandes, The Secrets of a Kuttite by Mousley which occationally use exaggerated language and the subjective information due to the impact of traumatic defeat.

  • Issue Year: 23/2019
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 1167-1188
  • Page Count: 22
  • Language: Turkish