Customer Reviews

Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War (Contributions in Military Studies)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I believe that Mr. Erickson had a great job by writing this book. He had made an outstanding resarch and analysis about Ottoman Empire and its army in the World War I. The strategies and combats in the war have been explained with every single detail. He also wrote about Mustafa K Ataturk, the founder of Modern Turkey, his famous quote "I don't order you to attack, I order you to die", which inspired the title of this book. I can truly say that this book is one of my favorite books. For non-native English speakers, I can easily say that it is not a difficult book to read.

Colonel Erickson has written an extraordinary book that provided, for the first time, a comprehensive chronicle of the often misunderstood Turkish Army of the Great War. This book belongs in the bookcase of all students of that tumultuous period. No other book exists that contains such a valuable amount of accurate information and explainations, including the much sought-after Orders of Battle with firm numbers that are unattainable elsewhere. This inside view sheds new light on famous battles, such as that of Gallipoli, often down to the last remaining artillery shells. The facination has been contageous. The cost is well worth it, in any currency.

This is a really great book, superior in every aspect. For some unknown reasons, many people believe the WW1 is nothing but the Trench Warfare. However, there have been other battles on the Turkish Front, none of them being less impressive than the ones in Europe.
The book gives a good idea about the Turkish forces during the WW1. It has the honor of being the first serious review in English language and I hope it will stimulate further research.
I am glad I bought this book. The price appears to be high, but turns out to be reasonable in comparison to the value, as there is no way to reach this information elsewhere.
Congratulations and thanks to Mr. Erickson.

What a remarkable study and research from Mr. Erickson. I gave 5 stars mainly because of the extensive research done by the author which ranks as number one on the subject. The details of every single action and battle that the Turkish Army was involved in WWI were carefully selected and tailored. Probably the most comprehensible book written on this subject except the official archives. Statistical information, references from eye withnesses, technical details of the combat units all available in this book. Do not purchase it if you are looking for a rather easy reading war memoirs. Can there be more to be said? Yes but still the book fills a gap. This is a professional work with great tactical detail. A must for every military history buff.

It is the first English written military history book about WWI from the Turkish sources. So its giving the story from the other side of the front.
Even though author did not use original archives documents he still did a very good job. He managed to draw a face for the Turkish soldiers in opposition to other works.
I strongly advise it for everybody who wants to learn more than romantic Lawrence of Arabia stories.

The author asks the following questions above:
"Have you ever wondered why the Turks were still in the field in late 1918? The historiography of the war fails to answer this question. The simple fact is that their army was much more effective than is generally thought. They fought a three (and at times a four and five) front war for four years. They did not collapse (as did the Austro-Hungarians, the Russians, the Bulgarians, and others). Their POW rate was very low throughout most of the war. They fought outnumbered in almost every battle and they suffered huge casualties. Overall, the fighting history of the Ottoman Army is a remarkable story. "Ordered To Die" seeks to explain exactly how the Turks went about their war and why they were often successful. Indeed they were a very effective army".

Well, those four or five fronts were a long way from their opponents' supply lines (and from their own in several cases, mind you), so their enemies couldn't bring their full force to bear; not to mention being a relative backwater to the Western allies in a World War. Bear in mind the Turkish army's collapse in the Balkan War a few years earlier. However, the Turkish army was extremely tenacious in combat, and did suffer horrendous casualties, but the Turkish high command frittered away their resources in poorly conceived offensive operations, as this book makes clear. The British high command doesn't come out of it too well either, in the early part of the war, but that is no secret.

This book is based on mainly Turkish-language sources; the author is a former NATO officer attached to the modern Turkish army, and received much help from his former colleagues in accessing Turkish archives. It is NOT a biased account of the Turkish army at war, however, and the author checks numbers and facts against other sources. he does offer corrections to many generally accepted figures from previously unquoted Turkish accounts, and provides corroborating references.

The chapters are:
1. Army on the Brink - p1
2. Plans - p15
3. The Early Offensives, November 1914-March 1915 - p51
4. Under Attack, April 1915-January 1916 - p75
5. High Tide, January-December 1916 - p119
6. Strategic Pause, January-December 1917 - p159
7. End of Empire, January-November 1918 - p179
8. Conclusion - p207
Appendices - pp217-250
Bibliography & index.

The maps are disappointing, being taken from the Turkish General Staff history they are relatively small and undetailed; the Turkish names are not a problem, but the lack of detail doesn't help in understanding what is being represented. One star demerit.

The Foreword by the Chief of the Turkish General Staff says "...While we in Turkey may disagree with some of his fine points in this book, especially with the parts of the book which contain some assessments made by some academicians on the Armenian rebellion, we still think that his account is fairly balanced and objective". I agree, and recommend this book to anyone interested in the Turkish side of the hill in the First World War.

I borrowed this book from a library.

For those who are interested, there is a good little boardgame on this subject - Ottoman Sunset - available from Victory Point Games (Victorypointgames dot com).

Thorough history of the Ottoman involvement in the Great war from the Turkish perspective. Extensive use of Turkish sources strengthens the book. lack of comparative analysis weakens it.

Overall, a good local history.

I have ordered the book as soon as I have seen it on Amazon`s listings in spite of its huge price. The book is alone in the field. There are no other works in English about Ottoman adventure in World War I. This book unfortunately fails to fill the gap either. The research is not comprehensive enough to be fullfilling. I am from Black Sea and have first degree information about the Russian invasion and the uprisings of Christian minorites. There is nothing new about the subject in this book either. For instance, the fact that Black Sea shore road is built by Russians is not mentioned in this book although it was in several English books I have read. The book merely and shortly repeats european comments on minorities and I still wonder about the what really happened between Turks and Christians. The same is valid with Kurds and Arabs. The book simply stays clear of real arguments by solely stating the distribution of Ottoman forces during World War I. The only success of the book is about Enver`s Sarikamis adventure. Even there failing to determine whow many soldiers lost and why???? The author does not even try to depict how was the human condition during the time in Asia Minor. The area is still virgin and I will still rely on my grand grand father`s version of human suffering in Asia Minor as my main source of information as they give more realistic picture of uman condition of the time. I advice the eager reader to Alan Moorehead`s Gallipoli for a real account of Gallipoli in particular but Turks still fail to write the history of their own except over-glorifying a single figure for what they think as history writing.

It is easy to read. It is based on secondary sources such as Turkish official histories and staff studies. It is a useful book if you don't read Turkish.

Some of the lessons from the book are very relevant today.

- The best Turkish corps at the start of the war was the one that survived the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 (III Corps). It was the only one that mobilised during the time indicated in the mobilisation plan. It was also most efficient in action. Organisational structures matter; if you create new organisations it takes time for them to become as efficient as existing ones.

- Because of disconnections in the Turkish railway network, troops suffered high losses to DNBI deploying from Istambul to Palestine and Iraq. Deploying troops accross European railway networks to Galicia did not result in similar losses.

- The strength of the Turkish Army was in its Turkish language troops. Arabic-speaking troops recruited in Iraq, Palestine and Syria did not perform as well (the book does not explore why this was the case - though it is consistent with more recent conflicts).