Mavi Boncuk |
Equestrian portrait of Otto Liman von Sanders in a picture taken between circa 1910 and circa 1915. Probably before the Kassel Ottoneum.
Generalleutnant Otto Liman von Sanders (February 17, 1855 – August 22, 1929) was a German general who served as adviser and military commander for the Ottoman Empire during World War I. He was born in Stolp in Pomerania region in Germany. His father was a Jewish nobleman. Like many other Prussians from aristocratic families, he joined the military and rose through the ranks to Lieutenant General. Like several Prussian generals before him (e.g., Von Moltke and Baron von der Goltz), the unpopular Liman served in numerous staff and divisional commands before being appointed director of a German military mission to Turkey in 1913 intended to reorganise the army of the Ottoman Empire.
A portrait of Otto Liman von Sanders taken in 1914. As commander of the German Military Mission, Otto von Sanders was given the rank of Turkish marshal and command of the First Army Corps. Under his guidance the mission provided an infusion of experience and professionalism that had previously been lacking in the Turkish Army. Specialist troops, artillery units, armaments and other military supplies were provided as part of this alliance.
A portrait of Otto Liman von Sanders taken in 1914. He is wearing Turkish fez and Pour le Mérite in his neck.
A portrait of Otto Liman von Sanders taken in 1916. He is wearing Turkish fez and Pour le Mérite in his neck.
Otto Liman von Sanders (sitting, 3rd from right) with Turkish officers, 1914. Depicted in this picture: Hüseyin Rauf Bey, chief of staff of the ottoman admirality; Vehib Pasha, Commander of the south group (Gallipoli); Esat Pasha, Commander of the north group (Gallipoli); Süleyman Pasha, head of the medical service; and Cevat Pasha, military governor of İstanbul.
In 1918, the last year of the war, Liman von Sanders took over command of the Ottoman army during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, replacing the German General Erich von Falkenhayn who had been defeated by British General Allenby at the end of 1917. Liman was hampered by the significant decline in power of the Ottoman army. His forces were unable to do anything more than occupy defensive positions and wait for the British attack. The attack was a long time in coming, but when General Allenby finally unleashed his army, the entire Ottoman army was destroyed in a week of fighting (see the Battle of Megiddo).
In the rout, Liman was nearly captured by British soldiers. After the war ended he was arrested in Malta in February 1919 on charges of having committed war crimes, but he was released six months later. He retired from the German army that year.
In 1927 he published a book he had written in captivity in Malta about his experiences before and during the war (there is an English translation). Two years later Otto Liman von Sanders died in Munich at the age of seventy-four.
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