The Ottoman Mobilization of Manpower in the First World War : Between Voluntarism and Resistance

__The Ottoman Mobilization of Manpower in the First World War__ offers a multi-faceted story of how the Ottoman Empire tried to cope with the challenges of permanent mobilization under total war conditions which reshaped state-society relations. By focusing mainly on Anatolia and the Muslim population, Mehmet Beşikci argues that the conditions of mobilization pushed the Ottoman state to become more centralized, authoritarian and nationalist, but the increasing dependence on people paradoxically also enlarged their space of action vis-a-vis state authority. The book demonstrates that people's responses to the state's needs constituted a wide spectrum ranging from voluntary support to open resistance such as desertion. In turn, the state responded by revising its mobilization policies and reformulating new mechanisms of control at the local level. The Ottoman Mobilization of Manpower in the First World War offers a multi-faceted story of how the Ottoman Empire tried to cope with the challenges of permanent mobilization under total war conditions which reshaped state-society relations. By focusing mainly on Anatolia and the Muslim population, Mehmet Beşikçi argues that the conditions of mobilization pushed the Ottoman state to become more centralized, authoritarian and nationalist, but the increasing dependence on people paradoxically also enlarged their space of action vis-à-vis state authority. The book demonstrates that people's responses to the state's needs constituted a wide spectrum ranging from voluntary support to open resistance such as desertion. In turn, the state responded by revising its mobilization policies and reformulating new mechanisms of control at the local level. Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 List of Tables 9 Abbreviations 11 Map 13 Introduction 15 Chapter One Organized Spontaneity: The Call to Arms in the Ottoman Public Sphere on the Eve of the War 47 Chapter Two Conscription under Total War Conditions 107 Chapter Three Volunteerism as a Relationship of Power: Volunteers in the Ottoman Army 171 Chapter Four Young Boys into Soldiers, the Home Front into Barracks: Attempts at Permanent Mobilization through Paramilitary Youth Organizations 217 Chapter Five The Limits of Ottoman Manpower Mobilization: The Problem of Desertion and Attempts to Remobilize 261 Conclusion 325 Bibliography 331 Index 351 The Ottoman Mobilization of Manpower in the First World War examines how the Ottoman Empire tried to cope with the challenges of permanent mobilization and how this process reshaped state-society relations in 1914-1918, focusing mainly on Anatolia and the Muslim population.