Military-economic relationship
Trade Activities of German Armaments Industry
In the Ottoman Market
By Naci Yorulmaz
Free University, BerlinGermany
Abstract
At the beginning of the 19th century Ottoman Empire was “self-sufficient in its armaments production” but afterwards by the middle years of the nineteenth century the empire could not escape the consequences of the technological change in the defense industry and had become completely dependent on foreign arms suppliers. Because of dependency of the Ottomans on imports increased the financial burden, and opened another door to “economic penetration” by the European Powers.
In the eve of the World War I the Ottoman favored the Germans for the army orders. The reasons for this preference were, as indicated in many other researches as well, not due to the higher quality or lower price of their products compared to the other companies. Instead, the political relationships between the two Empires, along with some forms of private acquaintances, were decisive in the relative inclination towards German companies.
The expansion of German military influence in Turkey went hand in hand with commercial influence. At this point it is briefly worth examining the claim that the trade related military technological associations on the eve of the First World War triggered in a closer economic and political relationship between two countries after the war until today.
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