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Ernst Jäckh and the Search for German Cultural Hegemony in the Ottoman Empire

Griffin, George William, III

Abstract Details

2009, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, German/History (dual).
This thesis assesses German involvement in the Ottoman Empire through the role of the German cultural impresario Ernst Jäckh, who worked as an academic and publicist in Germany, Turkey, Great Britain, and the United States, and became the central figure in promoting a strategic German-Turkish alliance in the years before the First World War. A confidant of Friedrich Naumann, the champion of German soft power imperialism in Central Europe, Jäckh advocated the using “Peaceful Imperialism” to build cultural bonds between Germans and Turks through intercultural exchange, building a modern infrastructure and education system, and reorganizing the military. This would give Germany a needed ally in the region without the burdens of direct colonial rule. The thesis draws on monographs and Jäckh's extensive published and unpublished papers to provide a general history of German involvement in the Ottoman Empire. It further addresses German “Peaceful Imperialism,” German involvement in the Armenian genocide, and the role of German liberals during the Wilhelmine era. Jäckh and other liberal figures involved in Wilhelmine “Peaceful Imperialism” supported German nationalism even though many would later support a democratic Germany. Moreover, “Peaceful Imperialism” anticipated the soft power nation building of great powers in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The question of German culpability in the Armenian genocide remains inconclusive. Some Germans supported or ignored the liquidation of the Armenians while others opposed it and were sympathetic to the Armenians. There is, however, a link between völkisch ideas and genocide in Germany and Turkey. Long before National Socialism, cultural and political elites could not imagine peaceful co-existence of ethnic groups in one polity, envisioning future wars in which one nation vanquishes another. While German involvement in the Ottoman Empire was only one possible source of the idea of a mono-ethnic Turkish state (realized after the empire's demise), the Armenian genocide involved some tactics that the Germans had used against indigenous peoples in Southwest Africa.
Douglas Forsyth, PhD (Committee Chair)
Geoffrey Howes, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
Beth Griech-Polelle, PhD (Committee Member)
Christina Guenther, PhD (Committee Member)
93 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Griffin, III, G. W. (2009). Ernst Jäckh and the Search for German Cultural Hegemony in the Ottoman Empire [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1245518955

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Griffin, III, George. Ernst Jäckh and the Search for German Cultural Hegemony in the Ottoman Empire. 2009. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1245518955.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Griffin, III, George. "Ernst Jäckh and the Search for German Cultural Hegemony in the Ottoman Empire." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1245518955

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)