The Ottoman Empire entered the First World War on October 29th 1914, when its navy attacked Russian ports on the Black Sea.
Turkey had signed a secret military alliance with Germany on August 2nd but initially stayed neutral as hostilities started between Europe’s great powers.
Declarations of war swiftly followed the Turkish naval raids on Sebastopol and other Russian ports, triggering new areas of conflict in the Caucasus, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Two former German warships were involved in the attacks. Both had only recently been transferred to the Ottoman Empire after arriving in Turkish waters from the Meditterranean, where they’d escaped Britain’s Royal Navy.
The Allied landings at Gallipoli in April 1915 were among the consequences of Turkey’s entry into the First World War.
Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News