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The Baghdad Railway consisted of the already constructed Orient Express line and the newer Constantinople-Baghdad line through Turkey, Syria and Iraq. By this railway, Germans attempted to establish a port at the Persian GulfMcMurray (2001) page 2. The Ottoman Empire desired to maintain its control of Arabia and to expand its influence across the Red Sea into Egypt , which was controlled by Great Britain . The railway became a source of international disputes during the years immediately preceding World War I . Although it has been argued that they were resolved in 1914 before the war began, it has also been argued that the railroad was a leading Cause Of The First World War ( Jastrow , see literature below). Technical and diplomatic delays meant that by 1915 the railway was still 300 miles short of completion, severely limiting its use in the war itself. OVERVIEW If it had been completed the ''Berlin-Baghdad'' (and, ultimately, ''Basra'') railway linkages would have enabled transport and trade from Germany through a port on the Persian Gulf , from which trade goods and supplies could be exchanged directly with the farthest of the German Colonies , and the world. The journey home to Germany would give German industry direct supply of oil. This access to resources, with trade less affected by British control of shipping would have been beneficial to German economic interests. William Engdahl, A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order ISBN 0-7453-2310-3 The railway also threatened Russia, since it was accepted as axiomatic that political influence followed economic, and the railway was expected to extend Germany's economic influence towards the Caucasian frontier and into north Persia where Russia had a dominant share of the market. Evans (1990) Page 83. By the late 19th Century the Ottoman Empire was weak, and cheap imports from industrialised Europe and the effects of a disastrous war had resulted in the country's finances being controlled by the Ottoman Public Debt Administration, composed of and answerable to the Great Powers.Earle (1923) page 10 The Europeans saw great potential to exploit the resources of the weakening empire, irrigation could transform agriculture, there were chrome, antimony lead and zinc mines and some coal. Not least there was potentially vast amounts of oil. As early as 1871 a commission of experts studied the geology of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and reported plentiful oil of good quality, but commented that poor transportation made it doubtful these fields could compete with Russian and American ones. During 1901 a German report announced the region had a veritable "lake of petrolium" of almost inexhaustible supply.Earle (1923) page 14 In 1872 German railway engineer Wilhelm Von Pressel was retained by the Ottoman government to develop plans for railways in Turkey. However private enterprise would not build the railway without subsidies, so the Ottoman Government had to reserve part of its revenues to subsidise its construction, thus increasing its debt to the European powers. Earle (1923) page 19 The process of construction of a rail line from İstanbul to Baghdad begun during 1888 when a German arms dealer, Alfred von Kaulla (of Wurttemburger Vereinsbank) and Georg von Siemens, Managing director of Deutsche Bank , created a syndicate and obtained a concession from Turkish leaders to extend the Haydarpaşa - İzmit Railway to Ankara . Thus came into existence the Anatolian Railway Company (SCFOA, or ARC).Earle (1923) page 31 After the line to Ankara was completed during December 1892, railway workshops were built in Eskişehir and permission was obtained to construct a railway line from Ankara to Konya , and that line was completed in July 1896McMurray (2001) page 29. The two lines were the first two sections of the ''Baghdad Railway''. Another railroad built at the same time by German engineers was the Hejaz Railway , commissioned by Sultan Hamid II . |
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