The German-Ottoman Alliance and the Propaganda of the Jihad: between Fiction and Reality (1914-1918)
Abstract
The appeal to religious (pseudo-religious) language and symbols was characteristic of all participants of the global conflict which began in 1914. They allowed giving the interstate confrontation a new, "sacred" dimension and, at the same time, historical depth. This happened in the conditions of blurring the boundaries between the religious and non-religious, and was a manifestation of what is now described as the process of sacralization of politics and the politicization of religion. Often, however, there was not a return to tradition, and if to use Eric Hobsbaum's definition, but it's invention. Elements of a similar invention of the tradition can be seen in Ottoman "Great jihad" which promotion in the years of war will become one of the major tasks not only for Ottomans, but also for their German allies. Germans have seen in Islam "new weapon" which can be turned against their enemies.
The formed in Europe by that time ways of perception and description of Islam and Muslims, the rise of Pan-Islamism and a significant number of Muslim subjects among the main opponents of the German Empire (Russia, Britain and France) made such a strategy attractive in their eyes.
The efforts of the Germans and the Ottomans to promote Jihad did not yield the results they expected, but one hundred years after the end of the First World War, this aspect of German-Ottoman cooperation continues to be the subject of study and serious discussions among researchers.
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