As the Great War began, the Ottoman Empire remained what it had been for the past 70 years,

the sick man of Europe. Its staunchest defender had been Britain,

Britain, which feared the consequences should the Turkish Sultan be driven out of Europe.

Well, that day had already come. The Ottomans were out of Europe. Well, that day had already come.

The Ottomans were out of the Balkans, and the instability the British were always worried

about had arrived in the form of a great war.

With Britain's allies, France and Russia, preoccupied with defending Serbia, no one, not even the British, gave much thought to

the sick man anymore. He was ignored, no longer a factor in Europe's balance of power.

That would prove to be a serious miscalculation.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century. ...the 20th century. The

... Episode 83, The Flight of the Gubin

Last week, we saw the opening German offensive of the war in Belgium.

France and Russia are preparing their counter-offensives, which we will look at in weeks to come.

But first, I'd like to move the spotlight to the dramatic events that were unfolding in the Mediterranean Sea.

The events of the two Balkan Wars had left the Ottoman Empire weakened and shamed.

She was effectively no longer a European nation.

Her new rulers, the three Pasha's, sought to modernize the empire, as we have seen,

and to modernize her military as well.

Toward that end, a German military mission came to Constantinople in 1913 to assist in rebuilding

the Ottoman army. Germany and the empire had been growing closer ever since that Berlin-de-Bagdad

railway project got going. And remember, too, how Kaiser Wilhelm

fancies himself a defender of Muslims. The Ottoman Navy had long been neglected, to the point

...