Promenade 01 - Baghdad Bahn and German Djihad

Historian Salvador Oberhaus said: "The illusion of the early end of the war in Europe was followed by the "orientalist war of illusions". The incitement of Islamic peoples against their colonial masters was called "Holy War". Ultimately, the motto was "the enemies of my enemies are my friends." The focus of German actions was Persia because the area was the bridge between the Ottoman Empire and India. With the support of the Hamburg-America Line and Wönckhaus companies, the German Empire first tried to secure a sphere of influence in Persia in order to use it to advance into India and meet the British.

For instance, the Baghdad Railway, also known as the Berlin-Baghdad Railway, was a major railway project that aimed to connect Berlin in Germany with the city of Baghdad in the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Iraq). The railway was proposed and initially supported by the German government as a means to strengthen German influence and trade connections in the Middle East and to establish a more direct route to the Persian Gulf. While the railway itself was not fully realized, the idea and efforts behind it played a role in shaping the broader political landscape of the time.

Speaker: Laura Mello Image: AI