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legitimacy in moving against such a craven surrender but also of their support from a significant portion of the armed forces and the public for so doing.
    On this afternoon in Constantinople, these three radical rebels, backed by 40 junior officers and soldiers – all of them armed – bring matters to a head.
    Ya Namus Ya Ölüm! Honour or death!
    And you can see them there now, on this chilly afternoon.
    As Colonel Enver, atop his fine steed, leads his tight band of supporters through the streets to the Porte, one of them pauses to stand atop a step and delivers a speech for all to hear: ‘Countrymen! The Government is ceding Edirne. At this moment, the notes are being signed in there. The Turkish nation will never accept this … Here is the fighter for liberty, [Colonel] Enver, going towards the Bab-ı âli … join him. End the administration of incompetents.’ 20
    A few fearless souls do, bolstering the numbers of the radicals further. So it is that, just as the Council is about to formalise the shameful deal with the Europeans, the plotters storm into the council chambers and seize control. Enver and Talaat take Grand Vizier Kâmil into his adjoining study and make two very telling points with the muzzles of their guns. One way or another, it is clear that, in a minute from now, either the Grand Vizier’s signature or his brains will be on a resignation letter.
    Kâmil quickly writes his resignation letter to Sultan Mehmed V: ‘Please be so kind as to comprehend with your exalted knowledge that I was, in this respect, forced to submit my humble resignation to the Imperial Presence on the proposal made to me by the people and the military authorities …’ 21
    But the raid is not without bloodshed. For some of the plotters cannot control themselves and gun down War Minister Nazim and his Adjutant-Major.
    Enver and Talaat move quickly. They leave the Porte, pausing only for Colonel Enver to address a growing crowd out the front. ‘Kâmil has resigned,’ he calls, holding the letter of resignation up for all to see. ‘I am now on my way to the Palace. I will inform His Excellency the Sultan. A Government able to defend the nation’s rights will be formed.’ 22
    Within hours, the Sultan indeed confirms, at Enver and Talaat’s behest, that a brilliant general by the name of Mahmut Şevket is now both the Grand Vizier and War Minister. Talaat is provisionally confirmed as Minister of the Interior, while the new strongman Enver decides to stay close to the source of his strength, and remain as Chief of the Xth Corps and its 40,000 soldiers.
    Despite a victory for the day, months of tumult follow. In March, the Bulgarians capture Edirne, while in July Grand Vizier Mahmut Şevket is assassinated. All in all, things keep going from bad to worse for the Ottoman Empire, as the army lies in ruin, the Officer Corps is in a constant state of turbulence, refugees continue to arrive from the now Christian Balkan states, and the direction of the whole Empire is entirely unclear.
    But, out of it all, one bright star continues to rise in the darkness: Colonel Enver, the pride of the Fatherland!
    For in July 1913, during the Second Balkan War, Enver successfully commands the mission to recapture Edirne, a feat for which he has the gratitude of the people. It is also the newly promoted Major-General Enver who decides that to properly modernise the Ottoman armed forces, they need European help. And so, while a British Naval Mission is already helping with the battered navy, he arranges for a German Military Mission to help reform the tattered army. (A German speaker himself, and former attaché to Berlin, this suits Enver’s purpose well.) Under the command of the fastidious General Otto Liman von Sanders, the German Military Mission begins to arrive in December 1913.
    From their fickle alliances in Europe, the Germans and British tread warily around each