Morale, obedience, discipline :|the politics of motivation in the Ottoman Great War

Abstract

This thesis aims to deal with how the Ottoman government implemented the incentives to motivate its soldiers and non-conscripted youth. This thesis takes into consideration the fact the Ottoman army is not a homogenous formation; therefore, the various incentives were implemented for various groups of the Ottoman army. My main aim of this thesis is to examine the government policies regard-ing the motivation, discipline and obedience of both conscripted soldiers and non-conscripted youth and to demonstrate the most fundamental notions by which the Ottoman soldiers were motivated during the World War I with keeping in mind the ethnic and religious heterorganic nature of the Ottoman Army. In this thesis, I will seek answers to what policies the Ottoman government implemented to strengthen motivation, discipline and obedience of its sol-diers and the non-conscripted youth between 1914-1918. Also, I will examine how these policies functioned.