Mustafa Kemal Atat??rk (Command) by Edward J. Erickson

Command #30

by Edward J. Erickson

Mustafa Kemal was one of the 20th century's greatest combat commanders. Winston Churchill labeled him as a 'Man of Destiny', his service at Gallipoli and in the War of Independence were pivotal in the success of Turkish armies. Moreover, after leading the Nationalist army to victory and establishing the modern Turkish Republic, he took the name Atatürk, or father of the Turks, as his own.Born to a middle class family in Salonika, he attended military school in the late 19th century and graduated from the Ottoman Military College in Constantinople in 1905. He saw service in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12 and the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 before taking command of the 19th Division based in Gallipoli during World War I. His sterling service led to his promotion to corps command during the fighting against the Russians in the Caucasus after which he took charge of Seventh Army in Palestine, and managed to keep his command during the harrowing retreat following the British victory at the battle of Megiddo in September 1918. Following the end of the war he took command of the nationalist forces struggling against the occupation of Turkey and managed to defeat Greek forces that sought to occupy Smyrna, thus preserving Turkey's territorial integrity. Following his military victory, Kemal deposed Sultan Mehmed VI, abolishing the sultanate and the caliphate, and became Turkey's first president in 1924, serving until his death 1938. He is remembered in the west today as a secular westernizer and modernizer, who set his country on the path toward democracy and market capitalism.

Genres: History, Biography, Military Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Edward J. Erickson is a retired regular U.S. Army officer at the Marine Corps University and is an authority on the Ottoman Army during World War I, a subject on which he has written widely. Erickson is also an associate of International Research Associates, Seattle, Washington.

Reviews

[Metin Yılmaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tarafsız bir gözle komutan olan Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’ü anlatmış yazar. Sonrasında ise silahlar sustuktan sonra bölümü ile Atatürk’ün yaptığı reformlara değinmiş. Gelibolu, İzmir ve doğu cephelerinde gösterdiği başarılardan özellikle bahsedilmiş. Burada yaşananları tarafsız bir gözle vermiş yazar. Kitap kısa bir tarih dersi tadında ve elden bırakamadan okuyacağınız güzel bir hikaye sürükleyiciliğinde. İş Bankası yayınlarının özenli çevirisi ve baskısıyla kaçırılmaması gereken kitaplardan. İyi okumalar.

[Cgcang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erickson'ın bu kitabı çok kısa, fakat gayet canlı bir monografi. Bir monografi olarak, yani Atatürk'ün askerlik yaşamına ve komutan kişiliğine ilişkin kısa bir inceleme olarak okunacak olursa eleştirilmesi çok güç. Erickson özellikle Birinci Dünya Savaşı yıllarında Mustafa Kemal'i derinlemesine inceliyor ve çok özel bir yere koyuyor. Metin, yetkin bir çeviriyle Türkçeye kazandırılmış. Eğer bir araştırmacıysanız ve Atatürk'ün askeri bir monografisini okumak istiyorsanız Celal Erikan'ın 'Komutan Atatürk'ünü atlamanızı önermem, bunun gibi kısa bir yapıt tabii onun yerini de tutmaz. Ama kaynak arayışı içinde değilseniz ya da dar kapsamlı bir çalışma işinizi görecekse Erickson'ın bu kitabı hem işlevsel, hem de oldukça keyifli. Öneririm.

[Eda gürçay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hep asıl başarasının bir devleti çöküşünden kurtarması olarak görülüyordu.. ama bu kitapla onun askeri başarısına ışık tutuyoruz denebilir.. kısa ve öz anlatımla cidden hoş bir kitaptı...

[Ian Burrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a good, brief overview of Ataturk's biography, from his childhood through to his rise to the position of head of the Turkish state, with particular emphasis on his military career.

It is well written and full of informative diagrams and illustrations.

The size of the volume is limited and can barely due justice to such a life, but whets the appetite to seek out some of the sources mentioned in the text and to further explore Turkish history in the 20th Century.

It is also of value to anyone with an interest in the First World War and War of Turkish Independence.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

An online stranger asked me what I thought about the founder of the Turkish republic, and my response to the immediate query was that I did not know enough about the person to make a reasoned response about my thoughts, but that I would do some reading and get back to him on the matter.  This book is at least in partial fulfillment of that promise, and it marks a short and accessible book that covers the high points of Kemal Pasha's career as it would likely be viewed by someone who was most interested by his military career.  There is certainly more to the man than this, but this book is published by a military publisher (Osprey) that focuses on short and easy-to-understood books on military matters and so this book is precisely what would be expected by their target audience.  And though the book is far more limited than I would want, it does make for a good introduction to the man in case one wants to figure out whether his life and career are worth knowing better, since there are at least a few cases where Kemal's career had some intriguing twists and turns.

The book is a short one at just over 50 pages in length.  It begins with a short introduction, and then moves on to the early years of Kemal's life and a discussion of his family background as well as his military education and his enjoyment of the military life as a Late Ottoman officer.  After spending some time looking at his early and amateur efforts at clandestine reformist politics, there is a discussion of several hours of destiny that shaped Kemal's success, including his command of division and corps at Gallipoli, his army command in the Middle East that included a tough fighting retreat against superior forces, and his efforts in preserving the infant Turkish republic after World War I in the face of Allied occupation and various opportunistic invasions on multiple fronts.  After that the author discusses the mind of Kemal as well as what he did when the war was over in ruling over the infant Turkish Republic as a dictator until his death.  The book then ends with a discussion of his life in words as well as a bibliography and index.

In reading this book, it is clear that the authors view military success as a praiseworthy trait on its own, and it is in this vein that they praise him.  The subtitle of the book, which focuses on (military) leadership, (military) strategy, and (military) conflict, gives the reader the understanding about this book's perspective that is needed to know how to fairly judge its contents.  For the most part, this book does a good job at what it sets out to do in talking about a small section of Kemal's life with a focus on his behavior as a military leader during the period from 1911 to 1923 or so.  During this twelve-year period of time Kemal went from being one reformist Turkish officer among many coping with the breakdown of Ottoman power in Libya and the Balkans to a corps and army commander at Gallipoli and the 1918 campaign in Syria-Palestine, as well as his work in preserving the Turkish Republic in the face of the postwar Greek invasion of Anatolia, which was successfully and decisively defeated.  Kemal was a successful enough general in his campaigns to be worthy of a work like this, and one can gain at least a few insights from the author's discussion of these matters.

[Cosma Catalin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short biography of the "father" of modern Turkey . I spend 6 month in Turkey so the subject draw my attention. But as a history buff I have to say that the book is not so detailed , only a short/overall introduction in the live of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk detalied.

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book and analysis, although the prose is a bit lifeless even by Osprey standards.

[Bla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es ist ein ausführliches Buch, ich habe die Übersetzung gelesen und möchte das Original in meiner Bibliothek haben.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is heavy on military tactics. It made me disappointed in my history lessons.

[Gubi · Rating 1 out of 5]

În afară de câteva informaţii succinte despre Kemal (păr blond, ochi albaştri, născut în Salonic, tată cu origini albaneze, mamă care voia să-l trimită la o şcoală islamică şi câteva merite politice în ultimele 8 pagini) cartea asta tratează mai mult campania militară otomană din Gallipoli, puţin pe cea din Palestina şi războiul greco-turc din 1919-1923, autorul mai inserând pe ici pe colo numele lui Mustafa Kemal.
Pe copertă scrie că e biogafie, dar credeam că o biografie presupune câteva inserţii din jurnalul persoanei prezentate, din articolele apărute în presa vremii care făceau referire la omul analizat, opiniile oamenilor care l-au cunoscut. O biografie e o prezentare din mai multe unghiuri a aceluiaşi individ, dar neah, autorul nu are aceeaşi "opiniune" cu mine. Cartea e înţesată cu o grămadă de imagini reprezentându-l pe Kemal, ceea ce e un lucru bun. La cât e de proastă cartea, imaginile alea o mai ţin la suprafaţă.

[Ruppert Baird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a military, political, and social genius. A nationalist of the highest order, he was able to build a modern, secular Turkish state from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire that functioned very well for around a century.

Atatürk's story is fascinating in and of itself, but throw in a nation in its death throes and you have a story worthy of any political fiction, which this is not. And it's here, warts and all.

[Erdem Karaadam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Military analysis parts are particularly good. However, some remarks are way ahead of the author's purpose, such as "changing of the alphabet cut the generations off from their history". This would only be correct for a literate society. If literacy is 5%, mainly due to the unsuitability of the arabic letters, changing them is a great leap forward.

Stick to your military chapters, Eddy!

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, readable introduction to a historic figure with whom I am sorry to say I was unfamiliar.

[Ruhat Çelik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Büyük komutanlar serisinden çıkmış olup, özellikle gençlere tavsiye olunur

[Iasmina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nu oferă foarte multe informații, mai mult legat de perioada militară.