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83-766: The CFOA was the busiest railway in the Ottoman Empire and was one of the two railways operating into Istanbul, along with the Chemins de fer Orientaux . The Baghdad Railway (Istanbul-Aleppo-Baghdad) connected with the CFOA at Konya to allow rail transport from Istanbul to the Middle East , although the Baghdad railway was not completed until 1940. The CFOA serviced major cities such as Istanbul , İzmit , Adapazarı , Bilecik , Eskişehir , Ankara , Kütahya and Konya . The railway also operated

166-598: A large war in the region , which halted all railway works. Many of the workers were drafted and fought against a large coalition army led by the Russian Empire. The Constantinople–Filibe line played an important role in transporting goods and soldiers to the frontier. However, the Ottoman army was heavily outnumbered as the Russian/Romanian/Bulgarian armies pushed from the north. The coalition forces captured much of

249-594: A commission of experts studied the geology of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and reported plentiful oil of good quality, but commented that poor transportation made it doubtful these fields could compete with those already operating in Russia and the United States. In 1901, a German report announced the region had a veritable "lake of petroleum" of almost inexhaustible supply. In 1872 German railway engineer Wilhelm von Pressel

332-561: A direct rail link between Istanbul and Baghdad. However World War I halted the construction of the line. The Ottoman Empire joined with the Central Powers against the Allied Powers . Non-German owned railways in the Empire were placed under Turkish military administration, but the CFOA, being mostly German owned, was unaffected except that civilian passenger traffic was suspended. It played

415-653: A line from Istanbul to Vienna . Because of many political problems in the Balkans, construction started and stopped and ownership changed or split often. Not until 1888 did the CO complete its objective, but after the First Balkan War in 1912, the railway was limited to only Eastern Thrace . The CO continued operations as a regional railway until 1937, when the Turkish State Railways absorbed it. The company headquarters

498-533: A neutral country in the war. On March 3, 1924, the Chemins de fer d'Anatolie Baghdad was created to operate CFOA lines until the Turkish government nationalized the line. The CFOA was absorbed completely by the CFAB, later TCDD on June 1, 1927. The CFOA operated many passenger trains on their lines. Their main line was between Istanbul and İzmit. The CFOA also operated the first passenger train between Istanbul and Ankara; this

581-580: A port in the Persian Gulf. The importance of oil as opposed to coal as fuel was recognised, as it could greatly improve the performance and capacity of the rival navies. The recognised strategic importance is seen by the wartime presence of the British there, and by the earlier establishment of the Sheikdom of Kuwait as an autonomous kaza (district) of the Ottoman Empire and a de facto protectorate of Great Britain by

664-572: A port on the Persian Gulf , with a 1,600-kilometre (1,000 mi) line through modern-day Turkey , Syria , and Iraq . Jean-Pierre Filiu, in his 2022 History of the Middle East (p201), summing up the situation on the eve of the First World War, says of this (projected) railway, 'The British ensured that the last stretch of the railway line, linking Baghdad to the port of Basra on the Persian Gulf,

747-511: A source of doubtful advantage to British trade ... I say it will be impossible for us to agree to that increase ... ". The British realised that the railways would be slightly too close to their oilfields in Persia . The British were worried that the Young Turks could block off oil supplies vital for the navy . The main British commercial interest that the British government insisted was protected,

830-406: A source of international disputes during the years immediately preceding World War I . Although it has been argued that they were resolved in 1914 before the war began, it has also been suggested that the railway was a manifestation of the imperial rivalry that was the leading cause of World War I . Technical difficulties in the remote Taurus Mountains and diplomatic delays meant that by 1915

913-659: A syndicate and obtained a concession from Turkish leaders to extend the Haydarpaşa – İzmit railway to Ankara . Thus, came into existence the Anatolian Railway Company (SCFOA, or ARC). After the line to Ankara was completed during December 1892, railway workshops were built in Eskişehir and permission was obtained to construct a railway line from Eskişehir to Konya ; that line was completed in July 1896. These two lines were

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996-562: A vital role carrying war materials to the fronts in Palestine and Mesopotamia , with Germany supplying a large number of locomotives and wagons. After the end of the war and the Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire , the CFOA came under British military control. On 22 February 1920 British authorities handed control of most of the railway to Atatürk's Turkish nationalist government in Ankara, but in 1921

1079-573: Is a monument locomotive in Sivas . 2 from Krauss) Baghdad Railway The Baghdad railway , also known as the Berlin–Baghdad railway ( Turkish : Bağdat Demiryolu , German : Bagdadbahn , Arabic : سكة حديد بغداد , French : Chemin de Fer Impérial Ottoman de Bagdad ), was started in 1903 to connect Berlin with the then Ottoman city of Baghdad , from where the Germans wanted to establish

1162-559: The Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 , blocking northern access to the Persian Gulf. Other historians have argued that the sum of many other issues, including intractable nationalities and the denial of self-determination to minority groups, were the dominant causes of World War I . They argue that although the railway issue was heated before 1914 (Corrigan shows that the railway issue was driving Germany and Turkey further apart), Anglo-American conservative historians argue that it

1245-539: The Baghdad railway before World War I commenced in 1914. Much of the construction work was undertaken by Philipp Holzmann . The railway passed through the following towns and places, NW to SE: The Adana – Yenice – Mersin railway existed prior to the construction of the Bagdad railway and was used for the latter in its Yenice–Adana section. The initial reaction of Britain was one of strong support. A long article outlining

1328-612: The Chester concession , which aroused disapprovals from France and the United Kingdom. In 1930, a passenger service by road was introduced to bridge the missing section of line between Nusaybin and Kirkuk . At different times the service used Rolls-Royce cars and Thornycroft buses. In 1932, the Kingdom of Iraq became independent from the UK. In 1936, Iraq bought all railways in its territory from

1411-723: The German Empire through Deutsche Bank and the Philipp Holzmann company, which in the 1890s had built the Anatolian Railway ( Anatolische Eisenbahn ) connecting Istanbul , Ankara and Konya . The Ottoman Empire wished to maintain its control of the Arabian Peninsula and to expand its influence across the Red Sea into the nominally Ottoman (until 1914) Khedivate of Egypt , which had been under British military control since

1494-496: The Hamburg-American Steamship Line announced its intention to run regular steamships between Europe and the Persian Gulf. After a futile price war, the British lines, which had lost their monopoly, came to agreement in 1913 with their competitors, ending a rivalry which had caused considerable political concern. In 1911 the railway company looked to build a branch line to Alexandretta from Aleppo to pick up on

1577-670: The Port of Haydarpaşa and the Port of Derince . The railway was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Société du Chemin de fer Ottoman d'Anatolie , created on 8 October 1888 by the Deutsche Bank to operate the railway. The Ottoman Government , under the reign of Sultan Abdulaziz , started building a 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) standard gauge on the Asian side of Istanbul, from Haydarpaşa to Pendik in 1871. The line

1660-568: The TCDD under the number 2251 in 1937, stands as a memorial locomotive in front of Istanbul-Sirkeci station. Until 1965 it was still used by the TCDD, most recently in Adana , she was thus over 90 years in use. A 1912 locomotive supplied by Maffei with the CO number 338 is now in the Çamlık Railway Museum with TCDD 3558 number. Another locomotive of this series is monument locomotive at Amasya station . The TCDD 33508

1743-614: The Urabi Revolt in 1882. If the railway had been completed, the Germans would have gained access to suspected oil fields in Mesopotamia , as well as a connection to the port of Basra on the Persian Gulf. The latter would have provided access to the eastern parts of the German colonial empire , and avoided the Suez Canal , which was controlled by British and French interests. The railway became

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1826-538: The 1860s. This new route would continue from Belovo to Sofia and connect to the Serbian National Railways (SDZ) at Nis and a branch line would be built to connect Skopje to Nis. Once complete, the SDZ would have full ownership of the railway between Nis and Belgrade but operation of the line would be done by the CO via trackage rights. With all disputes settled, construction could finally continue. The SDZ completed

1909-644: The Austrian Southern Railway, to be the chief engineer of the project. In January 1870, construction started simultaneously in Constantinople, Dedeağaç, Selanik and Dobrljin. Operation of the line was to be given to the Austrian Southern Railway; but since negotiations failed, Hirsch founded the Oriental Railway (Chemins de fer Orientaux), also headquartered in Paris, to operate the line. Construction of

1992-518: The Austrian network yet so revenue on the line was low. The line later became a liability for the CO and was abandoned in 1876, until it was connected to the Austrian network. Further construction slowed down during the Ottoman financial crisis of 1875, where most of the Empire faced a large famine. This led to several uprisings in the Balkans, the most notable being the April Uprising , which triggered

2075-518: The Baghdad Railway. The Deutsche Bank created a subsidiary company, Société du Chemin de fer Ottoman d'Anatolie that was incorporated on October 4, 1888, as the parent company of the railway. The CFOA subcontracted the building of the line to Philipp Holzmann. The CFOA started building the line to Ankara in May 1889. The CFOA completed the line to Arifye in 1890 and opened it on September 1, 1891. The line

2158-554: The Belgrade–Nis railway on 15 September 1884, which was under construction since 1881. The SDZ also connected to the Austrian railways north of Belgrade the same year. The CO continued construction west of Belovo but construction was halted again, when Bulgaria violated the Berlin Congress and moved in to occupy Eastern Rumelia in 1885. This forced a new agreement where Bulgaria would own and operate tracks within its territory, while

2241-747: The Board of the Baghdad Railway Company; third, the terminus of the railway should be at Basra; last, no railway should be constructed from Basra to the Gulf without the sanction of HMG, which speaks to the importance of the issue. This was followed by an Anglo-German agreement on the similar lines in London on 15 June 1914. However these agreements, reached just prior to the outbreak of the Great War, were not realised. However, war began on 1 August 1914 – and one day later

2324-550: The CO from Paris to Vienna in 1878. The newly established Kingdom of Serbia, under Austrian influence, looked to build a railway in its territory regardless to the Constantinople–Vienna railway. In 1881, King Milan awarded a concession to Paul Eugène Bontoux , a French entrepreneur, to construct a railway from Belgrade to Vranje via Nis . However his Catholic company General Union went bankrupt in April 1881. The concession

2407-543: The CO would be permitted trackage rights. Meanwhile, the SDZ extended the railway from Nis to Leskovac on March 18 and to Vranje on 13 September 1886. The CO completed the southern part of the Nis–Skopje line, connecting to the SDZ at Vranje on 25 May 1888. With this, Selanik was connected to the rest of the system. The newly formed Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) completed the Belovo–Sofia line on 1 August and connected it to

2490-523: The Empire under Russian influence. The future of the CO was also decided in the Congress of Berlin. Due to the railway falling into multiple countries, the congress had the CO put under a special committee with delegates from Austria-Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire to oversee the railway. This committee was dubbed the Quadruple Committee by Berlin. Hirsch then moved the headquarters of

2573-565: The English coast, Baghdad and the Persian Gulf in the hands of Germany (or any other strong power) would be a 42-centimetre gun pointed at India ." Had it been completed earlier, the Berlin-Baghdad (ultimately a Hamburg to Basra) railway would have enabled transport and trade from a port in Germany through a port on the Persian Gulf, from which trade goods and supplies could be exchanged directly with

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2656-451: The European side of Istanbul, Sirkeci railway station , which was under construction since February 1888, was opened on 3 November 1890. The Oriental Railway only had steam locomotives. Its main suppliers were Austrian, German, French and Belgian manufacturers. Locomotives with tenders were numbered 0 to 300, tank locomotives with tender were numbered 301 to 500. Locomotives transferred from

2739-521: The Imperial Ottoman railway enabled them to become financiers of the winning Deutsche Bank plan. Other nations of Europe paid little attention to the building of the railway lines until 1903, when the Ottoman Government gave an Ottoman corporation permission to build the railway line from Konya to Baghdad. This Baghdad Railway Company was controlled by a few German banks. (McMurray rejects

2822-644: The Mesopotamian Front. The fighting in Mesopotamia remained somewhat isolated from the rest of the war. During the conflict, Turkish and German workers, together with allied prisoners of war, laboured to complete the railway for military purposes but with limited manpower and so many more important things to spend money on, only two of the gaps were closed. The first use of railways for genocide occurred in early 1915 when Armenian women and children from Zeitun were deported on trains to Konya and later marched into

2905-598: The Ottoman Empire was slowly losing its control over the area. The Crimean War had just ended and gave the aging Empire a slight break against Russian influence over the Balkans. The Sultanate in Istanbul looked to strengthen its sovereignty in the region and help its declining economy during the short peace. Trade by sea was dominated by the British naval monopoly, so the Sublime Porte had to look at other ways of transport. Railways showed their effectiveness in western Europe and

2988-580: The Ottoman Ministry of Public Works received many applications for permission to construct a railway to Baghdad; it was not because of lack of competition that the Deutsche Bank was finally awarded the concession. A Russian plan was rejected for fear of it extending Russian influence in Istanbul. A well-financed British plan collapsed due to the outbreak of the Boer War . A well-financed French proposal titled

3071-534: The Ottoman government looked for a new company to build the line. Georg von Siemens , the managing director of the Deutsche Bank was informed on the project, as well as Alfred von Kaulla, who was in Istanbul to handle the export of the Mauser rifle to the Ottoman Army . After some tension, the Deutsche Bank won the concession to build the line. The original concession was for 99 years, which later became 114 years to match

3154-538: The Ottoman government would supervise in building new lines. The CO had completed over 1,300 km (810 mi) of railway, consisting of three main lines by 1874. These lines were not yet connected with each other, but the CO had started service on them. The longest and most important of these lines were Constantinople to Belovo via Edirne and Filibe , with branches to Dedeağaç and Yambol . The other two were from Thessaloniki to Mitrovica and Dobrljin to Banja Luka . The Dobrljin-Banja Luka line wasn't connected with

3237-406: The Ottomans sought to bring this technology into the empire. The Sultanate looked to build a railway from Constantinople to Vienna. A trunk line such as that would allow easier deployments of troops in the European part of the Empire and would open up many new trade opportunities with western Europe. However, the railway would also bring Austrian influence into the Balkans. The decision for a railway

3320-490: The SDZ at Dragoman on 8 August 1888. The full Constantinople–Vienna main line was opened on 12 August 1888. The CO, along with the Hungarian State Railways and the Bulgarian State Railways - BDZ, inaugurated the first train from Istanbul to Vienna. One of the most famous trains in history, the Orient Express , started her first run from Paris to Istanbul on 1 June 1889. This train was operated by CIWL , an international hotel and logistics company. A railway terminus on

3403-485: The Second World War. Marxist historians emphasise imperial rivalries and economics as the driving force for the war, as was popularly reported with respect to the railway at the time and especially as revealed in the Russian diplomatic documents. Regardless of diplomacy, financing and agreements, and later points of view, the existence of the railway would have created a threat to British dominance over German trade, as it would have given German industry access to oil, and

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3486-411: The Syrian Desert. Many Armenians were deported via the railways and later killed in the course of the Armenian genocide . In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles cancelled all German rights to the Baghdad railway , however, the Deutsche Bank transferred its holdings to a Swiss bank. The Treaty of Ankara in 1921 established the Syria–Turkey border as running along the railway track from Al-Rai in

3569-471: The Thessaloniki - Monastir received separate numbers in the 500 to 600 range. The reason is no longer known. The 3 Mallet locomotives were numbered 601 to 603. Oriental Railway locomotives were taken over by the various national railways that also overtook the network. Some locomotives went to the CFFH before going to either SEK or TCDD . Several locomotives of the Oriental Railway have been preserved. The former Locomotive 407 built in 1874 and taken over by

3652-514: The UK and started building the missing section of line from Tel Kotchek to Baiji . On 15 July 1940 the railway had been completed, and two days later the Taurus Express made its first complete journey between Istanbul and Baghdad. In that year, the Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns locomotive works in Britain built a class of streamlined Pacific steam locomotives to haul the Taurus Express between Baghdad and Tel Kotchek. These were delivered to Iraqi State Railways in 1941 and entered service as

3735-406: The country's finances being controlled by the Ottoman Public Debt Administration , composed of and answerable to the Great Powers . The Europeans saw great potential to exploit the resources of the weakening empire, irrigation could transform agriculture, there were chromium , antimony , lead and zinc mines and some coal. Not least there were potentially vast amounts of oil. As early as 1871

3818-429: The exclusive field of operations of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. The Russians also opposed the railway, being concerned about the territories in the Caucasus . Russian support for the railway was only achieved in 1910, when in a meeting between Tsar Nicholas II and the German Emperor Wilhelm II , the German Emperor assured the Tsar that no lines were planned into Kurdish or Armenian areas. Discussion of

3901-414: The farthest of the German colonies , and the world. The journey home to Germany would have given German industry a direct supply of oil. This access to resources, with trade less affected by British control of shipping, would have been beneficial to German economic interests in industry and trade, and threatening to British economic dominance in colonial trade. The railway also threatened Russia, since it

3984-442: The financing of the Berlin-Baghdad railway and the future disposition of the Portuguese colonies, had been resolved by the summer of 1914. Eventually an agreement over the Baghdad railway issue was reached between Britain and the Ottoman Government in 1913 in the following terms: First, there should be no differential treatment on any railway in Asiatic Turkey; second, two British representatives approved by HMG should be admitted to

4067-519: The first two sections of the Baghdad railway . Another railway built at the same time by German engineers was the Hejaz railway , commissioned by Sultan Hamid II . The Ottoman Empire chose to place the line outside the range of the guns of the British Navy. Therefore, the coastal way from Alexandretta to Aleppo was avoided. The line had to cross the Amanus Mountains inland at the cost of expensive engineering including an 8 km tunnel between Ayran station and Fevzipaşa . During 1898 and 1899

4150-402: The line through Serbia , which was semi-independent. Austro-Hungary also was in favor of this route to increase their influence over Bosnia. This charter also included the construction of branch lines to Burgaz , Selanik and Dedeağaç . Hirsch then founded the Imperial Turkish European Railway , headquartered in Paris , to build the line in 1869. The company hired Wilhelm von Pressel , from

4233-474: The line to Afyon on August 4, 1895, and Konya on July 25, 1896. In 1899, the CFOA was granted another concession to build a line to Bolu and later İsmetpaşa . The CFOA started construction and on November 1, 1899, opened a 3.2 km (2.0 mi) branch line from Arifye to Adapazarı . However, the tracks never reached Bolu. In 1904 the Baghdad Railway was incorporated to continue the line from Konya, through Adana and Aleppo to Baghdad . This would provide

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4316-440: The line was well underway by 1871. Following a government change the same year, the new Grand Vizier Mahmud Nedim Pasha started to renegotiate the concession to reduce the budget of constructing the line because of the Empire's growing financial problems. The new concession no longer had completion to Vienna as a priority and was signed on 18 May 1872. Under the new agreement, Hirsch would continue to manage ongoing construction, but

4399-431: The main line west of Edirne by the end of 1877 and once Filibe was captured, along with its large railway depot, in January 1878, the Ottomans looked for peace. The Congress of Berlin restored peace to the Balkans as the Ottoman Empire granted full independence to Romania , Serbia and Montenegro while Bosnia and Herzegovina would be occupied by Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria would become a self-governing vassal state of

4482-408: The mainland part of Tanzania ) and German South-West Africa (present-day Namibia , less Walvis Bay ). The railway might eventually have strengthened the Ottoman Empire and its ties to Germany and might have shifted the balance of power in the region. Despite obstructions at the diplomatic level, work slowly began on the railway. Both geographical and political obstacles prevented the completion of

4565-442: The majority of the line was lost by the nationalists to Greek forces. After the Greek defeat at Sakarya, they destroyed much of the railway's infrastructure as they retreated back to the coast. The CFOA was under full Turkish control by September 1923 and the war against Greece ended a month later. Despite being in control, the Turkish government was not the legal owner of the CFOA due to the company being headquartered in Switzerland ,

4648-415: The positive benefits of the enterprise appeared in the Times newspaper. But a plan for an extension from Basra towards the Persian Gulf faced opposition from the British and as a result, the Sheikh of Kuwait refused to rent any storage facilities to the Germans. The railway would eventually compete with British trade in Mesopotamia , but this would not happen for many years. However, in 1906,

4731-413: The prologue the German global interest in countering the British Empire, and Ottoman Turkey's regional interest in countering their Russian, French and British rivals on all sides. As stated by a contemporary 'on the ground' at the time, Morris Jastrow wrote: "It was felt in England that if, as Napoleon is said to have remarked, Antwerp in the hands of a great continental power was a pistol leveled at

4814-402: The railway was built to Adapazarı the same year. The company could not finance the extension of the line to Ankara, so the company formed an Anglo - American syndicate under the leadership of Sir Vincent Caillard to complete the line. The syndicate still could not pull up the money needed to complete the line, so the company withdrew. With the construction of the line to Ankara put on hold,

4897-408: The railway was still 480 kilometres (300 mi) short of completion, severely limiting its use during the war in which Baghdad was captured by the British while the Hejaz railway in the south was attacked by guerrilla forces led by T. E. Lawrence . Construction resumed in the 1930s and was completed in 1940. A recent history of this railway in the specific context of World War I neatly outlines in

4980-515: The railway's role as a contributing factor to the outbreak of war is complicated by two issues: Firstly, historians and political analysts who wrote about this issue directly after the war were not in possession of closed diplomatic records - an important piece and perspective on the historical record. Diplomatic documents of the German government were released between 1922 and 1927, British documents between 1926 and 1938. Only some Russian documents were released, and Italian documents came out only after

5063-425: The root causes. By 1915, the railway ended some 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of Diyarbakır . Another spur, heading east from Aleppo, ended at Nusaybin . Additionally some rail was laid starting in Baghdad reaching north to Tikrit and south to Kut . This left a gap of some 480 kilometres (300 miles) between the railway lines. Additionally, there were three mountains which the railway was going to go through, but

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5146-403: The secret treaty establishing the Ottoman-German Alliance was signed, perhaps giving credence to the notion that the issue had not been fully resolved. In fact, restriction of German access to Mesopotamia and its oil, and strategic exclusion from rail access to the Persian Gulf, was enforced by British military presence during World War I, and afterwards in the Treaty of Versailles by removal of

5229-416: The southeastern section from Baghdad to Basra, so that part was under British control. The French held negotiations to obtain some degree of control over the central portion of the railway, and Turkish interests controlled the oldest sections that had been constructed inside of Turkey, but talks continued to be held after 1923. The United States involvement in the Near East began in 1923 when Turkey approved

5312-432: The theory that the railway tied Turkey to Germany.) There was concern in Russia , France , and Britain after 1903 as the implications of the German scheme to construct a great Berlin-Baghdad railway became apparent. A railway that would link Berlin to the Persian Gulf would provide Germany with a connection to its southernmost colonies in Africa , i.e. with German East Africa (present-day Rwanda and Burundi and

5395-402: The tracks. The CFOA owned and operated 2 major ports; the Port of Haydarpaşa and the Port of Derince. Most freight trains would load or unload at these ports. The CFOA operated ports along with railways. Their main port was the Port of Haydarpaşa in Istanbul. This port exported most of the goods transported by the railway. With the heavy usage of the port, the equipment wasn't enough to support

5478-572: The traffic. The CFOA had difficulties to extend the port, so in 1897, the railway built a new port in Derince near İzmit. This port had a grain elevator to export grain from central Anatolia. The port of Haydarpaşa was finally extended in 1899. The Turkish State Railways acquired the ports in 1927. The CFOA built and owned many railway stations . The main stations notable are: Chemins de fer Orientaux The Chemins de fer Orientaux (English: Oriental Railway; Turkish : Rumeli Demiryolu or İstanbul-Viyana Demiryolu ) ( reporting mark : CO)

5561-415: The tunnels through these three mountains were not complete. So the railway was, in fact, broken into four different sections at the start of the war. The total time to get from Istanbul to Baghdad during the war was 22 days. The total distance was 2,020 kilometres (1,260 mi) The breaks in the railway meant that the Ottoman government had significant difficulties in sending supplies and reinforcements to

5644-414: The valuable trade of Northern Syria and the Northern Mesopotamian valley . However the Young Turk government could not offer further railway concessions without raising customs duties from 11 to 14 percent. Such a raise required the agreement of all the powers, but was vetoed by Britain after Sir Edward Grey spoke in the House of Commons : " ... if the money is to be used to promote railways which may be

5727-570: The west to Nusaybin in the east, with the border being on the Syrian side of the track, leaving the track in Turkish territory. Further west, the Treaty also set the border immediately north of the town and railway station of Meidan Ekbis . People in Turkey , Italy , France, and Britain created various arrangements that gave a certain degree of control over the Baghdad railway to various indistinct interests in those nations. Investors, speculators, and financiers were involved by 1923 in secretive and clandestine ways. The British Army had completed

5810-428: The would-be Baghdad railway from German ownership. Thus the potential consequences to Anglo-German economic rivalry in oil and trade by the existence of the railway were ultimately addressed by ownership and outright control, rather than by agreement. Marxist historians, unpopular in the Anglo-American perspective on process, would suggest that economic contexts, rather than nationalistic and political rivalries, underlie

5893-409: Was a daily train that entered service in 1892. The most common steam locomotives for passenger trains were the class 33001. The CFOA's primary operation were freight trains. The CFOA mainly focused on transporting grain from central Anatolia to the ports in Istanbul. The CFOA also played a big role in the construction of the Baghdad Railway, by transporting goods from Istanbul to Konya to help built

5976-473: Was accepted as axiomatic that political influence followed economic, and the railway was expected to extend Germany's economic influence towards the Caucasian frontier and into north Persia where Russia had a dominant share of the market. By the late 19th century the Ottoman Empire was weak, and cheap imports from industrialised Europe and the effects of the disastrous Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) had resulted in

6059-567: Was an Ottoman railway company operating in Rumelia (the European part of the Ottoman Empire, corresponding to the Balkan peninsula ) and later European Turkey , from 1870 to 1937. The CO was one of the five pioneer railways in the Ottoman Empire and built the main trunk line in the Balkans . Between 1889 and 1937, the railway hosted the world-famous Orient Express . The railway was charted in 1870 to build

6142-490: Was finalized and Abdülaziz awarded a concession to Van der Elst and Cie, a Belgian construction company, on 31 May 1868, with the help of André Langrand-Dumonceau . Langrand-Dumonceau quickly took over the concession from Van der Elst and started the works himself. However. he ran into financial difficulties and could not continue construction of the line, so the Sultanate cancelled the concession on 12 April 1869. The concession

6225-697: Was in Paris (1869–1878), then Vienna (1878–1912) and finally in Istanbul] (1912–1937). The reporting mark was CO. By the second half of the 19th century, the once powerful and dominant Ottoman Empire was declining greatly. The empire's territory in Europe extended from Constantinople to the Danube River and the Carpathian Mountains . However, due to the rise of nationalism in the Balkans , mostly provoked by Russia ,

6308-548: Was not a cause of World War I, because the main controversies had been addressed in principle before the war started. Some of the optimism should be attributed to the willingness of the German government to compose long-standing differences... and in June 1914 a settlement was achieved over the Baghdad railway. Many economic and colonial issues which had been causing friction between French, German and British governments before 1914, such as

6391-559: Was opened on September 22, 1872. The railway was extended to Gebze , which opened on January 1, 1873. In August 1873 the railway opened to İzmit . The railway was built to serve a populated area along the Marmara Sea . The railway was then to be extended to Ankara and Mesopotamia . The line proved difficult to manage so in 1880, 60% ownership of the line was transferred to a British company. A 52.1 km (32.4 mi) 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) narrow gauge extension of

6474-470: Was opened to Ankara on December 31, 1892. In 1893 the Ottoman government granted the CFOA with a concession to build a line from Eskişehir to Konya . The line was to branch from the Istanbul–Ankara main line at Eskişehir, to Alayunt , Afyon , Akşehir and Konya. A branch line from Alayunt to Kütahya was also to be built. The line was opened to Alayunt and Kütahya on December 30, 1894. The CFOA opened

6557-437: Was reserved for them.' The current line from Baghdad to Basra was not opened until 2014. The line was completed only in 1940. By the outbreak of World War I , the railway was still 960 km (600 miles) away from its intended objective. The last stretch to Baghdad was built in the late 1930s and the first train to travel from Istanbul to Baghdad departed in 1940. Funding, engineering and construction were mainly provided by

6640-567: Was retained by the Ottoman government to develop plans for railways in Turkey. However, private enterprise would not build the railway without subsidies, so the Ottoman Government had to reserve part of its revenues to subsidise its construction, thus increasing its debt to the European powers. The process of constructing a rail line from Istanbul to Baghdad began during 1888 when Alfred von Kaulla, manager of Württembergische Vereinsbank, and Georg von Siemens , Managing Director of Deutsche Bank , created

6723-688: Was that of the Right Honourable James Lyle Mackay, Baron Inchcape of Strathnaver. As well as being the foremost shipping magnate of the British Empire , Lord Inchcape was a director of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and of the D'Arcy Exploration Company. On 23 February a contract was signed in London between Lord Inchcape and the Baghdad Railway Company. In March 1914 the German government was obliged to recognise southern Mesopotamia, as well as central and southern Persia, as

6806-471: Was then given to Maurice de Hirsch , a German financier, to build the line. Hirsch had partnered with Dumonceau in the past on several railway works. The charter included a main line from Constantinople to the Austrian border at Dobrljin via Edirne , which would connect to the Austrian Southern Railway . This route was chosen over a more direct route through Belgrade in order to avoid building

6889-620: Was then split between German and French banks, which formed the Serbian National Railways . The Quadruple Committee finally met, after much delay, in Vienna in December 1882. After much negotiation, the committee signed an agreement on 9 May 1883. This new agreement changed the main line from its former southern route to a direct route through Serbia, something the Ottomans wished to avoid since

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