Ambassador Morgenthau's Story

Infobox Book |
name = Ambassador Morgenthau's Story
title_orig = Ambassador Morgenthau's Story
translator =


image_caption =
author = Henry Morgenthau, Sr.
cover_artist =
country = USA
language = English
series =
subject = Literature / Memoirs
genre =
publisher = Doubleday (publisher)
release_date = 1918
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 407 pages
isbn =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Ambassador Morgenthau's Story" (1918) are the published memoirs of Henry Morgenthau, Sr. covering the time when he was Woodrow Wilson's [The book was dedicated to Wilson.] American ambassador to Constantinople, 1913-1916. The book took over two years to complete. The ghostwriter for Henry Morgenthau was Burton J. Hendrick. However, a comparison with official documents filed by Morgenthau in his role as ambassador shows that the book must have been structured and written extensively by Morgenthau himself.

The book has been used as a primary source regarding Turkish atrocities against the Armenians, the Armenian Genocide.

When published, the book came under criticism by two prominent American historians regarding its coverage of Germany in the weeks before the onset of the war.

Content

The former American Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Morgenthau relates his experience with German-Ottoman relations during the World War. He referred to the CUP as the "Boss System" in the Ottoman Empire, and related how it was proved useful to Germany to bring the Empire to its side. Also the book gives details of Germany's influence in preventing the sale of American warships to Greece. Germany's plans for new territories, coaling stations, and indemnities and closing the Dardanelles and so separates Russia from her Allies.Ottoman Empire's abrogation of the capitulations.

On the Van Resistance

Morgenthau reports from Aleppo and Van. As he quoted the testimonies of the consulate officials, both justified the deportations as necessary to the conduct of the war, suggesting that the complicity of the Armenians of Van with the Russian forces that had overtaken the city justified the persecution of all ethnic Armenians.

In his memoirs, Morgenthau later suggested that, "When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact."

Discussions with Turkish leaders

It was some time before the story of the Armenian atrocities reached the American Embassy in all its details. Ambassador Morgenthau raised the issue with Talaat Pasha and Enver Pasha in person. When Morgenthau asked both whether the information reaching the embassy was reliable, the tendency was at first to regard them as mere manifestations of the disorders that had prevailed in the Armenian provinces for many years. When the consular reports came from Van and then Urfa, both Enver Pasha and Talaat Pasha dismissed them as wild exaggerations.

The ambassador asked the U.S. Government to intervene, but the United States was not at that time a participant in World War I and could only have made written or verbal protests to the Turkish authorities. This was not done and Morgenthau was left without leverage beyonmd his personal rapport with those in power; when that failed, he drew international media attention to the genocide and organized private relief efforts.

Reviews

In the 1920s "Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story" was subjected to criticism by two prominent American historians. Sidney Bradshaw Fay was an authority on European diplomatic history, a recognised American authority on the question of war guilt and the writer of "The Origins of the World War". In the journal "Kriegschuldfrage", May, 1925, Fay criticised the sixth chapter of the ambassador's book, on the delay of German war initiation for two weeks or legend of the Potsdam Crown Council of July 5th 1914 and commented:

The contemporary documents now available prove conclusively that there is hardly a word of truth in Mr. Morgenthau’s assertions, either as to (a) the persons present, (b) the Kaiser’s attitude toward delay, (c) the real reasons for delay, or (d) the alleged selling of securities in anticipation of war. In fact his assertions are rather the direct opposite of the truth.Fact|date=May 2008

Harry Elmer Barnes, in "The Genesis of the World War; an Introduction to the Problem of War Guilt" (New York: Knopf, 1926), pp. 241-247) which largely consist of a Sidney Bradshaw Fay quote concludes:

In this luxuriant and voluptuous legend [Kaiser’s alleged Potsdam conference] was not only the chief point in the Allied propaganda against Germany after the publication of Mr. Morgenthau’s book, but it has also been tacitly accepted by Mr. Asquith in his apology, and solemnly repeated by Bourgeois and Pages in the standard conventional French work, both published since the facts have been available which demonstrate that the above tale is a complete fabrication.

...As Mr. Morgenthau has persistently refused to offer any explanation or justification of his "story" or to answer written inquiries as to his grounds for believing it authentic, we are left to pure conjecture in the circumstances. It appears highly doubtful to the present writer that Mr. Morgenthau ever heard of the Potsdam legend while resident in Turkey. It would seem inconceivable that he could have withheld such important information for nearly four years. The present writer has been directly informed by the Kaiser that Wangenheim did not see him in July, 1914. We know that Mr. Morgenthau’s book was not written by himself, but by Mr. Burton J. Hendrick, who later distinguished himself as the editor of the Page letters. We shall await with interest Mr. Hendrick’s explanation of the genesis of the Potsdam fiction as it was composed for "Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story". [ [http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/comment/morgenthau/morgencritique.htm A critical commentary to Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story ] ]

"Ambassador Morgenthau's Story" was republished by Wayne State University Press in 2003, edited by Peter Balakian, with a foreword by Robert Jay Lifton, an introduction by Roger W. Smith, and an epilogue by Henry Morgenthau III.

Other editions

* Republished 2003 by the Gomidas Institute. The new edition features an introduction by Ara Sarafian.

Notes

See also

*"Secrets of the Bosphorus" by Henry Morgenthau, Sr. (1918) .

External links

* [http://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/morgenthau/MorgenTC.htm "Ambassador Morgenthau's Story"] On-line text.