Q&A · 2:49:24-2:49:56

Could France and Russia strike the Ottomans before they entered the war?

A pre-emptive Franco-Russian attack might catch the Ottoman Empire before full belligerency, but only if a major force had already been mobilized and positioned.

Question

What if France and Russia launched a pre-emptive strike on the Ottoman Empire as war began with Germany?

Short answer

It might work before Ottoman entry, but only if the Allies could mobilize and position a large attacking force in time.

Notes

The question proposes neutralizing a likely German ally as the European war begins rather than waiting for Ottoman entry. A Franco-Russian attack might succeed if it moved before the wider Ottoman war was underway. The operational obstacle is that a large force would still have to be mobilized, transported, and placed for the strike in advance. This is a separate counterfactual from Gallipoli in 1915 and remains a possibility rather than an assertion about what Allied governments had prepared to do.