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in order to promote Turco-German collaboration. Pressel and Goltz spent time touring the country and learning its customs; after this, they made the
Railway their top priority, believing that improving the state of the Turkish people would benefit both the Ottoman Empire and Germany. In 1871, Pressel
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Pressel decided to live out his days in Turkey, arguing for the complete
Ottoman takeover of the project, writing: "I have decided to fight for my project against the superior strength of my opponents as long as God gives me the strength, until my last breath, like a lioness for her cubs. Because I
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officially rejected the "Pressel
Project" on behalf of the German government (although he personally approved of it), Kaulla and Siemens submitted their own bid to the sultan, who accepted. Pressel, though, felt that he had been betrayed and shunted off when Kaulla and Siemens took over; Siemens in
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and barbarism, especially toward
Ottoman Christians, a minority. He found these rumors to be true; the perpetrators of various crimes against the Christians were often government officials, so their plight seemingly had no end. As Pressel continued to learn about the Turks, he disliked Turkish
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officials more and more. The majority of Turks "were honest and brave and treated their fellow
Christian citizens 'with mildness and friendliness.'" On the other hand, Turkish officials were caught between the modern and traditional, hypocritical, and soon came to disgust Pressel.
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Between 1883 and 1887, Pressel had accumulated enough capital to support the railroad, but the sultan rejected it because the capital came from too many sources. Soon, though, Pressel met
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Of
European powers that included Britain and France, Germany provided the most significant foreign aid to the Ottoman Empire in its state of 19th and 20th century decline. Pressel and
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have the right to call the
Anatolian Railway my child." The official German dispatch refused to give him an obituary, and his opponents continued to slander him.
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that the
Baghdad Railway needed to be built. The sultan's concession was, in part, to improve morale after the crushing defeat by the Russians in 1877–78.
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declared bankruptcy in 1875, hindering his plans. In the late 1870s, Pressel succeeded in convincing
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At this time, Pressel endeavored to learn more about the culture of the Turks; rumors abounded of
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Distant Ties: Germany, the
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was appointed director of the new Asian Ottoman Railway Company.
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farmers to increase their harvest and export some of it.
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particular hated Pressel for his humanitarian nature.
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343:Turkish people in rail transport
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304:McMurray, Jonathan S. (2001).
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208:Later life
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