pursuit of Goeben and Breslau

Significance

The pursuit of Goeben and Breslau opened World War I in the Mediterranean with a British failure to intercept the German Mittelmeerdivision. SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau evaded the British Mediterranean Fleet and passed through the Dardanelles to reach Constantinople. There the two vessels were handed over to the Ottoman Empire, renamed Yavuz Sultan Selim and Midilli, and subsequently used under their German commander to attack Russian positions. Those attacks brought the Ottoman Empire into the war on the side of the Central Powers, a strategic consequence that extended the conflict across the Middle East and the Caucasus and opened fronts that would shape the war's outcome well beyond the Mediterranean theater.

Commanders (4)