Very Good Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928) Original lithographed proclamation on thin paper. (40x29 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 35 lines on one page. Heavily stained paper, slightly chipped extremities, overall a good copy. Extremely rare copy of this superb lithographed propaganda proclamation by the Russian naval forces, distributed to the "libertarian Ottoman nation", probably in Ottoman cities like Sinop, Trabzon, and Constantinople, against the Germans during World War I, written on July 5, 1917, in Sevastopol. It's printed from the original manuscript copy in a primitive riq'a script, translated into Ottoman script by probably the Russian army. Although the year is written as Hijri (1333) in the document, the day and month are specified as Gregorian. Interesting propaganda text in this proclamation prepared by the Russian government during the July Days and in a very complicated period between the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and the iconic October Revolution in 1917, against the counter-propaganda activities of Germany (such as Tovarish) and other Allied Powers during World War I. The text, translated into Ottoman Turkish, briefly tells that "the Russian nation is freed from the captivity of the tsars and has chosen to live in peace with soldiers, workers and peasants altogether" and the Ottoman nation and army should not cooperate with Germany. The document, prepared in the days when Russia's Galician Offensive began, predicts that the Russian army will undoubtedly be victorious on this front and that later also libertarian America will join the war on the side of the Allied Powers. SUPPORT BY THE US NAVY (AMERICAN CONNECTION) The defeats and losses at the battlefronts of the First World War, not least mounting economic pressures and food shortages at home, steadily reduced the authority of the tsarist government. When Nicholas II abdicated on 15 March 1917, the creation of a provisional government failed to stabilize the situation. A wave of political activity followed across Russia. Unsurprisingly, Sevastopol did not remain immune from such developments. On 19 March elections for a soviet (council) of deputies took place in the city. At the same time, sailors' committees were formed on the ships of the Black Sea Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Alexander Kolchak. Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (1874 -1920) was an Imperial Russian admiral, military leader, and polar explorer who served in the Imperial Russian Navy and fought in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and the First World War. During the Russian Civil War of 1917-1922, he established an anti-communist government in Siberia - later the Provisional All-Russian Government - and became recognized as the "Supreme Leader and Commander-in-Chief of All Russian Land and Naval Forces" by the other leaders of the White movement from 1918 to 1920. His government was based in Omsk, in southwestern Siberia. Bending to the demands of the crews, on 13 May Kolchak ordered the renaming of battleships with imperial names such as Imperator Alexander III, which became the Volya (Will). By the early summer, discipline within the Black Sea Fleet was fast breaking down. On 20 June a delegation from the United States navy, headed by Rear Admiral James H. Glennon, visited Sevastopol, an important port of call on a tour of naval bases to determine how best to support the Russian war effort against Germany. This American support on June 20, probably, reflects the content which included the American sympathy in the document. In this situation, this document might be prepared by Kolchak and his supporters around him. The complete English translation of the text is below: Proclamation to the Ottoman nation by the libertarian Russian navy: This dreadful warfare, which has been going on for three years has shed the blood of the nations and destroyed their properties. Is this necessary? The Russian nation is freed from the captivity of the sultans (tsars). Russ
