Armenian Genocide
During the 1915 campaign of the Russians in eastern Anatolia, German officers had recommended the selected deportation of local Armenian population in Eastern Anatolia, in case the Russian advance caused an uprising. When Enver Pasha showed such orders to Goltz he approved of them as a military necessity. In the words of one historian, "Goltz's later actions to stop deportations indicate it is unlikely that he understood its larger significance." In December 1915 Goltz directly intervened, threatening to resign his command if the deportations were not halted. It was a measure of Goltz's stature in the Ottoman Empire that he, as a foreign military officer, was able, if briefly, to influence domestic policy. However, he was able to effect only a temporary reprieve, and then only in Mesopotamia. It would have been almost unheard of for a soldier to resign during wartime, and in the end Goltz did not do so.
Read more about this topic: Colmar Freiherr Von Der Goltz
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