The empire fell into disorder with the declaration of war along with Germany. It took less time to arrive at any of those fronts from London than from the Ottoman War Department because of the poor condition of Ottoman supply ships.

The Army used Trabzon port as a logistical shortcut to the east. To reach the border with Russia, the railway ran only 60 km east of Ankara, and from there, it was 35 days to Erzurum. It took more than a month to reach Syria and nearly two months to reach Mesopotamia. During Abdul Hamid II's reign civilian communications had improved, but the road and rail network was not ready for war.

The great landmass of Anatolia was between the Ottoman army's headquarters in Istanbul and many of the theatres of war. The Ottoman Empire started military action after three months of formal neutrality, but it had signed a secret alliance with the Central Powers in August 1914. Following the attack, Russia and its allies (Britain and France) declared war on the Ottomans in November 1914. The Ottoman entry into World War I began on 29 October 1914 when it launched the Black Sea Raid against Russian ports. Main article: Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

Empire total war ottoman