The sinews of war : Turkey, chromite, and the Second World War

Abstract

This thesis is an historical narrative examining the role of Turkish trade in chromite ore during the Second World War. It primarily seeks to understand how this trade impacted Turkey’s status as a neutral power while also looking at how this trade affected Turkish-American relations. In addition to a survey of the secondary literature, substantial amounts of primary source documents in the US National Archives from the US Departments of State and Interior as well as the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) were used. This thesis argues that Turkish statesmen successfully used trade in chromite as a bargaining tool to maintain Turkish neutrality throughout the war. It also argues that British and American efforts to monopolize chromite trade and block German access to the ore largely failed.