just as "survival of the fittest" prevailed in nature, the same principle applied to international relations with "strong" nations rightfully devouring "weak" nations. Goltz, who saw the carnage of war as the most beautiful thing in the world wrote: "It [war] is an expression of the energy and self-respect which a nation possesses.... Perpetual peace means perpetual death!" Service with the Ottoman Empire Defeated in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Sultan Abdülhamid II, of the Ottoman Empire, asked for German help to reorganize the Ottoman Army, so that it would be able to resist the advance of the Russian Empire. Baron von der Goltz was sent. He spent twelve years on this work, which provided the material for several of his books. During his time in the Ottoman Empire, Goltz had a very negative view of Abdülhamid II, writing: Goltz achieved some reforms, such as lengthening the period of study at military schools and adding new curricula for staff courses at the War College. From 1883 to 1895, Goltz trained the so-called "Goltz generation" of Ottoman officers, many of whom would go to play prominent roles in Ottoman military and political life. Goltz, who learned to speak fluent Turkish, was a much admired teacher, regarded as a "father figure" by the cadets, who saw him as "an inspiration." Attending his lectures, in which he sought to indoctrinate his students with his "nation in arms" philosophy, was seen as "a matter of pride and joy" by his pupils. As a result, it was the Ottoman army rather the German army which first embraced Goltz’s "nation in arms" theory as the basis of its understanding of war. After some years he was given the title Pasha (a signal honor for a non-Muslim) and in 1895, just before he returned to Germany, he was named Mushir (field-marshal). His improvements to the Ottoman army were significant. It is noteworthy that in the Greco-Turkish War (1897), the Turkish army stopped just before Thermopylae, only after Czar Nicholas II of Russia threatened the Ottoman Sultan that he would be attacking the Ottoman Empire from eastern Anatolia unless the Ottoman Army stopped their advance at that point. On his return to Germany in 1895 Goltz became a lieutenant-general and commander of the 5th Division, and in 1898, head of the Engineer and Pioneer Corps and Inspector-General of Fortifications. In 1900 he was made General of Infantry and in