Dissolution (1908–1922)
The Second Constitutional Era began after the Young Turk Revolution (3 July 1908) with the sultan's announcement of the restoration of the1876 constitution and the reconvening of the Ottoman Parliament. It marks the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. This era is dominated by the politics of the Committee of Union and Progress, and the movement that would become known as the Young Turks.
Profiting from the civil strife, Austria-Hungary officially annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, but pulled its troops out of the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, another contested region between the Austrians and Ottomans, to avoid a war. During the Italo-Turkish War (1911–12) in which the Ottoman Empire lost Libya, the Balkan League declared war against the Ottoman Empire, which lost its Balkan territories except East Thraceand the historic Ottoman capital city of Edirne (Adrianople) during the Balkan Wars (1912–13). Some 400,000 Muslims, out of fear for Greek, Serbian or Bulgarian atrocities, left with the retreating Ottoman army.[103] The Baghdad Railway under German control became a source of international tension and played a role in the origins of World War I.[104]
World War I (1914–1918)
Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) at the trenches of Gallipoli in 1915.The Young Turk government had signed a secret treaty with Germany and established the Ottoman-German Alliance in August 1914, aimed against the common Russian enemy but aligning the Empire with the German side. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I after theGoeben and Breslau incident, in which it gave safe harbour to two German ships that were fleeing British ships. These ships then—after having officially been transferred to the Ottoman Navy, but effectively still under German control—attacked the Russian port of Sevastopol, thus dragging the Empire into the war on the side of the Central Powers, in which it took part in the Middle Eastern theatre. There were several important Ottoman victories in the early years of the war, such as the Battle of Gallipoli and the Siege of Kut, but there were setbacks as well, such as the disastrous Caucasus Campaign against the Russians. The United States never declared war against the Ottoman Empire.[105]
The Ottoman Empire in 1914, including nominal and vassal Ottoman territories.The expansion and collapse of the Ottoman Empire (click on the picture.)In 1915, as the Russian Caucasus Army continued to advance in eastern Anatolia with the help of Armenian volunteer units from the Caucasus region of the Russian Empire,[106] and aided by some Ottoman Armenians, the Ottoman government decided to issue the Tehcir Law, which started thedeportation of the ethnic Armenians, particularly from the provinces close to the Ottoman-Russian front, resulting in what became known as theArmenian Genocide.[107][108][109] Through forced marches and massacres, the Armenians living in eastern Anatolia were uprooted from their ancestral homelands and sent southwards to the Ottoman provinces in Syria and Mesopotamia. Estimates vary on how many Armenians perished during the Armenian Genocide but scholars give figures ranging from 300,000 (per the modern Turkish state), 600,000 (per early estimates by Western researchers)[110] to up to 1.0 million to up to 1.5 million (per modern Western and Armenian scholars).[111][112][113][114][115][116]
The Arab Revolt which began in 1916 turned the tide against the Ottomans at the Middle Eastern front, where they initially seemed to have the upper hand during the first two years of the war. When the Armistice of Mudros was signed on October 30, 1918, the only parts of the Arabian peninsula that were still under Ottoman control were Yemen, Asir, the city of Medina, portions of northern Syria and portions of northern Iraq. These territories were handed over to the British forces on 23 January 1919. The Ottomans were also ordered to evacuate the parts of the former Russian Empire in the Caucasus (in present-day Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan), which they had gained towards the end of World War I, following Russia's retreat from the war with the Russian Revolution in 1917.
Under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres, the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire was solidified. The new countries created from the former territories of the Ottoman Empire currently number 39.
Desing By Baris Barin
Profiting from the civil strife, Austria-Hungary officially annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, but pulled its troops out of the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, another contested region between the Austrians and Ottomans, to avoid a war. During the Italo-Turkish War (1911–12) in which the Ottoman Empire lost Libya, the Balkan League declared war against the Ottoman Empire, which lost its Balkan territories except East Thraceand the historic Ottoman capital city of Edirne (Adrianople) during the Balkan Wars (1912–13). Some 400,000 Muslims, out of fear for Greek, Serbian or Bulgarian atrocities, left with the retreating Ottoman army.[103] The Baghdad Railway under German control became a source of international tension and played a role in the origins of World War I.[104]
World War I (1914–1918)
Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) at the trenches of Gallipoli in 1915.The Young Turk government had signed a secret treaty with Germany and established the Ottoman-German Alliance in August 1914, aimed against the common Russian enemy but aligning the Empire with the German side. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I after theGoeben and Breslau incident, in which it gave safe harbour to two German ships that were fleeing British ships. These ships then—after having officially been transferred to the Ottoman Navy, but effectively still under German control—attacked the Russian port of Sevastopol, thus dragging the Empire into the war on the side of the Central Powers, in which it took part in the Middle Eastern theatre. There were several important Ottoman victories in the early years of the war, such as the Battle of Gallipoli and the Siege of Kut, but there were setbacks as well, such as the disastrous Caucasus Campaign against the Russians. The United States never declared war against the Ottoman Empire.[105]
The Ottoman Empire in 1914, including nominal and vassal Ottoman territories.The expansion and collapse of the Ottoman Empire (click on the picture.)In 1915, as the Russian Caucasus Army continued to advance in eastern Anatolia with the help of Armenian volunteer units from the Caucasus region of the Russian Empire,[106] and aided by some Ottoman Armenians, the Ottoman government decided to issue the Tehcir Law, which started thedeportation of the ethnic Armenians, particularly from the provinces close to the Ottoman-Russian front, resulting in what became known as theArmenian Genocide.[107][108][109] Through forced marches and massacres, the Armenians living in eastern Anatolia were uprooted from their ancestral homelands and sent southwards to the Ottoman provinces in Syria and Mesopotamia. Estimates vary on how many Armenians perished during the Armenian Genocide but scholars give figures ranging from 300,000 (per the modern Turkish state), 600,000 (per early estimates by Western researchers)[110] to up to 1.0 million to up to 1.5 million (per modern Western and Armenian scholars).[111][112][113][114][115][116]
The Arab Revolt which began in 1916 turned the tide against the Ottomans at the Middle Eastern front, where they initially seemed to have the upper hand during the first two years of the war. When the Armistice of Mudros was signed on October 30, 1918, the only parts of the Arabian peninsula that were still under Ottoman control were Yemen, Asir, the city of Medina, portions of northern Syria and portions of northern Iraq. These territories were handed over to the British forces on 23 January 1919. The Ottomans were also ordered to evacuate the parts of the former Russian Empire in the Caucasus (in present-day Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan), which they had gained towards the end of World War I, following Russia's retreat from the war with the Russian Revolution in 1917.
Under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres, the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire was solidified. The new countries created from the former territories of the Ottoman Empire currently number 39.
Desing By Baris Barin