Dissolution of the Ottoman empire

The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) was a period of history of

the Ottoman Empire beginning with the Young Turk Revolution and ultimately
ending with the empire's dissolution and the founding of the modern state
of Turkey.
The Young Turk Revolution restored the constitution of 1876 and brought
in multi-party politics with a two-stage electoral system for the Ottoman
parliament. At the same time, a nascent movement called Ottomanism was
promoted in an attempt to maintain the unity of the Empire, emphasising a
collective Ottoman nationalism regardless of religion or ethnicity. Within the
empire, the new constitution was initially seen positively, as an opportunity to
modernize state institutions and resolve inter-communal tensions between
different ethnic groups.
Additionally, this period was characterised by continuing military failures by
the empire. Despite military reforms, the Ottoman Army met with disastrous
defeat in the Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912) and the Balkan Wars (1912–1913),
resulting in the Ottomans being driven out of North Africa and nearly out of
Europe. Continuous unrest leading up to World War I resulted in the 31 March
Incident, the 1912 Ottoman coup d'état and the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état.
The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) government became increasingly
radicalised during this period, and conducted ethnic cleansing and genocide
against the empire's Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek citizens, events
collectively referred to as the Late Ottoman genocides. Ottoman participation
in World War I ended with defeat and the partition of the empire's remaining
territories under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres. The treaty, formulated at
the conference of London, allocated nominal land to the Ottoman state and
allowed it to retain the designation of "Ottoman Caliphate" (similar to
the Vatican, a sacerdotal-monarchical state ruled by the Catholic Pope),
leaving it severely weakened. One factor behind this arrangement was Britain's
desire to thwart the Khilafat Movement.
The occupation of Constantinople (Istanbul), along with the occupation of
Smyrna (Izmir), mobilized the Turkish national movement, which ultimately won
the Turkish War of Independence. The formal abolition of the Ottoman
Sultanate was performed by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on
1 November 1922. The Sultan was declared persona non grata from the lands
the Ottoman Dynasty had ruled since 1299.
Background
Tanzimat Reforms
The Tanzimat-i Hayriye, or “Auspicious Reorderings,” was a period of sustained
legislation and reform that modernized Ottoman state and society, contributed
to the further centralization of administration, and brought increased state
participation in Ottoman society between 1839 and 1876. Its antecedents lay
in the passion for “ordering” (nizam) that had guided the efforts of Gazi Hasan
Paşa and Halil Hamit Paşa during the reign of Abdulhamit I (1774–1789) as well
as those of Selim III and Mahmut II. It was the latter who made the Tanzimat
possible by extending the scope of Ottoman government far beyond its
traditional bounds to include the right and even the duty to regulate all aspects
of life and changing the concept of Ottoman reform from the traditional one of
attempting to preserve and restore the old institutions to a modern one of
replacing them with new ones, some imported from the West. The successes
as well as the failures of the Tanzimat movement in many ways directly
determined the course reform was to take subsequently in the Turkish
Republic to the present day. Leading the Tanzimat were Mahmut's sons,
Abdulmecit I (1839–1861) and Abdulaziz (1861–1876), whose reigns
encompassed the entire period and who provided the context in which the
Tanzimat bureaucrats could and did proceed at their work.

Social conflicts
Europe became dominated with nation states with the rise of nationalism in
Europe.The 19th century saw the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman
Empire which resulted in the establishment of an independent Greece in
1821, Serbia in 1835, and Bulgaria in 1877–1878. Unlike the European nations,
the Ottoman Empire made little attempt to integrate conquered peoples
through cultural assimilation. Instead, Ottoman policy was to rule through
the millet system, consisting of confessional communities for each religion.
The Empire never fully integrated its conquests economically and therefore
never established a binding link with its subjects. Between 1828 and 1908, the
Empire tried to catch up with industrialization and a rapidly emerging world
market by reforming state and society. By virtue of the Treaty of Balta Liman
(1838) between Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire, the latter “will abolish
all monopolies, allow British merchants and their collaborators to have full
access to all Ottoman markets and will be taxed equally to local
merchants”. As a result of this treaty, “the Ottomans were unable to protect
their manufactures or raise revenues for investments in development
projects”. This treaty enabled English manufacturers to sell their wares
cheaply in the Ottoman Empire, and consequently undermined Ottoman efforts
to industrialize. Despite these hurdles, “It speaks to the determination of the
Ottomans that they sought to launch an industrial revolution despite their
adverse fiscal circumstances. In the decade starting in 1841, the Ottomans
had set up to the west of Istanbul a complex of state-owned industries that
included spinning and weaving mills, a foundry, steam-operated machine
works, and a boatyard for the construction of small steamships. In the words of
Edward Clark:“In variety as well as in number, in planning, in investment, and
in attention given to internal sources of raw materials these manufacturing
enterprises far surpassed the scope of all previous efforts and mark this period
as unique in Ottoman history.” 
Ottomanism, originating from Young Ottomans who were inspired by
the French Revolution social contract theorists Montesquieu and Rousseau,
promoted equality among the millets and stated that every subject was equal
before the law. Proponents of Ottomanism believed accepting all separate
ethnicities and religions as Ottomans could solve social issues. Following
the Tanzimat reforms, major reforms were introduced into the structure of the
Empire. The essence of the millet system was not dismantled, but secular
organizations and policies were established. Primary education
and conscription were to be applied to non-Muslims and Muslims alike. Michael
Hechter argues that the rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire was the
result of a backlash against Ottoman attempts to institute more direct and
central forms of rule over populations which had previously had greater
autonomy.

Economic Issues
The Capitulations were the main discussion of economic policy during the
period. It used to be believed incoming foreign assistance with capitulation
could benefit the Empire. Ottoman officials, representing different jurisdictions,
sought bribes at every opportunity and withheld the proceeds of a vicious and
discriminatory tax system. This ruined every struggling industry by the graft,
and fought against every show of independence on the part of Empire's many
subject peoples.
The Ottoman public debt was part of a larger scheme of control by the
European powers, through which the commercial interests of the world had
sought to gain advantages that may not have been of the Empire's interest. The
debt was administered by the Ottoman Public Debt Administration and its
power was extended to the Imperial Ottoman Bank (or Central bank). The total
pre-World War debt of Empire was $716,000,000. France had 60 percent of the
total. Germany had 20 percent. The United Kingdom owned 15 percent. The
Ottoman Debt Administration controlled many of the important revenues of the
Empire. The council had power over financial affairs; its control even extended
to determine the tax on livestock in the districts.
Young Turk Revolution
In July 1908, the Young Turk Revolution changed the political structure of the
Empire. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) rebelled against the
absolute rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II to establish the Second Constitutional
Era. On 24 July 1908, Abdul Hamid II capitulated and restored the Ottoman
constitution of 1876.
The revolution created multi-party democracy. Once underground, the Young
Turk movement declared its parties.  Among them was "Union and Progress"
(CUP), and the "Ottoman Liberty Party."
There were smaller parties such as Ottoman Socialist Party and ethnic parties
which included People's Federative Party (Bulgarian Section), Bulgarian
Constitutional Clubs, Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party in Palestine
(Poale Zion), Al-Fatat (also known as the Young Arab Society; Jam’iyat
al-'Arabiya al-Fatat), Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization, and
Armenians were organized under the Armenakan, Hunchakian and Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF/Dashnak).
At the onset, there was a desire to remain unified, and the competing groups
wished to maintain a common country. The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organisation (IMRO) collaborated with the members of the CUP, and Greeks
and Bulgarians joined under the second biggest party, the Liberty Party. The
Bulgarian federalist wing welcomed the revolution, and they later joined
mainstream politics as the People's Federative Party. The former centralists of
the IMRO formed the Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs, and, like the PFP, they
participated in 1908 Ottoman general election.

Further Disintegration
The de jure Bulgarian Declaration of Independence on 5 October [O.S. 22
September] 1908 from the Empire was proclaimed in the old capital
of Tarnovo by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, who afterwards took the title
"Tsar".
The Bosnian crisis on 6 October 1908 erupted when Austria-
Hungary announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, territories
formally within the sovereignty of the Empire. This unilateral action was timed
to coincide with Bulgaria's declaration of independence (5 October) from the
Empire. The Ottoman Empire protested Bulgaria's declaration with more vigour
than the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which it had no practical prospects
of governing. A boycott of Austro-Hungarian goods and shops occurred,
inflicting commercial losses of over 100,000,000 kronen on Austria-Hungary.
Austria-Hungary agreed to pay the Ottomans ₤2.2 million for the public land in
Bosnia-Herzegovina.Bulgarian independence could not be reversed.
Just after the revolution in 1908, the Cretan deputies declared union with
Greece, taking advantage of the revolution as well as the timing of Zaimis's
vacation away from the island. 1908 ended with the issue still unresolved
between the Empire and the Cretans. In 1909, after the parliament elected its
governing structure (first cabinet), the CUP majority decided that if order was
maintained and the rights of Muslims were respected, the issue would be
solved with negotiations.

New Parliament
1908 Ottoman general election was preceded by political campaigns. In the
summer of 1908, a variety of political proposals were put forward by the CUP.
The CUP stated in its election manifesto that it sought to modernize the state
by reforming finance and education, promoting public works and agriculture,
and the principles of equality and justice.Regarding nationalism, (Armenian,
Kurd, Turkic..) the CUP identified the Turks as the "dominant nation" around
which the empire should be organized, not unlike the position of Germans in
Austria-Hungary. According to Reynolds, only a small minority in the Empire
occupied themselves with Pan-Turkism, at least in 1908.
The election was held in October and November 1908. CUP-sponsored
candidates were opposed by the Liberals. The latter became a centre for those
opposing the CUP. Sabaheddin Bey, who returned from his long exile, believed
that in non-homogeneous provinces a decentralized government was best. The
Liberals were poorly organized in the provinces, and failed to convince minority
candidates to contest the election under the Liberty Party banner; it also failed
to tap into the continuing support for the old regime in less developed areas.
During September 1908, the important Hejaz Railway opened, construction of
which had started in 1900. Ottoman rule was firmly re-established in Hejaz and
Yemen with the railroad from Damascus to Medina. Historically, Arabia's
interior was mostly controlled by playing one tribal group off against another.
As the railroad finished, opposing Wahhabi Islamic fundamentalists reasserted
themselves under the political leadership of Abdul al-Aziz Ibn Saud.
Christian communities of the Balkans felt that the CUP no longer represented
their aspirations. They had heard the CUP's arguments before, under
the Tanzimat reforms:
Those in the vanguard of reform had appropriated the notion of
Ottomanism, but the contradictions implicit in the practical
realization of this ideology – in persuading Muslims and non-Muslims
alike that the achievement of true equality between them entailed
the acceptance by both of obligations as well as rights – posed CUP
a problem. October 1908 saw the new regime suffer a significant
blow with the loss of Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Crete, over which the
empire still exercised nominal sovereignty.
The system became multi-headed, with old and new structures coexisting, until
the CUP took full control of the government in 1913 and, under the chaos of
change, power was exercised without accountability.
The Senate of the Ottoman Empire was opened by the Sultan on 17 December
1908. The new year brought the results of 1908 elections. Chamber of
Deputies gathered on 30 January 1909. The CUP needed a strategy to realize
their Ottomanist ideals.
In 1909, public order laws and police were unable to maintain order; protesters
were prepared to risk reprisals to express their grievances. In the three
months following the inauguration of the new regime there were more than 100
strikes, constituting three-quarters of the labor force of the Empire, mainly in
Constantinople and Salonika (Thessaloniki). During previous strikes (Anatolian
tax revolts in 1905-1907) the Sultan remained above criticism and bureaucrats
and administrators were deemed corrupt; this time CUP took the blame. In the
parliament the Liberty Party accused the CUP of authoritarianism. Abdul
Hamid's Grand Viziers Said and Kâmil Pasha and his Foreign Minister Tevfik
Pasha continued in the office. They were now independent of the Sultan and
were taking measures to strengthen the Porte against the encroachments of
both the Palace and the CUP. Said and Kâmil were nevertheless men of the old
regime.

31 March incident
After nine months into the new government, discontent found expression in a
fundamentalist movement which attempted to dismantle Constitution and
revert it with a monarchy. The 31 March Incident began when Abdul Hamid
promised to restore the Caliphate, eliminate secular policies, and restore
the rule of Islamic law, as the mutinous troops claimed. CUP also eliminated
the time for religious observance. Unfortunately for the advocates of
representative parliamentary government, mutinous demonstrations by
disenfranchised regimental officers broke out on 13 April 1909, which led to
the collapse of the government. On 27 April 1909 the counter-coup was put
down using the 11th Salonika Reserve Infantry Division of the Third Army.
Some of the leaders of Bulgarian federalist wing
like Sandanski and Chernopeev participated in the march on Capital to depose
the "attempt to dismantle constitution". Abdul Hamid II was removed from the
throne, and Mehmed V became the Sultan. On 5 August 1909, the revised
constitution was granted by the new Sultan Mehmed V. This revised
constitution, as the one before, proclaimed the equality of all subjects in the
matter of taxes, military service (allowing Christians into the military for the
first time), and political rights. The new constitution was perceived as a big
step for the establishment of a common law for all subjects. The position of
Sultan was greatly reduced to a figurehead, while still retaining some
constitutional powers, such as the ability to declare war. The new constitution,
aimed to bring more sovereignty to the public, could not address certain public
services, such as the Ottoman public debt, the Ottoman Bank or Ottoman
Public Debt Administration because of their international character. The same
held true of most of the companies which were formed to execute public works
such as Baghdad Railway, tobacco and cigarette trades of two French
companies the "Regie Company", and "Narquileh tobacco".

Italian War,1911
Italy declared war, the Italo-Turkish War, on the Empire on 29 September 1911,
demanding the turnover of Tripoli and Cyrenaica. Italian forces took those
areas on 5 November of that year. Although minor, the war was an important
precursor of World War I as it sparked nationalism in the Balkan states.
The Ottomans lost their last directly ruled African territory. The Italians also
sent weapons to Montenegro, encouraged Albanian dissidents, and seized
the Dodecanese. Seeing how easily the Italians had defeated the disorganized
Ottomans, the members of the Balkan League attacked the Empire before the
war with Italy had ended.
On 18 October 1912, Italy and the Empire signed a treaty in Ouchy near
Lausanne. Often called Treaty of Ouchy, but also named as the First Treaty of
Lausanne.

1912 Election and Coup

The Freedom and Accord Party, successor to the Liberty Party, was in power
when the First Balkan War broke out in October. The Party of Union and
Progress won landslide the 1912 Ottoman general election. Decentralization
(the Liberal Union's position) was rejected and all effort was directed toward
streamline of the government, streamlining the administration (bureaucracy),
and strengthening the armed forces. The CUP, which got the public mandate
from the electorate, did not compromise with minority parties like their
predecessors (that is being Sultan Abdul Hamid) had been. The first three years
of relations between the new regime and the Great Powers were demoralizing
and frustrating. The Powers refused to make any concessions over the
Capitulations and loosen their grip over the Empire's internal affairs.
When the Italian War and the counterinsurgency operations in Albania
and Yemen began to fail, a number of high-ranking military officers, who were
unhappy with the counterproductive political involvement in these wars,
formed a political committee in the capital. Calling themselves the Savior
Officers, its members were committed to reducing the autocratic control
wielded by the CUP over military operations. Supported by the Freedom and
Accord in parliament, these officers threatened violent action unless their
demands were met. Said Pasha resigned as Grand Vizier on 17 July 1912, and
the government collapsed. A new government, so called the "Great cabinet",
was formed by Ahmet Muhtar Pasha. The members of the government were
prestigious statesmen, technocrat government, and they easily received the
vote of confidence. The CUP excluded from cabinet posts. 
The Ottoman Aviation Squadrons established by largely under French guidance
in 1912. Squadrons were established in a short time as Louis Blériot and the
Belgian pilot Baron Pierre de Caters performed the first flight demonstration in
the Empire on 2 December 1909.

Balkan Wars 1912-1913

The three new Balkan states formed at the end of the 19th century
and Montenegro, sought additional territories from the Albania, Macedonia,
and Thrace regions, behind their nationalistic arguments. The incomplete
emergence of these nation-states on the fringes of the Empire during the
nineteenth century set the stage for the Balkan Wars. On 10 October 1912 the
collective note of the powers was handed. CUP responded to demands of
European powers on reforms in Macedonia on 14 October.
While the Powers were asking Empire to reform Macedonia, under the
encouragement of Russia, a series of agreements were concluded:
between Serbia and Bulgaria in March 1912, between Greece and Bulgaria in
May 1912, and Montenegro subsequently concluded agreements between
Serbia and Bulgaria respectively in October 1912. The Serbian-Bulgarian
agreement specifically called for the partition of Macedonia which resulted in
the First Balkan War. A nationalist uprising broke out in Albania, and on 8
October, the Balkan League, consisting of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and
Bulgaria, mounted a joint attack on the Empire, starting the First Balkan War.
The strong march of the Bulgarian forces in Thrace pushed the Ottoman armies
to the gates of Constantinople. The Second Balkan War soon followed. Albania
declared independence on 28 November.
The empire agreed to a ceasefire on 2 December, and its territory losses were
finalized in 1913 in the treaties of London and Bucharest. Albania became
independent, and the Empire lost almost all of its European territory
(Kosovo, Sanjak of Novi Pazar, Macedonia and western Thrace) to the four
allies. These treaties resulted in the loss of 83 percent of their European
territory and almost 70 percent of their European population.

Inter-Communal conflicts
In the two-year period between September 1911 and September 1913 ethnic
cleansing sent hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees, or muhacir,
streaming into the Empire, adding yet another economic burden and straining
the social fabric. During the wars, food shortages and hundreds of thousands of
refugees haunted the empire. After the war there was a violent expulsion of the
Muslim peasants of eastern Thrace.

Cession of Kuwait and Albania

The Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 was a short-lived agreement signed in
July 1913 between the Ottoman sultan Mehmed V and the British over several
issues. However the status of Kuwait that came to be the only lasting result,
as its outcome was formal independence for Kuwait.
Albania had been under Ottoman rule since about 1478. When Serbia,
Montenegro, and Greece laid claim to Albanian-populated lands during Balkan
Wars, the Albanians declared independence. The European Great
Powers endorsed an independent Albania in 1913, after the Second Balkan
War leaving outside the Albanian border more than half of the Albanian
population and their lands, that were partitioned between Montenegro, Serbia
and Greece. They were assisted by Aubrey Herbert, a British MP who
passionately advocated their cause in London. As a result, Herbert was offered
the crown of Albania, but was dissuaded by the British prime minister, H. H.
Asquith, from accepting. Instead the offer went to William of Wied, a German
prince who accepted and became sovereign of the new Principality of Albania.
Albania's neighbours still cast covetous eyes on this new and largely Islamic
state. The young state, however, collapsed within weeks of the outbreak of
World War I.

Union and Progress takes control

At the turn of 1913, the Ottoman Modern Army failed at counterinsurgencies in
the periphery of the empire, Libya was lost to Italy, and Balkan war erupted in
the fall of 1912. Freedom and Accord flexed its muscles with the forced
dissolution of the parliament in 1912. The signs of humiliation of the Balkan
wars worked to the advantage of the CUP The cumulative defeats of 1912
enabled the CUP to seize control of the government.
The Freedom and Accord Party presented the peace proposal to the Ottoman
government as a collective démarche, which was almost immediately
accepted by both the Ottoman cabinet and by an overwhelming majority of the
parliament on 22 January 1913.  The 1913 Ottoman coup d'état (23 January),
was carried out by a number of CUP members led by Ismail Enver and Mehmed
Talaat, in which the group made a surprise raid on the central Ottoman
government buildings, the Sublime Porte (Turkish: Bâb-ı Âlî). During the coup,
the Minister of the Navy Nazım Pasha was assassinated and the Grand
Vizier, Kâmil Pasha, was forced to resign. The CUP established tighter control
over the faltering Ottoman state.  The new grand vizier Mahmud Sevket
Pasha was assassinated by Freedom and Accord supporters just in 5 months
after the coup in June 1913. Cemal Pasha's posting as commendante of
Constantinople put the party underground. The execution of former officials
had been an exception since the Tanzimat (1840s) period; punishment was
usually exile. The public life could not be far more brutish 75 years after the
Tanzimat. The Foreign Ministry was always occupied by someone from the
inner circle of the CUP except for the interim appointment of Muhtar Bey. Said
Halim Pasha who was already Foreign Minister, became Grand Vizier in June
1913 and remained in office until October 1915. He was succeeded in the
Ministry by Halil Menteşe.

In May 1913 a German military mission assigned Otto Liman von Sanders to

help train and reorganize the Ottoman army. Otto Liman von Sanders was
assigned to reorganize the First Army, his model to be replicated to other units;
as an advisor [he took the command of this army in November 1914] and began
working on its operational area which was the straits. This became a scandal
and intolerable for St. Petersburg. The Russian Empire developed a plan for
invading and occupying the Black Sea port of Trabzon or the Eastern Anatolian
town of Bayezid in retaliation. To solve this issue Germany demoted Otto
Liman von Sanders to a rank with which he could barely command an army
corps. If there was no solution through Naval occupation of Constantinople, the
next Russian idea was to improve the Russian Caucasus Army.

Elections,1914
The Empire lost territory in the Balkans, where many of its Christian voters
were based before the 1914 elections. The CUP made efforts to win support in
the Arab provinces by making conciliatory gestures to Arab leaders. Weakened
Arab support for Freedom and Accord enabled the CUP to call elections with
unionists holding the upper hand. After 1914 elections, the democratic
structure had a better representation in the parliament; the parliament that
emerged from the elections in 1914 reflected better ethnic composition of the
Ottoman population. There were more Arab deputies, which were under-
represented in previous parliaments. The CUP had a majority government.
Ismail Enver became a Pasha and was assigned as the Minister of War; Ahmet
Cemal who was the military governor of Constantinople became Minister of the
Navy; and once the postal official Talaat became the Minister of the Interior.
These Three Pashas would maintain de facto control of the Empire as a
military regime and almost as a personal dictatorship under Talaat Pasha
during the World War I. Until the 1919 Ottoman general election, any other
input into the political process was restricted with the outbreak of the World
War I.
Local-Regional politics
Albanian politics
The Albanians of Tirana and Elbassan, where the Albanian National
Awakening spread, were among the first groups to join the constitutional
movement, hoping that it would gain their people autonomy within the empire.
However, due to shifting national borders in the Balkans, the Albanians had
been marginalized as a nation-less people. The most significant factor uniting
the Albanians, their spoken language, lacked a standard literary form and even
a standard alphabet. Under the new regime the Ottoman ban on Albanian-
language schools and on writing the Albanian language lifted. The new regime
also appealed for Islamic solidarity to break the Albanians' unity and used the
Muslim clergy to try to impose the Arabic alphabet. The Albanians refused to
submit to the campaign to "Ottomanize" them by force. As a consequence,
Albanian intellectuals meeting, the Congress of Manastir on 22 November
1908, chose the Latin alphabet as a standard script.

Arab politics
The Hauran Druze Rebellion was a violent Druze uprising in the Syrian province,
which erupted in 1909. The rebellion was led by the al-Atrash family, in an aim
to gain independence. A business dispute between Druze chief Yahia bey
Atrash in the village of Basr al-Harir escalated into a clash of arms between
the Druze and Ottoman-backed local villagers. Though it is the financial change
during second constitutional area; the spread of taxation, elections and
conscription, to areas already undergoing economic change caused by the
construction of new railroads, provoked large revolts, particularly among the
Druzes and the Hauran. Sami Pasha al-Farouqi arrived in Damascus in
August 1910, leading an Ottoman expeditionary force of some
35 battalions. The resistance collapsed.
In 1911, Muslim intellectuals and politicians formed "The Young Arab Society",
a small Arab nationalist club, in Paris. Its stated aim was "raising the level of
the Arab nation to the level of modern nations." In the first few years of its
existence, al-Fatat called for greater autonomy within a unified Ottoman state
rather than Arab independence from the empire. Al-Fatat hosted the Arab
Congress of 1913 in Paris, the purpose of which was to discuss desired reforms
with other dissenting individuals from the Arab world. They also requested that
Arab conscripts to the Ottoman army not be required to serve in non-Arab
regions except in time of war. However, as the Ottoman authorities cracked
down on the organization's activities and members, al-Fatat went underground
and demanded the complete independence and unity of the Arab provinces.[23]
Nationalist movement become prominent during this Ottoman period, but it has
to be mentioned that this was among Arab nobles and common Arabs
considered themselves loyal subjects of the Caliph.  Instead of Ottoman Caliph,
the British, for their part, incited the Sharif of Mecca to launch the Arab
Revolt during the First World War.

Armenian politics
In 1908, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) or Dashnak Party
embraced a public position endorsing participation and reconciliation in
the Imperial Government of the Ottoman Empire and the abandonment of the
idea of an independent Armenia. Stepan Zorian and Simon Zavarian managed
the political campaign for the 1908 Ottoman Elections. ARF field workers were
dispatched to the provinces containing significant Armenian populations; for
example, Drastamat Kanayan (Dro), went to Diyarbakir as a political organizer.
The Committee of Union and Progress could only able to bring 10 Armenian
representatives to the 288 seats in the 1908 election. The other 4 Armenians
represented parties with no ethnic affiliation. The ARF was aware that the
elections were shaky ground and maintained its political direction and self-
defence mechanism intact and continued to smuggle arms and ammunition.
On 13 April 1909, while Constantinople was dealing with the consequences
of 31 March Incident, an outbreak of violence, known today as the Adana
Massacre, shook in April the ARF-CUP relations to the core. On 24 April the 31
March Incident and suppression of the Adana violence followed each other.
The Ottoman authorities in Adana brought in military forces and ruthlessly
stamped out both real opponents, while at the same time massacring
thousands of innocent people. In July 1909, the CUP government announced
the trials of various local government and military officials, for "being
implicated in the Armenian massacres".

On 15 January 1912, the Ottoman parliament dissolved and political campaigns

began almost immediately. After the election, on 5 May 1912, Dashnak
officially severed the relations with the Ottoman government; a public
declaration of the Western Bureau printed in the official announcement was
directed to "Ottoman Citizens." The June issue of Droshak ran an editorial
about it.
In October 1912, George V of Armenia engaged in negotiations with
General Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov to discuss Armenian reforms
inside the Russian Empire. In December 1912, Kevork V formed the Armenian
National Delegation and appointed Boghos Nubar. The delegation established
itself in Paris. Another member appointed to the delegation was James
Malcolm who resided in London and became the delegation's point man in its
dealings with the British. In early 1913, Armenian diplomacy shaped as Boghos
Nubar was to be responsible for external negotiations with the European
governments, while the Political Council "seconded by the Constantinople and
Tblisi Commissions" were to negotiate the reform question internally with the
Ottoman and Russian governments.  The Armenian reform package was
established in February 1914 based on the arrangements nominally made in
the Treaty of Berlin (1878) and the Treaty of San Stefano. The plan called for
the unification of the Six Vilayets and the nomination of a Christian governor
and religiously balanced council over the unified provinces, the establishment
of a second Gendarmerie over Ottoman Gendarmerie commanded by European
officers, the legalization of the Armenian language and schools, and the
establishment of a special commission to examine land confiscations
empowered to expel Muslim refugees. The most important clause was
obligating the European powers to enforce the reforms, by overriding the
regional governments.

During the Spring of 1913, the provinces faced increasingly worse relations
between Kurds and Armenians that created an urgent need for the ARF to
revive its self-defence capability. In 1913, the Social Democrat Hunchakian
Party (followed by other Ottoman political parties) changed its policy and
stopped cooperating with the CUP, moving out of the concept
of Ottomanism and developing its own kind of nationalism.
From the end of July to 2 August 1914, the Armenian congress at
Erzurum happened. There was a meeting between the Committee of Progress
and Union and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Armenian
liaisons Arshak Vramian, Zorian and Khatchatour Maloumian and Ottoman
liaisons Dr. Behaeddin Shakir, Omer Naji, and Hilmi Bey were accompanied by
an international entourage of peoples from the Caucasus. The CUP requested
to incite a rebellion of Russian Armenians against the Tsarist regime
in Russian Armenia, in order to facilitate the conquest of Transcaucasia in the
event of the opening up of the Caucasus Campaign. Around the same time, a
representative meeting of Russian Armenians assembled in Tiflis, Russian
Armenia. The Tsar asked Armenian's loyalty and support for Russia in the
conflict. The proposal was agreed upon and nearly 20,000 Armenians who
responded to the call of forming Armenian volunteer units inside the Russian
Caucasus Army, of which only 7,000 were given arms. On 2 November, the first
engagement of the Caucasus Campaign began (the Bergmann Offensive), and
on 16 December 1914, the Ottoman Empire officially dismantled the Armenian
reform package.
Ottoman intelligence services detected a plot by Hunchakian operatives to
assassinate leading CUP members, and but foiled the plot in a single operation
in July 1914. The trials took a year and the participants, named the 20
Hunchakian gallows were executed on 15 June 1915.

Kurdish politics
The first Kurds to challenge the authority of the Ottoman Empire did so
primarily as Ottoman subjects, rather than national Kurds. Abdul Hamid
responded with a policy of repression, but also of integration, co-opting
prominent Kurdish opponents into the Ottoman power structure with
prestigious positions in his government. This strategy appeared successful
given the loyalty displayed by the Kurdish Hamidiye Cavalry.
In 1908, after the overthrow of Sultan, the Hamidiye was disbanded as an
organized force, but as they were "tribal forces" before official recognition by
the Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1892, they stayed as "tribal forces" after
dismemberment. The Hamidiye Cavalry is often described as a failure because
of its contribution to tribal feuds.
Shaykh Abd al Qadir in 1910 appealed to the CUP for an autonomous Kurdish
state in the east. That same year, Said Nursi travelled through the Diyarbakir
region and urged Kurds to unite and forget their differences, while still
carefully claiming loyalty to the CUP. Other Kurdish Shaykhs in the region
began leaning towards regional autonomy. During this time, the Badr Khans
had been in contact with discontented Shaykhs and chieftains in the far east of
Anatolia ranging to the Iranian border, more in the framework of secession,
however. Shaykh Abd al Razzaq Badr Khan eventually formed an alliance with
Shaykh Taha and Shaykh Abd al Salam Barzani, another powerful family.
In 1914, because of the possible Kurdish threat as well as the alliance's
dealings with Russia, Ottoman troops moved against this alliance. Two brief
and minor rebellions, the rebellions of Barzan and Bitlis, were quickly
suppressed.
In 1914, General Muhammad Sharif Pasha offered his services to the British in
Mesopotamia. Elsewhere, members of the Badr Khan family held close
relations with Russian officials and discussed their intentions to form an
independent Kurdistan.

Yemnese politics
Yemen Vilayet was a first-level administrative division of the Empire. In the
late 19th century, the Zaidis rebelled against the Empire, and Imam Mohammed
ibn Yahya laid the foundation of a hereditary dynasty.When he died in 1904, his
successor Imam Yahya ibn Mohammed led the revolt against the Empire in
1904–1905, and forced them to grant important concessions to the Zaidis.The
Ottoman agreed to withdraw the civil code and restore sharia in Yemen.In
1906, the Idrisi leaders of Asir rebelled against the Ottomans. By 1910 they
controlled most of Asir, but they were ultimately defeated by Ottoman
Army and Hejazi forces. Ahmed Izzet Pasha concluded a treaty with Imam
Yahya in October 1911, by which he was recognized as temporal and spiritual
head of the Zaidis, was given the right to appoint officials over them, and
collect taxes from them. The Ottomans maintained their system of government
in the Sunni-majority parts of Yemen.
In March 1914, the Anglo-Turkish Treaty delimited the border between Yemen
and the Aden Protectorate.This was the backdrop to the later division in two
Yemeni states (up to 1990).

Zionist politics
The World Zionist Organization was established in Constantinople; Theodor
Herzl had tried to set up debt relief for Sultan Abdul Hamid II in exchange for
Palestinian lands. Until the First World War its activities focused on cultural
matters, although political aims were never absent. Before the First World War,
Herzl's attempts to reach a political agreement with the Ottoman rulers of
Palestine were unsuccessful. But on 11 April 1909, Tel Aviv was founded on
the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa. The World Zionist Organization
supported small-scale settlement in Palestine and focused on strengthening
Jewish feeling and consciousness and on building a worldwide federation. At
the start of World War I most Jews (and Zionists) supported the German Empire
in its war against the Russian Empire. The Balfour Declaration (dated
2 November 1917) and Henry McMahon had exchanged letters with Hussein bin
Ali, Sharif of Mecca in 1915, a shift to another concept (Jewish national home
vs. Jewish state) which is explained under Homeland for the Jewish people.

Foreign policy
The interstate system at the beginning of the twentieth century was a
multipolar one, with no single or two states pre-eminent. Multipolarity
traditionally had afforded the Ottomans the ability to play-off one power
against the other. Initially, the CUP and Freedom and Accord turned to Britain.
Germany had supported the Hamidian regime and acquired a strong foothold.
By encouraging Britain to compete against Germany and France, the Ottomans
hoped to break France and Germany's hold and acquire greater autonomy for
the Porte. Hostility to Germany increased when her ally Austria-Hungary
annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. The pro-Unionist Tanin went so far as to
suggest that Vienna's motive in carrying out this act was to strike a blow
against the constitutional regime and assist reaction in order to bring about its
fall. Two prominent Unionists, Ahmed Riza Pasha and Dr. Nazim Pasha, were
sent to London to discuss options of cooperation with Sir Edward Grey and Sir
Charles Hardinge.

Foreign Minister Tevfik's successor, Mehmed Rifat Pasha was a career

diplomat from a merchant family. The CUP, who were predominantly civilian,
resented the intrusion of the army into government. The CUP, who seized
power from Freedom and Accord in January 1913, were more convinced than
ever that only an alliance with Britain and the Entente could guarantee the
survival of what remained of the Empire. In June, therefore, the subject of an
Anglo-Turkish alliance was reopened by Tevfik Pasha, who simply restated his
proposal of October 1911. Once again the offer was turned down.
Sir Louis Mallet, who became Britain's Ambassador to the Porte in 1914, noted
that
The CUP felt betrayed by what they considered was Europe's bias during the
Balkan Wars, and therefore they had no faith in Great Power declarations
regarding the Empire's independence and integrity; the termination of
European financial control and administrative supervision was one of the
principal aims of CUP's policies. Though these imperial powers had
experienced relatively few major conflicts between them over the previous
hundred years, an underlying rivalry, otherwise known as "the Great Game",
had exacerbated the situation to such an extent that resolution was
sought. Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 brought shaky British-Russian
relations to the forefront by solidifying boundaries that identified their
respective control in Persia, Afghanistan. Overall, the Convention represented
a carefully calculated move on each power's part in which they chose to value
a powerful alliance over potential sole control over various parts of Central
Asia. The Ottoman Empire lied on the crossroads to Central Asia. The
Convention served as the catalyst for creating a "Triple Entente", which was
the basis of the alliance of countries opposing the Central Powers. Ottoman
Empire's path in Ottoman entry into World War I was set with that agreement,
which ended the Great Game.
One way to challenge and undermine the army's position was by attacking
Germany in the press and supporting friendship with Germany's rival, Great
Britain. But neither Britain nor France responded to CUP's advance of
friendship. In fact France resented the government's (Porte) desire to acquire
financial autonomy.
In early 1914 the Constantinople was concerned with three main goals. The
first was improving relations with Bulgaria; the second was to encourage
support from the Germans, and the third was to settle negotiations with Europe
about the Armenian reform.
With regard to the first, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria showed sympathy to
one another because they suffered as a result of the territories lost with the
Balkan Wars (1912–1913). They also had bitter relations with Greece. They
would eventually sign a secret treaty of alliance, and during World War I, fight
on the same side.
With regard to the second, there were three military missions active at the turn
of 1914. These were the British Naval Mission led by Admiral Limpus, the
French Gendarme Mission led by General Moujen, and the German Military
Mission led by Colmar Freiherr von  der Goltz. The German Military Mission
become the most important among these three. The history of German-
Ottoman military relations went back to the 1880s. The Grand Vizier Said Halim
Pasha (12 June 1913 – 4 February 1917) and Ottoman Minister of War Ahmet
Izzet Pasha (11 June 1913 – 3 January 1914) were instrumental in developing
the initial relations. Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered General Goltz to establish the
first German mission. General Goltz served two periods within two years. In
early 1914, the Ottoman Minister of War became the former military attaché to
Berlin, Enver Pasha. About the same time, General Otto Liman von
Sanders was nominated to the command of the German 1st Army.
With regard to the third, an Armenian reform package was negotiated with the
Russian Empire. Russia, acting on behalf of the Great Powers, played a crucial
role introducing reforms for the Armenian citizens of the Empire. The Armenian
reform package, which was solidified in February 1914 and was based on the
arrangements nominally made in the Treaty of Berlin (1878) and the Treaty of
San Stefano. According to this arrangement the inspectors general, whose
powers and duties constituted the key to the question, were to be named for a
period of ten years, and their engagement was not to be revocable during that
period.

World War I
The Ottoman Empire entered WWI with the attack on Russia's Black Sea
coast on 29 October 1914. The attack prompted Russia and its allies, Britain
and France, to declare war on the Ottoman Empire in November 1914. The
Ottoman Empire was active in the Balkans theatre and Middle Eastern
theatre – the latter had five main campaigns: the Sinai and Palestine Campaign,
the Mesopotamian Campaign, the Caucasus Campaign, the Persian Campaign,
and the Gallipoli Campaign. There were also several minor campaigns:
the North African Campaign, the Arab Campaign and the South Arabia
Campaign. There were several important Ottoman victories in the early years
of the war, such as the Battle of Gallipoli and the Siege of Kut. The Armistice
of Mudros was signed on 31 October 1918, ending the Ottoman participation in
World War I.

Mehmed VI
ust before the end of World War I, Sultan Mehmet V died and Mehmed
J

VI became the new Sultan.

The Occupation of Constantinople took place in accordance with the Armistice
of Mudros, ending the Ottoman participation in World War I. The occupation
had two stages: the initial occupation took place from 13 November 1918 to
16 March 1920; from 16 March 1920 – Treaty of Sèvres. The year 1918 saw the
first time Constantinople had changed hands since the Ottoman
Turks conquered the Byzantine capital in 1453. An Allied military
administration was set up early in December 1918. Hagia Sophia was
converted back into a cathedral by the Allied administration, and the building
was returned temporarily to the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch.
The CUP members were court-martialled during the Turkish courts-martial of
1919–1920 with charges of subversion of the constitution, wartime profiteering,
and the massacres of both Greeks and Armenians. The courts-martial became
a stage for political battles. The trials helped Freedom and Accord root out the
CUP from the political arena. The fall of the CUP allowed the Palace to regain
the initiative once again, though only for less than a year. The British also
rounded up a number of members of the Imperial Government and interned
them in Malta, only for them to be exchanged in the future for British POWs
without further trial. Sir Gough-Calthorpe included only members of the
Government of Tevfik Pasha and the military/political personalities.
Discredited members of the Ottoman regime were resurrected in order to form
ephemeral governments and conduct personal diplomacy. Thus, Ahmet Tevfik
Pasha formed two ministries between November 1918 and March 1919, to be
followed by Abdul Hamid's brother-in-law Damat Ferid Pasha who led three
cabinets in seven months. Damad Ferid, having served in diplomatic missions
throughout Europe during the Hamidian era, and having been acquainted with
European statesmen during his tenure as a Liberal politician, was considered
an asset in the negotiations for the very survival of the Ottoman state and
dynasty.

After the war, the doctrine of Ottomanism lost its credibility. As parts of the
Empire were integrated into the world economy, certain regions (the Balkans,
Egypt, Iraq, and Hijaz) established closer economic links with Paris and
London, or even with British India, than with Constantinople, which became
known in English as Istanbul around 1930.
The partitioning of the Ottoman Empire began with the Treaty of London
(1915) and continued with mostly bilateral multiple agreements among the
Allies. The initial peace agreement with the Ottoman Empire was the Armistice
of Mudros. This was followed by the Occupation of Constantinople. The
partitioning of the Ottoman Empire brought international conflicts which were
discussed during the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. The peace agreement,
the Treaty of Sèvres, was eventually signed by the Ottoman Empire (not
ratified) and the Allied administration. The result of the Peace Settlement was
that every indigenous group of the Empire would acquire its own state.

Treaty of Sevres
The text of the Treaty of Sèvres was not made public to the Ottoman
public until May 1920. The Allies decided that the Empire would be left only a
small area in Northern and Central Anatolia to rule. Contrary to general
expectations, the Sultanate along with the Caliphate was not terminated, and
it was allowed to retain capitol and a small strip of territory around the city,
but not the straits. The shores of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles were
planned to be internationalised, so that the gates of the Black Sea would be
kept open. West Anatolia was to be offered to Greece, and East Anatolia was
to be offered to Armenia. The Mediterranean coast, although still a part of the
Empire, was partitioned between two zones of influence for France and Italy.
The interior of Anatolia, the first seat of Ottoman power six centuries ago,
would retain Ottoman sovereignty.