Demise of the Ottoman Caliphate: Encyclopedia II - Demise of the Ottoman Caliphate - Instability and World War I

Demise of the Ottoman Caliphate - Instability and World War I

Internally, the Ottomans continued to be troubled by political instability. Nationalist uprisings that had plagued the Empire sporadically for the past fifty years intensified. The masses were growing frustrated with chronic misgovernance and Turkey’s poor showing in military conflicts. In response, the CUP led a second coup d’etat in 1913 and seized absolute control of the government. For the next five years, the Empire was a one-party state ruled by the CUP under the leadership of Enver Pasha (who returned to Istanbul after having served Turkey abroad in various military and diplomatic capacities since the initial coup), Minister of the Interior Talat Pasha, and Minister of the Navy Cemal Pasha. Though the Sultan was retained, he made no effort to exercise power independent of the Young Turks and was effectively their puppet. The Caliphate was thus held nominally by Mehmed V, but the authority attached to the office rested with the Young Turks. As World War I broke out in Europe, the Young Turks struck an alliance with Germany, a move that would have disastrous consequences. The Empire entered the war on the side of the Central Powers in November 1914, and Britain, France, and Russia immediately declared war on Turkey.

Turkish forces performed well initially, denying the Allies the quick and decisive victory over the Empire they had hoped for. Ottoman forces prevented the Russians from advancing through the Balkans and, under the leadership of a young officer named Mustafa Kemal, repelled an Allied attempt to conquer Istanbul at the now-famous Battle of Gallipoli in 1916. But Turkey’s successes were short lived, and the Ottomans were gradually overcome by their adversaries’ superior technology and military strength. A full frontal assault launched by Enver Pasha against Russian positions in the Caucasus was a catastrophic failure. Russia retaliated by invading Eastern Anatolia and driving the Turks out of Armenia. Though Russian forces eventually withdrew after their commander was recalled due to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the campaign cost the Empire 86% of its forces in the Caucasus. Furthermore, the Young Turks made the Armenians a scapegoat for Turkey’s defeat, accusing them of having collaborated with the Russian invaders. Between 1915 and 1917, Ottoman forces under the direction of the CUP massacred, detained, and deported over a million Armenians in what has been termed the Armenian genocide.

The Young Turks’ brutality against the Armenians did little to aid Turkey’s war effort. The Empire’s position continued to deteriorate, and even the Middle East—the very heartland of the Muslim World—would soon be lost. Though the Young Turks had compelled the Sultan in his capacity as the Caliph to declare a global jihad urging all Muslims to resist Allied encroachment on their lands, the effort was largely unsuccessful. With the help of Arab leaders, Britain and France defeated the Ottomans in the Middle East and took control of the Arab provinces one by one. Baghdad fell in March 1917, followed by Jerusalem in December. Ottoman forces collapsed after their defeat at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918, and the Allies encountered little resistance in conquering Beirut, Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo shortly thereafter. Meanwhile Germany, the Empire’s strongest ally, had suffered crushing losses in Europe at the hands of the Allies and was in no position to help Turkey. Isolated and outfought on every front, the Ottoman Empire capitulated on October 19, 1918. The Young Turk government resigned en masse and Enver, Talat, and Cemal fled Turkey aboard a German warship. Sultan Mehmed VI, who was proclaimed Sultan after his brother Mehmed V died of a heart attack in July, agreed to an armistice. The Armistice of Mudros formalizing Ottoman surrender was signed aboard a British warship on October 30, 1918. Allied troops arrived in Istanbul and occupied the Sultan’s palace shortly thereafter.

By the end of the war, the Ottomans had lost virtually their entire Empire. Hoping to keep his throne and preserve the Ottoman dynasty in some form or another, the Sultan agreed to cooperate with the Allies. He dissolved parliament and allowed an Allied military administration to replace the government vacated by the Young Turks. The Allies compelled Ottoman courts to hold military tribunals that tried and convicted in absentia Young Turk leaders responsible for the Armenian massacres. A burgeoning nationalist movement opposed to foreign occupation of Turkey resented such moves and campaigned against Ottoman collaboration with the Allies. Under Allied direction, the Sultan pledged to suppress such movements and secured an official fatwa from the Sheikh ul-Islam declaring them to be un-Islamic. But the nationalists steadily gained momentum and began to enjoy widespread support. Many sensed that the nation was ripe for revolution. In an effort to neutralize this threat, the Sultan agreed to hold elections, with the hope of placating and co-opting the nationalists. To his dismay, nationalist groups swept the polls, prompting him to again dissolve parliament in April 1920.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Instability and World War I", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki