The First World War and Its Effects, Part 5

Question 1: Explain why the Ottoman Empire fought on the side of the Central Powers during World War I.

Answer 1: Ottoman motivations for entering the war on the side of the Central Powers were mixed. First, Turkey had a long history of enmity with Russia, fighting several wars with that nation over territory such as the Turkish straits and the Balkans. Opposing Russia during World War I fell into this tradition of enmity and gave the empire an opportunity to take back from Russia the Caucasus Mountains. Second, some members of the CUP (Committee of Union and Progress, which then ruled the empire), such as Enver Pasha, admired Germany and believed that the war would quickly end in German victory. Third, Turkey had established ties with the German military in the late 19th century, when German military advisers and engineers helped modernize the Ottoman army and build infrastructure such as railways. Fourth, the war also gave the empire a chance to take Egypt back from Britain.

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Question 2: Describe some of the social and economic changes that took place in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

Answer 2: During World War I, the Ottoman Empire abolished the economic capitulations that had often put its merchants and entrepreneurs at an economic disadvantage relative to the status of the Europeans. The empire faced great hardship as inflation grew and there was not enough food to feed its people; this was in part because many agricultural products went to serve the war effort, and the empire could not remedy the situation by importing products from the very powers it was fighting. However, this allowed some Ottoman merchants to become very wealthy, some simply through profiteering. At the same time, as more men joined the Ottoman military, opportunities for women increased in work and education, and more women began to work and attend school. The Turkish government also reformed the tax system and limited the power enjoyed by the millets in a bid to increase the power of the central government.

Question 3: Briefly describe how the end of World War I finally finished the Ottoman Empire, setting the stage for the birth of Turkey as an independent state.

Answer 3: In 1920, the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Sevres with Britain and France. To a large extent, this Treaty divided up the Ottoman Empire between France, Britain, Greece, and other European powers, leaving the former empire with few of its former vast holdings. French got Syria and Lebanon, and Britain acquired Palestine and Iraq, all under the mandate system. Britain also held a protectorate over Egypt. Under the treaty, the empire lost not only these Arab regions but also control of the Turkish straits. In addition, the Armenians and the Kurds were each to be given their own state in eastern Anatolia (western Anatolia would go to France and Britain), and Greece would acquire Thrace and Smyrna. After the War, Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and his forces regained Anatolia, discarded plans for Kurdish and Armenian states, and established a new, Turkish state, but the Ottoman Empire was gone forever.

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