Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (March 12, 1881 - November 10, 1938), Turkish soldier and statesman, was the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. He was born in the Ottoman city of Selânik (now Thessaloniki in Greece), where his birthplace is the Turkish Consulate and is also preserved as a museum. In accordance with the then prevalent Turkish custom, he was given the single name Mustafa. His father, Ali Riza (Efendi) was a customs officer who died when Mustafa was a child, his mother was Zübeyde (Hanim).
Ataturk's Early career
Mustafa studied at the military secondary school in Selânik, where he was given the additional name Kemal ("perfection") by his math teacher in recognition of his academic brilliance. As Mustafa Kemal he entered the military academy at Monastir (now Bitola) in 1895. He graduated as a lieutenant in 1904 and was posted to Damascus. He soon joined a secret society of reform-minded officers called Vatan (Fatherland) and became an active opponent of the Ottoman regime. In 1907 he was posted to Selânik and joined the Committee of Union and Progress commonly known as the Young Turks.
The Young Turks seized power from the Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1908, and Kemal, became a senior military figure. In 1911 he went to the province of Libya to take part in the defence against the Italian invasion. During the first part of the Balkan Wars Kemal was stranded in Libya and unable to take part, but in July 1913 he returned to Constantinople and was appointed commander of the Ottoman defences of the Gallipoli area on the coast of Thrace. In 1914 he was appointed military attache in Sofia, partly to remove him from the capital and its political intrigues.
Ataturk as War Commander
When the Ottoman Empire e...
... middle of paper ...
...olutionist reforms proved permanent, and gave Turkey domestic peace and a measure of prosperity even in his lifetime. But Kemalism has also left Turkey with a divided identity - Europeanised but not quite European, alienated from the Islamic world but still a Muslim country.
Atatürk's legacy also survives in the Turkish military, which sees itself as the guardian of Turkish nationalism and secularism. Kemalist officers staged coups in 1960 and 1980 in defence of what they saw as the principles of Atatürk against corrupt politicians, and even today the moderately Islamist government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has to tread carefully on issues such as Cyprus and Kurdistan for fear of offending Kemalist sentiment in the military. The power of the army and the authoritarian Kemalist strain in Turkish politics remain obstacles to Turkey's acceptance into the European Union.
The men at the forefront of the Young Turk’s rebellion were Mehmed Talaat, Ismail Enver and Ahmed Djemal. Eventually, they came to have more of a dictatorial sort of rule on their people, with their own visions of what they wanted for the Turkic people. They all wanted to unite their people and expand ...
When thinking about World War I, most do not think about the Ottoman Empire. However, many important actions and decisions occurred in this region. A man named T. E. Lawrence was a huge liability toward the Ottoman Empire from 1916 until the end of World War I. Thomas Edward Lawrence was born on August 16, 1888. He was the son of Sir Thomas Chapman and Sarah Junner. The couple never married, but instead they took the name of Lawrence. The family decided to settle in Oxford. This is where Thomas Edward grew up, went to school, and eventually attended university. At Oxford, Lawrence decided to study history, and he also wanted to do his undergraduate thesis on medieval castles in the Turkish- held area of Syria and Palestine.
Prior to my research, there were two interesting articles that have struck my attention regarding the states and issues that are being discussed in this essay. The first article is A Survey of the Turkish Empire by Sir William Eton. In the article, Eton discusses his admiration of the glorious army that had once belonged to the Ottoman Empire. He describes the Turkish army as “formidable”, and organized. Eton tune quickly changes by criticizing their faults and ultimately what led to their demise. Eton states that “it is a mob assembled rather than an army levied.” This article had great impact because while researching the topic, I was able to better understand the role of the military in the Ottoman Empire.
...itly the Christian Orthodox and Jews, which were the largest minority groups from Turkey. In addition, according to nationalist elites, these minorities were assimilable thus, were not capable of becoming part of the Turkish nation. Also, they stated that, the Non-Muslim minorities, mainly the Greek, were not composed of loyal citizens but possible traitors to the Turkish state (Guven 2006). Adnan Menderes believed that was national and extremely important responsibility of every Turk to implement the Turkification, in an attempt to establish an independent Turkish state. A corollary of this concept was the effort of assimilation of the Greek minority by force, exercising a policy of discrimination and restrictions against it. In this context, the language, culture and desires of Non-Muslim minorities had to be connected with the history and dignity of Turks.
Islam has been a dominant force throughout Turkish history. During the Ottoman Empire, Islam ruled every part of the theocratic state, but after the demise of the empire, Turkey's rulers led the country away from political Islam. The modern Turkish state has a strictly secular government, and Islam has been relegated to the personal sphere. Although Turkey has experienced a rise in fundamentalism in the past twenty years, the separation of church and state has remained relatively intact. Even with this increase of fundamentalist Islam, the wide majority of Muslims in Turkey are moderate and tolerant. They have adapted to modern life and value Islam for its moral and spiritual messages. Islam is a guide for right living and ethical conduct rather than a political system. Turkey constantly struggles to balance Islamic life with a secular government. Although the government wants to maintain a strict separation between religion and politics, it cannot ignore the power and influence that Islam has in the lives of the Turkish people.
Roberts, Mark. "Ataturk: Lessons in Leadership from the Greatest General of the Ottoman Empire. By Austin Bay. (New York, N.Y.: Palgrave- McMillan, 2011)." Journal of Strategic Security 5, no. 1 (2012): 89-92.
Benito Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883 outside the village of Dovia di Predappio in the Northeastern Italian province of Forli. He had one sister and one brother. They always fought and argued over little petty things with each other. His sister name was Edvige and his brother’s name was Armaldo. His mother Rosa Malteni was a well respect and appreciated schoolteacher. His father Allesandro Mussolini was both a blacksmith and a committee socialist. He received his name "Benito" from the Mexican Revolutionary Juarez. Benito grew up as a delinquent, disobedient, and did not have any manners. He was a bully to the other children around him. He would get into numerous of fights with other children.
Turkish-Syrian relations have almost always been soured and hostile in some fashion, dating back as early as the 1500’s. With a perpetual tit-for-tat policy and retaliation method that has been in effect between the two nations, it wasn’t until around 2003 or so in which Turkish relations to Syria had turned mostly friendly in response to the United States’ invasion of Iraq and Assad growing concerned over Syria being invaded as well. To gain more allies and help deter against this, Assad looked to Turkey for support, who was not only happy to better their ties with Syria, but was also in strong disagreement with the United States’ decision to invade Iraq as well. That is until the last five years in which the acting government in Syria has become increasingly more violent and hostile to it’s own people; essentially forcing the Turkish government to reject the growing friendly ties in the name of democracy. The geographic placement of Turkey in relation to the Middle-East and Europe, and particularly Syria, puts the country as a whole in a precarious situation from multiple powerful influences, such as NATO, the EU as well as the UN, and on the inverse, major Islamic figures and traditions held in the region. Because of this, Turkish history has been shaped and formed from the two major influences pulling on the country in very contrasting ways: The west, and the benefits of modernity and non-secularism in the state, and the East, and the fundamental religious beliefs of many who reside there who do not wish to break tradition or stray from their fundamental beliefs. Today is no different, although Turkey is increasingly leaning to the western state of mind and politics as a result of the shaky rela...
	Benito Mussolini was the fascist dictator of Italy for nearly 20 years. Benito was born at Dovia, a suburb of Predappio, in the northcentral part of Italy. His father, Alessando, was a blacksmith. And his mother, Rosa, was a schoolteacher. As a young man, Mussolini was a Socialist with revolutionary tendencies. He was expelled from 2 schools and later was in trouble with the authorities several times. In 1912 he became editor of the Socialist newspaper Avanti, and in 1914 he started his own Socialist newspaper Il Popolo d’Italia. At this time he wrote a novel, then translated into English as the Cardinal’s Mistress. During World War I he served for nearly 2 years as private in the infantry.
Turkey would base its political and legal systems on the modern secular models as well as strengthening its political relations with the West to reach its goals as a new republic. The goals as expressed by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the leader of the nationalist movement and first president of the Turkish Republic, were "to reach the level of contemporary civilization". To achieve these goals, a doctrine for foreign relations was created; as Atarurk said, "Peace at home, Peace in the world." This has not been an easy task, the history and geographical location of Turkey. It lies at a "crossroads" where the two large continents of Europe and Asia meet. This unique location gives Turkey a very diverse population, Balkan, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Caucasian and Asian identities.
Sultan Mahmud II, and various other Europeanized Ottoman bureaucrats initiated what is known today as the largest reform movement in the history of the Ottoman Empire. The Tanzimat changed life in the Ottoman Empire drastically, and completely revolutionized how the Ottomans lived. Previously, the empire was home to various different, nationalities, races, religions and cultures. During the Tanzimat, a major effort was made to unite these people, which is often referred to as the policy of Ottomanism. This resulted in the creation of a national anthem, and the establishment of a national flag. In the past, Islamic law was predominant, but was replaced by secular law, so no individual groups were left out. The Tanzimat’s main focus was to replace it’s old, outdated ways, with more of a westernized approach. The reforms varied greatly, but for the most part, they were all made to help modernize the empire.
The failure of defensive development in Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and Persia had a large and long-lasting effect on the Muslim world. The original goal of the reforms was to end European intervention, revive the weakening empires, and to be on equal standing with Europe. Yet, all three empires over-utilized the wealth and knowledge of Europe, leading to their ultimate demise. The empires wished to impose reforms in the military, economics, education, and law which the region had not experienced previously. This resulted in backlash, violence, and division within the empires eventually leading to bankruptcy, ironically, to those which they wished to separate themselves.
Up until the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire had a pre-modern style of ruling, and its government was characterized by its diversity, flexibility and minimalism. Therefore, most people living under the empire enjoyed a sense autonomy. But by the end of the 19th century, though, their fortunes began to change. This was due to internal factors such as weakening central government and rise of autonomous warlords attempting to overthrow the government. Also, Europe began to go through a process of economic, military and political expansion, becoming a competitor with the Ottomans. This caused them to try to save their government by implementing different reforms.
Cicek, Kemal. “The Cambridge History of Turkey. Volume 3: The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603-1839.” Journal of the Economic &Social History of the Orient 52, no.1 (2009): 153-158. EBSCO.
The Ottoman Empire had humble roots. Beginning as an Ottoman state, it progressively rose to power to become an empire. As a state, the Ottoman state started as a small state in current-day western Turkey. Based on Muslim beliefs and rule, the Ottoman State began to dissolve surrounding Muslim states, which were absorbed into the future empire. This move thereby ended all the other Turkish dynasties. The Ottoman Empire was marked as one of the largest, longest lasting empires. The Ottoman Empire lasted from the late 13th century to 1923. Throughout it’s time, the Ottoman Empire was remarked as highly successful and progressive. But like all empires, the Ottoman Empire had to make its end. The Ottoman Empire, like all dynasties, went through its rise, peak, and falling periods. This essay assesses each period in the Ottoman Empire's history.