Reform, Revolution and Collapse: the Ottoman Empire, 1839–1923
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Question
What were the Tanzimat reforms?
Answer
A programme of reforms (1839–1876) modernising Ottoman law, administration and the army, and promising legal equality to all subjects regardless of religion.
Question
What did the Hatt-i Sherif of Gulhane (1839) promise?
Answer
Equal justice, and security of life, property and honour for all Ottoman subjects — the opening decree of the Tanzimat era.
Question
How did Abdul Hamid II combine reaction and reform?
Answer
He suspended the 1876 constitution and ruled autocratically with censorship and spies (reaction), while still building railways, schools and telegraph lines (reform).
Question
What was the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP)?
Answer
A secret reformist movement of mainly junior army officers, known as the Young Turks, who wanted to restore constitutional government.
Question
What happened in the 1908 Young Turk Revolution?
Answer
CUP officers threatened to march on Constantinople; Abdul Hamid II restored the constitution and parliament rather than face mutiny.
Question
Who were the 'Three Pashas'?
Answer
Enver Pasha, Talat Pasha and Cemal Pasha — the CUP leaders who dominated the Ottoman government after 1913.
Question
What were the results of the Balkan Wars (1912–13)?
Answer
The Ottoman Empire lost almost all its remaining European territory and hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees fled to Anatolia; the CUP government was radicalised.
Question
Why did the Ottoman Empire join WWI on Germany's side?
Answer
Enver Pasha favoured Germany, a secret Ottoman-German alliance was signed in August 1914, and the empire hoped to recover territory lost in the Balkan Wars.
Question
Why did the Battle of Gallipoli (1915–16) matter beyond the battlefield?
Answer
It was a rare Ottoman victory and made Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk) a national hero, giving him the standing to later lead Turkish resistance.
Question
What was the Treaty of Sevres (1920)?
Answer
A post-WWI treaty that tried to dismantle the Ottoman Empire, stripping away Arab lands and giving territory to Greece.
Question
How did Mustafa Kemal respond to the Treaty of Sevres?
Answer
He rejected it, organised a nationalist congress and army in Anatolia, and led the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923) against Greek, Armenian and Allied forces.
Question
What was the outcome of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923)?
Answer
It replaced Sevres and recognised the independent Republic of Turkey, with Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) as its first president, ending Ottoman rule.
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Topic 21.12 hub
The Ottoman Empire (c1800–1923)
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