|
 |
| 29 October 1914 (attacked Russia's ports in the Black Sea) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Mehmed V was sultan between 1909 and 1918, but real power lay with the 'Young Turks', a secular, modernising group that had seized power in 1909 and installed Mehmed as sultan. The leading 'Young Turks' were Enver Pasha, Talaat Pasha and Cemal Pasha |
|
|
|
|
| 25 million (1914). 14 million were Turks and the rest consisted of Greeks, Arabs, Armenians, Kurds and other nationalities. |
|
|
|
|
| 36 divisions (1914). Total fighting strength rose to approximately 1.25 million men by 1916. |
|
|
|
|
| 2 pre-dreadnought battleships, 4 destroyers (1910). More ships were ordered after 1910 but not all were delivered by the start of hostilities. Germany gave Turkey two cruisers (Goeben and Breslau) at the start of the war. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By the early 20th century, Turkey had been largely expelled from its European territories, and a number of 'successor states' (Bulgaria, Rumania, Serbia and Greece) had arisen to replace it. Turkey was regarded as the 'sick man of Europe' and desperately sought an alliance with a major European power to improve its political position. However, because of its declining status and its ambiguous position (a predominantly Islamic state straddling both east and west), most European powers were reluctant to form an alliance with Turkey until Germany befriended it.
At the outbreak of World War I, Turkey had already been humiliated in the First Balkan War (1912-13) and had lost territory. |
|
|
|
|
| 300,000 dead, 400,000 wounded. |
|
|
