| State |
Entry |
Exit |
Combat Forces |
Population |
Losses |
| Armenia |
1909 |
1913 |
25000 |
4000000 |
6000 |
| Turkey |
1909 |
1913 |
400000 |
29000000 |
3000 |
The Armenian population that remained in the Ottoman Empire after the 1895
massacre supported the 1908 revolution of the Committee of Union and Progress,
better known as the Young Turks, who promised liberal treatment of ethnic
minorities. However, after its revolution succeeded, the Young Turk government
plotted elimination of the Armenians, who were a significant obstacle to the
regime's evolving nationalist agenda...
The repressive policies of Abdül Hamid II fostered disaffection, especially
among those educated in Europe or in Westernized schools. Young officers and
students who conspired against the sultan's regime coalesced into small groups,
largely outside Istanbul. One young officer, Mustafa Kemal (later known as
Atatürk),
organized a secret society among fellow officers in Damascus and, later, in
Thessaloniki (Salonika) in present-day Greece. Atatürk's group merged with
other nationalist reform organizations in 1907 to form the Committee of Union
and Progress (CUP). Also known as the Young Turks, this group sought to restore
the 1876 constitution and unify the diverse elements of the empire into a
homogeneous nation through greater government centralization under a
parliamentary regime.
In July 1908, army units in Macedonia revolted and demanded a return to
constitutional government. Appearing to yield, Abdül Hamid II approved
parliamentary elections in November in which the CUP won all but one of the
Turkish seats under a system that allowed proportional representation of all millets
. The Young Turk government was weakened by splits between nationalist and
liberal reformers, however, and was threatened by traditionalist Muslims and by
demands from non-Turkish communities for greater autonomy. Abdül Hamid II was
forced to abdicate and was succeeded by his brother, Mehmet V, in 1909. Foreign
powers took advantage of the political instability in Istanbul to seize portions
of the empire. Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina immediately after the 1908
revolution, and Bulgaria proclaimed its complete independence.
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