Transcript AP World History POD #17 – Sick Old Man of Europe

AP World History
POD #17 – Sick Old Man of Europe
Young Turks
Class Discussion Notes
Bulliet – “Origins of the Crisis in Europe and the
Middle East”, pp.765-767
Bulliet – “The New Middle East”, pp. 781-782
Dawn of the 20th Century
 “When the twentieth century opened, the world
seemed firmly under the control of the great
powers. The first decade of the twentieth
century was a period of relative peace and
economic growth in most of the world. Several
new technologies - airplanes, automobiles,
radio and cinema – aroused much excitement.
The great powers consolidated their colonial
conquests of the previous decades, and their
alliances were evenly matched. The only
international war of the period, the RussoJapanese War (1904-1905), ended quickly with
a decisive Japanese victory.” (Bulliet, p. 765)
Destabilizing Forces in Europe
 Germany’s rising power and influence
as a result of its industrial and
military might
 Ottoman Empire grew weaker as a
result of rising nationalism
 It would be the Balkans that would
eventually explode drawing all of the
Great Powers into war
Sick Old Man of Europe
 By the end of the 19th century the Ottoman
Empire had fallen dramatically behind the
rest of Europe economically, technologically
and militarily
 Lost Provinces – Macedonia in 1902-1903,
Bosnia in 1908, Crete in 1909, Albania in
1910
 Italy took Libya (the last Ottoman land in
Africa) in 1912
 Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece
chased the Turks out of Europe except for a
small pocket around Istanbul
Assigning Blame
 The Turks began to respond to these
rebellious minorities and meddling
foreigners
 The military officers (also the most
Europeanized members of Turkish
society blamed Sultan Abdul Hamid II
for the crisis and decline of the
empire
Young Turks
 Plotted to force a constitution on the
sultan
 Alienated other anti-Ottoman groups
by advocating centralized rule and
the Turkification of ethnic minorities
 1909 – a Parliament dominated by
the Young Turks overthrew Sultan
Abdul Hamid II
Young Turk Reforms
 Instituted reforms to the police, governmental
bureaucracy and the educational system
 Cracked down on Greek and Armenian
minorities (eventually over 1 million Armenians
would perish in an attempted genocide)
 Hired a German general to modernize the
military as a reaction to their defeat in the
Balkan Wars
 A dangerous mixture of modern armies and
nationalism created a “powder keg” ready to
explode
Post War Punishment
 “At the end of the war, as the Ottoman
Empire teetered on the brink of collapse,
France, Britain, and Italy saw an
opportunity to expand their empires, and
Greece eyed those parts of Anatolia
inhabited by Greeks. In 1919 French,
British, Italian and Greek forces occupied
Constantinople and parts of Anatolia . By
the Treaty of Sevres (1920) the Allies mad
the sultan give up most of his lands.” (p.
781)
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
 1919 - formed a nationalistic government in
central Anatolia with the support of the
army officers
 1922 - reconquered Anatolia and the areas
around Constantinople with a short war
against the invading Greeks
 Forced hundreds of thousands of Greeks
from their ancestoral homes in Anatolia (as
retaliation the Greeks expelled all Muslims
from Greece)
Modernization & Secularism
 Modernization - Ataturk imposed dramatic
change on the nation in an effort to bring
Turkey closer to Europe as quickly as
possible
 Abolished the sultanate and established a
secular republic
 Broke with Islamic tradition and shar’ia
establishing European style laws
 Replaced Arabic alphabets with the Latin
alphabet
 Suppressed Muslim courts, schools and
religious orders
Westernization
 Attempted to westernize the traditional Turkish family
 Women received civil equality
 Women gained the right to vote and could be elected
to the national assembly
 Forbade polygamy, instituted civil marriage and
divorce
 Discouraged women from wearing the burqa and veil
 Replaced the traditional fez with the European
brimmed hat
 Ordered all to take a family name – he took the name
Ataturk (“father of the Turks”)
 Reforms were embraced in the urban areas but in
rural areas Islamic traditions remained strong and
resisted for as long as possible