turkey's perspective of wwi &wwii

WORLD WARS AND THEIR EFFECT ON

TURKEY

WW1 and the Ottoman Empire

Nationalism in the WW1◈ Many nationalities gathered with the need for independence and attempted

to break away from the Ottoman rule. Because of its multi-national state, this movement caused a great loss of territory for Ottoman Empire.

◈ Turkish nationalism rose and Turkish Republic formed based on ethnic union instead of having Islam as its base.

How Ottoman Empire got into the war?

◈ Two German warships, Goeben and Breslau, were escaping from the British naval forces and seeked protection from the Ottoman Empire by coming to Istanbul.

◈ They were renamed Yavuz and Midilli and had Ottoman flags on them to justify not giving them back to the British Navy.

◈ The German commanders of the ships ordered to attack on the Russian positions, thus Ottoman Empire went into the war.

How Ottoman Empire lost the war?

Ottoman Empire fought with:

◈ English and French powers in the Middle East, which was eventually lost due to the lack of manpower.

◈ Russian forces in the Caucasia, which was also lost due to the bad leadership, but Ottoman Empire didn’t lose much territory since Russian Empire had to leave the war because of the regime shift.

◈ Allied forces on Gallipoli, which was defended successfully with the commandership of successful generals, one of them being Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Gallipoli War◈ The sum of the casualties from the Gallipoli

campaign from both of the sides is about half a million.

◈ One of the key campaigns in WW1, if the Gallipoli was lost the Ottoman Empire would fell instantly.

After WW1

The Armistice of Mudros and The Treaty of Sèvres ◈ The Ottomans with their armies being destroyed in the field agreed to an

armistice of Mudros, ending the fighting.◈ The Armistice of Mudros officially brought hostilities to an end between the

Allies and the Ottoman Empire. However, incursions by the Italians and Greeks into Anatolia in the name of "restoring order" soon came close to an outright partition of the country.

◈ The incursions started with the armistice made official by The Treaty of Sèvres in 1920. However, the treaty never put into effect since the Turkish War of Independence (1919–23) started at that time.

Turkish War of Independence

“The lands of the motherland within the national boundaries is a whole, and cannot be partitioned. Mandates and patronages are unacceptable”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH42eJZhBDk

Results◈ Turkey became a republic with Kemal Atatürk as the

first president. ◈ Turkey abolished the Ottoman sultanate and persued

a policy of modernization, reform, and industrialization under Atatürk's direction.

World War 2 and Turkish Republic

Turkey stayed neutral in the WW2

◈ WWII started in 1939, a year after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk passed away, when modern Turkey was founded 16 years ago. The country was still economically and socially healing after WWI and wasn't strong enough to enter a war.

◈ Turkey did not want the territories it lost in WW1. Main priority was to protect Turkey's current boundaries that were drawn at the Conference of Lausannece after the Independence War.

WHY?

Declaration of the war◈ Turkey declared war on Germany and Japan (February

23, 1945). ◈ This was, however, largely cosmetic. It was a

diplomatic step needed to participation in the Conference on International Organization, held in San Francisco (April 1945). Turkey thus obtained a seat in the new United Nations but initiated no military action.

Thank you all for listening :)