The Ottoman Empire’s hegemony and its rule over vast territories was on shaky ground and it was on the verge of collapsing during the late nineteenth century. There are various reasons for the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and emergence of the World War I. Also, there are outcomes and impacts of these events on Middle East.
Once the Ottoman Empire was magnificent, respected, frightening and influential throughout the world. Then it became “the Sick Man of Europe”. The Ottoman Empire had various attempts in order to preserve its territorial integration and political unity. However, these attempts only detained the ultimate end. For instance, as Stephanov claims, the sultan increased it visibility within the society in order to strengthen the loyalty of its subjects, especially non-muslims towards the Empire. The Ottoman Empire fell behind of its contemporaries in terms of industry, science and economy. Although the Ottoman Empire did try to keep up with the times through various reforms and modernization attempts in order to prevent its dissolution, the result was failure. Relatively important of these reforms was the constitution of 1876. The Ottoman Constitution gave many rights to the Ottoman subjects. For the first time, the non-muslim people gained the right to be present in the parliament and had a say in politics. Zürcher claims that these reforms were not supported by the majority. Even though giving representative rights to the non-muslim minorities of the Ottoman Empire did not arrive at the conclusion as it was expected. Thus, these were not enough to prevent the Ottoman Empire from disintegration. The constitution was suspended for two years when the Russo-Ottoman War broke out. It became valid in 1908 and transferred the power from the sultan to the appointed officials in the Chamber of Deputies which were CUP members. This is also known as the 1908 Revolution. Despite the modernization reforms and trying hard in order to keep the Ottoman Empire integrated, the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the World War I and collapsed. There were political reasons such as colonialism as well as economic reasons in the induction of the Great War. England and France were economically more advanced compared to the newly-integrated Germany and Italy as well as the Ottoman Empire due to their colonies in other places. Overall, these developments and events prepared the ultimate dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and triggered the World War I. This war paved the way for the emergence of the Republic of Turkey as a nation state and provided a basis for the contemporary situation of the Middle East.
Ottoman Empire lost most of its Balkan territories during 1912 and 1913 due to nationalist tendencies resting upon the ideas spread from the French Revolution in 1789. These ideas of ethno-nationalism were the result of the Treaty of Berlin which was signed after the Ottoman-Russo War. This loss caused a dramatic decrease in the Christian population. As Kirişçi quotes from Keyder: “Before the war, one out of every five persons living in present-day Turkey was non-muslim, after the war, only one out of forty persons was non-muslim.” Muslim population migrated to remaining territories of the Ottoman Empire from these regions. According to Zürcher, the nationalism became the dominant ideology among muslims as an impact of 1912. Ottoman subjects lived together in peace for centuries, however, they started to carry a grudge against each other on the eve of the World War I which led to population exchange in great numbers. According to Kirişçi, due to the nationalist tendencies and resulting from losing territories, migration was important in the creation of the national identity of Turkey. Thus, the distinctive features of the multiethnic and multireligious Ottoman Empire was changing. After the Balkan Wars, CUP adopted an authoritarian and discriminatory attitude. They developed an Armenian Reform Plan since they saw all Armenians as a threat because of the actions of the Dashnaktsutyun. The members was a minority within the Armenian society, hence, it did not represent the general ideology of them. The CUP conducted a demographic and social engineering program. They collected information about the non-muslim population of the Ottoman Empire. Most of the Armenians were deported to Deir ez-zor, Syria. This place was chosen intentionally by CUP and it was considerably uninhabitable since it was in the middle of a desert. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians marched to their death under compulsion. Some died because of diseases and famine, some were killed. As Ekmekçioğlu argues, since Armenians were a majority among non-muslim minorities, the CUP tried to annihilate them throughout the Ottoman Empire. The remaining Armenians were dispersed according to the 5-10% rule which means the Armenians could settle in a region but their number should not exceed 5-10% of the local population. The main goal of this rule was to cut the communication and prevent mobilization in the Armenian population since they were seen as danger to the unity and solidarity of the Ottoman Empire. The lives of some Armenian women and children were spared since they were seen as inferiors but they were either got married off or adopted by Muslims and forcibly converted into Islam. This can be considered as ethnic genocide as well. The same approach was not deployed towards other non-muslim minorities. They were not exposed to ethnic or any kind of genocide. The difference here is that the Armenians were charged with treason. As Ekmekçioğlu argues, the new leaders of the Independence War accused them with treason and suggested that the CUP did not applied deportation policies wantonly. Yet, the Balkan Wars did change the perspective and approach of the Ottoman Empire towards its non-muslim populations as well as the approach of Christians towards muslims. As Andrew Mango claims, Greece deported Muslim inhabitants soon after the Greek Independence. This was a consequence of the emergence of nationalist tendencies. Muslims in other Christian regions got killed and exposed to maltreatment. Their situation was way more different than those who were in Greece The turmoil in the Balkan region, rising nationalism, demographic transformation paved the way for the World War I.
In 1914, the World War I started and unexpectedly it lasted for four years. Most of the European soldiers thought they would be at home by the Christmas. The war was more or less devastating for every participant state and this war is the most important event which has an effect upon the contemporary Middle East. The Ottoman Empire joined the war along with the Central Powers which were Germany and Austria-Hungary against the Entente Powers: Russia, Britain and France. The Entente Powers had colonial intentions. They were in search of raw materials, cheap labor and market for goods. Ottoman Empire had to join the war since it was not in a good shape in terms of economy, military and politics. Opportunism and survival was its main concern in their condition. The war ended by signing the Armistice of Mudros in 1918. The Central Powers were defeated and surrendered since they trusted in Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points.
Moreover, the Entente Powers prepared an agreement with harsh conditions disregarding the Wilson’s 14 points so that they could exploit and establish colonies. They ratified secret agreements, occupied territories, abolished self-determination in these occupied lands and violated Turkish sovereignty. For the first time, Armenians mentioned their desire of an Armenian state which was supported by the Europeans. According to Ekmekçioğlu, the principal desire of the Armenians was a sovereign state in their ancestral region. In order to do so, they tried to persuade the Entente Powers under the name of ‘Hay Tad’. Furthermore, in the Treaty of Versailles, many articles of the armistice were ignored. Although the most contradictory issue was about the Ottoman Empire, the problem was left undetermined. Subsequently, therefore the Treaty of Sevres was signed with the Ottoman Empire. However, it was ratified since the Turks won the Independence War. Instead, the Treaty of Lausanne was sanctioned. It is possible to say that, even though that the Entente Powers violated the Wilson’s 14 points, the leaders of the Independence movement refused demilitarization and gave the go-ahead to the resistance.
The articles of the Treaty of Sevres consisted the partitioning of Anatolia between the Entente Powers. The western part of the Thrace was given to Greece, but, they violated the agreement. As Kayalı argues that later Greece put in a claim for Izmir due their expansionist agenda. Also, they sought to re-establish the Byzantine Empire. France established mandate system over the south-eastern part of the Empire, Britain founded mandate system over mesopotamia region. Other states were promised lands and independent states over the Ottoman territories. The victorious states of the war splitted the Anatolian territories and claimed rule over them while leaving a small portion of land to the Ottoman Empire. The difference between the Treaty of Sevres and the Treaty of Lausanne. The Treaty of Sevres had colonial incentives and included terms which led to the partitioning of Anatolia. However, the Treaty of Lausanne protected the contemporary borders of the Republic of Turkey which are also known as Misak-i Milli. Moreover, according to the Treaty of Sevres, Turkey had no rights over the minority rights. With the Treaty of Lausanne, the Republic of Turkey got these rights back and all the issues that threatened its sovereignty was abolished. Also, it is possible to see on the map drawn according to the Treaty of Sevres that there is Armenian state and the Kurdish state. Ratification of the Treaty of Lausanne paved the way for an independent and unified Turkish nation state.
The situation of the Ottoman Empire was bleak. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed, there was a power vacuum which was attempted to be filled by the Entente Powers. Meanwhile, the Independence War was on which derived from the nationalist ideas. By virtue of nationalism, contemporary state system invigorated. Even though the Independence War did not have nationalist purposes, later it took such incentive. Thus, the contemporary state system get off the ground. Once great Empires collapsed and nation states emerged. Empire’s multiethnic, multireligious and multilingual characteristics replaced with monolingual, single-religious and single-ethnic features of the nation state. These nation states were different from the Empire system. Since they were not founded on vast territories, they were not self sufficient but interconnected and interdependent with other states.
To sum up, the reasons in the emergence of the World War I and its consequences led to significant changes in the region where it took place. Ottoman Empire dissolved and contemporary state system emerged based upon nationalist ideas. These also have a huge impact on the complete demographic transformation in the region. Diseases, famine and other war conditions produced large amounts of deaths as well as massacres, ethnic cleansings and genocides. People were displaced or deported in great numbers under compulsion or with their free will. Even agreements were signed between states such Greece and Turkey was got together on the population exchange according to the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne. It is essential to understand the effect of the World War I and its aftermath in order to understand the contemporary situation in the Middle East.