Abbassia
15-01-2006, 15:22
The Ancient Turkish Islamic Empire has been around since the begining of the 14th Century. It was established by a tribe of Oghuz Turks in western Anatolia and was ruled by the Osmanlı dynasty, the descendants of those Turks. The Empire was founded by Osman I.
In 1453, after the Ottomans captured Constantinople (modern İstanbul) (the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire), it became the Ottomans' third capital. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman Empire was among the world's most powerful political entities, and the countries of Europe felt threatened by its steady advance through the Balkans and the southern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
At the height of tis power, the sultan reigned over a vast area of land, From Mesopotamia to Algeria and from Hungary to Yemen.
However, these are grim times for the Sublime Porte, as one by one, its territories were lost and the country fell into debt and decay, earning it the title "The Sickman of Europe". The humiliation in Macedonia together with the resentment in the army against the palace spies and informers, at last brought matters to a crisis. In the summer of 1908 the Young Turk revolution broke out and Abd-ul-Hamid, on learning of the threat of the Salonica troops to march on Istanbul (July 23), at once capitulated, exiled and replaced by his brother Mehmed V who would be nothing more than a figure head.
The New government was lead by Young Turks (officially the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) and in 1912 won won an overwhelming majority in an election, but the loss of the province of Libya to Italy and other setbacks eroded its support to the point that in July the CUP was forced to yield to a political coalition called the Liberal Union.
In a coup on January 23, 1913, the CUP overthrew the Liberal Union coalition and introduced a military dictatorship headed, within a few months, by the "Three Pashas" - Enver Pasha, Talat Pasha, and Djemal Pasha. While Enver's portfolio was only minister of war, the other two Pashas usually defered to Enver.
In forign affairs, Germany has been secretly courting good relations with the Three Pashas, sending millitary advisors such as Limon von Sanders, who is widely credited with reorganisation of the Turkish army, (and incidently had formed poor opinion of Envar Pasha's millitary skill) and had fostered good relations, Traditionally, Great Britain had been the Ottomans ally, since Great Britain had shown interest in curbing the Russian Czars' expansionist nature but has lately proven to be unreliable and perhaps a bit demanding.
Internally, the Three Pashas have set out on a program of severe centralisation, much to the annoyance of the Arabs and Armenians who do not wish to have the Turkish impose themselves on their culture, indeed dissent is much expressed over the forcing of Turkish languege to replace Arabic and Armenian. In Anatolia, even a group of Turks are not thrilled by the millitary dictatorship and see that their policies will lead to destablisation. I f it were not for support from both the millitary and Germany the situation might have been severe.
The economy, when held in retrospect, is primetive. The nations infrastructure and comunication networks need some major work. The millitary is improving, thanks to German advisors, but it isn't clear whether it is ready yet for warfare.
It is now July 1st 1914, a day so near to hideous murder somewhere far away, but is likely to be the killing that will start more killing. What will be the role of this old aged empire?
In 1453, after the Ottomans captured Constantinople (modern İstanbul) (the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire), it became the Ottomans' third capital. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman Empire was among the world's most powerful political entities, and the countries of Europe felt threatened by its steady advance through the Balkans and the southern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
At the height of tis power, the sultan reigned over a vast area of land, From Mesopotamia to Algeria and from Hungary to Yemen.
However, these are grim times for the Sublime Porte, as one by one, its territories were lost and the country fell into debt and decay, earning it the title "The Sickman of Europe". The humiliation in Macedonia together with the resentment in the army against the palace spies and informers, at last brought matters to a crisis. In the summer of 1908 the Young Turk revolution broke out and Abd-ul-Hamid, on learning of the threat of the Salonica troops to march on Istanbul (July 23), at once capitulated, exiled and replaced by his brother Mehmed V who would be nothing more than a figure head.
The New government was lead by Young Turks (officially the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) and in 1912 won won an overwhelming majority in an election, but the loss of the province of Libya to Italy and other setbacks eroded its support to the point that in July the CUP was forced to yield to a political coalition called the Liberal Union.
In a coup on January 23, 1913, the CUP overthrew the Liberal Union coalition and introduced a military dictatorship headed, within a few months, by the "Three Pashas" - Enver Pasha, Talat Pasha, and Djemal Pasha. While Enver's portfolio was only minister of war, the other two Pashas usually defered to Enver.
In forign affairs, Germany has been secretly courting good relations with the Three Pashas, sending millitary advisors such as Limon von Sanders, who is widely credited with reorganisation of the Turkish army, (and incidently had formed poor opinion of Envar Pasha's millitary skill) and had fostered good relations, Traditionally, Great Britain had been the Ottomans ally, since Great Britain had shown interest in curbing the Russian Czars' expansionist nature but has lately proven to be unreliable and perhaps a bit demanding.
Internally, the Three Pashas have set out on a program of severe centralisation, much to the annoyance of the Arabs and Armenians who do not wish to have the Turkish impose themselves on their culture, indeed dissent is much expressed over the forcing of Turkish languege to replace Arabic and Armenian. In Anatolia, even a group of Turks are not thrilled by the millitary dictatorship and see that their policies will lead to destablisation. I f it were not for support from both the millitary and Germany the situation might have been severe.
The economy, when held in retrospect, is primetive. The nations infrastructure and comunication networks need some major work. The millitary is improving, thanks to German advisors, but it isn't clear whether it is ready yet for warfare.
It is now July 1st 1914, a day so near to hideous murder somewhere far away, but is likely to be the killing that will start more killing. What will be the role of this old aged empire?