Reformist elements in Istanbul, to be sure, had tried to resist
the decline. The first efforts had taken place in the
eighteenth century, when Westernizing forces, concerned
at the shrinkage of the empire, had tried to modernize the
army. One energetic sultan, Selim III (r. 1789–1807),
tried to establish a “new order” that would streamline
both the civilian and military bureaucracies, but janissary
forces (the emperor’s private guard originally recruited
from among Christian subjects in the Balkans), alarmed
at the potential loss of their power, revolted and brought
the experiment to an end. Further efforts during the first
half of the nineteenth century were somewhat more successful
and resulted in the removal of the janissaries from
power and the institution of a series of bureaucratic, military,
and educational reforms. New roads were built, the
power of local landlords was reduced, and an Imperial
Rescript issued in 1856 granted equal rights to all subjects
of the empire, whatever their religious preference. In the
1870s, a new generation of reformers seized power in Istanbul
and pushed through a constitution aimed at forming
a legislative assembly that would represent all the
peoples in the state. But the sultan they placed on the
throne, Abdulhamid (r. 1876 –1909), suspended the new
charter and attempted to rule by traditional authoritarian
means.
By the end of the nineteenth century, the defunct
1876 constitution had become a symbol of change for reformist
elements, now grouped together under the common
name Young Turks. In 1908, Young Turk elements
forced the sultan to restore the constitution, and he was
removed from power the following year.
But the Young Turks had appeared at a moment of extreme
fragility for the empire. Internal rebellions, com-
bined with Austrian annexations of Ottoman territories
in the Balkans, undermined support for the new government
and provoked the army to step in. With most minorities
from the old empire now removed from Istanbul’s
authority, many ethnic Turks began to embrace a new
concept of a Turkish state based on all residents of Turkish
nationality.
The final blow to the old empire came inWorldWar I,
when the Ottoman government chose the wrong side during
the war and lost much of its territory in the peace settlement
(see Chapter 4). As the tottering empire began to
fall apart, the Greeks won Allied approval to seize the
western parts of the Anatolian peninsula for their dream
of re-creating the substance of the old Byzantine Empire.
The impending collapse energized key elements in Turkey
under the leadership of war hero Colonel Mustapha Kemal
(1881–1938), who had commanded Turkish forces in
their heroic defense of the Dardanelles against a British
invasion during World War I. Now he resigned from the
army and convoked a national congress that called for the
creation of an elected government and the preservation of
the remaining territories of the old empire in the new republic
of Turkey. Establishing his new capital at Ankara,
Kemal’s forces drove the Greeks from the Anatolian peninsula
and persuaded the British to agree to a new treaty.
In 1923, the last of the Ottoman sultans fled the country,
which was now declared a Turkish republic. The Ottoman
Empire had finally come to an end.
During the next few years, President Mustapha Kemal
(now popularly known as Atatürk, or “Father Turk”) attempted
to transform Turkey into a modern secular republic.
The trappings of a democratic system were put in
place, centered on the elected Grand National Assembly,
but the president was relatively intolerant of opposition
and harshly suppressed critics of his rule. Turkish nationalism
was emphasized, and the
Turkish language, now written
in the Roman alphabet, was
shorn of many of its Arabic elements.
Popular education was
emphasized, old aristocratic titles
like pasha and bey were abolished,
and all Turkish citizens
were given family names in the
European style.
Atatürk also took steps to
modernize the economy, overseeing
the establishment of a
light industrial sector producing
textiles, glass, paper, and
cement and instituting a fiveyear
plan on the Soviet model to provide for state direction
over the economy. Atatürk was no admirer of
Soviet communism, however, and the Turkish economy
can be better described as a form of state capitalism.
He also encouraged the modernization of the agricultural
sector through the establishment of training institutions
and model farms, but such reforms had relatively
little effect on the nation’s predominantly conservative
peasantry.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of Atatürk’s reform
program was his attempt to limit the power of the Islamic
religion and transform Turkey into a secular state. The
caliphate (according to which the Ottoman sultan was
recognized as the temporal leader of the global Islamic
community) was formally abolished in 1924, and the
Shari’a (Islamic law) was replaced by a revised version of
the Swiss law code. The fez (the brimless cap worn by
Turkish Muslims) was abolished as a form of headdress,
and women were discouraged from wearing the veil in the
traditional Islamic custom. Women received the right to
vote in 1934 and were legally guaranteed equal rights
with men in all aspects of marriage and inheritance. Education
and the professions were now open to citizens of
both sexes, and some women even began to take part in
politics. All citizens were given the right to convert to
another religion at will.
The legacy of Mustapha Kemal Atatürk was enormous.
Although not all of his reforms were widely accepted
in practice, especially by devout Muslims, most of the
changes that he introduced were retained after his death
in 1938. In virtually every respect, the Turkish republic
was the product of his determined efforts to create a modern
nation, a Turkish version of the “revolution from
above” in Meiji Japan.
World History
