i like this! i like ottoman tls. me & a friend are currently brainstorming a tl where Mustafa Kemal Pasha becomes dictator of the empire in a fashion similar to napoleon.
Custodians of the World: Ottoman Grand Viziers of the Third Constitutional Era
- Thread starter Sarthak
- Start date
Btw, why almost every Ottoman TL i found in this forum where banned??
IIRC? A lot of the original topic starters tended to dip their toes into easy potholes for Turkish exceptionalism/nationalist apologism given enough time to argue a politically charged topic. Or wanted to take an extended break from this forum
so essentially, here's a (very) rough summary of the plot so far:
The italo-turkish war ofc ends poorly for the ottomans, but italy suffers a lot more casualties thanks to the genius of kemal pasha, & he becomes popular throughout the empire.
So he creates his own party (we don-t know what name it'd have) and creates a coalition w/ likeminded parties & most importantly, the military. But the sultan doesn't like the fact that he'd be turned into a figurehead, so he moves on kemal to limit his power. Kemal is furious, and in a meeting w/ his political allies and his fellow generals (the german ambassador is present) he decides to march on constantinople and depose the sultan. Just like the 3 pasha gov, he rules dictatorially.
This is what we have so far.
Comments?
This looks very promising as a timeline. Haven’t really seen a whole lot of TLs focusing on the Ottoman Empire in the post 1900s section. It will be interesting to see how the Ottomans interact with Greece and Russia while being in the same alliance.
The thing about have Ataturk rise to power before WW1 with the help of the military was that he was kind of disliked by it for advocating for depoliticization. That was why he was sent to Libya, which was viewed as a political dead end.
Was an Armenian seriously considered for Grand Vizer in 1914? That's fascinating
Yes. If the coup against the Three Pashas had gone ahead otl Portukalian was one of the leading candidates to become provisionally Grand Vizier. It's ironic because not only was he Armenian but also an Armenian Nationalist even though he was very moderate and willing to work with the Ottomans on a pragmatic basis.
i mean, in this case, i'd thought that he'd see the sultanate as decadent & behind the times.
And i'd think that he would see that the military can be a force for progress here in ottoman politics.
So perhaps he would not be as disliked here?
Idk though.
1915 - 1919: Mehmed Sabahaddin (Freedom & Accord)
Mehmed Sabahaddin
‘The Imperial Liberal’
17 July 1915 – 6 July 1919
ميهميد ساباهاددين
(Freedom and Accord Party – in coalition with other parties in the Chamber of Deputies)
The Committee of Union & Progress which represented the Ottoman center-right/right-wing had cratered, winning only 38 seats and barely managing to win 14% of the national vote. Combined with the general ineptitude of the CUP governments in the past 5 years and their support for the dictatorial Three Pashas, the fact that the party had won 38 seats itself was a miracle, in hindsight. But as the hardline members of the CUP fell out over their dim showing in the elections, the party withdrew from the Democratic Coalition that had governed the Ottoman Empire since the Ottoman Coup of 1914. The Democratic Coalition was supposed to be a show of unity, to show everyone in the Empire that the political class would set apart their differences to continue fighting for the democratic will of the nation, and with the right-wing withdrawing from it after the elections as the CUP fell into tatters due to infighting sent a difficult message to the people. Recognizing that the Democratic Coalition was frozen on the issue, Sabahaddin appointed his cabinet not just from his party but from every member party of the coalition, stating that the withdrawal of the CUP did not change the coalition’s end goal. With a majority of 86 seats over the independents and now fractured right-wing Ottoman deputies, the Democratic Coalition was still unchallenged in the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies.
But Sabahaddin’s crises were far from over. As the aftermath of the 1915 Ottoman General Elections died down, the Great Powers all leaned in, pushing the Ottomans to choose a side in the Great War. The Ottoman Chamber of Deputies and Senate were equally divided between siding with the German-led Central Powers or the Entente Powers, which included their historical enemy, the Russian Empire. But even the indomitable Russians were leaning in on the Ottomans to choose the Entente Powers. Retreating all across the Eastern Front and having grasped defeat from the jaws of victory on multiple occasions against the Germans the Russians were desperate to transfer the two Caucasian Armies to the Eastern Front whilst simultaneously relieving the load on its economy to pay for the heightened fees for the Straits for trade with the rest of the world. Britain and France, desperate after the fall of Serbia alongside the Bulgarian entry into the war, wished for a new front to be opened at the behest of the Ottomans to link up with their forces in Thessaloniki. Compared to 1914, the Ottoman Empire’s position in regard to the Entente Powers was infinitely better. Sabahaddin who was more disposed to the Entente Powers, having lived in France from 1902 – 1908 and again from 1912 – 1914 nevertheless recognized that an Ottoman entry into the war would be decided by which faction the Ottomans decided to back.
While the Germans and Austrians stuck to their offers of 1914, the Entente had upped their game. In early August 1915, the Entente Powers offered to the Ottomans the handover of the Bulgarian Aegean Coast, which had a Turkish plurality, the enforcement of the Dodecanese Lease on Italy, the handover of the fort of Sarakamis from Russia to the Ottomans, a reduction of interest from 8.5% to 3.5% from France and 9% to 4.5% from Britain for the Ottoman Public Debt added with a 30 million pound compensation for the seized warships and a 50 million interest-free loan from Britain and France, which was topped off by public recognition of Ottoman territorial sovereignty by all members of the Entente Powers, including Russia. Finally, all the powers also agreed to recognize the warships Goeben and Breslau’s sale into the Ottoman Navy. While the territorial concessions gained seemed little in comparison to the grandiose ones pushed forward by the Germans and Austrians, in the long term, Sabahaddin recognized the Entente’s offers to be more advantageous for the Ottomans. Furthermore, as flashpoints between erstwhile allies Russia and Britain developed in Iran, the Ottomans also knew that the Entente alliance seemed poised to fall apart after the conclusion of the conflict. A secret vote was held on 19 August 1915 in the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies and the Ottoman Senate. The Chamber of Deputies voted in favor 234 – 41 for war based on the terms offered by the Entente. The Ottoman Senate, which was still made up mostly of independents was much more critical about the idea, but in the end they too voted 47-38 in favor as well. The die had been cast.
On the 24th of September 1915, the Ottoman Empire declared war on the Central Powers. Russia evacuated Sarakamis the very next day and an Ottoman garrison entered the fort city, raising the Ottoman crescent over the city for the first time after 37 years. The German, Austrian, and Bulgarian delegations were allowed to leave alongside the German military and naval commission. A furious Souchon was taken away from his ship and forcibly boarded across a train toward Bulgaria. The Ottoman First, Second, and Sixth Armies, which had remained partially mobilized all year long were fully mobilized in Ottoman Thrace facing the Bulgarian border and skirmishes were already starting to begin on the border. While previous governments of the Ottoman Empire had meddled excessively in the conduct of war against their opponents, Sabahaddin was of the opinion that politicians like him who knew nothing of the military conduct of war should stay out of it. Ottoman military commanders and the Ottoman General Staff were allowed to devise their best ideas without political interference.
The first real fight the Ottomans gave ironically came in Adakale. A small island on the Danube bordered by Romania and Bulgaria, it had been seized in 1913 by the Austrians, but in the name of diplomacy, an Ottoman garrison of 50 soldiers had been allowed to stay on the island as the Ottomans never recognized the Austrian seizure. The 50 soldiers barricaded themselves in their barracks under the command of Suleyman Askeri as Austrian paramilitary officers and Bulgarian troops attacked the island. Though the small garrison gave a good fight, massacring an attempt to force entry by a medium-sized platoon of Hungarian paramilitary officers, they were too small in numbers and had extremely low stores of equipment and ammunition. The indomitable Suleyman Askeri who had proven his bravery in the Balkan Wars refused to give up the last remnant of the Ottoman Empire beyond Edirne without a fight and refused to surrender. On 12 October 1915, the Hungarians and Bulgarians stormed into the Ottoman barracks, and as his men either died or surrendered, Suleyman Askeri Bey committed suicide to save himself the dishonor of surrendering, something he had never done in his 13 yearlong military career. Though inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, the Battle of Adakale became a rallying cry in the Ottoman Empire. Centuries-old enmities long hidden since the last Austro-Ottoman War resurfaced as the Ottomans mobilized for conflict.
A Painting of Adakale
Following the Ottoman defeat at Adakale, the first major clash on the Thracian Front of WW1 would be the Battle of Karabulut. A small village around 20 kilometers north of Edirne, the Bulgarians intended to defeat the Ottomans quickly and take Edirne itself. The Ottoman Second Army commanded by Wehib Pasha started to dig in to fight the Bulgarians around the village. On 26 November 1915, a joint Bulgarian-Austrian assault was made on the village and soon the assault spiraled out to become a general battle with the lines stretching for miles. Domestically Sabahaddin was being pressured politically to make sure that the first serious confrontation of the Ottoman Army in the conflict was victorious, and whilst Sabahaddin stuck to his promise of non-political interference, he in turn also pressured the generals to provide him with something to show to the Chamber of Deputies. Personally staking his political reputation on the battle, Sabahaddin also oversaw the logistical operations personally, diverting foodstuffs to the battle whilst depriving the Mesopotamian garrison of many of its equipment and supplies despite probes from the Saudis in Arabia. Amidst the snow and mud, the Ottomans and Bulgarians fought in Karabulut destroying the small village to the ground. Forced by the growing political worry at the time, Wehib Pasha launched a pre-emptive attack that ended in disaster as on 2 Feb 1916, the Ottoman Second Army retreated and the Austrians and Bulgarians occupied Karabulut. With Edirne indefensible now, Sabahaddin was forced to order the general evacuation of the city’s residents to Constantinople. Trains, cars and carriages left Edirne in a hurry and three days later on 5 February, the Bulgarians occupied Edirne.
Though the Ottomans were enjoying victories on other fronts, having occupied Dedeagac (Alexandroupolis) on the Aegean Coast and Tsarevo on the Black Sea Coast, the loss of Edirne nearly cut Sabahaddin’s premiership pre-emptively as a no-confidence vote was held and defeated just barely after Edirne was occupied. Further bad news arrived for Sabahaddin two weeks later. Citing their compromised neutrality in Thessaloniki, on 19 February 1916 the Kingdom of Greece declared war on Britain, France, Russia, and the Ottomans, with King Constantine inviting the Germans and Austrians to repel the Entente and their Venezelist provisionary government in Thessaloniki. Prime Minister Metaxas of Greece who had seized power through a military coup aided by the King after the Ottomans had entered the war immediately began to plan for a big confrontation with the Ottomans. For Sabahaddin this could not have come at a worse time. The estimated foodstuffs that the Ottoman military required had proven to be a vast underestimation, and the Ottomans were compensating by using sloops and transport ships to transport food from the fertile crescent to the front via the Aegean. With the transport of food becoming exponentially slower due to fears of the Greek Navy, Sabahaddin had to introduce partial rationing in the Ottoman Empire. This policy was remarkably unpopular among the common populace and did nothing to endear Sabahaddin to the people.
As the Ottomans dug into a defensive line from Dedeagac to Tsarevo, abandoning 4770 square kilometers southeast of Edirne to gain defensive depth, the biggest problem looming for Sabahaddin’s government was Greece’s entry into the war on the side of the Central Powers. Food riots had erupted throughout the Ottoman Empire, and Kurdish militias were once again marauding in eastern Anatolia, stealing produce and crops from whomever they could, regardless of their victim’s ethnic or religious background. Furthermore, instigated by German and Austrian agents, rebellious Kurdish tribes and the Idrisid Emirate of the Asir rose up in rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. Emir Al-Idrisi proclaimed the independence of all of Asir and Yemen from the Ottomans and the British whilst the Kurdish tribes which had been suppressed in 1914 ran amok, killing Turkish, Greek, Armenian, and civilian Kurdish citizens alike. This forced Sabahaddin to order the Ottoman 4th Army to move north from Hejaz to reinforce Thrace to move back to defeat Al-Idrisi whilst the Ottoman 3rd Army was ordered to protect the civilians of eastern Anatolia and suppress the Kurdish tribes. These behind-the-line attacks on the Ottoman Empire did nothing to aid the food situation and worsened the transport periods of food throughout the Empire. In Jeddah, a food riot turned so violent that Sharif Hussein himself had to intervene to make sure that the situation did not boil over. Furthermore, to make things worse, Kaymakam (Autonomous Governor) Ibn Saud of Southern Arabia declared himself independent and declared independence, attacking Turkish garrisons in the Arabian interior.
As the domestic mood plummeted to the ground, Sabahaddin recognized that the Empire needed a victory. As thousands of Greeks reinforced Bulgarian lines in Thrace, only the arrival of British and French colonial troop reinforcements had prevented the Ottomans from buckling as without sea access Ottoman logistics were buckling. The Ottomans turned to the sea to give them their first victory in the conflict. Admiral Fuat Husnu Bey, now commanding the SMS Goeben now renamed OIG Yavuz Sultan Selim (Yavuz for short) was aware of the fact that the difference in quality between the Ottoman crews and Greek crews was as large as day and night. Compared to 1911-12, Ottoman crews were definitely better, but the Greeks still held an advantage, despite the efforts of the British and French to hastily bring Ottoman crew members up to standard after the Ottoman entry into the war. Admiral Husnu devised a daring plan to attack the main Greek fleet which was operating in the middle of the Aegean Sea, blocking Ottoman logistical ships from Arabia from passing through. From Smyrna, led by OIG Barbaros Hayrredin a fleet of 1 battleship, 3 destroyers, and 1 cruiser was to move towards the Greek island of Skyros, baiting the superior Greek Navy to follow them before turning north towards Efstratios. The main Ottoman fleet consisting of 1 Battlecruiser, 3 destroyers, and 3 cruisers would depart from the Sea of Marmara commanded by Husnu himself would attack the baited Greek fleet in a wide pincer movement. On the 21st of March 1916, the Ottoman fleet commanded by Admiral Husnu decisively defeated the Greek fleet at the Battle of Lesbos. Despite losing 2 destroyers and having 1 cruiser disabled by the Greeks, the Ottoman gamble had succeeded. The Greeks lost their battleship Lemnos and several other surface vessels. Greece withdrew most of its fleet from forward actions to prevent naval landings from the British after the battle. As news of the victory spread throughout the Empire, Admiral Husnu returned to Constantinople to be personally greeted by Sabahaddin and Sultan Mehmed V, congratulating him on the victory.
Ottoman Ships during the Battle of Lesbos
Sabahaddin used the rallying cry of Adakaleh and Lesbos to rally the population of the Empire behind the war effort gracefully. Giving impassioned speeches, the polyglot showed his linguistic skills when he went to Van and appealed to the populace in Armenian whilst going to Damascus a week later and giving impassioned speeches in Arabic. The withdrawal of the Greek fleet also allowed Ottoman vessels to resume the transfer of foodstuffs and equipment from Syria and the Levant to Thrace without any threat of interception, lightening the load of Ottoman logistics in the region. Following the defeat of the Greeks at Lesbos, Sabahaddin opened diplomatic channels to open the question of the Greek Aegean Islands as well. It was well known that the Ottomans wished to see Imbros, Samothraki, Lesbos, Samos, and Chios under its control ever since the Ottomans had lost them to Greece in 1912-13. The British had backed the Ottomans in the 1914 Aegean Crisis and backed the Ottomans to take the islands. Russia and France who did not have an opinion beyond increasing the pressure on the Central Powers left the topic to Britain to discuss. Two weeks later, Sabahaddin gave the order for Ottoman troops to land in Lesbos and three days later, the Ottomans disembarked on Mitilini.
Whilst these victories for the Ottoman Empire saw renewed vigor in the conflict, Sabahaddin’s greatest achievement in the war effort was the seamless integration of conscription without upsetting the general population. After the initial mobilization saw the Ottoman Empire deploy 910,000 soldiers and use moral social pressures to maintain a steady supply of volunteers to replenish numbers on the front, as the Greeks added themselves to the frontlines in Thrace, it became clear to the Ottomans that they were soon going to be at a numerical disadvantage on the Thracian front. Coupled with three armies operating in Asia to deal with the Kurdish tribes, Idrisid Asir and Ibn Saud, they were going to be outnumbered fast. With no trained reserves left, on 28 April 1916, the Ottoman Empire declared that every male citizen from the ages 20 to 45 (with exceptions for married people, people with important civilian jobs, and people with health concerns) would be mobilized and conscripted. On the advice of Sabahaddin on 4 May 1916, Sultan Mehmed V declared Jihad on the Central Powers to liberate the Muslim Bosniaks and Albanians under Austrian occupation, Muslim Swahili under German Occupation in East Africa, and Muslim Turks and Pomaks in Greece and Bulgaria, uniting the Muslim population under the banner of the new mobilization scheme.
Furthermore, Sabahaddin used intellectual literary propaganda to boost the morale of the population in regard to conscription. Focusing on civic Ottomanism, the Empire focused on unity among its various peoples with examples of the Jewish Battalions and Kavala Greeks in the First Balkan War, Armenian Regiments in the Second Balkan War, and Arab troops in the Italo-Turkish War used as brave examples of the Ottoman minorities fighting for the Empire with their heads held high. The literary portion of this internal propaganda war was ineffective as most of the Empire was illiterate outside of the cities, but to overcome this hurdle, Sabahaddin enlisted the aid of religious officials – Muslim, Jewish, and Christian alike – throughout the Empire to spread the message amongst the population. As the Empire surged to gather more than 2.3 million soldiers by the end of World War I, Sabahaddin managed to integrate conscription seamlessly and without any problem.
In addition to the manpower conscription, Sabahaddin also introduced partial rationing of the railway networks. With the infrastructure of the Ottoman Empire relatively weak in comparison to the rest of the great powers, the Ottomans needed every infrastructure they could possibly spare for the war effort. Sabahaddin also used around half of the 80 million pounds the Empire received to enter the war to create a tacit ‘contract’ between the soldiers and the state. For those who were drafted into the military, allowances were guaranteed for their families until 1920 with every family getting an extra allowance of 1000 Lira per year on average, leading to an average increased income of 12% for the average household in the Ottoman Empire at the time. In order to prevent the lowering or adding to the age requirements to the conscription from 20 – 45 like in Britain and France, Sabahaddin also instituted Albanian, Pomak, and Bosniak regiments made from Bosniak, Pomak and Albanian prisoners of war captured from the opposing enemies. They were grouped together under the banner of Ebedi Muminlerin Ordusu or the grandiose ‘Army of the Eternally Faithful’ with its regiments attached to the five Ottoman armies fighting in Thrace.
Despite these successes, Sabahaddin’s government came to fight under crisis in August 1916 when Romania joined the Central Powers. The Russians were buckling on the Eastern Front, and the French were insistent that the Ottomans who could spare a few army corps move them to the Eastern Front to stabilize the lines in Moldavia and Bessarabia. Though ostensibly allies, both the Russian government and Sabahaddin were wary and privately aghast at the idea. But as the Romanians broke the Russian lines at Yakovlivka and directly threatened Odessa, Britain, and France increased their pressure on both Constantinople and St. Petersburg. Finally, both governments acquiesced and on 28 October 1916, two Ottoman army corps, mainly made up of Ottoman Armenians, Assyrians, Jews, and Pontic Greeks were deployed to the eastern front under the command of Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Almost immediately after the transport ships left Trabzon for Sevastopol in Crimea, the Bulgarians and Greeks managed to break the line at Babaeski and advanced towards Corlu, threatening to break the Ottoman front in half with Mehmed Esad Pasha’s army in Komotini threatened to be encircled.
Mehmed Muhtar Pasha, who was commanding the Sixth Army managed to halt the Greco-Bulgarian advance at the outskirts of Corlu with heavy casualties and managed to stabilize the line. Now just some 75 kilometers away from Constantinople, the uncomfortable question about relocating the capital from Constantinople to Bursa in case of the worst was raised in the Chamber of Deputies. Despite recognizing that it would be a safe option to conduct, Sabahaddin also recognized that the morale of the army and the population would plummet if they relocated from the 463-year-old capital of the Ottoman Empire. Sabahaddin’s government made a conscious effort to stop any rumors about relocation to Bursa and made public statements that the government would not relocate outside of Constantinople. Nevertheless, Sabahaddin made sure to make the trains and ships ready in case of such a situation. Nevertheless, the facts were clear, as the Greco-Bulgarians had advanced 70 kilometers in one month after the breakthrough at Babaeski. Ottoman plans to invade Chios and Samos after the completion of the Lesbos Campaign on 21 November 1916 after a brutal slog with its Greek garrison was shelved as its troops were transferred to reinforce the frontlines in Thrace.
But while the fronts had stabilized, despite thoughts to the contrary, by December 1916, Sabahaddin was handling negotiations with Italy as the lease on the Italian Dodecanese ended on December 31, 1916. The Italian government led by Paolo Boselli was reluctant to honor the agreement, but with guarantees from the rest of the Entente that appropriate compensation would be forthcoming from the Austrian coastline and Dalmatia, Italian eventually acquiesced and on December 31, 1916 the Sanjak of Rhodes was returned to the Ottoman Empire. This event was a popular domestic victory for Sabahaddin as this boosted his personal image in front of even the right wing, who normally did not like to credit Sabahaddin. However it did make Boselli’s government unpopular in Italy and led to his downfall when the Italians lost the Battle of Capporetto. The outbreak of the February Revolution in Russia also saw initial panic, as many feared that the force commanded by Mustafa Kemal would be trapped in Ukraine. But in comparison to the Tsarist government which was now deposed, the new Russian Republic was far more reconciliatory with the Ottoman Empire and assured Sabahaddin that Kemal’s Corps would not be in any non-frontline danger. The new Russian government asked the Ottomans to coordinate with them for a general offensive as the Russians geared for the Kerensky Offensive. Sabahaddin who was hoping to deal with the irritant Kurdish rebels, and Idrisid rebels, reluctantly agreed. As 1.4 million Ottoman troops concentrated on the front, on 1 July 1917, timing their attack simultaneously with the Russians, the Ottomans launched a general offensive against the Bulgarians and Greeks (as well as the small contingents of Romanians, Austrians and Germans at the opposing frontlines).
In comparison to the Kerensky Offensive, the Thracian Offensive (1917) was comparatively more successful. Mehmed Muhtar Pasha drove the Bulgarians out of Corlu’s outskirts and pushed them back to Edirne whilst Wehib Pasha’s forces occupied Primorsko, only 35 kilometers away from Burgas. Mehmed Esad Pasha’s forces defeated the Greeks at the Battle of Xanthi and occupied Xanthi and Kavala. Though the stated goals of liberating Edirne and capturing Thessaloniki to avenge the withdrawal of the allied French and British in early 1916 and to capture Burgas did not materialize as the Bulgarians and Greeks held on doggedly, the Ottomans held on to their gains whilst the gains of the Kerensky Offensive were retaken by the Austrians and Romanians in quick succession.
One of the reasons why Sabahaddin is well remembered for his premiership conduct during the war is also related to his quick and seamless acceptance of women as breadwinners in the absence of men during World War I. Previously in the Ottoman Empire, women of Orthodox background were the only women involved in donating and contributing to any war effort. The consciousness of the majority Muslim women was lacking in this regard. But as education slowly spread even among the women, Muslim women organizations had long tried to contribute but had been hamstrung during the Balkan Wars when the Ottoman government had been suspicious about their motives. In July 1917, the Workshop Initiative called for impoverished and beleaguered women to work in Ottoman workshops working to assemble weapons and goods and prepare food for the troops. Workshops to make replacement clothing for the troops and nurses were also opened at Sabahaddin’s initiative. At Sabahaddin’s request, the British sent several trained doctors and nurses to teach willing Ottoman women to become nurses for the troops on the frontline. Sabahaddin’s Nurse Initiative 1917 led to female nurses becoming the norm in the Ottoman Empire as well, much like as it was in the rest of Europe. Previous to that, most Ottoman nurses had been male nurses and their absence due to their duties at the frontlines had hurt the Ottoman war effort. All of this eventually led to Sabahaddin establishing the Women’s Workshop for the War Front (Savas Cephesi Icin Kadin Atolyesi (SCIKA)).
As the Americans entered the conflict in 1917, it was clear to Sabahaddin that for the Ottomans to take advantage of said American entry into the conflict, he needed to deal with the Kurds, Idrisids, and Sauds first so that he could focus the Empire’s full attention on the Thracian Front. The Kurdish rebellion was this time brutally suppressed as unlike the last time, the Ottomans did not allow the Kurdish rebels to simply slink off into the mountains and captured and imprisoned all they could find. Similarly, the Ottoman 4th Army, combined with Sharif Hussein’s personal retinue marched into the Asir and by late 1917 had managed to reconquer the urban areas and the roads connecting them. Without the support of the Asir, Ibn Saud retreated back to Najd and stayed put, allowing the Ottomans to focus on Thrace once more. But in November 1917, the internal instability of Russia boiled over into a communist revolution. 50,000 Ottoman soldiers on the eastern front under the command of Mustafa Kemal were suddenly cut off from the rest of the world and now became a priority. The new Soviet government allowed Ottoman soldiers to evacuate from Ukraine in a similar manner to that of the Czechoslovak Legion but in Russia, tensions began to mount as Kemal urged Soviet chairmen to arrange his troop's transport to the Caucasus from where they could return to the Ottoman Empire.
With Ottoman troops strung out over the railways in Russia on the way to the Caucasus and the Bolsheviks brutally putting down a rebellion in Azerbaijan, tensions were mounting. Coinciding with the Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legions, the Ottoman Expeditionary Army in Russia (OEAR) revolted in what became known as the Revolt of Mustafa Kemal. Fighting erupted between the OEAR and Bolsheviks along the Volga-Caucasus Railway. Unlike the Czechoslovak Legions who would fight the Bolsheviks for years more, the Revolt of Mustafa Kemal was short, but just as audacious as his troops moved south and made it to Georgia. The support of Mustafa Kemal, who had taken independent autonomous command galvanized the Caucasian political elite to declare the independence of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan from Russia. Soon after, Mustafa Kemal and his forces returned to Ottoman territory aided by the Georgians where they were welcomed as heroes for their heroics before joining the front in Thrace.
Mustafa Kemal Pasha checks his troops before the OEAR's revolts against Bolshevik Russia
With the arrival of the OEAR back into the normal Ottoman Armed Forces and with new reinforcements, the Ottoman high command was smelling blood in the water as they wanted a final blow to defeat the Greeks and Bulgarians. With 1.7 million Ottoman Troops and 200k allied Entente Troops along with them, on 2 July 1918, the Ottomans launched the Balkan Offensive 1918. Ottoman force of arms, alongside British and French naval and aerial support was too much to bear for the Greeks and Bulgarians, and the Ottomans broke through at multiple parts of the frontlines. Sabahaddin also ordered the attacks on the Greek islands to re-start and the Ottoman Navy bombarded Constanta. On 17 July, the Ottomans liberated Edirne after 2 years of occupation and Mehmed Esad defeated the Greek Army at the Battle of Thessaloniki, occupying Greek Macedonia, whilst the Serbian exile troops, under Ottoman command for the previous 3 years veered north in Serbian Macedonia and started to liberate village after village. Wehib Pasha entered Burgas on the 31st. Ottoman troops, aided by the British and French Navy managed to defeat the surprised Romanians and occupy Constanta as well. Realizing that the war had ended for all intents and purposes, Greece accepted defeat and first surrendered on 17 August 1918. Three weeks later, on 9 September 1918, Bulgaria surrendered as well. World War I came to an end for the Ottomans with the Bulgarian surrender. Romania remained nominally belligerent until 27 September 1918 as well before surrendering.
With 276,087 Ottoman soldiers having been martyred, the war had come to an end for the Ottomans. Two months later on 11 November 1918, the First World War came to an end entirely. Like other leaders of the Entente, Sabahaddin traveled to France to take part in the Paris Peace Conference. For the Ottomans, Sabahaddin had only one singular goal in mind. The territorial concessions promised by the Entente in 1915, the Greek islands of Imbros, Samothraki, Lesbos, Samos, and Chios, and the Bulgarian Aegean portion of Thrace alongside the return of Adakale to Ottoman rule. Similarly, Sabahaddin supported the independence of the Principality of Transylvania, which had reasserted its independence after 300 years after the political deadlock between Romania and Hungary, as both had been Central Power members. Emperor Karl of Austria-Hungary had fled to Transylvania and had been proclaimed Prince of Transylvania. Sabahaddin regarded Transylvania as a reasonable block to both Hungarian and Romanian nationalists that they would be distracted with the region to do anything regarding everything else. The Treaty of Matelots (1919) secured Bulgarian Aegean Thrace, Imbros, Samothraki, Lesbos, Samos and Chios to the Ottoman Empire alongside bulky reparations from Greece, Bulgaria and Romania. The Ottomans would also continue to occupy Thessaloniki and Burgas until the end of 1919 and Ottoman troops alongside British and French would occupy Ploesti’s oil fields until 1922 when the new Romanian Republic stabilized itself. The Ottomans also regained Adakale as an exclave.
The Ottoman Empire after WW1
But while Sabahaddin had won the Ottomans the peace as well, he was ignoring the domestic political winds. Sabahaddin had supported Mehmed V in declaring Jihad against the Austrians, and now instead the Ottoman public was not happy to see Bosnia subsumed into Yugoslavia which the Ottoman public just believed to be a greater Serbia. Similarly, the Pomak and Turkish majority regions in Bulgaria had been left alone, angering the general public. Furthermore, due to war concerns, the funeral for Sultan Mehmed V’s death had been postponed angering the religious conservatives in the Empire. Sultan Mehmed VI’s formal coronation was still delayed as well. These actions coupled with Sabahaddin’s ignorance of the domestic political scene as a consequence of his handling of the war led to the former disparate Ottoman Right Wing starting to re-group. The CUP had been dissolved in 1916 after months of infighting after the disastrous 1915 General elections, and now religious conservatives and formerly moderate conservatives of the CUP rallied around a new banner.
Rafiq Bey Al-Azm had left the Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization after its demands were accepted. With Arab becoming a recognized language and the autonomy of the Sanjaks and Vilayets restored after the 1914 Ottoman Coup and its subsequent governments, the need for the party had been thrown out of the window. Instead, Al-Azm founded the Unity Party (Birlik Partisi/Hizb Alwahda/Komma Enonitas/Miasnut’yun Kusakts’ut’yun) as a direct successor to the CUP, but as a moderate conservative party that was founded on the principles of Islamic democracy, religious unity, conservatism, constitutional monarchism, Ottomanism, Ottoman Nationalism and ethnic unity. In essentiality, Al-Azm had shed the radical aspects of the CUP and rebranded a more moderate CUP into the new Unity Party. Al-Azm publically asked the acquisition of Pomak and Turkish lands in the Balkans and denounced Sabahaddin’s ignorance of the issue.
Sabahaddin continued to ignore the threat the new Unity Party was for his own party in the upcoming 1919 General Elections. Instead, as a sociologist at heart, Sabahaddin turned to new pet projects. Knowing that the Democratic Coalition was set to expire at the onset of the new elections, Sabahaddin wished to pass laws as fast as he could. Fashioned like the British education system, Sabahaddin passed the Ottoman Education Act (1919) which standardized and streamlined the Ottoman education system. The Ottoman University Grants Committee was also formed to allow the establishment of new universities in the Ottoman Empire for the creation of an educated literate and professional middle class. While the Ottoman Education Act (1919) was an important watershed moment for Ottoman educationalists, it meant Sabahaddin had thoroughly ignored the issue of demobilization. In May 1919, Ottoman troops mutinied, wishing to return home, and soon mutinies spread to Burgas and Thessaloniki. Hastily Sabahaddin started the process of demobilization, but the damage was done. Similarly, Sabahaddin also refused to participate in the campaigning season, leaving it to his party colleagues, believing they would do their jobs properly. Furthermore, the update to the suffrage laws after World War I saw the reduction of the voting age from 20 to 18, and fervent nationalistic 18 and 19-year-olds at the time did not agree with Sabahaddin’s liberal ideas either.
Despite warnings from many sources, the 1919 Ottoman General Elections saw the Freedom and Accord Party lose their majority and the new Unity Party become the largest political party in the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies as the Ottoman right wing made a political comeback as a result of the aftermath of the First World War. Sabahaddin blamed his electoral loss on his colleagues inside the Freedom and Accord Party and was reportedly miserable at the loss, having previously believed that his heroic handling of the Ottoman war effort would see him win the election. Nevertheless, unwilling to flout the burgeoning democracy of the Ottoman Empire in the Third Constitutional Era, Sabahaddin respected the results of the elections and allowed Sultan Mehmed VI to call Al-Azm to become the fourth Arab Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire on 6 July 1919.
Today, Sabahhadin’s legacy is mixed. It cannot be denied that he led the Ottomans through World War I efficiently. His handling of the home front during World War I was legendary in its efforts and its success cannot be denied. Similarly, the Ottoman Education Act (1919) revolutionized Ottoman education and allowed the Empire to grow its professionals and intellectuals domestically without having to rely on its citizens to gain a foreign education for domestic professional opinions. His University Grant from the Ottoman University Grants Committee oversaw the construction of Gallipoli Institute of Technology (GIT), Damascus University of Economics (DUE), Baghdad Institute of the Social Sciences (BISS), and Smyrna State University (SSU), all of which rank in the top 75 universities to study in the entire world today. The Ottoman University Grants Committee also continues to oversee academic grants to academics throughout the Ottoman Empire and the Ottoman Association of Suzerain Nations allowing millions of academics to conduct their research and work without the constraints of finances making the Ottoman Empire one of the destinations for academics worldwide. But his ignorance of the demobilization process as well as his willful ignorance of domestic political shifts make his legacy muddled. In the end, most Ottoman historians believe the man to be a great man, but one who had been blessed/cursed with a one-track mind that eventually led to his premiership ending prematurely in 1919. Nevertheless, he is ranked among one of the best Ottoman Grand Viziers in the Third Constitutional Era.
We'll see. I guess a similar rendition of chancellors for Austria would not be remiss.