TURKEY 



5914 



TURKEY 



ans and Bulgarians rose in revolt against Tur- 

 key because of its inhuman treatment of its 

 Christian subjects, Russia announced itst '. 

 the champion of the Christian citizens of Tur- 

 key. 



The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 fol- 

 lowed, in which the Turks were defeated and 

 compelled to agree to terms which meant the 

 practical disruption of the Empire. Again the 

 powers intervened, however, and in the Con- 

 I of Berlin made Russia surrender a large 

 part of the advantage gained. In 1881 Thessaly 

 and a part of Epirus were ceded to Greece; in 

 1882 Egypt was occupied by England, and in 

 1885 the revolution at Philippopolis compelled 

 Turkey to consent to the annexation of Eastern 

 Rumelia, its choicest province, to Bulgaria. 



A most cold-blooded massacre of tens of 

 thousands of Armenian Christians in 1895-1896 

 aroused much sympathy among the nations of 

 Europe and America, and protests were regis- 

 tered, but Turkey took no heed. Fear of pre- 

 cipitating a general European war prevented 

 the nations from taking any effective steps to 

 remedy the desperate conditions. The "Sick 

 Man of Europe," as Turkey had long been 

 called, was recognized as a menace, but jealousy 

 among the powers prevented them from putting 

 him out of the way. 



The Period of "Reforms." Meanwhile, within 

 the empire revolts were almost constant. An 

 especially serious one in Macedonia in 1903, 

 which the Turks attempted to put down by 

 brutal massacres, led to the intervention of the 

 Western nations, whose governments demanded 

 reforms. The sultan promised much but per- 

 formed little, and internal matters went from 

 bad to worse. In 1908 a reform party, the 

 Young Turks, fired with patriotic dreams of a 

 recreated, modern Turkey, made a demand for 

 constitutional government, and forced the sul- 

 tan to accede to their demands. The first par- 

 liament met in 1909. These disturbances gave 

 the neighboring states the opportunity for 

 which they had been waiting, for Austria- 

 Hungary promptly announced the annexation 

 of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bulgaria pro- 

 claimed its complete independence and its ele- 

 vation to the rank of a kingdom. 



The Young Turks found difficulty in estab- 

 lishing their reform principles in Constantinople, 

 and in 1909 they were forced to put down a 

 serious revolt. Since this had had the support 

 of the sultan, Abd-ul-Hamid, they deposed him 

 and made his brother, Mohammed V, sultan in 

 his stead. 



A Time of Wars. In 1911 war broke out 

 with Italy, owing to disputes over African pos- 

 .<>ns, and in October, 1912, when the struggle 

 closed, Turkey gave up its hold on Tripoli and 

 (\\renaica. Then, before the exhausted country 

 had recovered from this brief but sharp con- 

 flict, the allied Balkan states declared war on 

 Turkey (see BALKAN WARS). At the end of this 

 war Turkey was compelled to give up all its 

 European territory but Constantinople, Adrian- 

 ople, and a little of the surrounding region. 



The War of the Nations. Turkey joined the 

 Central Powers in November, 1914, for Ger- 

 many had a secure economic and military hold 

 on the Ottoman Empire. Though the Tnrks 

 successfully resisted an allied attempt to force 

 the passage of the Dardanelles and capture 

 Constantinople (February-December, 1915), 

 they saw the gradual disintegration of the em- 

 pire as the war progressed. In January, 1915, 

 when Egypt passed under British control, the 

 sultan's dominions covered about 710,200 square 

 miles; the empire then had 21,273,900 inhabit- 



BULGARIA 



TURKEY OF THE FUTURE 

 The shaded European area will never again be 

 under direct Turkish rule. The Asiatic section in 

 black represents that part of Anatolia which will 

 be the future domain of the sultan. (1) Smyrna 

 and vicinity will doubtless become a part of 

 Greece. (2) Expected to be ceded to Italy. 



ants. In 1916 the Arabian province of Hedjaz, 

 having an area of 96,500 square miles, revolted, 

 and an independent kingdom was proclaimed. 

 The Arabians proved a valuable aid to the allies 

 in the warfare against the Turks. Jerusalem 

 and the rest of Palestine, Syria and Mesopo- 

 tamia were conquered by the British before the 

 Turkish government asked for an armistice in 

 October, 1918. This armistice went into effect 

 October 31, and give the allies complete control 

 of all Turkish possessions, including the cov- 

 eted city of Constantinople. 



Turkey's mistreatment of Armenians and 

 Syrians during the war, more than a million 

 of whom perished through exposure or massacre, 

 was not overlooked when its envoys were sent 



