Turkey: history to 1923

In around 9000 BC some of the earliest farming settlements of the Neolithic emerged in Anatolia (Asian Turkey, known as Asia Minor by the Romans), and by 6000 BC some quite substantial towns, such as Catal Hüyük, had developed.

The Indo‐European Hittites founded a Near Eastern empire in around 1650 BC, and had their capital in Hattusas (modern Boghazköy) in central Anatolia. The Hittite Empire collapsed in around 1200 BC, perhaps as a result of invasions by the Sea Peoples.

The classical period
From around 900 BC the Greeks began to establish colonies all along the western and southern coasts of Anatolia. The spread of the power of the Achaemenid Persians into Anatolia in the 6th century BC led to wars with Greece in the following century, and in the later 4th century BC Alexander the Great of Macedon finally defeated the Persians and incorporated Anatolia into his empire.

Following Alexander's death, Anatolia was divided into a number of Hellenistic kingdoms, which were gradually incorporated into the Roman Empire between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Anatolia remained as part of the Eastern or Byzantine Empire, with its capital in Constantinople (Istanbul).

The Seljuk Turks
The Turks were a nomadic people from Mongolia, who spread into Central Asia in the 6th century AD, and converted to Islam in the 7th century AD. However, little of consequence is told of them until Togrul Beg, the leader of a branch of Tatar invaders, known as the Seljuk Turks, captured Baghdad in 1055. This led directly to the foundation of imperial power by the Turks in the Middle East, mostly at the expense of the Byzantine Empire (see Seljuk Empire). Cairo and Jerusalem fell before the successors of Togrul Beg, and following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 the Turks took possession of much of Anatolia and the greater part of Syria.

The coming of the Ottomans
The Seljuks were themselves ousted in the 14th century by the Ottoman Turks (see Ottoman Empire), who overran much of the Near East, and who also began to make incursions into Europe, seizing Gallipoli in 1354. Adrianople (Edirne) submitted to their sultan, Murad I (ruled 1359–89), in 1361. The latter was succeeded by his son, Bajazet I (ruled 1389–1403). In 1396 he gained a great victory at Nicopolis (in Bulgaria) over the allied armies of Germany, Hungary, and France. The victory alarmed Western Europe, and the Byzantine stronghold of Constantinople seemed doomed. But the victories of Tamerlane forced Bajazet to cross the Bosporus in haste to save his Asiatic dominions. The issue was decided on the field of Ankara (1402), where Bajazet suffered defeat.

The expansion of the Ottoman Empire
In 1421 the Ottomans made an unsuccessful assault on Constantinople, but finally Muhammad II successfully stormed the city in 1453, leading to the final collapse of the Byzantine Empire. Greece was annexed by the Ottomans between 1456 and 1460. Serbia had been subjugated in 1389 after the Battle of Kosovo in Bulgaria in 1396, and Macedonia in 1430. Muhammad II even succeeded in penetrating into Italy.

Selim I (ruled 1467–1520) overran the islands of the eastern Mediterranean, took the whole of Syria (1515), obliged the Abbasid caliph of Cairo to surrender, and finally annexed Egypt after defeating the Mamelukes (1516).

The Ottoman Empire attained its greatest splendour during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (ruled 1520–66). This warrior‐king captured Belgrade in 1521 and in the following year expelled the Knights of St John from Rhodes. In 1526 he inflicted an overwhelming defeat on the Hungarians, and in 1529, after humiliating Vienna by a protracted blockade, he marched with a huge army against Germany, but retired on the advance of the army of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Charles V's brilliant seizure of Tunis in 1535 was a serious check to Ottoman influence in the south. However, by 1550 the Ottomans had also conquered Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Tripoli (part of Libya). After the death of Suleiman in 1566 there were only two new acquisitions of importance, Cyprus in 1571, and Crete in 1669.

The beginnings of Ottoman decline
The gradual but steady decay of Turkey's supremacy dates from the last quarter of the 16th century, when the Ottoman Empire began to show signs of administrative, social and economic decline. One key reason for this decline lay in the reactionary nature of powerful Islamic institutions which caused Turkey to lag behind the European powers in the technological sphere. However, the Ottoman decline was relatively slow to make itself felt, territorial expansion continuing throughout the 17th century.

The first serious disaster was the annihilation of the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. This victory by the European powers ended Ottoman encroachments into the western Mediterranean.

Most of the Turkish wars continued to be waged with Hungary and Venice, and in 1683 the Turks were once more at the gates of Vienna. This time the city was rescued by John Sobieski, king of Poland, and the Duke of Lorraine. The Peace of Karlowitz, which concluded this war in 1699, confirmed the Venetian conquest of the Peloponnese, and secured Hungary for the Austrians, while Herzegovina was ceded by the Emperor Leopold I to Turkey.

A second struggle between the house of Habsburg (rulers of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire) and the Ottoman Turks was terminated by the Peace of Passarowitz in 1718. Turkey had won back the Peloponnese by 1716, and Belgrade was recovered in 1739.

The long series of Russo‐Turkish wars began in 1730. By the Peace of Kuchuk‐Kainarji in 1774 Turkey relinquished its suzerainty over the Tatar khans of the Crimea, and Russia secured access to the Black Sea. The Turks were also ousted from Moldavia and Wallachia. By the Treaty of Jassy (1792) the northern boundary of the Ottoman Empire was pushed back to the River Dniester. In 1807, the year in which the Treaty of Bucharest was signed, this boundary was put still farther south, as far as the River Prut.

In 1798 Napoleon had easily overcome the Mamelukes of Egypt, who were nominal vassals of Turkey. In 1879, the year in which the dual control of France and Britain was established, Turkish overlordship in Egypt finally came to an end.

The disintegration of the European empire
The whole of the 19th century was marked by a series of revolts. In the Balkans there was an unsuccessful revolt in Serbia in 1804. During the Greek War of Liberation (1821–29) and afterwards great barbarities were inflicted by the Turks on various Christian populations within their empire in response to nationalist agitation or uprisings, culminating in the atrocities perpetrated against the Armenians in 1895 and in later years (see Armenian massacres).

During the 19th century Russia put itself forward as the defender of the Christians in the Ottoman Empire, particularly of its fellow Slavs in the Balkans. The other European powers were suspicious of Russia's territorial ambitions (see also Eastern Question), and in the Crimean War of 1853–56 Britain and France supported Turkey against the Russians. At the Peace of Paris (1856) the integrity of the Ottoman Empire was maintained, and the Christian subjects were put under the protection of the European ‘Great Powers’ instead of that of Russia.

The Bulgarian uprising of 1876 led to a new war (1877–78) between Turkey and Russia, the latter again putting itself forward as the defender of the Christians. Only foreign interference halted the Russian advance on Constantinople, and the short campaign was brought to an end by the Treaty of Berlin (1878). By this agreement the independence of Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro was formally acknowledged. Bosnia–Herzegovina was occupied by Austria, and Cyprus was handed over to British control. Eastern Rumelia, while being retained by the Turks, was given an ‘administrative autonomy’ under a Christian pasha (governor). Serbia had been more or less free since 1807, and the Montenegrins had been virtually free from the Turks since 1696. In 1908 Crete, which was evacuated by Turkish troops in 1898, declared its affiliation with Greece.

Attempts at reform
Attempts at domestic reform had begun as early as 1839 with the introduction of the ‘Hatt‐i‐Sherif’, a body of progressive measures, and Christians were admitted to office in 1849. Riots in the capital extorted from the sultan another more enlightened political constitution in 1876, and the grand vizier (prime minister) Midhat Pasha (1822–83) devoted himself to the furtherance of liberal ideas and progress. But the new constitution remained in abeyance.

The growing abuses of the government resulted in the formation of the militant nationalist and reformist Young Turk movement in 1889. It was partly suppressed in 1901, but seven years later the Young Turks again agitated, this time with more effect. A constitution was granted in 1908, and in 1909 the sultan was deposed, and his brother was called to the throne as Muhammad V.European opportunism
Various European powers took advantage of Turkey's domestic upheavals. There had previously been trouble with France over the hinterland of Tripoli, and with Bulgaria over the ‘liberation’ of Macedonia. In 1908 Bosnia–Herzegovina was annexed by Austria, and in 1909 Bulgaria's claim to independence was accepted. In 1911 Italy forcibly seized Tripoli, and after a year's desultory fighting Turkey was obliged to sue for peace, as fresh trouble was brewing nearer home. The first Turkish parliament was dissolved in 1912, and a fresh cabinet was formed in the same year.

During the First Balkan War (1912–13) the Balkan states expelled the Turks from Albania and Macedonia. The Treaty of London, signed on 30 May 1913, left Turkey with only a small strip of territory in Europe. Turkey, however, took advantage of the Second Balkan War to take back Adrianople (Edirne) in July 1913.Turkey in World War I
In 1914 the pro‐German Enver Bey (later known as Enver Pasha) became minister of war. On 8 September Turkey declared the capitulations of the Treaty of London to be abolished, and, following Turkish naval attacks in the Black Sea, Russia and then Britain and France declared war on Turkey. Turkey thus became one of the Central Powers in World War I, allied to Germany and Austria‐Hungary, and Enver Pasha became a virtual dictator.

At the outset of the war, Turkish troops met with disaster in the Caucasus. In the Allied attempts, however, to force the Dardanelles and take Constantinople the Turks held their own and saved the capital (see Dardanelles campaign). The Turks were also fighting on the Mesopotamian front and were at first successful against the British army, which was beleaguered in al Kūt (see also Mesopotamian Campaign). German influence brought about an entente between Turkey and Bulgaria, but on 21 August 1915 Italy declared war on Turkey. In 1916 the Arab Revolt broke out in Arabia, where Husein ibn‐Ali declared the sherifate of Mecca independent. Baghdad was taken on 11 March 1917. In spite of the advantageous peace made with Russia at Brest‐Litovsk in 1918, Turkey had no hope of victory. On 3 July 1918 Muhammad V died and was succeeded by his brother, who became Muhammad VI. In October Enver resigned. An armistice was signed between the Allies and Turkey on 30 October 1918 at Mudros. (For more details of Turkey's role in the war see World War I.)

Atatürk and the Turkish revival
Following the armistice, an Allied‐controlled government was installed in Constantinople, which was abandoned by the Young Turk party (the Committee of Union and Progress). A movement towards the regeneration of Turkey began in Anatolia, where Mustafa Kemal Pasha (later known as Atatürk) convened a Turkish Nationalist Congress at Erzurum on 23 July 1919. ‘The Anatolian and Rumelian League for the Defence of National Rights’, or, simply, the ‘National Organization’ or Nationalist Party resulted. The Nationalist Party under Kemal, being regarded as rebels, chose Ankara as its headquarters, and a Nationalist army was formed out of local militias.

On 5 October 1919, under pressure from the Nationalists, the grand vizier Damad Ferid Pasha resigned. A new government was formed in Constantinople under Ali Riza Bey. At the ensuing election the Nationalist Party was legitimized by its strong representation. In January 1920 the Turkish National Assembly accepted the ‘National Pact’, a declaration of Turkish independence issued from Ankara. Two months later, however, the parliament was dispersed by Allied forces under Gen Milne, martial law was proclaimed, and Damad Ferid reinstated. The old parliament, now outlawed, reassembled in Ankara, and was strongly Nationalist in sympathy. On 20 January 1921 the Law of Fundamental Organization was drawn up in Ankara, placing the sovereign power in the hands of the Turkish people.

Victory over Greece
Following World War I, the Treaty of Sèvres (10 August 1920) had awarded to Greece practically all of Thrace outside Constantinople and, in the western part of Anatolia, a mandate over Smyrna (Izmir) and the territory around it. The Greek occupation of these parts of Anatolia led to Turkish protests, which further strengthened the Nationalist Party. The situation rapidly developed into war, of which the first phase in 1920 was favourable to the Greeks, but in 1921 the Turkish armies under Atatürk's command defeated the Greeks, turning back their advance on Ankara and forcing them into a retreat, until they were finally expelled from Izmir in 1922.

Peace was concluded by the Treaty of Lausanne (24 July 1923; ratified by Britain on 15 April 1924), and Thrace as far as the River Maritsa was restored to Turkey. The treaty settled Turkey's international relations for some time following, territorial differences with the USSR having been previously settled by a treaty of 16 March 1921. By this latter treaty the districts of Kars, Ardahan, and Batum (excepting Batum port itself) were assigned to Turkey.

For coverage of Turkish history after 1923, see Turkey.