Partition of the Ottoman Empire

The Partition of the Ottoman Empire, were a series of rebellions against the Ottoman Empire, from 1894 to 1896, which ultimately lead to the Empire's capitulation, and partition by several nations and rebellions.

## **Prelude: 1820s- Early 1890s**

The Ottoman Empire had, for centuries suffered from a series of lost wars, and battles that caused the Empire to shrink and decline. Especially due to the rise of European Empires capitalizing on the Empire's weakness, such as France invading and successfully annexing Algeria from the Ottomans. However, the rise of minority nationalism was a huge factor in the decline of the Ottomans. Nationalism for the Ottoman minorities was rare at this point, but when Greece broke out in rebellion, and won the Greek War of Independence it sent a the notion that nationalism was here to stay in the Empire, which was true. A big factor in nationalism was the Russians. They wanted to expand their Empire from all sides, and after winning the Caucasus from the Persians, they hoped to expand into Ottoman held territory. The Russians and Ottomans had been rivals for centuries, but the Russians knew that they could win support for the Christian minorities against the Empire, which could help them in a war. The Russians had pushed for Russian Armenians to push for Ottoman Armenians to rise up in rebellion. Russian Armenians, further aided by Russia made propaganda, literature, art etc. and sent it into the Empire to hopefully sway Armenians towards their cause. Eventually, this was a success, and it started around 1829. In 1831, the Ottoman authorities found out what was going on, but it isn't known how. Nevertheless, it created obvious tension throughout the Empire. The rise of nationalism also had an effect on Pontic Greeks and Assyrians, who started to push for autonomous regions within the Empire. In 1843, Kurdish irregular forces clahsed with Assyrians in the city of Hakkari, and the Kurds massacred the Assyrians. The Assyrians and Armenians, infuriated clashed with Ottoman authorities in what would come to be known as the Night Massacres of Anatolia. The authorities clamped down harshly, resulting in over 1000 Armenian civilians to be dead, and a further 10,000 Assyrians dead as well. This sparked widespread hatred, and only further reinforced anti-Ottoman sentiment in the Empire, which the Russians capitalized on, further pushing Armenian nationalism to spread. By the 1850s the spread was unavoidable. No matter who the Ottomans arrested, how many books were confiscated and burned, the message still got around, it was unstoppable. Yet, many Armenian, Assyrian and Greek nationalists wanted to wait for the right time for an uprising. Plans to cause an uprising in 1870 were thwarted when the Russo-Turkish war broke out, and the nationalists knew they couldn't successfully uprise with the amount of Ottoman Troops on Eastern Anatolia. Plans were moved to 1890, as the nationalists wanted this to be successful, and spent years slowly planning and training for the uprising.

## **Beginning of the Rebellion: 1894**

The rebellion began on March 12th, in the small town of Sasoun. Sasoun had been a hotbed for Armenian guerilla activity and nationalism for the past 10 years, and on the early hours of March 12th, dozens of Armenians took up arms and began rioting. Hours later, Armenians from a few towns over began to protest and joined the Armenian rioters. 2 days later, Sultan Abdul Hamid II gets word of the rebels and rioters and wants to crush the rioters. He, a staunch anti-Armenian gathers forces from the paramilitary group known as the Hamidiye, to "deal with the rebellion as they wished". As a result, many used violence. On March 20th, the Hamidiye strikes, first in neighboring towns, then plans to attack Sasoun the day after. But the news of the Hamidiye and their atrocities reaches the Armenians of Sasoun, who plan to finally rebel. They declare, in Sasoun a new state of Armenia and plan to hold onto the city for as long as possible. When the Hamidiye striked against the Sasoun, the Armenians, fueled by decades of nationalism, held on as much as they could. In the end, the Hamidiye were forces to retreat, humiliating the Sultan. Soon the atrocities spread across Anatolia, prompting more Armenians in the East to take up arms and rebel. After March 23rd, news kept coming in, about city after city, town after town, being declared a part of the Armenian rebelling. This begins to worry the Ottoman administration, who plan for a full on assault, not thinking much of the last failure at Sasoun. In April the Hamidiye, now reinforced, plan to attack rebel stronghold. They attack from the cities of Mush and Bitlis, hoping to breakup the connected rebellions and break them up. Miraculously, the Armenians hold out for as long as possible, forcing the Hamidiye on retreat yet again, allowing the Armenians to capture Bitlis and Mush, invigorating Armenian spirits, but causing a panic in the Ottoman administration. But the celebration would be short lived, as food was in low supply, and the Armenians, faced by enemies from all fronts couldn't import more food. As time went by, the Hamidiye couldn't break the stalemate, but the Armenians, now being in low supply of food, couldn't break the lines too, and the threat of famine became genuine. In July, after several clashes between Turks and Pontic Greeks, the Pontic greeks take up arms, distracting the Hamidiye to the Pontic region. At the same time, Armenians in Van successfully take the city and are able to join the rebels in the east, breaking the stalemate. Armenians began rebelling across Eastern Anatolia, spurred by Russia giving the rebels needed supplies across the border in secret. In September, as Armenians and Pontics slowly capture land, Assyrians from Hakkari push Ottoman forces out of the city, forcing the Ottomans to constantly keep reinforcements in the East. Also, Armenian rebels bordering Russia met and connect with the main rebellions, opening up a new supply of food, and ending the famine threat, which seemed like could occur. If it did, it would ultimately cause the demise of the Armenian rebels. In the last months of 1894, Europeans in ottoman Europe and Arabs begin to push the Ottomans out, forcing the Ottomans to concentrate on more and more fronts. European Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbs take town after town as the Ottomans are not able to stop the ongoing rebellions.

## **1895: The Beginning of the End for the Ottoman Empire**

In January of 1895, Russia and Greece formally declare war to help the rebels as much as they could, which was a death blow for the Ottomans. Quickly, the Ottomans, losing land in Hejaz, Levant and even Mesopotamia to Arab rebels couldn't supply their airforce and navy, allowing the Russians to achieve superiority in the Black Sea and Air superiority in Anatolia by February. In March, Albanian and Montenegrin rebels form as Serbia declares war on the Ottomans directly aiding the Serbian rebels. A month later Bulgaria finally falls to separatists, declaring independence. African Libyans, generally staying loyal to the Sultan finally rise up in Tripoli. Soon as the months go by major cities fall. Mecca in May, Mosul in July, Salonica, and all of the Levant in August, Adana in October, and Aleppo and Baghdad in December.

## **1896: The Final Blow For the Empire**

Rebels begin entering Western Anatolia through a successful Smyrna uprising, allowing Greek troops to pour in in January, as well as European rebels rapidly take Thrace as the rest of Ottoman soldiers retreat to Constantinople, and later the city is put on a weeks long siege. On the 28th of January, European rebels finally take Constantinople, prompting a complete collapse and surrender of the rest of the Empire.