Reflections: Legacy of the Ottoman Empire - دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Legacy of the Ottoman Empire - دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 OSMANLI İMPARATORLUĞU THE LEGACY OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE Many people are puzzled by all the turmoil, confusion and bloodshed that exists in the Middle East today, and seek answers in the complexities of current events, however, the root of the Middle eastern problem lie in the past, and in particular in that entity known as the Ottoman (Osman) Empire - the great Empire of the Turks created by the Osman dynasty. The Osmans were Sultans (سلطان)‎ (holders of power) and Caliphs, (خليفة‎ ḫalīfah/khalīfah - title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah), over all of what is now known as the Near and Middle East.

Ummah ( أمة‎) is an Arabic word meaning "nation" or "community". It is distinguished from Sha'b (شعب‎) which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history. It is a synonym for ummat al-Islamiyah ( الأمة الإسلامية‎) (the Islamic Nation), and it is commonly used to mean the collective community of Islamic peoples. In the context of Pan-Islamism and politics, the word Ummah can be used to mean the concept of a 'Commonwealth of the Believers' (أمة المؤمنين ummat al-muʼminīn). The Quran says: “Muslims are the best nation brought out for Mankind, commanding what is righteous (معروف Maʻrūf, lit. "recognized as good") and forbidding what is wrong (منكر Munkar, lit.

"unrecognized as good")…” The Ottoman Empire, (دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye) or Sublime Ottoman State, which lasted from 27 July 1299 to 29 October 1923, is one of 16 Turkish empires established throughout history. The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history. It was an empire inspired and sustained by Islam, and Islamic institutions. founded by Turkish tribes under Osman Bey in north-western Anatolia in 1299. With the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed II in 1453, the Ottoman state became an empire. The conquest of Constantinople was a pivotal event in the evolution of Turkish statehood, since the victory of 1453 cemented its Eurasian nature. The empire reached its peak at 1590, covering parts of Asia, Europe and Africa.

The reign of the long-lived Ottoman dynasty lasted for 623 years, from 27 July 1299 to 1 November 1922, when the monarchy in Turkey was abolished. At the height of its power, in the 16th and 17th centuries, it controlled territory in southeast Europe, western Asia, and North Africa. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu Haritası Map of the Ottoman Empire - 1914 Osmanlı İmparatorluğu (The Ottoman Empire) The Ottoman Empire contained 29 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, - Kostantiniyye) as its capital city, and vast control of lands around the eastern Mediterranean during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (ruled 1520 to 1566), the empire was at the center of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for six centuries.

تنظيمات The Tanzimât The Tanzimât, meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The Tanzimât reform era was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire, to secure its territorial integrity against nationalist movements and aggressive powers. The reforms encouraged Ottomanism among the diverse ethnic groups of the Empire, attempting to stem the tide of nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire. The reforms attempted to integrate non-Muslims and non-Turks more thoroughly into Ottoman society by enhancing their civil liberties and granting them equality throughout the Empire. Abdülmecid I Tanzimât emerged from the minds of reformist sultans like Mahmud II and Abdülmecid I as well as prominent reformers who were European educated bureaucrats. They recognized that the old religious and military institutions no longer met the needs of the empire in the modern world. Most of the symbolic changes, such as uniforms, were aimed at changing the mindset of imperial administrators. Many of the reforms were attempts to adopt successful European practices The reforms were heavily influenced by the Napoleonic Code and French law under the Second Empire.

Changes included universal conscription; educational, institutional and legal reforms; and systematic attempts at eliminating corruption and decriminalizing homosexuality. Tanzimat included the policy of 'Ottomanism', which was meant to unite all of the different peoples living in Ottoman territories, "Muslim and non-Muslim, Turkish and Greek, Armenian and Jewish, Kurd and Arab". For this purpose, Islamic law was put aside in favour of secular law. Ottomanism (Osmanlılık or Osmanlıcılık) was a concept which developed prior to the First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire. Its proponents believed that it could solve the social issues that the empire was facing. Ottomanism was strongly influenced by thinkers such as Montesquieu and Rousseau and the French Revolution. It promoted the equality among the 'millets'. The idea originated amongst the Young Ottomans. Put simply, Ottomanism stated that all subjects were equal before the law. The essence of the millet system was not dismantled, but secular organizations and policies were applied. Primary education, conscription, head tax and military service were to be applied to non-Muslims and Muslims alike.

This policy officially began with the 'Imperial Rescript of the Rose Chamber' of 1839, declaring equality before the law for both Muslim and non-Muslim Ottomans. The ambitious project was launched to combat the slow decline of the empire that had seen its borders shrink, and was growing weaker in comparison to the European powers. By getting rid of the millet system, the Ottoman Empire hoped to be able to control all of its citizens. They thought that the Great Powers would accept this as long as reforms were ongoing, leaving them to act as enforcers of these goals. Rescript of the Rose Chamber of 1839 The 'Noble Rescript of the Rose Chamber' was the first major reform in the Tanzimat reforms under the government of sultan Abdulmecid and a crucial event in the movement towards secularization. It abolished tax farming. It also created salaried tax collectors with a bureaucratic system. This reflects the centralizing effects of the Tanzimat reforms. Additionally, the Rescript of the Rose Chamber forced military conscription on districts based on their population size, furthermore, it guaranteed the life and property for all subjects, including non Muslims.

This put an end to the kul system, which allowed the ruler's servants to be executed or have their property confiscated at his desire. The most significant clause of the Rose Chamber is that it enforced the rule of law for all, including non-Muslims. Non-Muslims in the Empire had many grievances and were treated as second class citizens and exploited by corrupt officials. These reforms sought to establish legal and social equality for all Ottoman citizens. The reforms eliminated the millet system in the Ottoman Empire. The millet system created religiously based communities that operated autonomously, so people were organized into societies, often receiving privileges, based on the church they followed. This clause terminated the privileges of these communities and constructed a society where all followed the same law. The new reforms called for an almost complete reconstruction of public life in the Ottoman Empire. Under the reconstruction, a system of state schools was established to produce government clerics. Ottomans were encouraged to enroll. Each province was organized so that each governor would have an advisory council and specified duties in order to better serve the territory. The new reforms also called for a modern financial system with a central bank, treasury bonds and a decimal currency.

Finally, the reforms implemented the expansion of roads, canals and rail lines for better communication and transportation. The Rescript of the Rose Chamber also represented a move towards Westernization. It mirrored the liberal ideals of the French Revolution, which glorified humanity and individual rights. The Rescript was imagined as the savior of the Ottoman Empire by imposing modernizing and nationalizing forces. European powers were asked to oversee its enforcement in case the sultan reneged. This move towards western ideals was also an effort to keep Europe out of the Ottoman Empire. By conforming to their standards, the Ottoman Empire hoped to appease Europe enough to keep them out of Ottoman affairs and avoid European control. The reaction to the Rescript was not entirely positive. Christians in the Balkans refused to support the reforms because they wanted an autonomy that became more difficult to achieve under centralized power. In fact, its adoption spurred some provinces to seek independence by rebelling. It took strong British backing in maintaining Ottoman territory to ensure that the reforms were instated. Although the Rescript of the Rose Chamber and the Tanzimat provided strong guidelines for society, it was not a constitution. It did not replace the authority of the sultan. Overall, Tanzimat reforms had far-reaching effects.

Those educated in the schools established during the Tanzimat period included Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and other progressive leaders and thinkers of the Republic of Turkey and of many other former Ottoman states in the Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa. The system was ultimately undone by negotiations with the Great Powers following the Crimean War. As part of the Charter of 1856, European powers demanded a much stronger sovereignty for ethnic communities within the empire, differing from the Ottomans who envisioned equality meaning identical treatment under the law for all citizens. This served to strengthen the Christian middle class, increasing their economic and political power. Muslims, on the other hand, received none of these benefits and were ultimately left worse off by the reforms. This led to anti-Western sentiment in a radicalised population, evidenced by the rise of groups like the 'Young Ottomans'. The Young Ottomans (Turkish: Yeni Osmanlılar) were a secret society established in 1865 by a group of Ottoman Turkish intellectuals dissatisfied with the Tanzimat reforms.

Young Ottomans sought to transform the Ottoman society by preserving the empire, revitalizing Islam and modernizing along the European traditions.Among the prominent members of this society were writers and publicists İbrahim Şinasi, Namik Kemal, Ali Suavi, Ziya Pasha and Agah Efendi. In 1867, Namik Kemal and other Young Ottomans published the open letter of a disgruntled Egyptian prince Mustafa Fazl Pasha to the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz, advocating constitutional and parliamentary governance. After the publication, the Ottoman government cracked down on Young Ottomans causing them to flee to Paris, where they continued operating under the patronage of Mustafa Fazl Pasha. Young Ottomans were deeply influenced by the liberal ideals of French Revolution. İbrahim Şinasi, Namik Kemal and Ziya Pasha coined the concept of hürriyet (freedom) among the Muslim Turks. Between 1868 and 1870, the latter two published a weekly newspaper titled the Hürriyet in London and Geneva.

The failure of the "Young Ottoman" policies (Ottomanism) in reverting the decline of the Ottoman Empire led groups of intellectuals to search for other means. One of these groups was the Young Turks, which brought the Empire to the Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire), and then to World War I, with the policies developed under the Three Pashas. The reforms peaked in 1876 with the implementation of an Ottoman constitution checking the autocratic powers of the Sultan. The details of this period are covered under the First Constitutional Era. Although the new Sultan Abdülhamid II signed the first constitution, he quickly turned against it. State institutions were reorganized; laws were updated according to the needs of the changing world; modern education, clothing, architecture, arts, and lifestyle were encouraged. The eventual main inheritors of the effects of the Tanzimat were the Ottoman military, and this inheritance was passed on to all the military successors to the Ottomans in the various territories ruled by the Turks. It is for this reason that most of the regimes that followed the demise of the Ottoman Empire were controlled by a modernising, secularist, westernised military.

__________________________________________________ © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 Wilhelm II of Germany enjoyed a personal romance with Islam, intensified by national strategic imperatives. There is concrete evidence that 'Turco-German-jihad' action plans were ready to go when the guns of August 1914 started firing. The Kaiser’s Islamic enthusiasm was fired by an 1889 visit to Turkey, which Bismarck opposed on the grounds that it would gratuitously alarm the Russians (which it did). Wilhelm met the murderous Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and enjoyed the sinuous gyrations of the Circassian dancers in his Constantinople harem. In 1898 Wilhelm returned to the Ottoman Empire, and rode into Jerusalem through a breach specially made in its walls, allegedly to dedicate the new Church of the Redeemer, built by German Protestants. This pilgrimage was deemed somewhat less benign than it sounded, since the Kaiser wore a field marshal’s uniform with a holstered pistol. Referring to the Kaiser as Haji Wilhelm, the German Intelligence Bureau for the East spread propaganda throughout the region, fostering rumors that the Kaiser had converted to Islam following a secret trip to Mecca, and portraying him as a 'savior of Islam'.

The Kaiser and some influential German diplomats, bankers, and soldiers were powerfully attracted by the notion of establishing a bridgehead in the Near East to exploit its natural resources. The foremost manifestation of German influence would be a railway built from the Asian shore of Constantinople to Baghdad, crossing not only Turkey’s vast wildernesses but the Taurus Mountains and bandit regions of Syria and Mesopotamia. Wilhelm’s ambassador to the Ottoman court, Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, wrote that the railway must be constructed “with only German materials and for the purpose of bringing goods and people to [Asia]…from the heart of Germany". The railway would run from Berlin to the Persian Gulf, and would further connect to British India through Persia. This railway could provide a short and quick route from Europe to Asia, and could carry German exports, troops and artillery. At the time, the Ottoman Empire could not afford such a railway, and Abdülhamid II was grateful to Wilhelm's offer, but was suspicious over the German motives. Abdülhamid II's secret service believed that German archaeologists in the Emperor's retinue were in fact geologists with designs on the oil wealth of the Ottoman empire.

Later, the secret service uncovered a German report, which noted that the oilfields in Mosul, northern Mesopotamia were richer than that in the Caucuses. In his first visit, Wilhelm secured the sale of German-made rifles to Ottoman Army, and in his second visit he secured a promise for German companies to construct the Istanbul-Baghdad railway. Bağdat Demiryolu - Baghdad Railway Bağdat Demiryolu (Bagdadbahn - The Baghdad Railway), was built from 1903 to 1940 to connect Berlin with the Ottoman Empire city of Baghdad, where the Germans wanted to establish a port in the Persian Gulf, with a 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) line through modern-day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Funding and engineering was mainly provided by German Empire banks and companies, which in the 1890s had built the Anatolian Railway (Anatolische Eisenbahn) connecting Constantinople, Ankara and Konya.

The Ottoman Empire wished to maintain its control of Arabia and to expand its influence across the Red Sea into the nominally Ottoman (until 1914) Khedivate of Egypt, which had been under British military control since the Urabi Revolt in 1882. The Germans gained access to and ownership of oil fields in Iraq, and with a line to the port of Basra would have gained better access to the eastern parts of the German colonial empire, by avoiding the Suez Canal. The railway became a source of international disputes during the years immediately preceding World War I. It has been argued that the railway was a leading cause of the First World War. Technical difficulties in the remote Taurus Mountains and diplomatic delays meant that by 1915 the railway was still 480 kilometres (300 mi) short of completion, severely limiting its use during the war in which Baghdad was occupied by the British while the Hejaz railway in the south was attacked by guerrilla forces led by T. E. Lawrence. Construction resumed in the 1930s and was completed in 1940.

A history of this railway in the context of World War I history has lately emerged to describe the German interests in countering the British Empire, and Turkey's interest in countering their Russian rivals. The Central Powers The involvement with the Ottoman Empire led to the creation of the Central Powers (German: Mittelmächte; Turkish: İttifak Devletleri or Bağlaşma Devletleri) were one of the two warring factions in World War I (1914–18), composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria. This alignment originated in the Triple Alliance, and fought against the Allied Powers that had formed around the Triple Entente. A Prussian military mission had been entrusted with the modernization of the Ottoman army as early as 1835 and since that time the Germans were viewed by the Ottomans as friends. Wilhelm II visited Istanbul twice during Abdülhamid's reign in 1889 and in 1898, the first Western sovereign to do so. The Germans embarked in a policy of encouraging Pan-Islamism in the hope that Muslim rebellions would dislodge the British from the Middle East.

In his second visit Kaiser Wilhelm visited Jerusalem on October 29, 1898. He dedicated a German Protestant church but he also took care of the Catholics by sending a telegram to Pope Leo XIII offering his protection of Catholics in the Holy Land. The Kaiser next visited Damascus where he laid a wreath on the tomb of Sala'din and offered to build a marble mausoleum in his honor. He topped it all by declaring in a speech: "May the Sultan (i.e. Abdülhamid) and his 300 million subjects scattered across the earth, who venerate him as their Caliph, be assured that the German Kaiser will be their friend for all time". There were several problems with this declaration: the Shia Muslims of Persia and what is now southern Iraq did not accept the Ottoman sultan as their caliph; and most important, many of the 300 million Muslims were subject of Britain or France. But of course, that was the point for the German Kaiser. He wanted to use Islam to cause trouble for the British and the French.

Bronsart von Schellendorf As the war progressed Germany became increasingly involved in the management of the poorly trained and poorly equipped Ottoman forces, and Friedrich (Fritz) Bronsart von Schellendorf (1864–1950) was appointed as the chief of the Ottoman General Staff, part of German military mission in the Ottoman Empire. The ruler of the Ottoman Empire during the period of the Central Powers was محمد خامس (Mehmed V Reshad). He was born at Topkapı Palace, Constantinople. Like many other potential heirs to the throne, he was confined for 30 years in the Harems of the palace. For nine of those years he was in solitary confinement. During this time he studied poetry of the old Persian style and was an acclaimed poet. His reign began on 27 April 1909 but he was largely a figurehead with no real political power, as the Ottoman state affairs were largely run by the 'Three Pashas' since the 'Young Turk Revolution' in 1908.

Members of the Committee of Union and Progress CUP The Young Turks( chikas) (Turkish: Jön Türkler (plural) or Turkish: Genç Türkler (plural), from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) was a secularist Turkish nationalist reform party in the early twentieth century, favoring reformation of the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Empire. Officially known as the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), their leaders led a rebellion against Sultan Abdul Hamid II. They contributed to establish the Second Constitutional Era in 1908 and The İttihat ve Terakki (Committee of Union and Progress) based on the ideas of the Young Turks ruled the Ottoman empire from 1908 until the end of World War I in November 1918.

Enver Pasha Enver Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: انور پاشا‎, Turkish: Enver Paşa) or Ismail Enver Pasha (اسماعیل انور پاشا‎, İsmail Enver Paşa‎, born Ismail Enver) (November 22, 1881 – August 4, 1922) was an Ottoman military officer and a leader of the Young Turk revolution. He was the main leader of the Ottoman Empire in both Balkan Wars and World War I. As a war minister and de facto Commander-in-Chief (de jure he was Deputy Commander-in-Chief, since formally the Sultan held the title), Enver Pasha was considered to be the most powerful figure of the government of Ottoman Turkey. Talaat Pasha Talaat Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: طلعت پاشا, born Mehmed Talaat (Ottoman Turkish: محمد طلعت, Turkish: Mehmed Talât or Mehmet Talat) (1874–1921) was one of the leaders of the Committee of Union and Progress that controlled the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

Djemal Pasha In 1917, Talaat became the Grand Vizier, but was unable to reverse the downward spiral of Ottoman fortunes in his new position. Over the next year, Jerusalem and Baghdad were lost, and in October 1918 the British shattered both Ottoman armies they faced. With defeat certain, Talaat resigned on October 14, 1918. Djemal Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: جمال پاشا, modern Turkish: Cemal Paşa), born Ahmed Djemal (Ottoman Turkish: احمد جمال, Turkish: Ahmet Cemal; 6 May 1872 - 21 July 1922), was a Young Turk and member of the Three Pashas. Djemal was also Mayor of Istanbul. Mehmed V's only significant political act was, as Caliph, to formally declare 'jihad' against the Entente Powers (Allies of World War I) on 11 November 1914, following the Ottoman government's decision to join the First World War on the side of the Central Powers.

This was the last genuine proclamation of jihad in history by a Caliph, as the Caliphate ended in 1924. Enver Pasha had the Sultan proclaimed 'jihad' in the hope that it would provoke and aid a vast Muslim revolution, particularly in India. Translations of the proclamation were sent to Berlin for propaganda purposes, for distribution to Muslim troops of the Entente Powers, however, while widely heard, the proclamation did not have the intended effect of mobilising global Muslim opinion on behalf of Turkey or the Central Powers. The proclamation had no noticeable effect on the war, despite the fact that many Muslims lived in Ottoman territories. The Muslim Arabs eventually joined the British forces against the Ottomans with the Arab Revolt in 1916. Mehmed V hosted Kaiser Wilhelm II, his World War I ally, in Constantinople on 15 October 1917. He was made Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia on 27 January 1916, and of the Empire of Germany on 1 February 1916.

The Ottoman Sultan specifically wanted the Empire to remain a non-belligerent nation, however, pressure from some of Mehmed's senior advisors led the Empire to align with the Central Powers. Whilst Great Britain was unenthusiastic about aligning with the Ottoman Empire, Germany was enthusiastic. Germany needed the Ottoman Empire on its side. The Orient Express had run directly to Constantinople since 1889, and prior to the First World War the Sultan had consented to a plan to extend it through Anatolia to Baghdad under German auspices. This would strengthen the Ottoman Empire's link with industrialized Europe, while also giving Germany easier access to its African colonies, and to trade markets in India. To keep the Ottoman Empire from joining the Triple Entente, Germany encouraged Romania and Bulgaria to enter the Central Powers. Led by Enver Pasha, a coup in Turkey in 1913 sidelined Sultan Mehmed V, and concentrated power in the hands of a junta. Despite the secular nature of the new government, Turkey retained its traditional influence over the Muslim world. Turkey ruled Hejaz until the Arab Revolt of 1916 and controlled the Muslim holy city of Mecca throughout the war.

Osmanli Devleti Nisani Yeni © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 The Sultan's title of Caliph was recognized as legitimate by most Muslims, including those in Afghanistan and India. A secret treaty was then concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the German Empire on August 2, 1914. The Ottoman Empire was to enter the war on the side of the Central Powers one day after the German Empire declared war on Russia. The alliance was ratified on 2nd August by many high ranking Ottoman officials, including Grand Vizier Said Halim Pasha, the Minister of War Enver Pasha, the Interior Minister Talat Pasha, and Head of Parliament Halil Bey. However, there was no signature from the House of Osman as the Sultan Mehmed V did not sign it. The Sultan was the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, as written in the constitution, this made the legitimacy of the Alliance questionable. This meant that the army was not be able to fight a 'jihad' on behalf of the Sultan. He did not wish to command a war himself, and as such left the Cabinet to do much of his bidding.

The third member of the cabinet of the 'Three Pashas', Djemal Pasha also did not sign the treaty, as he had tried to form an alliance with France. The Alliance was not universally accepted by all parts of the Ottoman government. The Ottoman Empire did not enter the war until German elements in the Ottoman Navy took matters into their own hands, and bombarded Russian ports on the 29th of October 1914. Once at war, Turkey joined Germany in taking aim at the opposing Entente Powers and their extensive empires in the Muslim world. __________________________________________________ © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 The Ottoman Empire came to an end, as a regime under a monarchy, on 1 November 1922. It formally ended, as a de jure state, on 24 July 1923, under the Treaty of Lausanne. The Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on 29 October 1923, became one of the successor states of the Ottoman Empire as part of the treaty.

Palace of Nations Milletler Lwague © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 At the end of the First World War, the Allied powers were confronted with the question of the disposal of the former German colonies in Africa and the Pacific, and the several non-Turkish provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The Peace Conference adopted the principle that these territories should be administered by different governments on behalf of the League – a system of national responsibility subject to international supervision. This plan, defined as the mandate system, was adopted by the "Council of Ten" (the heads of government and foreign ministers of the main Allied powers: Britain, France, the United States, Italy, and Japan) on 30 January 1919 and transmitted to the League of Nations. League of Nations mandates were established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. The Permanent Mandates Commission supervised League of Nations mandates, and also organized plebiscites in disputed territories so that residents could decide which country they would join. There were three mandate classifications: A, B and C.

The A mandates (applied to parts of the old Ottoman Empire) were "certain communities" that had ...reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognised subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory. Article 22, The Covenant of the League of Nations © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun çözülme (The Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire) The Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (24 July 1908 – 30 October 1918) included the watershed events of the 'Young Turk Revolution' and the establishment of the 'Second Constitutional Era', and ended with the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire by the victorious sides of World War I. The initial peace agreement with the Ottoman Empire was the 'Armistice of Mudros'.

Mondros Ateşkes Anlaşması, (Armistice of Moudros) concluded on 30 October 1918, ended the hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I. It was signed by the Ottoman Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Bey and the British Admiral Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe, on board HMS Agamemnon in Moudros harbor on the Greek island of Lemnos. As part of several conditions to the armistice, the Ottomans surrendered their remaining garrisons outside Anatolia, as well as granted the Allies the right to occupy forts controlling the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus; and the right to occupy "in case of disorder" any Ottoman territory in case of a threat to security. The Ottoman army was demobilized, and all ports, railways, and other strategic points were made available for use by the Allies. In the Caucasus, the Ottomans had to retreat to within the pre-war borders between the Ottoman and the Russian Empires. The armistice was followed with occupation of Constantinople and subsequent partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.

The Treaty of Sèvres (10 August 1920) followed the armistice, but this treaty was not enacted due to the outbreak of the Turkish War of Independence. The partitioning of the Ottoman Empire brought international conflicts which were discussed during the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. The peace agreement, Treaty of Sèvres, was signed by the Ottoman Empire and Allies. The Treaty of Sèvres presented one of the thorniest problems before the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. The text of the treaty with the Ottomans was not made public until May, 1920. Contrary to general expectations, Sultanate was not terminated and allowed to retain Constantinople and a small strip of territory around the city. The shores of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles planned to be internationalized, so that the gates of the Black Sea kept open. The interior of Asia Minor (Anatolia), the first seat of Ottoman power six centuries ago, continues to be under Turkish sovereignty.

The United Kingdom obtained virtually everything it had sought—according to the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement made together with France in 1916, while the war was still going on—from the empire's partition. The subsequent years showed that it was impracticable. Sèvres was the end of the Ottoman Empire. Question of the İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti (إتحاد و ترقى) (CUP) İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) was the ruling Turkish party during this period. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti) began as a secret society established as the "Committee of Ottoman Union" (İttihad-ı Osmanî Cemiyeti) in 1889 by the medical students İbrahim Temo, Abdullah Cevdet, İshak Sükuti and Ali Hüseyinzade. It was transformed into a political organization by Bahaeddin Sakir aligning itself with the Young Turks in 1906, during the period of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

At the end of World War I most of its members were court-martialled by the Sultan Mehmed VI, and imprisoned. A few of the members of the organization were executed in Turkey after trial for the attempted assassination of Atatürk in 1926. Members who survived continued their political careers in Turkey as members of the Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) and in other political parties as well. Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919–1920 were courts-martials, which the leadership of the CUP and selected former officials were court-martialled with/including the charges of subversion of the constitution, wartime profiteering, and the massacres of both Greeks and Armenians. The courts-martial became a stage for political battles. The trials helped the Liberal Union root out the CUP from the political arena. Question of the Sultanate Mehmed VI Ayrılış The Treaty of Sèvres was destined never to be ratified. Elections were held throughout Anatolia and with the participation of some parliamentarians, who had escaped from Constantinople, a new government was formed in Ankara.

The rest of the story is the Turkish War of Independence The Treaty of Lausanne made the new Turkish State internationally recognized. This new state gave the 'coup de grâce' to the Ottoman state, in 1922, with the overthrow of Sultan Mehmet VI Vahdettin by the new republican assembly of Turkey. The Question of the Caliphate Abdülmecid, II Osmanlı hilafetinin son halifesi Abdülmecid II, was the last Caliph of the Ottoman (and Muslim) Caliphate. Besides the control of the physical lands, another question of importance was originated from the Ottoman Caliphate. The Ottoman Caliphs never claimed to be religious descendants of the Prophet, but they were nonetheless an important authority figure within the Ottoman Empire, and in the larger Muslim world. Muslims of India and of Anatolia supported and recognized the Ottoman caliphate for instance.

حسین بن علی Sayyid Hussein bin Ali As Sultans of the Empire, the Ottoman rulers had a very strong position, but the Sultan of Morocco, the Mahdists of the Egyptian Sudan, the Senussi in the Libyan Desert, the Wahabis in central Arabia, never acknowledged the title of Caliph as being higher than the Sultans' as the leader of state. Such recognition was also not given by the Arabs of the Hedjaz, Palestine, and Syria, which contain the holy places of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. The last official remnant of the empire - the title of caliphate - was constitutionally abolished on 3 March 1924. With the abolishment of the Ottoman Caliphate by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, throughout the country from Mecca to Aleppo, the Ottoman Caliph's name was replaced in the Friday liturgy by that of Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, the hereditary guardian of the holy cities of the Hedjaz, who briefly assumed the title of caliph.

حسین بن علی (Sayyid Hussein bin Ali, GCB 1854 – June 4, 1931) ( Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī), was the Sharif of Mecca, and Emir of Mecca, from 1908 until 1917, when he proclaimed himself King of the Hejaz, which received international recognition. He initiated the Arab Revolt in 1916 against the increasingly nationalistic Ottoman Empire during the course of the First World War. In 1924, when the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished, he further proclaimed himself Caliph of all Muslims. He ruled Hejaz until 1924, when, defeated by Abdul Aziz al Saud, he abdicated the kingdom and other secular titles to his eldest son Ali. © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 THE LEGACY OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE When the Ottoman Empire was dissolved it left, in the Middle east and North Africa a number of areas which were divided into supposedly 'national' areas which were subsequently ruled, administered, or came under the influence of various European powers.

These 'national' areas were not true 'ethnic' areas or 'nations', and contained various ethnic, religious or sectarian groups. In many cases they were given 'puppet' rulers, who in some cases were of an ethnic or sectarian group different to that of the majority of the population. What has 'held' these entities together, in most cases, has been a 'synthetic' nationalism, propped up and led by a modernizing, secularist, westernized military. Lebanon © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 The name Lebanon comes from the Semitic root LBN, meaning "white", likely a reference to the snow-capped Mount Lebanon. Occurrences of the name have been found in different texts from the library of Ebla, which date to the third millennium BC, nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, and three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh (perhaps as early as 2100 BC). What we now call Lebanon was an undifferentiated part of the Ottoman Empire for over 400 years, until 1918 when the area became a part of the French influence, following World War I.

Lebanon became an independent 'country' in 1943, while France was occupied by Germany. General Henri Dentz, the Vichy High Commissioner for Syria and Lebanon, played a major role in the independence of the nation. After the fighting ended in Lebanon, General Charles de Gaulle visited the area. Under political pressure from both inside and outside Lebanon, de Gaulle recognized the independence of Lebanon. On 26 November 1941 General Georges Catroux announced that Lebanon would become independent under the authority of the Free French government. Elections were held in 1943 and on 8 November 1943 the new Lebanese government unilaterally abolished the mandate. The French reacted by throwing the new government into prison. In the face of international pressure, the French released the government officials on 22 November 1943 and recognized the independence of Lebanon. Lebanon's history since independence has been marked by alternating periods of political stability and turmoil interspersed with prosperity built on Beirut's supposed position as a regional centre for finance and trade.

Syria, however, has always considered Lebanon as the southern 'province' of 'Greater Syria' - which would also include Palestine (now known as Israel) Syria © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 Syria ( سوريا‎ or سورية / Sūrīyah), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية‎ / al-Jumhūrīyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. During the second millennium BC, Syria was occupied successively by Canaanites, Phoenicians, and Arameans as part of the general disruptions and exchanges associated with the Sea Peoples. The Phoenicians settled along the coast of Northern Canaan (Lebanon), which was already known for its towering cedars. Egyptians, Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Hittites variously occupied the strategic ground of Syria during this period; the land between their various empires being marsh.

The Persians took Syria as part of their hegemony of Southwest Asia; this dominion was transferred to the Ancient Macedonians and Greeks after Alexander the Great's conquests and the Seleucid Empire. By AD 640, Syria was conquered by the Rashidun army led by Khalid ibn al-Walid, resulting in the area's becoming part of the Islamic empire. Sections of the coastline of Syria were briefly held by Frankish overlords during the Crusades of the 12th century, and were known as the Crusader state of the Principality of Antioch. In 1516, the Ottoman Empire invaded the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, conquering Syria, and incorporating it into its empire. During World War I two Allied diplomats (Frenchman François Georges-Picot and Briton Mark Sykes) secretly agreed on the post war division of the Ottoman Empire into respective zones of influence in the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. In 1920, a short-lived independent Kingdom of Syria was established under Faisal I of the Hashemite family, who later became the King of Iraq.

French troops occupied Syria later that year after the San Remo conference proposed that the League of Nations put Syria under a French mandate. Syria and France negotiated a treaty of independence in September 1936, and Hashim al-Atassi, who was Prime Minister under King Faisal's brief reign, was the first president to be elected under a new constitution, effectively the first incarnation of the modern republic of Syria. With the fall of France in 1940 during World War II, Syria came under the control of Vichy France until the British and Free French occupied the country in the Syria-Lebanon campaign in July 1941. Syria proclaimed its independence again in 1941, but it was not until 1 January 1944 that it was recognised as an independent republic. Between 1946 and 1956, Syria had 20 different cabinets and drafted four separate constitutions. On 1 February 1958, Syrian President Shukri al-Quwatli and Nasser announced the merging of Egypt and Syria, creating the United Arab Republic.

On 28 September 1961, Syria seceded, and the ensuing instability culminated in the 8 March 1963 coup. The takeover was engineered by members of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, led by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar, which had been active in Syria and other Arab countries since the late 1940s. The new cabinet was dominated by Ba'ath members. Syria has continued under an Alawi Ba'athist hereditary family rule, (supported by the modernising, secularist, westernised military) despite the fact that the majority in this area are Sunni Muslims. Iraq © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 Iraq (ق‎ al-‘Irāq), officially the Republic of Iraq (جمهورية العراق Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the north-western end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert. The Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name.

One dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk (Biblical Hebrew Erech) and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for "city", UR. Iraq has the common epithet, the "Cradle of Civilization", as it was home to the earliest known civilization, the Sumerian civilization, which arose in the fertile Tigris-Euphrates river valley of southern Iraq in the Chalcolithic (Ubaid period). Iraq was to be dominated by the Assyrians and Babylonians for the next 14 centuries, and under the Babylonian empire of Hammurabi, the Assyrian Empires of 1365–1076 BC and the Neo Assyrian Empire of 911–609 BC, and the final Babylonian empire of 620–539 BC Iraq became a centre of world power. The Islamic conquest in the 7th century established Islam in Iraq.

Under the Rashidun Caliphate, the prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali moved his capital to Kufa "fi al-Iraq" when he became the fourth caliph. The Umayyad Caliphate ruled the province of Iraq from Damascus in the 7th century. The Mongols destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate and The Grand Library of Baghdad (Arabic بيت الحكمة Bayt al-Hikma, lit., House of Wisdom), which contained countless precious and historical documents. The city has never regained its status as major center of culture and influence In 1401, warlord of Mongol descent Tamerlane (Timur Lenk) invaded Iraq. In the 16th century, most of the territory of present-day Iraq came under the control of Ottoman Empire as the eyalet of Baghdad. Ottoman rule over Iraq lasted until World War I when the Ottomans sided with Germany and the Central Powers. In the Mesopotamian campaign against the Central Powers, British forces invaded the country and suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Turkish army during the Siege of Kut (1915–1916).

British forces regrouped and captured Baghdad in 1917. An armistice was signed in 1918. The British established the Hashemite king, Faisal, who had been forced out of Syria by the French, as their client ruler. Likewise, British authorities selected Sunni Arab elites from the region for appointments to government and ministry offices. Britain granted independence to the Kingdom of Iraq in 1932. The Hashemite monarchy was overthrown in 1958 by a coup d'etat of the Iraqi Army, known as the 14 July Revolution. The coup brought Brigadier General Abd al-Karim Qasim to power. In February 1963 there was a further coup led by Colonel Abdul Salam Arif. Salam Arif died in 1966 and his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif, assumed the presidency. In 1968, Abdul Rahman Arif was overthrown by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (the party was established in Syria by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar).

Ahmed Hasan Al-Bakir became the first Ba'ath President of Iraq but then the movement gradually came under the control of Saddam Hussein, who acceded to the presidency in July 1979. After the fall of Saddam Hussein Iraq has continued to suffer from a lack of firm leadership. Jordan © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 Jordan (اَلأُرْدُنّ‎, Al-ʾUrdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: اَلمَمْلَكَة اَلأُرْدُنِيَّة اَلهَاشِمِيَّة‎, al-Mamlakah al-ʾUrdunniyyah al-Hāšimiyyah), is an Arab kingdom in Asia, on the East Bank of the River Jordan, consisting roughly of the historic region of Transjordan. Jordan borders Saudi Arabia to the south and east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter two.

In antiquity, the present day Jordan became a home for several ancient kingdoms including: the kingdom of Edom, the kingdom of Moab and the kingdom of Ammon. Following the establishment of Roman Empire at Syria, the country was incorporated into the client Judaean Kingdom of Herod, and later the Iudaea Province. With the suppression of Jewish Revolts, the eastern bank of Transjordan was incorporated into the Syria Palaestina province, while the eastern deserts fell under Parthian and later Persian Sassanid control. In the seventh century, and due to its proximity to Damascus, Transjordan became a heartland for the Arabic Islamic Empire. In the 11th century, Transjordan witnessed a phase of instability, as it became a battlefield for the Crusades which ended with defeat by the Ayyubids. Jordan suffered also from the Mongol attacks which were blocked by Mamluks. In 1516, Transjordan became part of the Ottoman Empire and it remained so until 1918.

In September 1922 the Council of the League of Nations recognized Transjordan as a state under the British Mandate and the country remained under British supervision until 1946. On 25 May 1946 the United Nations approved the end of the British Mandate and recognized Transjordan as an independent sovereign kingdom. The Parliament of Transjordan proclaimed King Abdullah as the first King. Abdullah I was assassinated in 1951 by a Palestinian militant Mustafa Ashu, of the jihad al-muqaddas. The reason for his murder was allegedly the power rivalry of the al-Husseinis over control of Palestine, which was declared a part of the Hashemite Kingdom by Abdullah I. Though Amin al-Husseini, former mufti of Jerusalem, was not directly charged in the plot, Musa al-Husseini was among the 6 executed by Jordanian authorities, following the assassination. Abdullah II became king on 7 February 1999, upon the death of his father King Hussein.

Palestine © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 Palestine (فلسطين‎ Filasṭīn, Falasṭīn, Filisṭīn) is a conventional name, among others, for the geographic region in Western Asia between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands. The region is also known as the Southern Levant, Cisjordan, and historically has been known by other names including Canaan, Southern Syria and Jerusalem. The term Peleset (transliterated from hieroglyphs as P-r-s-t) is found in numerous Egyptian documents referring to a neighbouring people or land starting from c.1150 BCE during the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt. The first mention is thought to be in texts of the temple at Medinet Habu which record a people called the Peleset among the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt in Ramesses III's reign. The term was first used to denote an official province in c.135 CE, when the Roman authorities, following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, combined Iudaea Province with Galilee and other surrounding cities such as Ashkelon to form "Syria Palaestina" (Syria Palaestina).

During the Byzantine period, the entire region (Syria Palestine, Samaria, and the Galilee) was named Palaestina, subdivided into provinces Palaestina I and II. The Byzantines also renamed an area of land including the Negev, Sinai, and the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula as Palaestina Salutaris. Palestine was conquered by the Islamic Empire, beginning in 634 CE. The area changed hands a number of times during the period of the Christian Crusades. The Mamluk Sultanate was indirectly created in Egypt as a result of the Seventh Crusade. The Mongol Empire reached Palestine for the first time in 1260, beginning with the Mongol raids into Palestine under Nestorian Christian general Kitbuqa, and reaching an apex at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut. In 1486, hostilities broke out between the Mamluks and the Ottoman Turks in a battle for control over western Asia, and the Ottomans captured Palestine in 1516.

In 1832, Palestine was conquered by Muhammad Ali's Egypt, but in 1840, Britain intervened and returned control of the Levant to the Ottomans. During the First World War the British began their Sinai and Palestine Campaign in 1915. The war reached southern Palestine in 1917, progressing to Gaza and around Jerusalem by the end of the year. The British secured Jerusalem in December 1917; moved into the Jordan valley in 1918, and a campaign by the Entente into northern Palestine led to victory at Megiddo in September. The British were formally awarded the mandate to govern the region in 1922. In 1947, following World War II, the British Government announced its desire to terminate the Mandate, and the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending partition into an Arab state, a Jewish state and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem. In the 1948 Jewish forces captured and incorporated a further 26% of the Mandate territory, Jordan captured the region today known as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip was captured by Egypt.

In the course of the 'Six Day War' in June 1967, Jewish forces captured the rest of Mandate Palestine from Jordan and Egypt, and began a policy of Jewish settlements. The Declaration of the State of Palestine in 1988 and ended with the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. In 2000, the Second or Al-Aqsa Intifada began. The Jews withdrew all settlers and most of the military presence from the Gaza strip, but maintained control of the air space and coast. In 2012, the State of Palestine replaced the PLO as UN observer following United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19.

Saudi Arabia © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 Saudi Arabia (السعودية‎ as-Su‘ūdiyyah or as-Sa‘ūdiyyah), officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ( المملكة العربية السعودية‎ al-Mamlakah al-‘Arabiyyah as-Su‘ūdiyyah), is the largest Arab state in Western Asia by land area (approximately 2,250,000 km2 (870,000 sq mi), constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula) and the second-largest in the Arab world (after Algeria). It is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast, Yemen in the south, the Red Sea to the west and Persian Gulf to the east. Apart from a small number of urban trading settlements, such as Mecca and Medina, located in the Hejaz in the west of the Arabian Peninsula, most of what was to become Saudi Arabia was populated by nomadic tribal societies in the inhospitable desert. In the early 7th century, Muhammad united the various tribes of the peninsula and created a single Islamic religious polity.

Following his death in 632, his followers rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim rule beyond Arabia, conquering huge swathes of territory (from the Iberian Peninsula in west to modern day Pakistan in east) in a matter of decades. In so doing, Arabia soon became a politically peripheral region of the Muslim world as the focus shifted to the more developed conquered lands. In the 16th century, the Ottomans added the Red Sea and Persian Gulf coast (the Hejaz, Asir and Al-Hasa) to their Empire and claimed suzerainty over the interior. The degree of control over these lands varied over the next four centuries with the fluctuating strength or weakness of the Empire's central authority. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire continued to control or have suzerainty over most of the peninsula. Subject to this suzerainty, Arabia was ruled by a patchwork of tribal rulers, with the Sharif of Mecca having pre-eminence and ruling the Hejaz.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as Al Saud. The Saudi Arabian government, has been an absolute monarchy since its inception, and it describes itself as being Islamic. Egypt © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 Egypt ( مصر‎ Miṣr officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, جمهورية مصر العربية), is a transcontinental country situated mainly within North Africa, with its Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in South-west Asia. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Palestine to the North-east the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west. The English name Egypt is derived from the ancient Greek Aígyptos (Αἴγυπτος).

Miṣr is the Literary Arabic and modern official name of Egypt, while Maṣr is the common pronunciation in Egyptian Arabic. The ancient Egyptian name of the country is Kemet (km.t), which means "black land", referring to the fertile black soils of the Nile flood plains. A unified kingdom was founded c. 3150 BC by King Menes, leading to a series of dynasties that ruled Egypt for the next three millennia. The Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt was a powerful Hellenistic state, extending from southern Syria in the east, to Cyrene to the west, and south to the frontier with Nubia. Alexandria became the capital city and a centre of Greek culture and trade. The last ruler from the Ptolemaic line was Cleopatra VII, who committed suicide following the burial of her lover Mark Antony The Byzantines were able to regain control of the country after a brief Persian invasion early in the 7th century, until 639–42, when Egypt was invaded and conquered by the Islamic Empire by the Muslim Arabs. Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt in 1517, after which it became a province of the Ottoman Empire.

The brief French invasion of Egypt led by Napoleon Bonaparte began in 1798. The expulsion of the French in 1801 by Ottoman, Mamluk, and British forces was followed by four years of anarchy in which Ottomans, Mamluks, and Albanians — who were nominally in the service of the Ottomans — wrestled for power. Out of this chaos, the Albanian محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا (Muhammad Ali - Kavalali Mehmed Ali Pasha) emerged as a dominant figure and in 1805 was acknowledged by the Sultan in Istanbul as his viceroy in Egypt; the title implied subordination to the Sultan but this was in fact a polite fiction: Ottoman power in Egypt was finished and Muhammad Ali, an ambitious and able leader, established a dynasty that was to rule Egypt until the revolution of 1952.

His primary focus was military: he annexed Northern Sudan (1820–1824), Syria (1833), and parts of Arabia and Anatolia; but in 1841 the European powers, fearful lest he topple the Ottoman Empire itself, forced him to return most of his conquests to the Ottomans, but he kept the Sudan and his title to Egypt was made hereditary. British rule lasted from 1882 when the British succeeded in defeating the Egyptian Army at Tel El Kebir in September and took control of the country, to the 1952 Egyptian revolution which made Egypt a republic. On 18 June 1953, the Egyptian Republic was declared, with محمد نجيب (General Muhammad Naguib) as the first President of the Republic - who was followed by جمال عبد الناصر (Abdel Nasser), أنور السادات (Sadat), صوفى أبو طالب (Sufi Abu Taleb), حسنى مبارك (Hosni Mubarak). © Copyright Peter Crawford 2015 eghistory Mohamed Ali Pasha I b.

1769, Kavala, Macedonia, Ottoman Empire [now in Greece]d. Aug. 2, 1849, Alexandria Viceroy and pasha of Egypt (1805-49), founder of the dynasty that ruled Egypt from the beginning of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th. He encouraged the emergence of the modern Egyptian state. Rise to power. Muhammad 'Ali's ethnic background is unknown, though he may have been an Albanian and was certainly a Muslim and an Ottoman subject. His father, Ibrahim Agha, the commander of a small provincial military force that was maintained by the governor of Kavala, died when Muhammad 'Ali was a boy, and he was brought up by the governor. At 18 he was married to one of the governor's relatives, who became the mother of five of Muhammad 'Ali's 95 children. He became involved in the tobacco trade, an experience that may account for his later commercial interests. In 1798 Egypt, at that time a semi-autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire, was occupied by a French force under Napoleon Bonaparte.

Muhammad 'Ali went there as part of an Ottoman expeditionary force to oppose the French. With great political skill, he managed by 1805 to be named the wali, the Ottoman sultan's viceroy in Egypt, with the rank of pasha. Nowhere in the Ottoman Empire was there greater opportunity for a total restructuring of society than in Egypt. The three-year French occupation (1798-1801) had disrupted the country's traditional political and economic structure. Continuing the task begun by the French, Muhammad 'Ali put an end to Egypt's traditional society. He eliminated the Mamluks, the former ruling oligarchy, expropriated the old landholding classes, turned the religious class into pensioners of the government, restricted the activities of the native merchant and artisan groups, neutralized the Bedouins, and crushed all movements of rebellion among the peasants. The task of rebuilding Egypt along modern lines now lay before him. But, though Muhammad 'Ali had considerable native intelligence and great personal charm, he was a man of limited knowledge and of narrow horizons. He proved insensitive to the possibilities open to him and governed generally according to Ottoman principles.

No group within Egyptian society was capable of forcing fundamental changes upon him; elements that might have served as the instruments of change had been crushed at the outset of his regime. Neither was there an ideology capable of bringing together the ruler and the ruled in a great national effort. Finally, Muhammad 'Ali had to devote much of his effort to resisting attempts by his Ottoman overlord to remove him from office. His policies were designed more to entrench himself and his family in Egypt as its hereditary rulers than to create a new society. ** Copyright © 1994-2000 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. * Pic.:Mohamed Ali Pasha receiving Envoys and Ambassadors of Europe at Alexanderia Mohamed Ali Pasha II Muhammad Ali (1769-1849), also Mehemet Ali, Ottoman pasha (or viceroy) of Egypt (1805-1849), who reformed the country and founded a dynasty that ruled it until the mid-20th century. Muhammad Ali was probably born in Kavála (now in eastern Macedonia, Greece) of Albanian parentage.

From 1799 to 1801 he fought in several battles in Egypt, then part of the Ottoman Empire, against the French forces led by Napoleon I. In 1805 Muhammad Ali was appointed viceroy of Egypt, with the title of pasha. He defeated an invading British army in 1807; four years later he ensured his supremacy in Egypt by massacring the Mamelukes, a military group that had conspired to usurp his power. He modernized Egypt's governmental administration and military forces and in 1811 launched a war against the Wahhabis of Arabia; the war was won in 1818 by his son, Ibrahim Pasha. From 1820 to 1822 Muhammad Ali was engaged in the conquest of the Sudan, and shortly thereafter, in 1823, he founded the city of Khartoum. In 1824 the Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II, called on him for aid in the war against the Greek rebels. His successes in the ensuing campaigns prompted the sultan to award him the island of Crete.

In 1827, Great Britain, France, and Russia found it necessary to protect their interests in the Mediterranean by shattering Ibrahim Pasha's fleet at Navarino (now Pilos), on the west Peloponnesian coast of Greece, thereby preventing Muhammad Ali from pressing his victories over the Greeks. In 1831 Muhammad Ali invaded Syria after Mahmud refused to make him governor there. His victory in this war resulted in the extension of his dominions to the Persian Gulf. In 1839 war again broke out with the sultan; Muhammad Ali was again victorious, but as before was deprived of the fruits of victory by the European powers of Great Britain, Russia Austria, and Prussia. He was, however, granted the right to pass his power to his descendants, who ruled Egypt until the overthrow of King Faruk I in 1952. Muhammad Ali died in Alexandria, Egypt, on August 2, 1849. "Muhammad Ali (1769-1849)," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Ibrahim Pasha :Son of Muhammad Ali, Ottoman pasha of Egypt, Ibrahim Pasha fought in many Ottoman wars, including a notorious campaign in Greece in the 1820s which led to intervention by the European Great Powers. He later fought for his father against the Ottoman sultanate. Ibrahim inherited his father's position in 1848, but died within the year. Collection Viollet/Roger-Viollet "Ibrahim Pasha," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Ibrahim Pasha (1789-1848), Egyptian general and viceroy, born in Kavála, eastern Macedonia, Greece, the son or adopted son of Muhammad Ali, who became the Turkish-appointed viceroy of Egypt. Ibrahim commanded the Egyptian troops in Arabia in their successful campaign against the Wahhabi tribesmen (1816-1818).

In 1824, during the war for Greek independence from Turkey, he was sent to the Peloponnese (Greece) with a squadron and an army of 17,000 men to quell the rebellion. With superior forces and artillery, he was victorious in the field but was harassed by Greek guerrilla forces after the siege of Missolonghi (1824). In revenge, he devastated the country and deported and enslaved thousands of Greeks. Great Britain, Russia, and France intervened and compelled the Egyptian force to withdraw in 1828. In 1831, when his father revoked his allegiance to the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Ibrahim invaded Syria, then under Ottoman rule. He defeated the Turks in several battles and became governor of Syria. The conflict was resumed from 1838 to 1839 and culminated in Egyptian victory. Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, however, forced Ibrahim Pasha to abandon Syria in 1841. He replaced his father as viceroy of Egypt in 1848, but died shortly afterwards. "Ibrahim Pasha," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000.

© 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Abbas I Abbas I (of Egypt) (1813-1854), pasha of Egypt (1849-1854), grandson of the pasha Muhammad Ali. His full name was Abbas Hilmi. In 1848, on the death of his uncle Ibrahim Pasha, Abbas became regent of Egypt for the Ottoman Empire. He was created pasha in the following year. Most of the domestic reforms accomplished by Muhammad Ali were undone during the reign of Abbas, who opposed the Suez Canal project, though he allowed the British to build the Alexandria-Cairo Railway. In general he distrusted Europeans and European-inspired reforms. Finally he was murdered by his slaves. Abbas II Abbas II (1874-1944), last khedive (Turkish viceroy) of Egypt. His full name was Abbas Hilmi Pasha. He succeeded his father Muhammad Tawfik Pasha to the throne of Egypt in 1892. During the early years of his reign he opposed British interference in Egyptian affairs.

After 1900, however, he was compelled to cooperate with progressive measures instituted by the British resident at Cairo. During his reign Egypt reconquered the Sudan (1898) and the railway to Khartoum, Sudan, was completed (1899), as was the first Aswân Dam (1902). Abbas II supported the Ottoman Turks in World War I and was deposed in 1914, when Great Britain established a protectorate over Egypt. He spent the rest of his life in exile. "Abbas II," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Ismail Pasha (1830-1895), khedive of Egypt, second son of Ibrahim Pasha, born in Cairo, and educated in Paris. He succeeded his uncle, Said Pasha, as viceroy of Egypt in 1863. Four years later the sultan of the Ottoman Empire granted him the title of khedive, with the right to pass the title to his son.

Ismail thereupon embarked on an extensive programme of public works and administrative and social reforms. He also promoted the construction of the Suez Canal (1859-1869), which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez. As a result of his administrative policies, however, the government debt had risen over thirtyfold between 1863 and 1874. Eventually, as the government's financial situation worsened, and France and Great Britain realized the strategic importance of Egypt, they assumed control of Egyptian finances. Ismail was compelled to abdicate in favour of his son Muhammad Tawfik Pasha in 1879 and subsequently lived in exile abroad. He died at his palace near Constantinople (now Ýstanbul, Turkey). "Ismail Pasha," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. **Khedive, hereditary title granted in 1867 to the viceroy of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, by the Ottoman sultan when Egypt was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

It was abolished in 1914 when Egypt became a British protectorate. "Khedive," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Question: What was the title applied by the Ottoman Empire and, later, Turkey, to their viceroy of Egypt?
Answer: Khedive