HINE 116 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Enver Pasha, The Young Turks, Young Ottomans
Lecture 18 – The Great War
Summary of Previous Lecture
• First and Second Constitutions
• Transitional period between 1908 and 1913
o Dot ko eatl hat the CUP is o hat the at, just that thee a
secret society.
• March 31 Incident, 1909
o Counter revolution
o Opposition to the Young Turks (the CUP)
o Power struggles continued back and forth until 1913
• Balkan Wars
o An important turning point in the second constitutional period
o Two wars
▪ First: all Balkan states attacked the Ottoman empire and divided
up Ottoman Macedonia
▪ Second: all the Balkan states attacked Bulgaria because Bulgaria
had gained more territory than the others during the first Balkan
war
o “hoed ho poeless the Ottoas were
• The Sublime Porte Coup, 1913
o Followed by the rise of rule by three Pashas
• The Triumvirate
❖ Reform Policies, 1913-1918 (CUP)
• Administrative reform
o In the army
▪ Mostly implemented by Enver Pasha, who becomes war minister
▪ Ottoman army becoming more of a Prussian style army
✓ Already connections with the Germans from the time of
Abdulhamid his relationship with Wilhelm II
▪ Enver Pasha gave a lot of authority to German officers
▪ Throughout the 19th century, the Ottomans always called for
foreign trainers and officers to teach Turkish solders
✓ British or French officers (depending on the time period)
came to Turkey to teach their own military styles to the
Turkish armies
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2
✓ After Enver this became more intense with at least 70
German officers in 1913 and 1,000 by the start of the war
✓ German officers were not only instructors now, but
became actual commanders
✓ Chief of staff of the army, right under Enver was a German
General
✓ Purged all the older officers in the army after 1913
o In provincial administration
▪ Nature of reforms are more ambiguous
▪ The general direction was towards centralization of power in
Istanbul
▪ But in the Arab provinces there was more decentralization, giving
authority to local notables in an effort to not provoke more
nationalism
• Further secularization of the judicial and educational systems
o Religious colleges were attached to the ministry of education in 1917
o A new ministry was created for religious foundations
o The power of the Ulama was curbed
o Now the secular state and ministries were administering education and
controlled the courts
• Encouraging participation in politics
o Not necessarily about democratic politics, opposition, or dissenting
ideologies
o More about the political game becoming less elitist
o The CUP encourages common people to participate in politics, but
obviously only on their side
▪ Politics is no longer just for the few
▪ A lot of people in the provinces become CUP members
• Moilizig the outs esoues though atioalist ogaizatios
o More nationalism
o Implementing boycotts for foreign goods (economic nationalism)
o Trying to increase CUP power over other societal institutions
• Improving Position of Women in Ottoman Society
o After 1908, 1912, and 1913 there are a lot of periodicals and magazines
published by women
o CUP changing policies, westernized sharia practices
▪ Women could now initiate divorce
o War time activity helped improve their status as well
▪ Men were conscripted into the army so a lot of employment
opportunities opened up for women i.e. telephone operators
o Iease of oes pesee i the puli spae
▪ Gae speehes i CUPs atioalist lus
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3
❖ Economics: From Liberalism to National Economy
• 19th century Ottoman Economic policies:
o Inevitably liberal because it was an open economy especially because of
the capitulations and privileges given to European powers
o Did not have the authority to determine its customs duties, it was a
matter of negotiation with foreign powers
• Cavit Bey
o Pro CUP minister of finance in 1909
o Was an economic liberal
o Supported free trade
• His idea of economic development was to place importance on foreign
investment and import foreign management skills
o Railways, public works, municipal services, etc. were funded through
foreign investment
o Then those cities being developed need foreign managers to implement
those new economic, urban practices
• The CUP initially supported free trade
• Although they were a social movement they sided with the capitalists/wealthy
after the revolution
o They suppressed social unrest and strikes after 1908
• They improved the inspection and collection of taxes
o Government revenue went up by 25%
o But still had a very open economy dependent on foreign investment and
goods
• Alexander Helphand: A Russian Jew who had become a socialist in Germany
ote aout the eed fo a national ecooy’
o Was in Istanbul mostly after 1908
o A member of the German Social Democratic Party
o Had connections in the CUP and wrote a lot of Ottoman economic
periodicals
• German economist Friedrich List: Das Nationale System der Politischen
Okonomie (1841)
o Its a igged sste, fee tade/laisse fare is only good for Britain because
they were already industrialized so all they needed were open markets to
dump cheap goods
o If a country wants to industrialize then they need to implement a national
economy
▪ Depends on protectionist policies: increasing tariffs on industries
they want to improve to prevent cheap foreign goods from
entering into the domestic market
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Document Summary
Reform policies, 1913-1918 (cup: administrative reform. In the army: mostly implemented by enver pasha, who becomes war minister, ottoman army becoming more of a prussian style army. Already connections with the germans from the time of. Abdulhamid his relationship with wilhelm ii: enver pasha gave a lot of authority to german officers, throughout the 19th century, the ottomans always called for foreign trainers and officers to teach turkish solders. British or french officers (depending on the time period) came to turkey to teach their own military styles to the. After enver this became more intense with at least 70. German officers in 1913 and 1,000 by the start of the war. German officers were not only instructors now, but became actual commanders. Chief of staff of the army, right under enver was a german. Purged all the older officers in the army after 1913.
