Turkish Independence War Explained in 20 minutes

As the Central Powers saw their hopes of winning the Great War disintegrating, the Ottoman Empire began scrambling to save itself from a subsequent collapse. Grand Vizier Talat Pasha saw himself as a hindrance to the Empire, coming to agreeable terms with the Triple Entente and thus stepping down from his position on October 8th, 1918, opening the door for the Armistice of Mudros. Signed on October 30th, 1918, the deal would see the Ottoman Empire humbled to an extreme degree. This was the start of its end. The Armistice of Mudros would entail the Ottomans' relinquishing gains made during the war, demobilizing their armed forces, handing over garrisons to the Entente alongside control of Dardanelles and Bosporus Straits. It furthermore gave permission for the Triple Entente powers to occupy any lands under the Ottoman possession in case of disorder, a broad description holding the door wide open for occupation and partition, both of which were to come. As an almost invite for the enemy to thus enter, the Empire's single party, the Committee of Union and Progress, said its final goodbyes and its core members, including former Grand Vizier Talat, fled the country. This shook the scarcely still-standing foundations of the Ottoman structure and gave the Western powers further motivation to step in. The French were the ones to cross the threshold first when they entered Constantinople on followed the next day by the British, Italian, Greek, and more French troops arriving by ship. Roughly 50,000 foreign soldiers would step foot on the soil of Constantinople as its occupation began. The claim was that this invasion had been necessitated by the aftermath of the war and the power vacuum created by the CUP's collapse, and that the Entente and their allies were simply there to protect the Ottoman monarchy. This was just the start of the Western nation's spree, as the coming weeks and months saw the Entente further call upon Article VII to seize more Ottoman lands after the war's end. This continued takeover, however, was souring the opinion of the Ottoman commanders in charge of demobilization. They began mulling the idea of simply not complying. They were ready for war again. This video is sponsored by BetterHelp. Have you ever felt like you're constantly running on a hamster wheel, trying to keep up with the demands of work and life? There was a time when I was juggling multiple projects, working long hours, and barely had time for anything else. I was constantly exhausted, stressed, and on the verge of burnout. It got to a point where I dreaded waking up in the morning, knowing that I had to face another day of endless tasks. My mental health was taking a serious hit. Reaching out to a therapist was one of the best decisions I ever made. 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Go to betterhelp.com slash Nellegia or select Nellegia at signup for a special discount off your first month of therapy. Thoughts of resistance were on the rise, and one by one, military leaders were denying entente requests to abandon lands and armies. There was a growing level of disapproval concerning the Empire's stance to surrender and appease their wartime enemies. Sultan Mehmed VI Vahdetin was aware of the opposition, nevertheless, and looked to secure his own sovereignty by rearranging the Ottoman leadership. Bringing in the leader of the Freedom and Accord Party, Demat Ferid Pasha, to reform a trustworthy government, Vahdetin ushered in strong commendation and persecution of former CUP members, which further aggravated the increasing number of nationalists. Ethnic and refugee crises were further complicating the Sultan's job, as the entente wouldn't let up their expansion. It was at this time that the pillar of Turkey's move toward independence would be put into focus. Aware of the shoddy nature of his military's loyalty, Vahdetin handpicked army commander Mustafa Kemal Pasha to serve as inspector of the 9th Army Troops Inspectorate of Erzurum beginning in May 1919. Mustafa Kemal was the hero of Anafartalar and honorary aide-de-camp to His Majesty Sultan, but he was also a nationalist. It's quite possible that his appointment was some strategic move by the Sultan to pacify some of his nationalist critics, but Mustafa himself could be categorized as one of them. It was a risky move on the part of Vahdetin, and one he would soon regret. On May 16th, 1919, Mustafa Kemal departed Constantinople on the SS Bandurma, headed for Samsun, and the start of a revolution. There are two events commonly referred to as the kick-off of the Turkish War of Independence. These are the Greek landing at Smyrna and Mustafa Kemal's landing at Samsun. May 15th, the day before Mustafa's departure, would mark the landing of the Greek troops at Smyrna. Their arrival and march sparked a brawl in the streets, resulting in the death of hundreds of casualties, both Greek and Turkish. As the Greeks looked to push further into Ottoman territory, the resistance movement grew in response, with the Turkish Kuvayi Milye guerrilla troops battering the invading forces. The Greeks claimed to be in the region for a peacekeeping mission, but instead, their presence had only created bloodshed and sent ethnic relations between the Turks and Greeks into a downward spiral. The Ottoman leadership was in disarray, with some members of the empire standing by the Entente, while others were now in heavy opposition alongside much of the population. Four days after the Greeks touched down at Smyrna, Mustafa Kemal and his Ottoman forces reached the shores of Samsun. They immediately got to work secretly spreading the word and rallying support for the resistance movement. All the while, Mustafa was sending news back to Constantinople with reassurance of his and his men's continued loyalty. The coming days would follow this pattern, as the nationalists wanted to ensure a proper backing from the people before they publicly acted on their plans. Some of the officials involved in the occupation of Samsun, such as British High Commissioner Admiral Calthrop and Captain Hurst, were growing suspicious of the Ottoman activity within the city, but repeated warnings to the foreign office were dismissed, leaving Mustafa Kemal unchecked. After arriving in Havza and Erzincan, Mustafa and his men began receiving warnings from both Calthrop himself and the Sultan, cautioning him against his suspicious activity. Demands were made for Kemal's return to Constantinople, which he denied. He instead opted to resign and warned his co-conspirators across the empire not to back down. An arrest order was issued for but Karabekir Pasha, the man to follow through, flat out refused to do so. This allowed Mustafa to soon stand as chairman of the Committee of Representation, established after the Congress of Erzurum and Congress of Sivas, which finally put on paper the foundations of the Turkish resistance movement and call for freedom. Kemal would also serve as the chairman for the newly founded Anatolia and Romeli Defense of Rights Association. All of this coupled with the swift evaporation of support for the Sultan and Entente across the empire led to the position of Grand Vizier shifting into the hands of General Ali Riza Pasha, a man more sympathetic to the nationalist cause and one willing to quickly engage in negotiations with the rebels. The Amasya Protocol would be the fruit of these labors and was signed on October 22nd, 1919 by representatives of the Ottoman government and nationalist resistance. The goal was national unity and the plan was for new Ottoman elections to be held by the end of the year to reset the Chamber of Deputies. This new chamber would pass the Misaki-i Mili and show support for the decisions made by the nationalist congresses, prompting the occupying British to put an end to the Chamber of Deputies and reassert their forced authority now held over Constantinople. It was clear now more than ever, even to the Entente, that the Turkish nationalists were not going anywhere and the Ottoman government was only inching ever closer to giving in to their demands. Reacting before they felt it was too late, the British launched a series of raids and arrests against the rebels. This only surged the resistance efforts and led to a steamroll of catastrophic consequences for the Western aims. The Ottoman government was shutting itself down, the constitutional monarchy was thrown out the window and the Grand Vizier Salih Hulusi Pasha resigned in support of Mustafa Kemal, forcing former Vizier Damat Ferid Pasha to retake his old position as Mehmed Vedettin scrambled to keep the slivers of his empire left alive. Mustafa Kemal was aiming to set up a legitimate government in Ankara to rival the Entente-controlled one in Constantinople. Meanwhile, the Western powers still stood in direct opposition to the nationalists who stood in their way of partitioning the Ottoman Empire for their own benefit. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey would nevertheless be formed. Predictably, with Mustafa Kemal as its Prime Minister and Speaker, the Sultan was still determined to hold strong despite the nationalists now claiming that their intentions were in fact to support and free the Sultan, also known as the Caliph, from the oppressive grip of the Western nations. Thus, Sultan Vedettin issued a fatwa declaring all rebels to be infidels and calling for the execution of those at the helm of the movement. The Ankara government, or more specifically, the Mufti Refat Burekci responded with a fatwa of their own, accusing the Sultanate Caliphate of being hegemonized by the Triple Entente. It was clear now that the clashes between the Western nations and the nationalists had only been the prelude. Turkey was going to war with itself, and more officially, with Greece. The Turkish revolutionaries found themselves at odds with their Greek neighbors and their own countrymen in Istanbul. They were tasked with fighting a war and a rebellion simultaneously, but if they won, it would mean ultimate freedom. The Ottoman government in Istanbul looked to a Circassian hero to save their sinking ship. This man went by the name of Ahmet Anzavor, and he was a staunch foe of Mustafa Kemal and the rebellion. According to Anzavor, Kemal's men were wicked unionists and freemasons that must be put down. He thus joined the Sultan in the fight against the nationalists, with the British initially right alongside them. The dynamic changed, however, when the Brits began to see the effort it would take to truly quell the growing revolution. War-weary and hesitant to upset their population back home, the Entente ringleader began to look to their Greek friends to tap in. It was clear by now that Turkey was home to two unmoving government authorities, one in Istanbul and the other the nationalists in Ankara. If left to their own devices, the Western powers believed that the rebels would overthrow the Ottoman government in only a matter of time, and this was problematic for them, considering the fact that a huge part of why the war broke out rested on the nationalists' intolerance of Entente supervision. The Sultan and his officials could be managed, but Kemal and his men couldn't. Thus, there was a motive for nations like Britain to assist the Istanbul government, even if that must be done through the use of the Greeks. By the summer of 1919, Greek troops had already landed in Smyrna, and clashes between them and the local Turks had erupted at the time. The Greeks had since been moving to expand their zone of occupation in the face of violent nationalist resistance. As the season turned to fall in 1920, they pushed more easterly into Anatolia with the goal of pressuring the Turks into signing the thus far-failed Treaty of Severus, which would begin the process of partitioning the Ottoman Empire. The agreement had only further inflamed the nationalists, who still saw themselves in a position worth fighting for. The aims of both sides collided on January 9th, 1921, when the outbreak of the First Battle of Nönü saw the Turks manage to halt the Greek advance and force their opponent to turn back two days after the battle had begun. It's believed that the success of İsmet's men at this clash is directly responsible for the possibility of the Turkish Constitution of 1921 being ratified less than two weeks later. The Conference of London hosted the Triple Entente over the following months and allowed the Allies to discuss their proposed reactions to these Turkish developments. Still determined to push the nationalists into signing the Treaty of Severus, the Entente mulled over their options in the face of continued Turkish refusal. The Ankara government disdained the idea of entering negotiations with the Istanbul government and the use of the Treaty of Severus as the basis of negotiations was intolerable. By March, the Second Battle of İnönü was launched by the Greeks, who were again bested by the Turkish defenders. Deals had since been made between the nationalists and the Italians, French and Soviet Union, and when attempted adaptations to the Treaty of Severus were offered by the Entente, Greece resisted. The Greeks thus found their way headed toward the river Sakarya, with another army ready for war. The river location was less than 100 miles from the rebellious Turks in Ankara and forced Mustafa Kemal's men into a direct confrontation. The Battle of Sakarya would last for a grueling three weeks in total, until the Greeks were beaten down to the point of another withdrawal as a new fall season rolled around. This would be their last attempt to assault the Ankara government directly, as their attention now shifted to protecting the lands they had already successfully captured, such as Smyrna. With the Entente unwilling to send manpower in their support and the Soviets backing the Turks, Greece was losing its will to fight this war. All the Western nations would do to half-heartedly aid their Greek friends was to propose another modified version of the Treaty of Severus, but this still stood in opposition to the values and beliefs of the Grand National Assembly, and thus it was declined once more. The ongoing stalemate begged the question, why didn't the Turks set in motion their own offensive? So they did. Agreements had thus far been made with important Western nations. This left only the Istanbul government and the Greeks for the Nationalists to take on, and the former was less ambitious when it came to a want for battle. The Greeks though, taking a more defensive stance around Smyrna, had yet to call off the war. Thus, Mustafa Kemal, now Commander-in-Chief, nurtured his revolutionary forces into an army strong enough to give it one good go against their British-supported neighbor. The men were readying for what would be deemed the Great Offensive. The kick-off would come at the Battle of Dumlupinar on August 26th, 1922. It would be a four-day clash between the fighters of Mustafa Kemal and Gyorgyos Hatzianestis. The Greeks were already tired, demoralized, and fighting under the command of a man Hatzianestis, regarded by many as mentally unstable at the very least. The Turkish attack quickly folded the Greek defense force and pushed the occupiers into a disorganized retreat. Heading toward Izmir, the Nationalists chased their fleeing opponents with new poise and burning excitement. The following weeks would see each of Greece's holdings in Turkey fall like dominoes until everything was Turkish once more. The British, now watching their Greek friends evacuate the lands they so hoped to possess, began to question if military intervention of their own would be necessary. The problem was that back home in Britain, the general public strongly opposed entering another war on foreign soil whilst the government under David Lloyd George hoped to put a stop to the GNA fighters once and for all. Both sides of the spectrum were met in the middle by Mustafa Kemal himself, as he agreed to enter negotiations at Modania. These talks, despite the great hesitation of the Greeks, were to culminate in the Armistice of Modania on October 11th, 1922. The agreement required the Greeks to finish withdrawing their troops from eastern Thrace and put temporary restrictions on Turkish forces, which by now were the Nationalists alone. The Istanbul government and the Ottoman Empire as a whole had disappeared into the wind with the Sultan's abdication at the nudge of the Nationalist forces before the war's end. The ultimate end to the Turkish War of Independence and subsequent Greco-Turkish War would come on July 24th, 1923 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Treaty of Lausanne confirmed the new existence of a Turkish state, the successor to the Ottoman Empire. It would take a year past its signed date for the agreement to go into effect. Eight months of negotiations birthed 143 articles and a consensus concerning the Turkish Straits, Turkey's new borders, regional trade, and more. The agreement ensured the birth of the new Republic of Turkey in place of the expired Ottoman Empire. The new Turkish state, though fully independent and self-determining, was set to lose various Ottoman lands. Public debts once owned by the Ottoman Empire were divided between Turkey and the former Ottoman States. As the articles came together, Turkey became ever more a legitimate and sovereign state in the eyes of the world. On October 29th, 1923, Mustafa Kemal officially declared the foundation of the Republic of Turkey and he would serve as its first elected president. In 1934, the new Turkish Parliament bestowed upon President Mustafa Kemal the name Atatürk. The great revolutionary and Turkish leader was now deemed the father of the Turks. For all that he had done to birth the fully independent, sovereign state of Turkey, he had gone from a military man of the Ottoman Empire to a renowned hero, willing to go toe-to-toe with the empire he served for the sake of his people and his country. And he succeeded.