International Journal of History

The late years of the Ottoman Empire (1878-1922) were profoundly informed by a series of wars and uprisings that eventuated in its collapse and the reordering of the modern Middle East. Whilst the fall of the empire has been subject to considerable analysis, significant deficiencies remain in accounting for how empire-internal features (administrative change, local revolt) intersected with empire-external forces (European intervention, WWI), as well as how social-economic upheavals played its part alongside these dynamics in accelerating imperial decline.

The study has four themes: how the empire's resource exhaustion brought on by generations of wars, with the Balkan Wars and First World War as the terminal ones, weakened the political system? Second, it analyzes how internal revolutions, especially the Arab Revolt and the rebellions of the Anatolian peasantry, helped to redirect loyalties from Ottoman nationhood. Thirdly, was it more a matter of crisis remedial measures in the face of Ottoman reform - constitutionalism, military modernization - and less of strategic options? Finally, it examines how diverse communities (Muslims, Christians, minorities) navigated the empire’s collapse, weighing separation against imperial continuity.

The main findings are that wars devastated the Ottoman state, resulting in the loss of 85% of their European lands and economic collapse, WW1 costing more than £1.2 billion, some 70% of all state revenues. Internal revolutions intruded: the Arab Revolt of 1916, sanction by Britain, transformed loyalty from Ottoman to Arab nationalism, while the Kemalist Movement (1919-23) redefined Anatolian identity in Turkish nationalist terms. Local responses were diverse: while Turkish Muslims mobilized to push back partition in the name of nationalist resistance and minorities such as Greeks and Armenians appealed to foreign protectors or independents after widespread years of violence, Arabs and Kurds were divided between separatist visions and lingering loyalty to the Ottomans.

The empire’s collapse resulted from a convergence of external pressures (European encroachment, the punitive Treaty of Sèvres), internal weaknesses (failed reforms, rising nationalism), and leadership missteps (aligning with Germany in WWI, alienating minorities through Turkification). Critical lessons emerge: multi-ethnic empires demand adaptable diversity management to avoid fracture, and reforms imposed under crisis conditions seldom succeed without genuine political commitment.