Young Turks Takeover of the Ottoman Empire 1913 Term Paper

Young Turks Takeover of the Ottoman Empire 1913 - Term Paper Example It is a well-known fact that empires were one of the core elements for the modernization of nations and states. In relation, one of the empires that are considered as essential parts of today’s government is the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire is considered as one of the greatest, long-term, and vast empire in history. The empire depicted stability and strength as it continued to widen its occupation. Moreover, the emergence of the Committee for Union and Progress, or most commonly known by many historians as Young Turks, played a significant role in the last years of the empire. In line with this, this paper will dwell on the takeover of the Young Turks of the Ottoman Empire in 1913. The Ottoman Empire was established during the late thirteenth century and lasted even after the First World War. The territories of the empire were vast, which included most of the eastern Roman Empire, a few parts of the north Balkans, and north coast of the Black Sea. Moreover, the Ottoman T urks were composed of different groups of people who shared the Turkic language. These people were scattered throughout the west area of Central Asia from the ninth to the eleventh century.1 The other states associated with the Ottoman Empire, which include Europe, are tied beyond commercial activities and military crusade. The empire used religion and complimented the laws, tax, and political structure to Islamic ideologies and law. It is safe to say that the empire mostly banked on the central-Asians tradition, along with incorporating Persian and Arab legacies. These different legacies allowed the Ottoman Empire to stand strong for half of a millennium. The convergence of laws and religion in the empire was seen as a resurrection of the Byzantine Empire, though it was perceived as deformed.2 In retrospect, the Ottoman state was considered as one of the small states in Turkey. These states came into being during the fall of the Seljuk Turks. The small Ottoman state then started to create a link with other states, which brought all other dynasties to merge into one during the reign of Muhammad II. Furthermore, most of the parts of the Ottoman Empire were successors of the Byzantine Empire, which became a crucial part for the success of the empire. The Ottomans advantageous hold with the Bosporus and the Dardanelles became their buffer between the Latins in the West and Muslims in the Middle East. Nonetheless, the Byzantine was already weakened by the Fourth Crusade and the Western invasion.3 During the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, the leaders were Osman I, followed by Orkhan, next was Murad I, and Beyazid I. During the expansion, Bursa fell into the hands of the Ottoman Empire along with the Adrianople, which both became a capital of the empire. Furthermore, the triumph over the Nikopol and the Kosovo Field by the empire stirred danger on the part of Europe.4 On the other hand, before the start of the World War I, the Ottoman Empire was already facing con flicts within its governance. One of the most prominent conflicts was the emergence of the Committee for Union and Progress, or group who is best known as the Young Turks. Furthermore, along with the emergence of the Young Turks is the development of nationalism in the countries and states of the empire.5 During the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II in the Ottoman Empire, he was considered as hard ruler. For this reason, the dispute between the Turks and the Armenian ignited. In 1877, Russia fought the Ottoman Empire in order to take hold of the Balkan Peninsula to be able to access the Mediterranean Sea for trade and transport. However, in the course of transaction, the Treaty of San Stefano, which allowed the Russian to gain access to a few parts of the Balkan Pen