The partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after World War 1 by European powers with little regard for ethnic and religious groups led to ongoing conflict in the region. Newly established countries contained diverse populations without shared national identities, causing problems. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire also gave rise to Turkish nationalism under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who modernized Turkey as a secular republic.

1. SS7H2a: Explain how European partitioning inSS7H2a: Explain how European partitioning in
the Middle East after the breakup of thethe Middle East after the breakup of the
Ottoman Empire led to regional conflict.Ottoman Empire led to regional conflict.
• After the destruction of Baghdad and the Abbasid Empire by the Mongols in 1290, the
Ottoman Empire came into power. It was dominated by the Turks and centered in
what is modern-day Turkey.
• The Ottoman state was born on the frontier between Islam and the Byzantine Empire.
Turkish tribes, driven from their homeland in the steppes of Central Asia by the
Mongols, had embraced Islam and settled in Anatolia.
• The Ottoman Turks began to absorb the other states, and during the reign (1451–81)
of Muhammad II they ended all other local Turkish dynasties.
• In the late 14th
century, the Ottomans started to use Janissaries (which means
“new troops” in Turkish). They were conscripted youths from Christian families
in the Balkans. After they were recruited, they were defined as the property of
the Sultan, and practically all of them converted to Islam. They became known
for their military skills.
• In 1453, they conquered Constantinople (which had been founded as the capital of all
Christendom by Constantine himself), renamed it Istanbul, and made it the capital of
their Empire.
• Here the leaders are called Sultans ("emperors").

2. The Ottoman Empire
• The Ottoman Empire expanded into
southeastern Europe (the Balkans and Hungary)
and then east and south into Iraq, Arabia, and
Egypt.

3. Suleiman the Magnificent
• Suleiman I (nicknamed 'the Magnificent'
in Europe and 'the Lawgiver' in the
Islamic World) was the sultan of the
Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566.
• While he may have been seen as
dangerous to the outside world, he
was known as a fair ruler within the
empire, fought corruption, and was a
great supporter of artists and
philosophers. He was also noted as
one of the greatest Islamic poets.
• He earned his nickname the Lawmaker
from his complete reconstruction of the
Ottoman law system. The laws that he
gathered covered almost every aspect of
life at the time.

4. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
• Suleiman died in 1566, the night
before victory at the Battle of
Szigetvar, in Hungary. He is
buried in a mausoleum with his
wife Roxelana at the Suleymaniye
Mosque.
• After rising to its peak under
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent,
the Empire gradually began to
deteriorate before the
increasing technological and
industrial might of the
European nations.

5. The End of the Ottoman Empire
• By the beginning of WWI in 1914, the
Ottoman Empire had shrunk in size. It
had weakened because it tried to
rule such a huge empire with
leaders who could not manage to
hold on to the territory.
• When WWI began, the Ottoman
Empire decided to join forces with
Germany and Italy against the rest
of Europe and the US. They lost the
war, and as a result, the Ottoman
Empire was overthrown, and Ottoman
territory was broken up into a
number of smaller countries in
what is now known as the Middle
East.

6. Carving up the Ottoman Empire

8. Conflict follows . . .
• The European politicians who decided where the
boundaries of these new countries would be paid
little attention to the ethnic and religious groups who
were already living in these areas.
• The new boundaries that were drawn did not take
into consideration the concept of nationalism (the
idea that countries are most successful if the people who
live there share some common cultural, historic, or
religious beliefs).
• As a result, there has been a lot of conflict. Many
different groups tried to live together in countries that
were created by those who did not realize the problems
some of these new boundaries would cause.

9. Ataturk, the Father of the Turks
• The Turkish defeat in the First
World War (in which the Ottoman
Empire sided with Germany and
the Central Powers) finally
discredited the Young Turks,
however, and paved the way for
the success of a new nationalist
movement under the leadership of
an army officer named Mustafa
Kemal, later known as Ataturk or
"Father of the Turks."
• The nationalist government under
Ataturk, dedicated to leading
Turkey in the direction of
secularism and Westernization,
abolished the sultanate, declared
a republic, and eventually (in
1924) abolished the caliphate as
well.

10. Ataturk, the Father of the Turks
• The Turkish defeat in the First
World War (in which the Ottoman
Empire sided with Germany and
the Central Powers) finally
discredited the Young Turks,
however, and paved the way for
the success of a new nationalist
movement under the leadership of
an army officer named Mustafa
Kemal, later known as Ataturk or
"Father of the Turks."
• The nationalist government under
Ataturk, dedicated to leading
Turkey in the direction of
secularism and Westernization,
abolished the sultanate, declared
a republic, and eventually (in
1924) abolished the caliphate as
well.