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1901
Construction of the Hejaz
Railway starts. Donations are collected all over the Muslim
world to
finance the project.
1902
4-9 February: The Young
Turks who oppose the administration of Sultan Abdülhamit II
convene their
First Congress in Paris.
1904
8 April: Entente Cordiale
between France and Britain.
2 September: Two new
cruisers, Hamidiye and Mecidiye, join the
Ottoman Navy.
1905
21 July: Assasination
attempt on Sultan Abdülhamit II. The Sultan survives, though
26 people die.
1906
September:
Ottoman Liberty Association
founded in Salonica.
1907
Sultan Abdülhamit's attempt to
establish a Balkan Alliance with Serbia, Romania and Greece
against Bulgaria fails.
30 July:
Russo-Japanese War ends. Russia
begins focusing on Balkans.
31 August: Anglo-Russian
Entente.
27 September: Committee
of Union and Progress in Paris and Ottoman Liberty
Association in Salonica merge.
29 December: Second Young
Turk Congress convenes in Paris.
1908
3 July:
Major Resneli Niyazi Bey starts
a guerilla movement with his 160 men around Ohrid and
Monastir. Later, he is joined by Major Enver Bey.
7 July:
Commander of the forces to
supress the rebellion, Şemsi Paşa, is assasinated in
Monastir
22 July: Sultan
Abdülhamit II dismisses Grand Vizier Avlonyalı Ferit Paşa
who is replaced by Sait Paşa.
23 July:
The Ottoman Empire returns to a
Constitutional Monarchy with the proclamation of the Second
Constitution.
28 July:
The Committee of Union and
Progress declares loyalty to the constitution and the
Sultan.
4 August: After a
disagreement with the Committee of Union and Progress, Sait
Paşa resigns. Kamil Paşa becomes the new Grand Vizier.
1 September: Hejaz
Railway opened.
5 October:
Austria-Hungary annexes
Bosnia-Herzegovina. A boycott against Austrian goods starts
in Istanbul, Salonica, Beirut and Izmir.
5 October: Bulgaria
declares independence.
16 October:
Secret Congress of the Committee
of Union and Progress opens in Salonica.
17 December:
Ottoman Parliament opens in
Istanbul.
1909
13 February: Grand Vizier
Kemal Paşa is dismissed and replaced by Hüseyin Hilmi Paşa.
24 February: Turkey
recognizes the independent Bulgarian state.
13 April:
Counter-revolutionary uprising in Istanbul known as the 31
March Incident (named after the date of the event in Islamic
calendar). Elements of the army and other rebels involved in
the uprising demand Sharia Law. Minister of Justice Nazım
Paşa, a parliament member and several young officers are
murdered.
13 April: Grand Vizier
Hüseyin Hilmi Paşa resigns. He is replaced by Tevfik Paşa.
14 April: New government
formed.
15 April: "Liberation
Army" formed in Salonica. Its commander is Mahmut Şevket
Paşa.
21 April: The government
announces that it will accept the demands of Mahmut Şevket
Paşa.
24 April: Liberation Army
enters Istanbul. The uprising is quelled.
27 April: The Ottoman
Parliament receives a religious decree from Sheikh-ul-Islam
Ziyaeddin Efendi and dismisses Sultan Abdülhamit II.
28 April: Sultan Mehmet
Reşad (Mehmet V) ascends to the Ottoman throne.
June: The court martial
gives death sentence to 70 people responsible in the 31
March Uprising. These include 3 generals, several high
ranked officers and Derviş Vahdeti, founder of the Society
of Muslim Unity.
August:
Hüseyin Hilmi Paşa forms the new
government. Talat Bey becomes the Minister of Interior and
Cavid Bey becomes the Minister of Finance.
1910
12 January:
İbrahim Hakkı Paşa forms the new
government. Mahmut Şevket Paşa becomes the Minister of War.
29 January: Çırağan
Palace burns. Archives and documents of the Ottoman
Parliament perish in fire.
October: Major uprisings
in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Arabia.
1911
April:
Ottoman Red Crescent Society
founded.
May:
Sultan Mehmet Reşad visits
Macedonia.
28 September:
Italian forces land in Libya.
Young officers such as Enver Bey and Mustafa Kemal Bey are
to arrive in Libya to organise a guerilla resistance among
the local tribes. Italian forces will fail to move inland.
29 September:
Grand Vizier İbrahim Hakkı Paşa
is replaced by Sait Paşa who is appointed to this post for
the eighth time.
21 November: Liberty and
Accord Party formed by Sadık Bey.
1912
18 April:
The new Ottoman Parliament
opens.
30 April:
A British Naval Mission led by
Rear Admiral Limpus commences its work in Turkey.
May:
The Albanian Uprising starts.
June:
A group of officers issue an
ultimatum against the Committee of Union and Progress
demanding the withdrawal of army from the politics and
dissolution of the parliament.
9 July:
Mahmut Şevket Paşa resigns.
22 July:
The new Grand Vizier Gazi Ahmet
Muhtar Paşa forms the "Grand Cabinet".
24 July:
Military operations in Albania
halted.
5 August:
The Ottoman Parliament is
dissolved.
5 September:
Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and
Greece form the "Balkan League".
4 October:
Demonstrations at Sultanahmet in
Istanbul, protesting the Balkan League and demanding war.
8 October:
Montenegro declares war on
Turkey.
18 October:
Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece
declare war on Turkey.
29 October:
Grand Vizier Gazi Ahmet Muhtar
Paşa resigns. He is replaced by Kamil Paşa.
October:
Salonica, Albania, Epirus,
Macedonia and Thrace quickly fall to the Balkan forces.
Turkish units withdraw to the Çatalca line close to
Istanbul.
4 November:
Russia offers Turkey a guarantee
of the status quo if Straits are opened to Russian warships.
28 November:
Albania declares independence.
3 December:
An armistice signed between
Bulgaria (representing also Serbia and Montenegro) and
Turkey.
16 December:
London Peace Conference,
composed of delegates from Turkey, the Balkan allies
including Greece, who had not signed the armistice holds its
first meeting.
20 December:
Enver Bey returns to Istanbul.
22 December:
Cruiser Hamidiye, under
the command of Rauf Bey, manages to cut through the Greek
fleet blockading the Dardanelles and sails into the Aegean.
1913
January:
Liberty and Accord Party
dissolved.
23 January:
Enver Bey and gunmen from the
Committee of Union of Progress raid into the Sublime Porte
where a meeting of the Council of Representatives was in
progress. Minister of War Nazım Paşa and his aides are
murdered. Grand Vizier Kamil Paşa is forced to resign. Enver
Bey takes the resignation to the Palace and asks the Sultan
to appoint Mahmut Şevket Paşa as the new Grand Vizier.
January:
Upon the news of the coup d'état
in Istanbul, it is recognized that further negotiations were
useless and the London Peace Conference fails.
22 March:
Great Powers propose new terms
as a basis for the renewal of Balkan peace negotiations.
26 March:
Edirne falls to the Bulgarian
Army.
15 April:
A new armistice is signed with
Bulgaria in Çatalca.
20 April:
The Balkan States agree to
accept the mediation of Great Powers.
30 May:
Treaty of London officially ends
the First Balkan War. Turkey cedes to the Balkan allies her
territory in Europe beyond a line drawn from Enos near the
mouth of the Maritza River on the Aegean Sea to Midia on the
Black Sea.
11 June:
Grand Vizier Mahmut Şevket Paşa
assasinated in Istanbul.
13 June:
Said Halim Paşa becomes the new
Grand Vizier. This appointment marks the beginning of the
period of the Committee of Union and Progress in full power.
June: The Second Balkan
War arises due to territorial disputes in Thrace and
Macedonia between Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, as well as
unaddressed issues related to Albanian independence and
Romanian-Bulgarian disputes.
22 July:
Turkish forces led by Enver Bey
capture Edirne, which was evacuated by Bulgarians two days
ago.
31 July: Bulgaria,
Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece sign the Treaty of
Bucharest to end the Second Balkan War.
20 September: For the
first time, the Committee of Union and Progress convenes its
congress in Istanbul and open to public.
30 September: Turkey
signes the Istanbul Agreement with Bulgaria. Meriç (Maritsa)
River is recognized as the boundary and Edirne returns to
Turkey.
14 December: The German
Military Mission led by General Liman von Sanders arrives in
Istanbul.
1914
January:
Enver Bey is promoted to General
and appointed as the Minister of War.
28 June:
Austro-Hungarian Archduke
Ferdinand assasinated in Sarajevo.
1 August:
Germany declares war on Russia.
2 August:
Turkish-German treaty of
alliance signed in Istanbul.
2 August:
Turkish High Command orders
general mobilisation of the army.
3 August:
Britain seizes two warships
built for Turkey in British yards.
3 August:
Turkey begins to lay mines at
the Dardanelles.
6 August:
Secret treaty betweeen Turkey
and Bulgaria concluded in Sofia.
11 August:
German warships Goeben
and Breslau arrive at the Dardanelles.
15 August:
The contract of the British
Naval Mission in Turkey is terminated.
16 August:
Goeben and Breslau
are reflagged into the Turkish Navy and renamed as Yavuz
and Midilli.
6 September:
General Bronsart von
Schellendorf completes the revision of the Primary Campaign
Plan of the Turkish Army.
6 September:
Fourth Army headquarters formed
in Damascus.
9 September:
Turkey announces the termination
of capitulations (special agreements exempting citizens of
the respective foreign countries from specified laws of the
Empire).
24 September:
German Admiral Souchon
commissioned as a Vice Admiral in the Turkish Navy.
26 September:
Britain declares Turkish
warships outside the Dardanelles hostile.
27 September:
Turkey closes the Dardanelles to
all shipping following the interception of a Turkish
torpedoboat by the Allied fleet.
September:
Russia seizes control of
north-west Iran.
25 October:
Enver Paşa authorizes Souchon to
take his ships into the Black Sea and attack Russian fleet.
29 October:
Turkish fleet bombards Russian
bases in Sevastopol, Feodosia, Yalta, Odessa and
Novorossiysk.
31 October:
Russian offensive begins at the
Caucasus front.
2 November:
Russia declares war on Turkey.
3 November:
First Allied attack to the
Dardanelles. British and French Warships shell the
fortresses at the entrance of the Straits.
4-12 November:
First and Second Battle of
Köprüköy against the Russians.
5 November:
Britain and France declare war
on Turkey.
6 November:
First British landing on
Mesopotamian soil. Fav fortress falls.
14 November:
Sultan Mehmet Reşad declares
Holy War against Russia, Britain and France.
18 November:
Cemal Paşa arrives in Damascus
and assumes command of the Fourth Army.
21 November:
Britain occupies Basra in
southern Iraq.
30 November:
Turkey invades British occupied
Egypt.
November:
British Navy bombards Yemen
coast.
8 December:
British forces enter Qurna at
the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris.
13 December:
British submarine B11
sinks the Turkish warship Mesudiye in the Straits
south of Çanakkale.
21 December:
Enver Paşa arrives in Erzurum.
22 December:
Turkish Third Army launches an
offensive in the Caucasus.
29 December-2 Janury:
Disaster at Sarıkamış. Thousands of Turkish soldiers die
because of inadequate winter clothing and field shelters
while crossing the Allahüekber Mountains and during the
attack and retreat against the Russians.
1915
2 January:
Lieutenant Colonel Süleyman
Askeri Bey assumes the Iraq Area Command and the
Governorship of Baghdad.
2 January:
Russians launch a
counter-offensive against the Turkish Third Army in the
Caucasus.
9 January:
Turkish offensive in the
Caucasus ends in failure. Enver Paşa and General Bronsart
von Schellendorf leave the front and return to Istanbul.
13 January:
Turkish troops enter Tabriz in
north-west Iran.
13 January:
British War Council approves
plans for a naval operation to force the Dardanelles.
15 January:
Turkish units begin to march
from Beersheba, cross the Sinai desert and reach İsmailiye
Ismailia.
2-3 February:
First Turkish offensive on the
Suez Canal fails.
12 February:
Commander of the Third Army, Hafız Hakkı Paşa, dies of
typhus.
15 February:
Turkish forces at the Suez Canal
retreat back to Beersheba.
18 February:
Enver Paşa arrives in Çanakkale
for inspections.
19 February:
First attack on the Dardanelles
by British warships Cornwallis, Vengeance and French
warship Suffren.
25 February:
Second attack on the
Dardanelles.
8 March:
Turkish minelayer Nusrat
lays a line of mines in Erenköy Bay, a wide bay along the
Asian shore inside the entrance to the Dardanelles.
18 March:
Turkey defeats the final attempt
by the Allied fleet to force the straits. British warships Irresistible
and Ocean, French warship Bouvet are sunk
by mines. British warships Agammenon and
Inflexible, French warships Gaulois and
Suffren are badly damaged.
24 March:
General Liman von Sanders
appointed as the commander of the newly activated Turkish
Fifth Army.
28 March:
Russian fleet shells Turkish
ports in Black Sea.
28 March:
Turkish forces in Yemen invade
British ruled Aden Protectorate.
15 April:
Turkish forces in Mesopotamia
withdraw to Nasiria.
18 April:
Turkish forces withdraw
completely from Iran.
20 April:
Armenian uprising starts in Van.
25 April:
Amphibious invasion starts in
Gallipoli. British forces land at Seddülbahir (Cape Helles),
Australian and New Zealand Corps (ANZAC) land at Kabatepe,
French forces make a diversionary landing at Kumkale on the
Asian shore.
25 April:
Russian Black Sea fleet shells
the forts of the Bosphorus.
25 April:
The Australian submarine AE2
becomes the first Allied vessel to penetrate through the
Dardanelles and sail into the Sea of Marmara.
27 April:
French troops withdraw from
Kumkale.
28 April:
First Battle of Kirte (Krithia).
30 April:
Turkish torpedoboat
Sultanhisar sinks the Australian submarine AE2.
6 May:
Russians launch an offensive
through Tortum Valley towards Erzurum.
6-8 May:
Second Battle of Kirte
(Krithia).
10 May:
Warship Yavuz engages in
battle with the Russian fleet.
13 May:
Warship Muavenet sinks
Goliath.
17 May:
Russian troops enter Van.
18 May:
UB-8 becomes the first
German submarine to enter Turkish waters.
24 May:
Russian offensive towards
Erzurum halted.
24 May:
In Gallipoli, an armistice is
declared from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm in which time Turkish and
Anzac dead are buried.
4-16 June:
Third Battle of Kirte (Krithia).
19 June:
Russian forces launch an
offensive towards Muş.
28 June-5 July:
At the Battle of Zığındere
(Gully Ravine), British repel a large Turkish
counter-attack.
26 July:
Russian attempt to take Muş
fails. Turkish forces repulse Russians from Malazgirt and
back to their initial line.
3-5 August:
Turkish assault repulsed at the
Battle of Romani near the Suez Canal.
6 August:
British landing at Suvla Bay.
6-10 August:
Turkish victory at the Battle of
Conkbayırı (Chunuk Bair) in Gallipoli. Allies are driven off
the heights.
6-12 August:
Battle of Lone Pine, the only
successful Australian attack against the Turkish trenches
within the original perimeter of the Anzac battlefield at
Gallipoli.
6-13 August:
Major Allied offensive at
Seddülbahir (Cape Helles).
9-12 August:
First Battle of Anafartalar.
15-16 August:
Battle of Kireçtepe.
21 August:
Second Battle of Anafartalar
(Battle of Scimitar Hill).
27 August:
Battle of Bombatepe (Hill 60).
6 September:
Renewed Allied landings at Suvla
Bay.
19-21 September:
Battle of Nablus (Megiddo) in
Palestine.
3 October:
Anglo-French Expeditionary Force
lands in Salonika with the hope of helping the Serbians.
October:
Baron von der Goltz appointed as
the commander of the Turkish Sixth Army.
22-25 November:
Battle of Selman-ı Pak
(Ctesiphon) in Mesopotamia. British forces retreat from the
field of battle.
6 December:
Allied headquarters decides to
evacuate the Gallipoli peninsula.
7 December:
Turkish forces lay siege on Kut
in Mesopotamia.
8-9 December:
Gallipoli evacuation starts at
Anafartalar and Arıburnu.
20 December:
Evacuation completed at
Anafartalar and Arıburnu.
28 December:
Evacuation starts at Seddülbahir
(Cape Helles).
1916
9 January:
Allied forces complete the
evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula.
10 January:
Start of the Russian "winter
offensive" on Caucasus front.
18 January:
Headquarters of the Turkish
Fifth Army removed from Çanakkale to Istanbul.
16 February:
Erzurum falls to Russians.
February:
Enver Paşa makes an expedition
trip to Syria, Palestine, Sinai and Medina.
1 March:
Second Army headquarters moved
from Thrace to Diyarbakır.
16 March:
Vehip Paşa, the new commander of
the Third Army, arrives in Erzincan.
March:
Russian forces capture Rize on
Black Sea coast.
5-22 April:
First Battle of Kut. British
attempt to relieve Kut fails.
18 April:
Russian forces capture Trabzon
on Black Sea coast.
19 April:
Field Marshal von der Goltz dies
of cholera.
23 April:
Turkish forces take the British
outpost at Katiba on the east side of the Suez Canal.
27 April:
Meeting between General
Townshend and Halil Paşa. Turks demand unconditional
surrender.
29 April:
Kut surrenders to Turkish forces
after a siege of 147 days.
12 May:
General Townshend and some other British officers leave
Baghdad as prisoners of war. After a 20-day trip through
Anatolia, they arrive in Istanbul.
8 June:
Second attempt to invade Iran.
Turkish forces under the command of Ali İhsan Paşa cross the
border.
26 June-2 July:
Turkish offensive through
Eastern Black Sea mountains with the objective of retaking
Trabzon. The campaign fails.
27 June:
Arab Revolt against Ottoman
Empire proclaimed in western Arabia.
28 June:
Turkish forces occupy Karind in
Iran.
10 July:
Responding to General
Falkenhayn's demand, Enver Paşa orders the allocation of
Turkish troops at Eastern European Front.
17 July:
Russian forces occupy Bayburt.
25 July:
Russian forces occupy Erzincan.
4-7 August:
Second major offensive on the
Suez Canal fails.
9 August:
Turkish forces defeat the
retreating Russians in Iran and occupy Hemedan.
22 August:
First Turkish troops in
Galicia are located in their respective positions and they
get ready for action.
27 August:
Romania enters the war.
2 September:
First encounter of the Turkish
forces in Galicia with the Russians.
12 September:
German High Command asks Enver
Paşa to provide additional troops for the Balkan front.
13 September:
Vehip Paşa announces the
formation of "Caucasus Corps".
16-17 September:
Russian offensive in Galicia
forced back by German-Turkish bayonet charge.
25-27 September:
Turkish 57. Regiment encircles
Romanian units at the Danube.
26 September:
Turkish "Çoruh Campaign" on the
Caucasus front concludes with limited gains at a high cost.
September:
Turkish units entrained for
Romania.
5-6 October:
Russians renew their attack in
Galicia and manage to take a hill at the south part of the
Turkish line.
25 October:
Turkish troops' entrainment to
the Balkan front completed.
31 October:
Turkish forces face the first
Allied offensive in Macedonia.
8 December: Central
Powers occupy Bucharest.
8-20 December:
Turkish forces drive back the
Russians at the Romanian front and occupy Isecca.
13 December:
British launch a new campaign in
Mesopotamia.
29 December:
Entrainment of the Rumeli Field
Detachment to Macedonia completed.
1917
1 January:
Turkish units in Romania cross
the Danube River.
4 January:
Crown Princes Abdürrahim and
Osman visit the Turkish troops in Galicia.
7 January:
Turkish units in Romania launch
an offensive along the Seret River.
25 January:
Prince Faisal's Arab forces
attack Tefile.
29 January:
British forces capture the
fortified Hadairi Bend in Mesopotamia.
4 February:
Second Army disbanded.
17 February:
British forces arrive in
Sannaiyat, 20 kilometers south to Kut.
22 February:
13th Corps leaves Iran and moves
back to Baghdad.
24 February:
Second Battle of Kut. British
forces recapture the town.
10 March:
Turkish authorities order the
evacuation of Baghdad.
11 March:
British forces capture Baghdad.
13 March:
French offensive commences in
Macedonia between the lakes of Ohrid and Prespa.
26 March:
Turkish victory at the First
Battle of Gaza in Palestine.
1 April:
Russian Army starts retreat from
eastern Anatolia.
19 April:
British suffer a disastrous
defeat at the Second Battle of Gaza. Their attempt to break
the Turkish defences along the Gaza-Beersheba line fails.
April:
Russian Army starts retreat from
eastern Anatolia.
7 May:
General Erich von Falkenhayn
arrives in Turkey accompanied by a military/political
mission of 100 officers and 5 million German marks. He
assumes command of the newly established Yıldırım Army.
13 May:
Headquarters of the 6th Corps
leave Romania and sail from Constanta to Batumi on the
Caucasus front.
11 June:
19th Division in Galicia moves
back to Turkey.
24 June:
Enver Paşa convenes a meeting at
Aleppo with army commanders to discuss the fate of the
Palestinian theatre of war.
25 June:
Last Turkish-Russian naval clash
in Black Sea.
29 June-2 July:
Major Russian offensive in
Galicia repulsed.
23 July:
Prince Faisal's Arab forces
attack Fulye.
6 September:
Huge explosion in Istanbul
destroys much of Yıldırım Army's equipment.
26 September:
Remaining Turkish units leave
Galicia for Istanbul. No Turkish troops left in Galicia.
31 October:
Battle of Beersheba. Australian
4th Light Horse Brigade overruns the Turkish trenches and
captures the wells at Beersheba.
1-7 November:
Third Battle of Gaza.
13 November:
British launch a major offensive
at the Gaza-Beersheba defensive line.
11 December:
Fall of Jerusalem to the
British.
16 December:
Caucasus Army Group dissolved.
18 December:
Ceasefire agreed between Turkey
and the newly independent Transcaucasian Republic.
1918
4 January:
Crown Prince Vahidettin and
Mustafa Kemal return from their three week trip to Germany.
8
January: Wilson's
Fourteen Points delivered to the US Congress.
20 January:
Ottoman naval raid into the
Aegean Sea from the Dardanelles.
23 January:
Enver Paşa orders the Third Army
to commence a new offensive at the Caucasus front.
10 February:
Sultan Abdülhamit II dies.
12 February:
Turkish forces capture Erzincan
from the Russians.
21 February:
British forces occupy Jericho.
24 February:
General Liman von Sanders
replaces General Falkenhayn as the commander of the Yıldırım
Army.
25 February:
Turkish forces capture Trabzon
from the Russians.
3 March:
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
marks Russia's exit from the war.
23 March:
Turkish forces capture Malazgirt
from the Russians.
25 March:
Turkish troops cross the pre-war
Turkish-Russian border.
26-31 March:
Victory in the First Battle of
Amman against British forces.
31 March:
Great fire of Istanbul destroys 7,500 houses in the
historical part of the city.
5 April:
Turkish forces capture Sarıkamış
from the Russians.
6 April:
Turkish forces capture Van from
the Russians.
14 April:
Turkish forces capture
Doğubeyazıt from the Russians.
14 April:
Batumi liberated.
26 April:
Turkish forces retake Kars from
the Russians.
1 May:
Turkish units on the Caucasus
front enter Iran.
1-3 May:
Victory in the Second Battle of
Amman against British forces.
May:
The Rumeli Field Detachment
ordered to return to Turkey from Macedonia.
5 June:
Enver Paşa meets General Hans
von Seeckt to discuss the Turkish advance in the Caucasus.
7 June:
Enver Paşa reorganises the
troops in the Caucasus and establishes the Ninth Army.
18 June:
Turkish forces capture Dilman in
Iran.
3 July:
Sultan Mehmet Reşad dies.
4 July:
Sultan Vahidettin (Mehmet VI)
ascends to the Ottoman throne.
10 July: "Army
of Islam" established.
19 July:
Nakhichevan captured.
23 July:
Major aerial assault on
Istanbul.
31 July-2 August: Army of
Islam fails to capture Baku.
23 August:
Turkish forces enter Tabriz in
Iran.
14 September:
British forces evacuate Baku.
15 September:
Turkish troops enter Baku.
17 September:
Arab militia sever Turkish
communication on Palestine front.
19 September:
British forces break through the
Ottoman lines in Palestine.
29 September:
Bulgaria surrenders.
September:
Mustafa Kemal in Syria.
1 October:
Damascus occupied by British
forces.
8 October:
Grand Vizier Talat Paşa resigns.
14 October:
Ahmet İzzet Paşa forms the new
government.
27 October:
Aleppo occupied by British
forces and Arab militia.
28 October:
Army of Islam captures Petrovsk
in the last successful Turkish offensive in the World War.
Turkish forces reach their northernmost point in the
Caucasus.
30 October:
Armistice signed between the
Ottoman Empire and the Allies in the Mudros port on the
island of Lemnos.
30 October:
Turkish units in Sharqat
surrender.
1 November:
Mosul occupied by a British
cavalry brigade, in violation of the terms of the
armistice.
2 November:
Enver Paşa, Talat Paşa and Cemal
Paşa leave the country on board of a German submarine.
5 November: The Committee
of Union and Progress dissolved.
8 November: Grand Vizier
Ahmet İzzet Paşa resigns and the new government is formed by
Tevfik Paşa.
13
November: An Allied invasion fleet of 55 Warships
arrives at Istanbul.
13
November: Mustafa Kemal returns to Istanbul.
21 December:
Sultan Vahidettin dissolves the
Ottoman Parliament.
1919
18 January:
Peace Conference opens in
Versailles.
January:
Turkish garrison in Medina
surrenders to the forces of Arab revolt.
3 February:
Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios
Venizelos demands the entire East Thrace and the Aegean
shores of Anatolia including Izmir to be annexed to Greece.
8 February:
French General Franchet
d'Esperey, commander of the Allied Army, enters Istanbul
mounted on a white horse.
4 March:
Damat Ferit Paşa, brother-in-law
of the Sultan, appointed as the new Grand Vizier.
8 April:
British Foreign Minister, Lord
Balfour, proposed Istanbul to become a neutral zone under
the administration of the League of Nations.
29 April:
Italian warship Caio Duilio
anchors at Izmir.
30 April:
Sultan Vahidettin sends Mustafa
Kemal to Anatolia as inspector general.
6 May:
Allied nations agree to allow
Greek occupation of Izmir.
15 May:
Izmir occupied by the Greek
army. Journalist Hasan Tahsin shoots a Greek flag bearer,
firing the first bullet of the Turkish resistance.
16 May:
Mustafa Kemal leaves Istanbul.
19 May:
Mustafa Kemal arrives in Samsun.
Turkish War of Independence begins.
24 May:
Demonstration at Sultanahmet in
Istanbul against the occupation of Izmir.
22 June:
Mustafa Kemal issues the Amasya
Declaration stating that the independence of the nation will
be saved once more by the determination and decisiveness of
the people.
28 June:
Treaty of Versailles signed by
Germany.
23 July-7 August:
Erzurum Congress. It was decided
that it would be attempted to struggle with the enemy of the
people in the Eastern provinces that are an inseparable part
of the homeland.
4-11 September:
Sivas Congress. A mutual
decision on the subject of the "homeland being an
indivisible whole" reached. All the local resistance
organizations in the country are united and a "Committee of
Representatives" is formed.
1 November:
Grand Vizier Damat Ferit Paşa
resigns.
27 December:
Mustafa Kemal arrives in Ankara.
1920
6 January:
British government decides to
leave Istanbul to Turks.
12 January:
Opening session of the last
Ottoman Parliament.
16 March:
Istanbul officially occupied by
Allied forces.
5 April:
Damat Ferit Paşa reappointed as
Grand Vizier.
11 April:
Ottoman Parliament dissolved by
Sultan Vahidettin.
19-26 April:
The San Remo Conference of the
Allied Supreme Council determines the allocation of League
of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman
ruled lands of the Middle East by the victorious powers.
23 April:
The Turkish Grand National
Assembly opens in Ankara.
22 June:
Greek offensive in Anatolia
begins.
8 July:
Greek forces occupy Bursa.
15 July:
Greek forces occupy Edirne and
the entire East Thrace.
10 August:
Ottoman government signs the
Treaty of Sévres with the Allied nations. Hejaz, Armenia and
Assyria are to become independent. Mesopotamia and Palestine
are assigned under mandate to the tutelage of the United
Kingdom, Lebanon and an enlarged Syria to that of France.
The Dodecanese and Rhodes with portions of southern Anatolia
are to pass to Italy, while Thrace and Western Anatolia,
including Izmir will become part of Greece. The Bosphorus,
Dardanelles and Sea of Marmara are to be demilitarized and
internationalized, and the Ottoman army is to be restricted
to a strength of 50,000 men. The treaty is rejected by the
Turkish republican movement in Ankara.
3 December:
Ankara signs the Gümrü Peace
Agreement with the Republic of Armenia.
1921
9-11 January:
First Battle of İnönü. Greek
advance inside Anatolia halted.
20 January:
The first Turkish Constitution
is ratified by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
21 February-12 March:
London Conference.
Representatives of both Istanbul and Ankara governments are
invited to the conference that aimed to revise the Treaty of
Sévres. It does not achieve any results.
16 March:
Soviet Union recognizes the new
Turkish State.
27-20 March:
Second Battle of İnönü. Greek
offensive fails.
10 July:
Greek forces launch a new
offensive.
19 July:
Turkish forces retreat towards
Ankara.
23 August-13 September:
Battle of Sakarya. Greek
forces retreat after a failed attack.
20 October:
Peace agreement signed with
France.
23 October:
Treaty of Kars signed between
Turkey and Soviet Union. Turkey cedes the city of Batumi to
Soviet Union in return for sovereignty over the cities of
Kars and Ardahan.
1922
26-30 August:
Battle of Dumlupınar. Decisive
Turkish victory against the occupying Greek forces.
9 September:
Izmir liberated.
15 September: Greek
occupation ends. No foreign military power remains in
Turkey.
11 October:
Armistice of Mudanya signed
between Turkey, Italy, France and Britain. Greece accedes to
the armistice three days later. East Thrace as far as the
Maritsa River and Edirne are handed over by Greece to
Turkey. Turkish sovereignty over Istanbul and the
Dardanelles is recognized.
20 October:
Peace Conference opens in
Lausanne.
1 November:
The Sultanate is abolished.
17 November:
Sultan Vahidettin leaves
Istanbul on board the British warship Malaya.
1923
4 February:
Talks in Lausanne interrupted
due to Turkish protest.
23 April:
Talks in Lausanne resume.
24 July: Treaty of
Lausanne signed between Turkey, Greece and other countries
that fought the First World War and the Turkish Independence
War. Turkey recovers full sovereign rights over its
territory.
6 October: Occupation
forces leave Istanbul.
13 October: Ankara
declared as the capital of the new Turkish State.
29 October: The Republic
of Turkey is proclaimed. |
