Young Turk Revolution

In July 1908 officers of the Committee of Union and Progress forced Sultan Abdulhamid II to restore the Ottoman constitution of 1876.

Overview

Officers stationed in Macedonia, fearing the regime would concede territory to foreign powers, marched on the capital as the sultan capitulated within days, restoring parliament, freedoms of the press, and political organization. Initial euphoria briefly fused Ottoman communities around constitutionalism, but the 1909 countercoup attempt and its violent suppression hardened rule by the CUP. The 1913 Bab-i Ali coup gave a triumvirate of Enver, Talat, and Cemal open control of the state. The revolution modernized administration and held real elections, then led through the catastrophes of the Balkan Wars into the alliance with Germany, the Armenian genocide, and the final partition of the empire. Its officer corps nonetheless incubated the founders of modern Turkey.