World War 1 Cause And Effect

The infamous war of World War I, known for its effect on major countries like France and Russia, played an important role in the downfall of the Ottoman Empire that had begun six years prior. The war was between the years of 1914 and 1918.That is not to say that the empire fell as soon as the war ended in 1918. However, the cause and effect of the war resulted in defeat, crippling the empire. When one is at war, there are usually allies around for support against enemy fire. However, not all alliances turn out to be beneficial. The Ottoman Empire, known as Turkey, joined an alliance with Germany, called the Turco-German Alliance in August of 1914. A few months later, Russian Black Sea ports were bombed, tying the Ottoman Empire into World

Armenians were told to leave their homes and forced to live in the Syrian desert; calling it a resettlement program, when it was deportation. Many died by: walking to the desert, execution batches or by hard labor. Those who survived were placed in bondage and were forced to do unpaid labor and adopt the language and religion of those in command. Being forced to assimilate meant that the Armenians were stripped of their pride and culture and made to become apart of the Turkish people. It was like decreasing the number of Armenians, while increasing the number of Turks, even thought they would never be true Turks. This was a way to remind them of who had power and why not to step up to the Turks. One interesting fact is that the Ottomans didn’t consider the Armenian Genocide as an actual genocide. Even today, the government does not acknowledge it as such and never apologized as a result.

Now, it’s time to discuss what events occurred after World War I. When Bulgaria signed the armistice in September of 1918, it caused the Committee of Union and Progress (committee of Ottoman Union) to resign. The Ottomans signed a peace treaty where Europeans had control over some aspects of the Empire. The Ottomans soon gained a new leader, Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) Pasa. Mustafa would become the founder of the Republic of Turkey and it’s first president. He

After WWI, the Muslim population in Turkey declined drastically; from 1 million to around 10 thousand. The War of Independence was a victory that allowed Turkey to cease the prolonged fighting and try to fix the Muslim population decline. In 1923, the Republic of Turkey was established. After the war, Greece and Turkey participated in a population exchange where “1.2 million Greek Orthodox left Anatolia and 500,000 Muslims/Turks from Greece and the Balkans came to Turkey”. It’s interesting how both countries were able to up and move large groups of people to another country so easily. Both countries wanted to be strictly one race, which was also shown with the Armenian Genocide. One may point out how these actions are like what lead to the second World War. It is impossible for a country to be filled with one type of people as people move around for different