Our World War One series takes us to Turkey.
The Empire known as the Ottoman Empire was centered around the Turks of Anatolia and Eastern Thrace, and it was sometimes known as Turkey, even though its territory was much larger. Turkey was involved in World War One on the side of the Central Powers and, as such, was fighting on two fronts: the British, with great help of troops from Australia and New Zealand (the Anzacs), were attacking from the South, while the Russians were fighting in the East.
The defeat of the Central Powers dealt a final blow to the Ottoman Empire, which lost considerable lands in the Treaty of Sevres: all remaining Arab lands in North Africa, the Levant and Mesopotamia were lost, and large parts of Thrace, Western and Eastern Anatolia were given to Greece and Armenia.
The injustice felt by the Turkish population about the treaty led to a revolt and, under the leadership of Mustapha Kemal, Turkey regained all its possessions except for the Arab lands, even increasing its territory at the expense of the new USSR. A new Turkish Republic was created, and the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 confirmed all gains and installed the new Republic as a major regional power, a place it has retained a century later.
More on Turkey
Turkey's WW1 Territorial Losses
