Rarely does one man completely transform a nation, yet we have seen examples of this within the last 100 years, the greatest example being Lenin and the change from Russia to the Soviet Union. In his case, it was simply a matter of being in the right place with what was a corrupt government controlled by the family of the Tsar.

While not exactly the same circumstances, Turkey was completely tranformed during the 1920s and 1930s by one man. In this case, it was something that many considered was caused by the Entente powers after WWI, and not something intrinsically corrupt within the government. The man who could easily be considered to be the father of modern Turkey was Mustafa Kemal. He gained the additional 'Ataturk' well after the changes he made. Ataturk means 'man of Turkey', and for most of his life he was simply Mustafa Kemal.

He had the fortune to be born, raised and educated in one of the more cosmopolitan towns in the Ottoman Empire; Salonika, a place where European ideas and influence were particularly strong. It meant that he grew up more a European than an Ottoman, something that anywhere else might have been considered subversive. Thanks to his education and abilities he was accepted into Ottoman War Academy, a place that primed men to be staff officers and the only way to become a high ranking officer in the Ottoman Army.

Kemal was blessed with a quick mind that allowed him to command in both strategic and tactical situations. He was also cursed with a quick mouth that caused him some grief during his military career as he had not compunctions about criticizing the powers to be. He was also politically active, something that could be a distraction to other officers. Despite this, he was able to pull himself out of situations that would have been a dead end for other. This was as much due to similarly minded friends as it was his own abilities.

He was always able to make the best of a situation in which he was in command and the book offers several examples. He was sent to Libya in 1911 to fight against the Italians and was able to stabilize a bad situation until recalled when the Ottoman Empire decided to give in to the Italians. He was key to the Entente defeat at Gallipoli where his prowess as seeing the situation unfold was able to stop both British and ANZAC moves, finally forcing the Entente forces to withdraw with heavy losses. Late in the war he was sent to Palestine where he was able to conduct a masterful retreat against much larger forces and yet keep his army intact and able to put up a strong defense. Each of these actions saw him given greater and greater responsibility and he swiftly moved up in rank.

It was the end of the war that brought forth his fervent nationalism. The Entente treated the Ottoman Empire just as harshly as it did Germany. This caused much resistance within the military and when ordered to surrender weapons for destruction, most units hid them away. During this time, the Armenians, Kurds, and Greeks saw the opportunity to invade in a hope for a major land grab while the Ottomans were severely weakened. Kemal was part of a group that established an alternate government in Ankara and despite the presence of Entente powers in the country, started to wage a war against both the Pasha and against the invaders. Rather than spread themselves thin, they first pushed out the Armenians and Kurds then took on the Greeks.

Kemal was very much at the forefront of all this, basically leading the army through his friends. He was helped out by the Soviets who helped to supply arms and ammunition. During this time, the pasha was removed from power and all of the various state functions taken over by the nationalists. Fortunately, there was little internal turmoil during this time as the populace was ready for a change. This allowed them to get behind Kemal and his group in their efforts to remove the Greeks from their soil.

In the end they were successful and the new nation of Turkey came into being. Kemal did more than lead his nation to a new future, it also set about removing all of the stigmas left over by the past. Religion was removed from public life and that included schools, where religious schools were banned. Kemal saw Turkey as a European nation and wanted to remove anything that held the nation back. It included Anglicizing the alphabet and increasing the rights of women as well as many other aspects of Turkish life. It is interesting to note that the current regime in Turkey seems to want to restore many of the things outlawed by Kemal, including returning to religious schools. It will be interesting to see if modern Turks will allow the nation to be dragged back into the past.

Anyway, it is an excellent book about a man that is not all that well known outside the nation and one that I found to be one of the best books in this series that I've read. Very highly recommended.

September 2013

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