Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire is known as Turkey after WWI. The Turks origonally came from the land northwest of India. They are also muslims but speak Turkish rather that Arabic.

The Ottoman Empire was in many respects an Islamic replacement to earlier Mediterranean empires, like the Roman and Byzantine empires. The Ottoman Empire extended from Algeria in the west to Mesopotamia in the east. The Ottoman Empire was called the "sick man of Europe." Most people deemed that it was only a matter of time before one of the European colonial powers took over the Ottoman Empire.

A group of idealistic military officers known as the Young Turks had seized control of the Ottoman Empire in a 1908 revolution. The Young Turks decided to join the Great War on the side of the Central Powers when it seemed that Germany would win the conflict. The Turks feared two of the Allied Powers. Russia was to the north of Turkey and wanted access to a "warm water port." All of Russia's other ports were frozen during the winter months. The Young Turks feared Russia would conquer part of Turkey in order to gain access to the Black Sea. Great Britain's empire included India, east of oil-rich Mesopotamia. The Young Turks felt their needs would be best met by joining forces against these two rivals. Bulgaria also joined the war because it hoped to gain land from Serbia once the Allies were defeated.

During the Italo-Turkish War, the Balkan League, which was composed of Serbia Montnegro, Greece and Bulgaria, declared war against the Ottoman Empire, which lost most of its Balkan territories during the Balkan Wars( 1912-1913