The Ottoman Empire Enters World War I and Collapses
An alliance with Germany, a lost war, and an armistice that ends six centuries of Ottoman rule
Quick facts
- Ottoman entry into WWI
- October-November 1914, allied with Germany
- Armistice
- Mudros, 30 October 1918
- Aftermath
- Allied occupation of Constantinople; Treaty of Sevres, 1920
- Wartime leadership
- The Three Pashas (Talat, Cemal, Enver)
What happened
The Ottoman Empire entered the First World War in October 1914 allied with Germany, a partnership the Committee of Union and Progress's authoritarian leadership had pursued despite the empire's weakened state after the Balkan Wars. Four years of fighting on multiple fronts, including the successful defense at Gallipoli and defeats in Mesopotamia and Palestine, left the empire militarily and financially exhausted, and it signed the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, ending its participation in the war. Allied powers subsequently occupied Constantinople and began carving up Ottoman territory, a process formalized in 1920 by the Treaty of Sevres, which the new Turkish nationalist movement would refuse to accept.
Why it matters
The empire's defeat in the First World War is the hinge on which Turkey's entire modern history turns: it ended six centuries of Ottoman rule, triggered the Allied occupation and partition plans that provoked the Turkish War of Independence, and set the conditions for Mustafa Kemal's nationalist movement to build an entirely new state on what remained of Anatolia. The war's Ottoman theater, including Gallipoli, the Arab campaigns, and the Armenian Genocide the wartime government carried out, is covered in full in the World War I timeline.
How we know
The Ottoman Empire's WWI alliances, campaigns, and the Armistice of Mudros are documented in Allied and Ottoman diplomatic records of 1914-1918, including the armistice text itself, and are cross-referenced across multiple national archives of the war's combatant powers.
Sources
- Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. Turkey: A Country Study (Library of Congress Country Studies), Ch. 3 · General sourcecountrystudies.us · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- HISTORY (A&E Television Networks). Ottoman Empire Signs Treaty With Allies · Reputable sourcehistory.com · The domain "history.com" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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Related timelines
- World War I → · See the World War I timeline for the Ottoman fronts in full, including Gallipoli, the Arab Revolt, and Mesopotamia.
- The Ottoman Empire → · See the Ottoman Empire timeline for the empire's entry into the war and the Armistice of Mudros from the Ottoman government's side.