First published in 1973, this book has become the definitive study of the "Young Turks," also known as the Committee of Union and Progress. Counting Turkish army officers as its members, the Young Turks sought to reform the Ottoman Empire by provoking a constitutional revolution against Sultan Ahmed Hamid II. Feroz Ahmad describes these events and the ensuing counterrevolution of 1909, including a discussion of the "Group of Saviour officers" who were determined to destroy the Young Turks. The Unionists were routed by the Ottoman armies during the First Balkan War and suffered great losses in Macedonia. But in 1913 they regained power in a coup led by the charismatic Enver Bey. Afterward the Young Turks abandoned the idea of a "union" and pursued a more moderate policy. Ahmad's book concludes with an examination of territorial losses and the consequences of six years of war on the Ottoman state.
- ISBN10 0198214758
- ISBN13 9780198214755
- Publish Date October 1969
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 17 October 2003
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Oxford University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 220
- Language English