The Young Turks

This book, first published in 1973, was regarded on publication as the definitive study of the 'Young Turks', or Committee of Union and Progress, the name given to a group of Turkish army officers who sought to reform the Ottoman Empire and who in 1908 led a constitutional revolution against Sultan Ahmed Hamid II. The author also discusses the counter-revolution of 1909 and the emergence of the 'Group of Saviour officers' who formed a cabinet determined to destroy the Young Turks. With the rout of the Ottoman armies in the First Balkan War and the loss of Macedonia, the Unionists, led by the charismatic Enver Bey, carried out a coup on 23 January 1913 and regained power. Thereafter they pursued a more moderate and conciliatory policy abandoning the idea of 'union'. The book concludes by examining the impact of territorial losses and of six years of revolution and war on the Ottoman state and society.