Turkish Revolutionary War (The German Century)

The Turkish Revolutionary War (Turkish: Kurtuluş Savaşı (War of Liberation), also known figuratively as İstiklâl Harbi (Independence War) or Millî Mücadele (National Struggle); May 19, 1919 – July 24, 1923) was fought between the Turkish National Movement and the proxies of the Central Powers and against some revolters scattered around Anatolia – after the end of World War I.

Despite victory for the Central Powers after the end of the war, the conflict proved fatal for the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the country fell to revolution. The Turkish National Movement (Turkish: Kuva-yi Milliye) in Anatolia culminated in the formation of a new provisional and revolutionary Turkish government based in Ankara, the Government of the Grand National Assembly (GNA; Turkish: BMM), by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his colleagues. After the end of the Turkish-Armenian (Eastern), Bulgarian-Turkish (Northwestern), Greco-Turkish (Western) fronts, the Treaty of Sèvres was abandoned and the Treaties of Kars (October 1921) and Lausanne (July 1923) were signed. The Central Powers left Anatolia but Bulgaria conquered Thrace, and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey decided on the establishment of a Republic in Turkey, which was declared on October 29, 1923.

With the establishment of the Turkish National Movement, the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, and the abolition of the sultanate, the Ottoman Empire came to an end. With Atatürk's reforms, the Turks created the modern, secular nation-state of Turkey on the political front. On 3 March 1924, the Ottoman Caliphate was officially abolished and the last Caliph was exiled.