Enver Pasha

In the summer of 1908, Enver, an Ottoman army officer serving in Macedonia, became a hero of the Young Turk revolution. At that time his daring moves in the Balkans against the despotism of Sultan Abdulhamid II attracted the attention of an international audience. His exploits also earned and the Middle East in the early 1900s, he nevertheless became and has remained an enigma in history. Enver was born in Istanbul in 1881. At the age of six, Enver accompanied his father, a civil engineer, to Monastir (Bitolj), an important administrative center for Ottoman rule in Macedonia. After attending the elementary and military preparatory schools in Monastir, Enver returned to Istanbul and entered the elite imperial academy of military science, the Harbiye.' Enver excelled in both the regular cadet and advanced general staff educational programs and graduated in 1902, second in the class of twelve general staff officers.2 He was ordered to field duty in the Balkans, where he obtained experience in each of the combat branches: artillery, cavalry and infantry. He skirmished with guerrillas, became familiar with the terrain of European Turkey, and involved himself in the anti-Hamidian Union and Progress movement that culminated in the Young Turk revolution of 1908. In April 1909 he hurried from his military attache's post in Berlin to help suppress a revolt of political, military and religious dissidents in Istanbul; in late 1911 and most of 1912, he directed Arab-Turk resistance against the Italian occupation of Ottoman territory in North Africa. During the Balkan Wars, Enver participated in the Unionist coup d'etat of January 1913 in Istanbul and, later that year, led victorious Ottoman troops into the city of Edirne (Adrianople), which had been held for a short time by the Bulgarians. In 1914, as minister of war, Enver helped guide the Ottoman empire into the First World War on the side of the central powers. Although the catastrophe that war brought to Turkey did force Enver to flee his homeland, he continued to flirt with danger and with elusive goals until his death in 1922 at the hands of Bolsheviks operating in Turkestan.3 The above highlights of Enver's career reflect what Enver did; but they do not explain why Enver acted as he did. In order to understand Enver's actions, we must turn to his formative years and consider the influences upon

Ancient history · Archaeology · Artillery · Elite · Infantry · Officer · Pasha · Political science · Politics · History · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East

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