Non-Muslims in the Ottoman Army and the Ottoman Defeat in the Balkan War of 1912–1913

National indifference and dynastic loyalty in comparative perspective: The demise of the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires revisited

“…As late as 1909, the Young Turks found support even among Balkan Christian populations, with Macedonian Slavs under Yane Sandanski contributing to their revolutionary movement (Adanir, 2011, p. 116). And foreign observers would note that a peaceful coexistence between Armenians and Turks was not unrealistic, while Greeks were dissatisfied with the introduction of universal military conscription in 1909 (Adanir, 2011). Yet it was the military blows and hardships of the First World War that irreversibly severed ‘the ties that had held together the empire's ethnic and religious groups for centuries’ (Aksakal, 2014, p. 339).…”

“…Far from downsizing the previous episodes of ethnic cleansing and inter‐confessional strife, it was the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 that spelt the end of Ottomanism as an attempt at multi‐ethnic inclusion (Adanir, 2011; Akçam, 2013; Ginio, 2005). While from 1909 Christians and Jews had been serving in the Ottoman army in numbers, amounting to a quarter of the Ottoman armed forces at the beginning of the Balkan Wars, the blaming of defeat on non‐Muslim subjects laid the foundation for an irreparable rift within Ottoman society and its ensuing ethno‐national homogenisation (Abramson, 2015; Akçam, 2013; Aksakal, 2014).…”

“…The Young Turks, in their opposition to Abdulhamid's reign, although they would soon adopt similar Islamist tenets, had attracted non‐Muslim subjects into their fold. As late as 1909, the Young Turks found support even among Balkan Christian populations, with Macedonian Slavs under Yane Sandanski contributing to their revolutionary movement (Adanir, 2011, p. 116). And foreign observers would note that a peaceful coexistence between Armenians and Turks was not unrealistic, while Greeks were dissatisfied with the introduction of universal military conscription in 1909 (Adanir, 2011).…”

Point of No Return? Prospects of Empire After the Ottoman Defeat in the Balkan Wars (1912–13)

“…51 Before the outbreak of hostilities, Ottoman bureaucrats expected shifts in allegiance, and accordingly enacted a range of precautionary measures over time, including but not limited to arrests, detentions, and exile, particularly for Ottoman Greek and Bulgarian subjects who lived in proximity to strategic infrastructure. 52 Yet, ethnoreligious markers did not neatly align with categories of loyalty and treachery.İsmail Hakkı (Okday), an Ottoman officer who fought in the defense of Yanya (Janina), for instance, praised in length the service of Armenian soldiers:…”