1901
Construction of the Hejaz Railway starts. Donations are collected all over the Muslim world to finance the project.
1902
4-9 February: The Young Turks who oppose the administration of Sultan Abdülhamit II convene their First Congress in Paris.
1904
8 April: Entente Cordiale between France and Britain.
2 September: Two new cruisers, Hamidiye and Mecidiye, join the Ottoman Navy.
1905
21 July: Assasination attempt on Sultan Abdülhamit II. The Sultan survives, though 26 people die.
1906
September: Ottoman Liberty Association founded in Salonica.
1907
Sultan Abdülhamit’s attempt to establish a Balkan Alliance with Serbia, Romania and Greece against Bulgaria fails.
30 July: Russo-Japanese War ends. Russia begins focusing on Balkans.
31 August: Anglo-Russian Entente.
27 September: Committee of Union and Progress in Paris and Ottoman Liberty Association in Salonica merge.
29 December: Second Young Turk Congress convenes in Paris.
1908
3 July: Major Resneli Niyazi Bey starts a guerilla movement with his 160 men around Ohrid and Monastir. Later, he is joined by Major Enver Bey.
7 July: Commander of the forces to supress the rebellion, Şemsi Paşa, is assasinated in Monastir.
22 July: Sultan Abdülhamit II dismisses Grand Vizier Avlonyalı Ferit Paşa who is replaced by Sait Paşa.
23 July: The Ottoman Empire returns to a Constitutional Monarchy with the proclamation of the Second Constitution.
28 July: The Committee of Union and Progress declares loyalty to the constitution and the Sultan.
4 August: After a disagreement with the Committee of Union and Progress, Sait Paşa resigns. Kamil Paşa becomes the new Grand Vizier.
1 September: Hejaz Railway opened.
5 October: Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina. A boycott against Austrian goods starts in Istanbul, Salonica, Beirut and Izmir.
5 October: Bulgaria declares independence.
16 October: Secret Congress of the Committee of Union and Progress opens in Salonica.
17 December: Ottoman Parliament opens in Istanbul.
1909
13 February: Grand Vizier Kemal Paşa is dismissed and replaced by Hüseyin Hilmi Paşa.
24 February: Turkey recognizes the independent Bulgarian state.
13 April: Counter-revolutionary uprising in Istanbul known as the 31 March Incident (named after the date of the event in Islamic calendar). Elements of the army and other rebels involved in the uprising demand Sharia Law. Minister of Justice Nazım Paşa, a parliament member and several young officers are murdered.
13 April: Grand Vizier Hüseyin Hilmi Paşa resigns. He is replaced by Tevfik Paşa.
14 April: New government formed.
15 April: “Liberation Army” formed in Salonica. Its commander is Mahmut Şevket Paşa.
21 April: The government announces that it will accept the demands of Mahmut Şevket Paşa.
24 April: Liberation Army enters Istanbul. The uprising is quelled.
27 April: The Ottoman Parliament receives a religious decree from Sheikh-ul-Islam Ziyaeddin Efendi and dismisses Sultan Abdülhamit II.
28 April: Sultan Mehmet Reşad (Mehmet V) ascends to the Ottoman throne.
June: The court martial gives death sentence to 70 people responsible in the 31 March Uprising. These include 3 generals, several high ranked officers and Derviş Vahdeti, founder of the Society of Muslim Unity.
August: Hüseyin Hilmi Paşa forms the new government. Talat Bey becomes the Minister of Interior and Cavid Bey becomes the Minister of Finance.
1910
12 January: İbrahim Hakkı Paşa forms the new government. Mahmut Şevket Paşa becomes the Minister of War.
29 January: Çırağan Palace burns. Archives and documents of the Ottoman Parliament perish in fire.
October: Major uprisings in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Arabia.
1911
April: Ottoman Red Crescent Society founded.
May: Sultan Mehmet Reşad visits Macedonia.
28 September: Italian forces land in Libya. Young officers such as Enver Bey and Mustafa Kemal Bey are to arrive in Libya to organise a guerilla resistance among the local tribes. Italian forces will fail to move inland.
29 September: Grand Vizier İbrahim Hakkı Paşa is replaced by Sait Paşa who is appointed to this post for the eighth time.
21 November: Liberty and Accord Party formed by Sadık Bey.
1912
18 April: The new Ottoman Parliament opens.
30 April: A British Naval Mission led by Rear Admiral Limpus commences its work in Turkey.
May: The Albanian Uprising starts.
June: A group of officers issue an ultimatum against the Committee of Union and Progress demanding the withdrawal of army from the politics and dissolution of the parliament.
9 July: Mahmut Şevket Paşa resigns.
22 July: The new Grand Vizier Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa forms the “Grand Cabinet”.
24 July: Military operations in Albania halted.
5 August: The Ottoman Parliament is dissolved.
5 September: Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece form the “Balkan League”.
4 October: Demonstrations at Sultanahmet in Istanbul, protesting the Balkan League and demanding war.
8 October: Montenegro declares war on Turkey.
18 October: Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece declare war on Turkey.
29 October: Grand Vizier Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa resigns. He is replaced by Kamil Paşa.
October: Salonica, Albania, Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace quickly fall to the Balkan forces. Turkish units withdraw to the Çatalca line close to Istanbul.
4 November: Russia offers Turkey a guarantee of the status quo if Straits are opened to Russian warships.
28 November: Albania declares independence.
3 December: An armistice signed between Bulgaria (representing also Serbia and Montenegro) and Turkey.
16 December: London Peace Conference, composed of delegates from Turkey, the Balkan allies including Greece, who had not signed the armistice holds its first meeting.
20 December: Enver Bey returns to Istanbul.
22 December: Cruiser Hamidiye, under the command of Rauf Bey, manages to cut through the Greek fleet blockading the Dardanelles and sails into the Aegean.
1913
January: Liberty and Accord Party dissolved.
23 January: Enver Bey and gunmen from the Committee of Union of Progress raid into the Sublime Porte where a meeting of the Council of Representatives was in progress. Minister of War Nazım Paşa and his aides are murdered. Grand Vizier Kamil Paşa is forced to resign. Enver Bey takes the resignation to the Palace and asks the Sultan to appoint Mahmut Şevket Paşa as the new Grand Vizier.
January: Upon the news of the coup d’état in Istanbul, it is recognized that further negotiations were useless and the London Peace Conference fails.
22 March: Great Powers propose new terms as a basis for the renewal of Balkan peace negotiations.
26 March: Edirne falls to the Bulgarian Army.
15 April: A new armistice is signed with Bulgaria in Çatalca.
20 April: The Balkan States agree to accept the mediation of Great Powers.
30 May: Treaty of London officially ends the First Balkan War. Turkey cedes to the Balkan allies her territory in Europe beyond a line drawn from Enos near the mouth of the Maritza River on the Aegean Sea to Midia on the Black Sea.
11 June: Grand Vizier Mahmut Şevket Paşa assasinated in Istanbul.
13 June: Said Halim Paşa becomes the new Grand Vizier. This appointment marks the beginning of the period of the Committee of Union and Progress in full power.
June: The Second Balkan War arises due to territorial disputes in Thrace and Macedonia between Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, as well as unaddressed issues related to Albanian independence and Romanian-Bulgarian disputes.
22 July: Turkish forces led by Enver Bey capture Edirne, which was evacuated by Bulgarians two days ago.
31 July: Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece sign the Treaty of Bucharest to end the Second Balkan War.
20 September: For the first time, the Committee of Union and Progress convenes its congress in Istanbul and open to public.
30 September: Turkey signes the Istanbul Agreement with Bulgaria. Meriç (Maritsa) River is recognized as the boundary and Edirne returns to Turkey.
14 December: The German Military Mission led by General Liman von Sanders arrives in Istanbul.
1914
January: Enver Bey is promoted to General and appointed as the Minister of War.
28 June: Austro-Hungarian Archduke Ferdinand assasinated in Sarajevo.
1 August: Germany declares war on Russia.
2 August: Turkish-German treaty of alliance signed in Istanbul.
2 August: Turkish High Command orders general mobilisation of the army.
3 August: Britain seizes two warships built for Turkey in British yards.
3 August: Turkey begins to lay mines at the Dardanelles.
6 August: Secret treaty betweeen Turkey and Bulgaria concluded in Sofia.
11 August: German warships Goeben and Breslau arrive at the Dardanelles.
15 August: The contract of the British Naval Mission in Turkey is terminated.
16 August: Goeben and Breslau are reflagged into the Turkish Navy and renamed as Yavuz and Midilli.
6 September: General Bronsart von Schellendorf completes the revision of the Primary Campaign Plan of the Turkish Army.
6 September: Fourth Army headquarters formed in Damascus.
9 September: Turkey announces the termination of capitulations (special agreements exempting citizens of the respective foreign countries from specified laws of the Empire).
24 September: German Admiral Souchon commissioned as a Vice Admiral in the Turkish Navy.
26 September: Britain declares Turkish warships outside the Dardanelles hostile.
27 September: Turkey closes the Dardanelles to all shipping following the interception of a Turkish torpedoboat by the Allied fleet.
September: Russia seizes control of north-west Iran.
25 October: Enver Paşa authorizes Souchon to take his ships into the Black Sea and attack Russian fleet.
29 October: Turkish fleet bombards Russian bases in Sevastopol, Feodosia, Yalta, Odessa and Novorossiysk.
31 October: Russian offensive begins at the Caucasus front.
2 November: Russia declares war on Turkey.
3 November: First Allied attack to the Dardanelles. British and French Warships shell the fortresses at the entrance of the Straits.
4-12 November: First and Second Battle of Köprüköy against the Russians.
5 November: Britain and France declare war on Turkey.
6 November: First British landing on Mesopotamian soil. Fav fortress falls.
14 November: Sultan Mehmet Reşad declares Holy War against Russia, Britain and France.
18 November: Cemal Paşa arrives in Damascus and assumes command of the Fourth Army.
21 November: Britain occupies Basra in southern Iraq.
30 November: Turkey invades British occupied Egypt.
November: British Navy bombards Yemen coast.
8 December: British forces enter Qurna at the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris.
13 December: British submarine B11 sinks the Turkish warship Mesudiye in the Straits south of Çanakkale.
21 December: Enver Paşa arrives in Erzurum.
22 December: Turkish Third Army launches an offensive in the Caucasus.
29 December-2 Janury: Disaster at Sarıkamış. Thousands of Turkish soldiers die because of inadequate winter clothing and field shelters while crossing the Allahüekber Mountains and during the attack and retreat against the Russians.
1915
2 January: Lieutenant Colonel Süleyman Askeri Bey assumes the Iraq Area Command and the Governorship of Baghdad.
2 January: Russians launch a counter-offensive against the Turkish Third Army in the Caucasus.
9 January: Turkish offensive in the Caucasus ends in failure. Enver Paşa and General Bronsart von Schellendorf leave the front and return to Istanbul.
13 January: Turkish troops enter Tabriz in north-west Iran.
13 January: British War Council approves plans for a naval operation to force the Dardanelles.
15 January: Turkish units begin to march from Beersheba, cross the Sinai desert and reach İsmailiye Ismailia.
2-3 February: First Turkish offensive on the Suez Canal fails.
12 February: Commander of the Third Army, Hafız Hakkı Paşa, dies of typhus.
15 February: Turkish forces at the Suez Canal retreat back to Beersheba.
18 February: Enver Paşa arrives in Çanakkale for inspections.
19 February: First attack on the Dardanelles by British warships Cornwallis, Vengeance and French warship Suffren.
25 February: Second attack on the Dardanelles.
8 March: Turkish minelayer Nusrat lays a line of mines in Erenköy Bay, a wide bay along the Asian shore inside the entrance to the Dardanelles.
18 March: Turkey defeats the final attempt by the Allied fleet to force the straits. British warships Irresistible and Ocean, French warship Bouvet are sunk by mines. British warships Agammenon and Inflexible, French warships Gaulois and Suffren are badly damaged.
24 March: General Liman von Sanders appointed as the commander of the newly activated Turkish Fifth Army.
28 March: Russian fleet shells Turkish ports in Black Sea.
28 March: Turkish forces in Yemen invade British ruled Aden Protectorate.
15 April: Turkish forces in Mesopotamia withdraw to Nasiria.
18 April: Turkish forces withdraw completely from Iran.
20 April: Armenian uprising starts in Van.
25 April: Amphibious invasion starts in Gallipoli. British forces land at Seddülbahir (Cape Helles), Australian and New Zealand Corps (ANZAC) land at Kabatepe, French forces make a diversionary landing at Kumkale on the Asian shore.
25 April: Russian Black Sea fleet shells the forts of the Bosphorus.
25 April: The Australian submarine AE2 becomes the first Allied vessel to penetrate through the Dardanelles and sail into the Sea of Marmara.
27 April: French troops withdraw from Kumkale.
28 April: First Battle of Kirte (Krithia).
30 April: Turkish torpedoboat Sultanhisar sinks the Australian submarine AE2.
6 May: Russians launch an offensive through Tortum Valley towards Erzurum.
6-8 May: Second Battle of Kirte (Krithia).
10 May: Warship Yavuz engages in battle with the Russian fleet.
13 May: Warship Muavenet sinks Goliath.
17 May: Russian troops enter Van.
18 May: UB-8 becomes the first German submarine to enter Turkish waters.
24 May: Russian offensive towards Erzurum halted.
24 May: In Gallipoli, an armistice is declared from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm in which time Turkish and Anzac dead are buried.
4-16 June: Third Battle of Kirte (Krithia).
19 June: Russian forces launch an offensive towards Muş.
28 June-5 July: At the Battle of Zığındere (Gully Ravine), British repel a large Turkish counter-attack.
26 July: Russian attempt to take Muş fails. Turkish forces repulse Russians from Malazgirt and back to their initial line.
3-5 August: Turkish assault repulsed at the Battle of Romani near the Suez Canal.
6 August: British landing at Suvla Bay.
6-10 August: Turkish victory at the Battle of Conkbayırı (Chunuk Bair) in Gallipoli. Allies are driven off the heights.
6-12 August: Battle of Lone Pine, the only successful Australian attack against the Turkish trenches within the original perimeter of the Anzac battlefield at Gallipoli.
6-13 August: Major Allied offensive at Seddülbahir (Cape Helles).
9-12 August: First Battle of Anafartalar.
15-16 August: Battle of Kireçtepe.
21 August: Second Battle of Anafartalar (Battle of Scimitar Hill).
27 August: Battle of Bombatepe (Hill 60).
6 September: Renewed Allied landings at Suvla Bay.
19-21 September: Battle of Nablus (Megiddo) in Palestine.
3 October: Anglo-French Expeditionary Force lands in Salonika with the hope of helping the Serbians.
October: Baron von der Goltz appointed as the commander of the Turkish Sixth Army.
22-25 November: Battle of Selman-ı Pak (Ctesiphon) in Mesopotamia. British forces retreat from the field of battle.
6 December: Allied headquarters decides to evacuate the Gallipoli peninsula.
7 December: Turkish forces lay siege on Kut in Mesopotamia.
8-9 December: Gallipoli evacuation starts at Anafartalar and Arıburnu.
20 December: Evacuation completed at Anafartalar and Arıburnu.
28 December: Evacuation starts at Seddülbahir (Cape Helles).
1916
9 January: Allied forces complete the evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula.
10 January: Start of the Russian “winter offensive” on Caucasus front.
18 January: Headquarters of the Turkish Fifth Army removed from Çanakkale to Istanbul.
16 February: Erzurum falls to Russians.
February: Enver Paşa makes an expedition trip to Syria, Palestine, Sinai and Medina.
1 March: Second Army headquarters moved from Thrace to Diyarbakır.
16 March: Vehip Paşa, the new commander of the Third Army, arrives in Erzincan.
March: Russian forces capture Rize on Black Sea coast.
5-22 April: First Battle of Kut. British attempt to relieve Kut fails.
18 April: Russian forces capture Trabzon on Black Sea coast.
19 April: Field Marshal von der Goltz dies of cholera.
23 April: Turkish forces take the British outpost at Katiba on the east side of the Suez Canal.
27 April: Meeting between General Townshend and Halil Paşa. Turks demand unconditional surrender.
29 April: Kut surrenders to Turkish forces after a siege of 147 days.
12 May: General Townshend and some other British officers leave Baghdad as prisoners of war. After a 20-day trip through Anatolia, they arrive in Istanbul.
8 June: Second attempt to invade Iran. Turkish forces under the command of Ali İhsan Paşa cross the border.
26 June-2 July: Turkish offensive through Eastern Black Sea mountains with the objective of retaking Trabzon. The campaign fails.
27 June: Arab Revolt against Ottoman Empire proclaimed in western Arabia.
28 June: Turkish forces occupy Karind in Iran.
10 July: Responding to General Falkenhayn’s demand, Enver Paşa orders the allocation of Turkish troops at Eastern European Front.
17 July: Russian forces occupy Bayburt.
25 July: Russian forces occupy Erzincan.
4-7 August: Second major offensive on the Suez Canal fails.
9 August: Turkish forces defeat the retreating Russians in Iran and occupy Hemedan.
22 August: First Turkish troops in Galicia are located in their respective positions and they get ready for action.
27 August: Romania enters the war.
2 September: First encounter of the Turkish forces in Galicia with the Russians.
12 September: German High Command asks Enver Paşa to provide additional troops for the Balkan front.
13 September: Vehip Paşa announces the formation of “Caucasus Corps”.
16-17 September: Russian offensive in Galicia forced back by German-Turkish bayonet charge.
25-27 September: Turkish 57. Regiment encircles Romanian units at the Danube.
26 September: Turkish “Çoruh Campaign” on the Caucasus front concludes with limited gains at a high cost.
September: Turkish units entrained for Romania.
5-6 October: Russians renew their attack in Galicia and manage to take a hill at the south part of the Turkish line.
25 October: Turkish troops’ entrainment to the Balkan front completed.
31 October: Turkish forces face the first Allied offensive in Macedonia.
8 December: Central Powers occupy Bucharest.
8-20 December: Turkish forces drive back the Russians at the Romanian front and occupy Isecca.
13 December: British launch a new campaign in Mesopotamia.
29 December: Entrainment of the Rumeli Field Detachment to Macedonia completed.
1917
1 January: Turkish units in Romania cross the Danube River.
4 January: Crown Princes Abdürrahim and Osman visit the Turkish troops in Galicia.
7 January: Turkish units in Romania launch an offensive along the Seret River.
25 January: Prince Faisal’s Arab forces attack Tefile.
29 January: British forces capture the fortified Hadairi Bend in Mesopotamia.
4 February: Second Army disbanded.
17 February: British forces arrive in Sannaiyat, 20 kilometers south to Kut.
22 February: 13th Corps leaves Iran and moves back to Baghdad.
24 February: Second Battle of Kut. British forces recapture the town.
10 March: Turkish authorities order the evacuation of Baghdad.
11 March: British forces capture Baghdad.
13 March: French offensive commences in Macedonia between the lakes of Ohrid and Prespa.
26 March: Turkish victory at the First Battle of Gaza in Palestine.
1 April: Russian Army starts retreat from eastern Anatolia.
19 April: British suffer a disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Gaza. Their attempt to break the Turkish defences along the Gaza-Beersheba line fails.
April: Russian Army starts retreat from eastern Anatolia.
7 May: General Erich von Falkenhayn arrives in Turkey accompanied by a military/political mission of 100 officers and 5 million German marks. He assumes command of the newly established Yıldırım Army.
13 May: Headquarters of the 6th Corps leave Romania and sail from Constanta to Batumi on the Caucasus front.
11 June: 19th Division in Galicia moves back to Turkey.
24 June: Enver Paşa convenes a meeting at Aleppo with army commanders to discuss the fate of the Palestinian theatre of war.
25 June: Last Turkish-Russian naval clash in Black Sea.
29 June-2 July: Major Russian offensive in Galicia repulsed.
23 July: Prince Faisal’s Arab forces attack Fulye.
6 September: Huge explosion in Istanbul destroys much of Yıldırım Army’s equipment.
26 September: Remaining Turkish units leave Galicia for Istanbul. No Turkish troops left in Galicia.
31 October: Battle of Beersheba. Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade overruns the Turkish trenches and captures the wells at Beersheba.
1-7 November: Third Battle of Gaza.
13 November: British launch a major offensive at the Gaza-Beersheba defensive line.
11 December: Fall of Jerusalem to the British.
16 December: Caucasus Army Group dissolved.
18 December: Ceasefire agreed between Turkey and the newly independent Transcaucasian Republic.
1918
4 January: Crown Prince Vahidettin and Mustafa Kemal return from their three week trip to Germany.
8 January: Wilson’s Fourteen Points delivered to the US Congress.
20 January: Ottoman naval raid into the Aegean Sea from the Dardanelles.
23 January: Enver Paşa orders the Third Army to commence a new offensive at the Caucasus front.
10 February: Sultan Abdülhamit II dies.
12 February: Turkish forces capture Erzincan from the Russians.
21 February: British forces occupy Jericho.
24 February: General Liman von Sanders replaces General Falkenhayn as the commander of the Yıldırım Army.
25 February: Turkish forces capture Trabzon from the Russians.
3 March: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk marks Russia’s exit from the war.
23 March: Turkish forces capture Malazgirt from the Russians.
25 March: Turkish troops cross the pre-war Turkish-Russian border.
26-31 March: Victory in the First Battle of Amman against British forces.
31 March: Great fire of Istanbul destroys 7,500 houses in the historical part of the city.
5 April: Turkish forces capture Sarıkamış from the Russians.
6 April: Turkish forces capture Van from the Russians.
14 April: Turkish forces capture Doğubeyazıt from the Russians.
14 April: Batumi liberated.
26 April: Turkish forces retake Kars from the Russians.
1 May: Turkish units on the Caucasus front enter Iran.
1-3 May: Victory in the Second Battle of Amman against British forces.
May: The Rumeli Field Detachment ordered to return to Turkey from Macedonia.
5 June: Enver Paşa meets General Hans von Seeckt to discuss the Turkish advance in the Caucasus.
7 June: Enver Paşa reorganises the troops in the Caucasus and establishes the Ninth Army.
18 June: Turkish forces capture Dilman in Iran.
3 July: Sultan Mehmet Reşad dies.
4 July: Sultan Vahidettin (Mehmet VI) ascends to the Ottoman throne.
10 July: “Army of Islam” established.
19 July: Nakhichevan captured.
23 July: Major aerial assault on Istanbul.
31 July-2 August: Army of Islam fails to capture Baku.
23 August: Turkish forces enter Tabriz in Iran.
14 September: British forces evacuate Baku.
15 September: Turkish troops enter Baku.
17 September: Arab militia sever Turkish communication on Palestine front.
19 September: British forces break through the Ottoman lines in Palestine.
29 September: Bulgaria surrenders.
September: Mustafa Kemal in Syria.
1 October: Damascus occupied by British forces.
8 October: Grand Vizier Talat Paşa resigns.
14 October: Ahmet İzzet Paşa forms the new government.
27 October: Aleppo occupied by British forces and Arab militia.
28 October: Army of Islam captures Petrovsk in the last successful Turkish offensive in the World War. Turkish forces reach their northernmost point in the Caucasus.
30 October: Armistice signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies in the Mudros port on the island of Lemnos.
30 October: Turkish units in Sharqat surrender.
1 November: Mosul occupied by a British cavalry brigade, in violation of the terms of the armistice.
2 November: Enver Paşa, Talat Paşa and Cemal Paşa leave the country on board of a German submarine.
5 November: The Committee of Union and Progress dissolved.
8 November: Grand Vizier Ahmet İzzet Paşa resigns and the new government is formed by Tevfik Paşa.
13 November: An Allied invasion fleet of 55 warships arrives at Istanbul.
13 November: Mustafa Kemal returns to Istanbul.
21 December: Sultan Vahidettin dissolves the Ottoman Parliament.
1919
18 January: Peace Conference opens in Versailles.
January: Turkish garrison in Medina surrenders to the forces of Arab revolt.
3 February: Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos demands the entire East Thrace and the Aegean shores of Anatolia including Izmir to be annexed to Greece.
8 February: French General Franchet d’Esperey, commander of the Allied Army, enters Istanbul mounted on a white horse.
4 March: Damat Ferit Paşa, brother-in-law of the Sultan, appointed as the new Grand Vizier.
8 April: British Foreign Minister, Lord Balfour, proposed Istanbul to become a neutral zone under the administration of the League of Nations.
29 April: Italian warship Caio Duilio anchors at Izmir.
30 April: Sultan Vahidettin sends Mustafa Kemal to Anatolia as inspector general.
6 May: Allied nations agree to allow Greek occupation of Izmir.
15 May: Izmir occupied by the Greek army. Journalist Hasan Tahsin shoots a Greek flag bearer, firing the first bullet of the Turkish resistance.
16 May: Mustafa Kemal leaves Istanbul.
19 May: Mustafa Kemal arrives in Samsun. Turkish War of Independence begins.
24 May: Demonstration at Sultanahmet in Istanbul against the occupation of Izmir.
22 June: Mustafa Kemal issues the Amasya Declaration stating that the independence of the nation will be saved once more by the determination and decisiveness of the people.
28 June: Treaty of Versailles signed by Germany.
23 July-7 August: Erzurum Congress. It was decided that it would be attempted to struggle with the enemy of the people in the Eastern provinces that are an
inseparable part of the homeland.
4-11 September: Sivas Congress. A mutual decision on the subject of the “homeland being an indivisible whole” reached. All the local resistance organizations in the country are united and a “Committee of Representatives” is formed.
1 November: Grand Vizier Damat Ferit Paşa resigns.
27 December: Mustafa Kemal arrives in Ankara.
1920
6 January: British government decides to leave Istanbul to Turks.
12 January: Opening session of the last Ottoman Parliament.
16 March: Istanbul officially occupied by Allied forces.
5 April: Damat Ferit Paşa reappointed as Grand Vizier.
11 April: Ottoman Parliament dissolved by Sultan Vahidettin.
19-26 April: The San Remo Conference of the Allied Supreme Council determines the allocation of League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman ruled lands of the Middle East by the victorious powers.
23 April: The Turkish Grand National Assembly opens in Ankara.
22 June: Greek offensive in Anatolia begins.
8 July: Greek forces occupy Bursa.
15 July: Greek forces occupy Edirne and the entire East Thrace.
10 August: Ottoman government signs the Treaty of Sévres with the Allied nations. Hejaz, Armenia and Assyria are to become independent. Mesopotamia and Palestine are assigned under mandate to the tutelage of the United Kingdom, Lebanon and an enlarged Syria to that of France. The Dodecanese and Rhodes with portions of southern Anatolia are to pass to Italy, while Thrace and Western Anatolia, including Izmir will become part of Greece. The Bosphorus, Dardanelles and Sea of Marmara are to be demilitarized and internationalized, and the Ottoman army is to be restricted to a strength of 50,000 men. The treaty is rejected by the Turkish republican movement in Ankara.
3 December: Ankara signs the Gyumri Peace Agreement with the Republic of Armenia.
1921
9-11 January: First Battle of İnönü. Greek advance inside Anatolia halted.
20 January: The first Turkish Constitution is ratified by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
21 February-12 March: London Conference. Representatives of both Istanbul and Ankara governments are invited to the conference that aimed to revise the Treaty of Sévres. It does not achieve any results.
16 March: Soviet Union recognizes the new Turkish State.
27-20 March: Second Battle of İnönü. Greek offensive fails.
10 July: Greek forces launch a new offensive.
19 July: Turkish forces retreat towards Ankara.
23 August-13 September: Battle of Sakarya. Greek forces retreat after a failed attack.
20 October: Peace agreement signed with France.
23 October: Treaty of Kars signed between Turkey and Soviet Union. Turkey cedes the city of Batumi to Soviet Union in return for sovereignty over the cities of Kars and Ardahan.
1922
26-30 August: Battle of Dumlupınar. Decisive Turkish victory against the occupying Greek forces.
9 September: Izmir liberated.
15 September: Greek occupation ends. No foreign military power remains in Turkey.
11 October: Armistice of Mudanya signed between Turkey, Italy, France and Britain. Greece accedes to the armistice three days later. East Thrace as far as the Maritsa River and Edirne are handed over by Greece to Turkey. Turkish sovereignty over Istanbul and the Dardanelles is recognized.
20 October: Peace Conference opens in Lausanne.
1 November: The Sultanate is abolished.
17 November: Sultan Vahidettin leaves Istanbul on board the British warship Malaya
1923
4 February: Talks in Lausanne interrupted due to Turkish protest.
23 April: Talks in Lausanne resume.
24 July: Treaty of Lausanne signed between Turkey, Greece and other countries that fought the First World War and the Turkish Liberation War. Turkey recovers full sovereign rights over its territory.
6 October: Occupation forces leave Istanbul.
13 October: Ankara declared as the capital of the new Turkish State.
29 October: The Republic of Turkey is proclaimed.