Prelude
The decision to join the Central Powers in 1914 was a fateful one. The Ottoman Empire - desperate to reclaim some of its lost glory after a series of humiliating defeats and reassert its place among the Great Powers - threw their lot in with Germany and Austria-Hungary as the storms of war devastated Europe. As it happened, the War served only as further prove to the world that the Ottoman Empire was doomed. Millions had lost their lives valiantly defending the homeland in what was known as the Great War, but their sacrifices were not enough to save it.
In 1918, the once-glorious Ottoman Empire - after decades of decay, corruption and upheaval - finally collapsed. The masters of a realm once spanning three continents from Algiers to Basra now face starvation. Muslims and Christians turned their weapons against each other. The various ethnic groups of the erstwhile state now declare independence. Foreign armies invaded from every side, trying to grab their slice of the old Empire. Constantinople, the Imperial capital, was occupied, the Sultan and Caliph of Islam a mere puppet of Great Britain and France. The peace treaty left the Turks with a rump state in Anatolia. For Mustapha Kemal - hero of Gallipoli - and Turkish nationalists, this was an insult they could not accept. The end of one war marked the start of another - the Turkish War of Independence.
Finally, in 1923, after many bloody and ruthless campaigns against the enemies of Turkey, a new peace treaty was signed granting the new Turkish Republic all of Anatolia.
The new President of Turkey, Mustapha Kemal, soon established an autocratic and progressive regime. Turkey was transformed into a secular nation-state based on Western model. The Islamic Law was replaced by a Civil Law Code based on Switzerland's. The alphabet was changed from Arabic to Latin. Women were gradually granted the same rights as men, while traditional symbols such as the fez were banned. Education was reformed on secular, nationalist lines.
Skillful diplomacy ensured the fledgling nation's security. Non-aggression pacts were signed with neighbours in the Balkans. Nevertheless, Turks watched with growing worry as war seemed to be brewing to Europe and Asia.
To preserve the nation's hard-won independence in this dangerous new world, what should be Turkey's course?
