The Young Ataturk:
From Ottoman Soldier to Statesman of Turkey (2013) is about the military years
of Turkey’s Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938), predominantly covering the years
from 1912 to 1923.
Born in Selanik in
Macedonia of Turkish heritage, at the age of 12 in 1893, Mustafa Kemal enrolled
in the Selanik Military Preparatory School for two years against his mother’s
wishes. He entered War College in 1899.
Chapter 1 stresses his
passion for learning. Chapter 2 is The Great War – World War I of 1914-1918 in
which Mustafa Kemal rose in rank as a soldier to a leader. In January 1915 he
was deployed to Gallipoli, a peninsula of 400 square miles and the entrance to
the Dardanelles, the sea route to Istanbul, to fight the British, French and
ANZACS (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps). It was at Gallipoli where he
gained his military reputation in trench warfare.
Chapter 3 tells of the
1917 South Caucasus conflict with Armenia, Georgia, and Azebaijan. Chapter 4 is
about The Grand Assembly and his devotion to parliamentary sessions from
1920-1922 and his diplomatic relations with Russia and the Caucasus. Chapter 5
is the Greek offensive, and criticism that his parliamentary role was becoming
more important to him than battlefield developments. In Chapter 6 Mustafa Kemal
puts his military uniform back on in 1921 as Commander in Chief to battle the
Greeks. The last chapter, Chapter 7, are the years from 1922-1924 in which he
assumes the position of statesman.
I thought Chapter 2 on
Gallipoli was too brief, with only 9 pages. For a war that resulted in the loss
of thousands of lives, on both sides, it was a slim account of the battle that
was more pyschological than strategic.
I thought the best
chapter was Chapter 7 as Mustafa Kemal became known as Ataturk the statesman.
It was also the period of ‘no war, no peace’ in which he defeated the Greeks,
but still had to negotiate peace. It was a time of the War of Independence, the
war against ignorance, and the the mental battle to maintain peace: ‘Winning
the peace now required smart diplomacy to call forth skill, perseverance, and
patience.’ He made political reforms that included a move towards ‘education,
science, and knowledge in the war against ignorance and illiteracy in the new
Turkey.’ Independence came in 1923 and in March he announced that ‘women will
become scholars and scientists, and they will achieve the same levels of
learning as men’ as he called for ‘enlightened intellects.’ However, again,
this section on the road to a new peace is a brief 11 pages, from pages 206-217.
Overall, Gawrych
presents a well researched, easy to read document with maps and a few
black-and-white photographs. It won the 2014 Distinguished Book Award from The
Society of Military History for its reasoned argument. Gawrych argues that
Ataturk’s early military career forms an understanding of his latter role as
statesman and the founder of modern Turkey. But there was still a lot lacking
in the development of his strategic thinking in battle, and the balance between
his two roles.
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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