1913 Ottoman coup d'état

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The Ottoman Military Coup of 1913

The Ottoman Military Coup of 1913, also known as the Raid on the Sublime Porte, was a coup d'état carried out by a group of members of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) led by Ismail Enver Bey and Mehmed Talat Bey in the Ottoman Empire. On January 23, 1913, this group launched a surprise attack on the central government buildings (Sublime Porte), catching off guard the administration of Hümet Muhtar Paša.

During the coup attempt, Minister of War Nazim Pasha was assassinated, and Grand Vizier Kamil Pasha was forced to resign. The CUP took control of the government with the "Three Pashas" triumvirate consisting of Enver, Talat, and Djemal Pasha. This marked a significant shift in power within the Ottoman Empire.

The Liberal Union Party (also known as the Liberal Pact), led by Kamil Pasha, had been formed in 1911 against the CUP. The party won several by-elections in Constantinople (now Istanbul) but was met with outrage from the CUP members, who began to rig elections and use violence against the Liberal Union Party, earning these elections the nickname "Sword Elections". In response, officers who had been saved from the army rose up in anger, leading to the fall of the government led by Muhammad Said Pasha.

A new government was formed under Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha but it collapsed a few months later in October 1912 after the Ottoman defeat in the First Balkan War. The CUP members then obtained permission from Sultan Mehmed V to form a new government, which they did in late October 1912. However, as Bulgarian demands for the return of Adrianople (now Edirne) intensified, public anger and CUP leadership grew.

The CUP members carried out their successful coup on January 23, 1913. They formed a new government under Grand Vizier Mahmud Shevket Pasha, who withdrew from the London Peace Conference with the support of the CUP and resumed war against the Balkan states to recover Adrianople and Rumelia, but without success.

The aftermath of the coup saw significant instability in the Ottoman Empire. The assassination of Mahmud Shevket Pasha on June 11, 1913, as revenge for the assassination of Naz