Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

1881 CE – 1938 CE

Retrace Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's life across the map — 43 events in chronological order, from a cinematic flythrough to a full timeline.

1911 CE

Battle of Tobruk

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Battle of Tobruk1911 CE
The Battle of Tobruk (1911) or Nadura Hill Battle occurred on 22 December 1911 during the Italo-Turkish War for the control of the Nadura Hill near Tobruk. The battle was a small engagement primarily known for the involvement and leadership of future Turkish president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Battle of Gargaresc1912 CE
The Italo-Turkish War, also known as the Turco-Italian War, was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911 to 18 October 1912. As a result of this conflict, Italy captured coastal areas of the Ottoman Tripolitania Vilayet, of which the main sub-provinces were Fezzan, Cyrenaica, and Tripoli itself. These territories became the colonies of Italian Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, which would later merge into Italian Libya.
Battle of Derna1912 CE
The Battle of Derna, also known as the Battle of Sidi Abdullah, occurred near Derna on 3 March 1912, during the Italo-Turkish War. The battle took place between the Italians led by Luigi Capello and Ottoman-Senussi Forces led by Enver Pasha and Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi.
Battle of Bulair1913 CE
The Battle of Bulair took place on 8 February 1913 between the Bulgarian Seventh Rila Infantry Division under General Georgi Todorov and the Ottoman 27th Infantry Division. The result was a Bulgarian victory. Lack of communication between the Ottoman Vanguard and their landing force and stubbornness of Enver Pasha against the combined criticism from officers Ali Fethi and Mustafa Kemal against his plans costed the Ottoman 27th Brigade their full offensive capabilities. As a result, Ottoman Army could not conduct any further large-scale offensives to relieve the Siege of Edirne.
Caucasus campaign1914 CE
The Caucasus campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, later including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, the German Empire, the Central Caspian Dictatorship, and the British Empire, as part of the Middle Eastern theatre during World War I. The Caucasus campaign extended from the South Caucasus to the Armenian Highlands region, reaching as far as Trabzon, Bitlis, Mush and Van. The land warfare was accompanied by naval engagements in the Black Sea.
Battle for No.3 Post1915 CE
The battle for No.3 Post was fought during the Gallipoli Campaign in the First World War, between the forces of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and the Turkish 19th Division.
Battle of the Nek1915 CE
The Battle of the Nek was a minor battle that took place on 7 August 1915, during the Gallipoli campaign of World War I. "The Nek" was a narrow stretch of ridge on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The name derives from the Afrikaans word for 'mountain pass', but the terrain itself was a perfect bottleneck and easy to defend, as had been proven during an Ottoman attack in June. It connected Australian and New Zealand trenches on the ridge known as "Russell's Top" to the knoll called "Baby 700" on which the Ottoman defenders were entrenched.
Battle of Chunuk Bair1915 CE
The Battle of Chunuk Bair was a World War I battle fought between the Ottoman defenders and troops of the British Empire over control of the peak in August 1915. The capture of Chunuk Bair,, the secondary peak of the Sari Bair range, was one of the two objectives of the Battle of Sari Bair.
Landing at Suvla Bay1915 CE
The landing at Suvla Bay was an amphibious landing made at Suvla on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire as part of the August Offensive, the final British attempt to break the deadlock of the Battle of Gallipoli. The landing, which commenced on the night of 6 August 1915, was intended to support a breakout from the ANZAC sector, five miles (8 km) to the south.
Landing at Anzac Cove1915 CE
The landing at Anzac Cove on Sunday, 25 April 1915, also known as the landing at Gaba Tepe and, to the Turks, as the Arıburnu Battle, was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by the forces of the British Empire, which began the land phase of the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War.
Battle of Bitlis1915 CE
The Battle of Bitlis refers to a series of engagements in the summer of 1916 for the town of Bitlis and to a lesser extent nearby Muş, between Russian Imperial forces and their Ottoman counterparts. The town was the last stronghold of the Ottoman Empire preventing the Russians from entering Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Part of the battle is known as Battle of Muş
Battle of Scimitar Hill1915 CE
The Battle of Scimitar Hill was the last offensive mounted by the British at Suvla during the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I. It was also the largest single-day attack ever mounted by the Allies at Gallipoli, involving three divisions. The purpose of the attack was to remove the immediate Ottoman threat from the exposed Suvla landing and to link with the ANZAC sectors to the south. Launched on 21 August 1915 to coincide with the simultaneous attack on Hill 60, it was a costly failure, in which the Turks were forced to use all their reserves in "severe and bloody fighting" far into the night, with some Turkish trenches lost and retaken twice.
Battle of Hill 60 (Gallipoli)1915 CE
The Battle of Hill 60 was one of the last major assaults of the Gallipoli Campaign. It was launched on 21 August 1915 to coincide with the attack on Scimitar Hill made from the Suvla front by Major-General H. de B. De Lisle's British IX Corps, Frederick Stopford having been replaced in the few days previous. Hill 60 was a low knoll at the northern end of the Sari Bair range which dominated the Suvla landing. Capturing this hill along with Scimitar Hill would have allowed the Anzac and Suvla landings to be securely linked.
Battle for Baby 7001915 CE
The battle for Baby 700, was an engagement fought during the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War, between the forces of the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
Gallipoli Campaign1915 CE
The Gallipoli campaign, the Dardanelles campaign, the Defence of Gallipoli or the Battle of Gallipoli was a military campaign in the First World War on the Gallipoli Peninsula from 19 February 1915 to 9 January 1916. The Allied powers unsuccessfully attempted to make the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, capitulate by taking control of the Turkish straits. They intended to expose the Ottoman capital at Constantinople to bombardment by Allied warships and cut it off from the Asian part of the empire. An Ottoman Empire defeat could have led to unfettered Western control of the Suez Canal and the opening of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to Allied supplies headed for the Black Sea and warm-water ports in Russia.
Battle of Sari Bair1915 CE
The Battle of Sari Bair, also known as the August Offensive, represented the final attempt made by the British in August 1915 to seize control of the Gallipoli peninsula from the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.
Battle of Muş1916 CE
The Battle of Muş, also known as the Ognot campaign, took place during World War I in the southeastern Anatolian region of the Ottoman Empire, between forces of the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire. One of the commanders involved in the battle was Mustafa Kemal, who later became known as Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. The battle resulted in a Russian victory. After about three weeks of fighting, the Russians captured the city of Muş. The Ottoman Second Army suffered heavy casualties and was nearly destroyed.
Battles of Çapakçur1916 CE
The Çapakçur Battles were battles fought in 1916 between the Imperial Russian forces and the Ottoman Army for the city of Çapakçur. The battle is part of the Turkish 2nd Army's offensive.
Stalemate in Southern Palestine1917 CE
The Stalemate in Southern Palestine was a six-month standoff between the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) and the Ottoman Army in World War I. The two hostile forces faced each other along the Gaza to Beersheba line during the Sinai and Palestine campaign, with neither side able to force its opponent to withdraw. The stalemate began in April 1917 with the defeat of the EEF by the Ottoman Army at the Second Battle of Gaza and lasted until the EEF offensive began with the Battle of Beersheba on 31 October 1917.
Charge at Kiswe1918 CE
The Charge at Kiswe took place on 30 September 1918 about 9 miles (14 km) south of Damascus, during the pursuit by Desert Mounted Corps following the decisive Egyptian Expeditionary Force victory at the Battle of Megiddo, the Battle of Jisr Benat Yakub and the Charge at Kaukab during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in World War I. As Desert Mounted Corps rode along the main road from Nablus, units of the 14th Cavalry Brigade, 5th Cavalry Division, were ordered to charge a rearguard north of Kiswe, protecting columns of the Ottoman Fourth Army, retreating towards Damascus.
Battle of Sharqat1918 CE
The Battle of Sharqat was fought between the British and the Ottoman Empire in the Mesopotamian Campaign during World War I. It was the last battle fought in Ottoman Iraq during the First World War and one of the final conflicts between the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
Charge at Haritan1918 CE
The Charge at Haritan, named after a town north of Aleppo, occurred on 26 October 1918 at the end of the Pursuit to Haritan during the final stages of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Two regiments of the 15th Cavalry Brigade, 5th Cavalry Division, charged into the retreating remnant column of the Ottoman Army's Yildirim Army Group. Subsequently, six squadrons of the same brigade charged into an Ottoman rearguard position but were counterattacked and forced to retreat.
Capture of Damascus1918 CE
The Capture of Damascus occurred on 1 October 1918 after the capture of Haifa and the victory at the Battle of Samakh which opened the way for the pursuit north from the Sea of Galilee and the Third Transjordan attack which opened the way to Deraa and the inland pursuit, after the decisive Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) victory at the Battle of Megiddo during the Sinai and Palestine campaign of World War I. Damascus was captured when Indian British troops under general Barrow, the Desert Mounted Corps under general Chauvel, Prince Faisal's Sharifial Hejaz Army and an Arab army under Sharif Nasir of Medina encircled the city. Faced with this superior force, the German and Turkish troops in the city surrendered very quickly.
Charge at Kaukab1918 CE
The Charge at Kaukab took place on 30 September 1918 about 10 miles (16 km) south of Damascus during the pursuit by Desert Mounted Corps following the decisive Egyptian Expeditionary Force victory at the Battle of Megiddo and the Battle of Jisr Benat Yakub during the Sinai and Palestine campaign of World War I. As the Australian Mounted Division rode along the main road north, which connects the Galilee with Damascus via Quneitra, units of the division charged a Turkish rearguard position located across the main road on the ridge at Kaukab.
Charge at Khan Ayash1918 CE
The Charge at Khan Ayash occurred on 2 October 1918 about 17 miles (27 km) north of Damascus after the pursuit to, and capture of Damascus, which followed the decisive Egyptian Expeditionary Force victory at the Battle of Megiddo on 25 September during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. After Damascus had been encircled by Desert Mounted Corps on 30 September, the 3rd Light Horse Brigade advanced through the city on 1 October to charge and capture remnants of the Ottoman Yildirim Army Group withdrawing along the road north to Rayak and Homs.
Battle of Aleppo1918 CE
The Battle of Aleppo was fought on 25 October 1918, when Prince Feisal's Sherifial Forces captured the city during the Pursuit to Haritan from Damascus, in the last days of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the First World War.
Capture of Jisr ed Damieh1918 CE
The Capture of Jisr ed Damieh took place on 22 September 1918 during the Third Transjordan attack of the Battle of Nablus which, along with the main Battle of Sharon formed the Battle of Megiddo fought during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Units of Chaytor's Force under the commanded by Brigadier-General William Meldrum, and known as "Meldrum's Force", attacked and captured the bridge. This successful attack cut the most direct line of retreat from the Judean Hills for the Seventh and remnants of the Eighth Armies, while units from these two armies were moving towards, and crossing the Jisr ed Damieh bridge over the Jordan River. This victory by Meldrum's Force opened the way for Chaytor's Force to advance along the main Nablus to Es Salt road to capture Es Salt and to continue on to the victory at the Second Battle of Amman.
Anglo-Turkish War (1918–1923)1918 CE
During the Turkish War of Independence, the United Kingdom sought to undermine and contain the Turkish National Movement. London hoped the defeated Ottoman Empire would play a subservient role in its new Middle Eastern order drawn up over several diplomatic agreements during World War I, culminating with the Treaty of Sèvres. Another goal of the British was to prosecute Ottoman war criminals, whom they believed Constantinople/Istanbul was not taking seriously.
Battle of Nablus1918 CE
The Battle of Nablus took place, together with the Battle of Sharon during the set piece Battle of Megiddo between 19 and 25 September 1918 in the last months of the Sinai and Palestine campaign of the First World War. Fighting took place in the Judean Hills where the British Empire's XX Corps attacked the Ottoman Empire's Yildirim Army Group's Seventh Army defending their line in front of Nablus. This battle was also fought on the right flank in the Jordan Valley, where Chaytor's Force attacked and captured the Jordan River crossings, before attacking the Fourth Army at Es Salt and Amman capturing many thousands of prisoners and extensive territory. The Battle of Nablus began half a day after the main Battle of Sharon, which was fought on the Mediterranean section of the front line where the XXI Corps attacked the Eighth Army defending the line in front of Tulkarm and Tabsor and the Desert Mounted Corps which rode north to capture the Esdrealon Plain. Together these two battles, known as the Battle of Megiddo, began the Final Offensive of the war in the Sinai and Palestine campaign.
Battle of Jisr Benat Yakub1918 CE
The Battle of Jisr Benat Yakub was fought on 27 September 1918 at the beginning of the pursuit by the Desert Mounted Corps of the retreating remnants of the Yildirim Army Group towards Damascus during the Sinai and Palestine campaign of World War I. After the Battle of Samakh and the Capture of Tiberias, which completed the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's decisive victory in the Battle of Sharon section of the Battle of Megiddo, the Australian Mounted Division attacked and captured a series of rearguard positions. The positions were held by German and Ottoman soldiers of the Tiberias Group at Daughters of Jacob Bridge, an important bridge across the Jordan River, and at fords at El Min and north towards Lake Huleh.
Battle of Megiddo1918 CE
The Battle of Megiddo was fought between 19 and 25 September 1918, on the Plain of Sharon, in front of Tulkarm, Tabsor and Arara in the Judean Hills as well as on the Esdralon Plain at Nazareth, Afulah, Beisan, Jenin and Samakh. Its name, which has been described as "perhaps misleading" since very limited fighting took place near Tel Megiddo, was chosen by British commander Edmund Allenby for its biblical and symbolic resonance.
Arab Revolt1918 CE
The Arab Revolt, also known as the Great Arab Revolt, was an armed uprising by the Hashemite-led Arabs of the Hejaz against the Ottoman Empire amidst the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I.
Greco-Turkish War1919 CE
The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 was fought between Greece and the Turkish National Movement during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, between 15 May 1919 and 14 October 1922. This conflict was a part of the Turkish War of Independence.
Turkish–Armenian War1920 CE
The Turkish invasion of Armenia, also known as the Turkish–Armenian War and known in Turkey as the Eastern Front of the Turkish War of Independence, was a conflict fought between the recently established First Republic of Armenia and the Turkish National Movement, following the signing of the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920. The treaty transferred vast portions of eastern Anatolia from the Ottoman Empire to Armenia, including the towns of Trabzon, Erzurum and Van. While delegates of the Ottoman government reluctantly signed the treaty following their defeat in World War I, members of the Ottoman parliament refused to ratify it. The treaty greatly angered the Turkish Nationalists, led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who refused to recognize it. In September 1920, remnants of the Ottoman Army's XV Corps under the command of Kâzım Karabekir, attacked Western Armenia with orders from the Ankara Government to "eliminate Armenia physically and politically".
Second Battle of İnönü1921 CE
The Second Battle of İnönü was fought between March 23 and April 1, 1921 near İnönü in present-day Eskişehir Province, Turkey during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22), also known as the western front of the larger Turkish War of Independence. It marked a turning point in the Greco-Turkish War and the Turkish War of Independence of which it was a part, as Greek forces had previously been victorious over mostly irregular Turkish forces and suffered their first major halt in Asia minor campaign.
Kurdish–Turkish conflict1921 CE
Kurdish nationalist uprisings have periodically occurred in Turkey, beginning with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state and continuing to the present day with the current PKK–Turkey conflict.
Battle of Sakarya1921 CE
The Battle of the Sakarya, also known as the Battle of the Sangarios, was an important engagement in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922).
Turkish capture of Smyrna1922 CE
The Turkish capture of Smyrna or the Liberation of İzmir marked the end of the 1919–1922 Greco-Turkish War, and the culmination of the Turkish War of Independence. On 9 September 1922, following the headlong retreat of the Greek army after its defeat at the Battle of Dumlupınar and its evacuation from western Anatolia, the Turkish 5th Cavalry Corps under the command of Major-General Fahrettin Altay within Turkish Army under the command of Mustafa Kemal Pasha marched into the city of Smyrna, bringing three years of Greek occupation to an end.
Battle of Dumlupınar1922 CE
The Battle of Dumlupınar, also known as Field Battle of the Commander-in-Chief in Turkey, was one of the important battles in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). The battle was fought from 26 to 30 August 1922 near Dumlupınar, Kütahya in Turkey.
Assyrian rebellion1924 CE
The Assyrian rebellion was an uprising by the Assyrians in Hakkari which was administered by Assyrians at the time. It began in July 1924 and ended on 28 September that same year. This was the first rebellion in the newly formed Republic of Turkey. After the rebellion ended, 8,000 Assyrians were deported into Mandatory Iraq.
Sheikh Said rebellion1925 CE
The Sheikh Said rebellion was a Kurdish nationalist and Islamist rebellion in Southeast Anatolia from February to March 1925 led by Sheikh Said and with support of the Azadî movement and local religious and feudal leaders against the newly-founded secular Republic of Turkey. The rebellion was mostly led by Zazas, but also gained support among some of the neighboring Kurmanji-speaking Kurds in the region.
Ararat rebellion1927 CE
The Ararat rebellion, also known as the Ağrı rebellion, was a 1930 uprising by the Kurds of Ağrı Province, in eastern Turkey, against the Turkish government. The leader of the guerrilla forces during the rebellion was Ihsan Nuri of the Jibran branch of the Jalali tribe.
Zilan massacre1930 CE
The Zilan massacre was the massacre of thousands of Kurdish civilians by the Turkish Land Forces in the Zilan Valley of Van Province on 12/13 July 1930, during the Ararat rebellion in Ağrı Province.

Event data from Wikipedia/Wikidata (CC-BY-SA). Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected].