For the Ottoman Empire, the late 19th century was a period of rapid modernization. Schools were built, railroads were constructed, shipyards were modernized, and almshouses were established to help the poor.

However, the improvement of education and living conditions, along with the influx of Western ideas, gave rise to radical nationalists.

In 1897, despite the Ottoman victory in the war against Greece, the empire was forced by pressure from the Great Powers to hand over practical control of Crete to Greece. This pushed nationalist discontent to its peak.

Eleven years later, in 1908, Britain and Russia held a meeting in Reval regarding the ethnic issues in Ottoman Macedonia.

Nationalists viewed this meeting as another attempt by the Great Powers to divide the Ottoman Empire. In July of that year, the CUP rose in revolt out of fear.

This was the Young Turk Revolution of 1908.

Ismail Enver also participated in the revolution as an officer belonging to the Committee of Union and Progress.

The CUP championed Turkic nationalism, and the various ethnic minorities of the Ottoman Empire, who had been bound together by Pan-Islamism, no longer saw a reason to remain under the empire.

Finally, in 1912, the Balkan Wars broke out.

The Ottoman Empire suffered a crushing defeat in the Balkan Wars.