Background: the end of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire had ruled much of the Middle East and Southeast Europe for six centuries. After defeat in WWI (Unit 10.5), the Empire was dismembered by the Treaty of Sèvres (1920), with Arab provinces becoming European mandates and parts of Anatolia (the Turkish heartland) assigned to Greece, Italy, France, and Britain. The Ottoman Sultan accepted these terms; Turkish nationalists did not.