October 30: The End of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire entered World War I on this date in 1914, on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and surrendered by signing the Armistice of Mudros on this date in 1918. Thirty-nine new countries were eventually created through the dismemberment of the Empire. The British had captured Jerusalem in 1917 and were given a formal mandate for Palestine by the League of Nations in 1922. Although Jews had generally fared well under the Ottomans, the transition to British rule shortly after the Balfour Declaration gave Jews in Palestine high hopes that “a national home for the Jewish people,” as the Mandate preamble put it, would soon be established. However, the competing claims and multiple conflicts among Jews, Arabs, and imperialist powers would postpone that outcome until it was almost too late for the Jewish people.

“When the news of expulsion [from Spain in 1492] reached the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan Beyazit II issued a decree to welcome the Jews. A significant portion of those expelled thus came to Ottoman Empire...” —Turkish Times, May 1, 2001