Mehmed V

Mehmed V Reşâd, son of Sultan Abdülmecid I, came to the throne in 1909 after his half-brother Abdul Hamid II was deposed following a failed coup. His nine years as sultan saw three more coups, four wars, and eleven governments while the Committee of Union and Progress and the Three Pashas tightened their grip. The Italo-Turkish War cost the empire its North African territories and the Dodecanese; the First Balkan War stripped away nearly all European land west of Constantinople. The Ottomans entered World War I in November 1914, and though Mehmed declared jihad, his ministers showed little regard for his authority. In 1915 the CUP initiated the Armenian genocide against his wishes - his private disapproval changed nothing. He died on 3 July 1918 with defeat closing in on the Palestinian and Macedonian fronts, the Arab Revolt spreading, and military collapse weeks away.