Key Figures and Movements in Late Ottoman Empire

Young Ottomans

Group against central government and Tanzimats. Wanted individual freedom and local autonomy.

Abdul Hamid II

Ottoman sultan focused on the reorganization of the empire.

Young Turks (Committee on Union and Progress)

Progressive group of Ottomans that wanted to modernize the empire. Wanted equal rights and women's rights.

Mehmed V

"Puppet" sultan installed by the Young Turks. Didn't actually rule.

Mehmed Talaat

One of the three in the triumvirate that started the Armenian Genocide. Minister of interior.

Lord Cromer

British authority in Egypt that had a very Euro-centric point of view, and in some ways helped Egypt, but also made it clear that the Egyptians were inferior.

Sharif Husayn ibn Ali

Ambitious leader of the Arabs who made a correspondence with McMahon in order to create an Arab independent state. Descendant of Abdul Hamid II.

Sir Henry McMahon

British high commissioner in Egypt that made vague deals with Husayn in order to take down the Ottomans, but then arguably broke the deal and made plans with France to divide the area.

Mark Sykes

British representative that planned with France to take apart the Ottoman empire after the war and divide between them.

François Georges-Picot

French representative that planned with Britain to take apart the Ottoman empire after the war and divide between them.

Captain T. E. Lawrence

One of the British advisors that helped with the Arab revolt, led by Husayn's son Faysal.

Leo Pinsker

Wrote a book that stated the only solution to anti-Semitism was for the Jews to have an independent Jewish state.

Theodor Herzl

Similar views to Pinsker, but more well known, partly because he was more of an intellectual, but also he was able to bring the different forming groups of Zionists together into an effective cause.

Chaim Weizmann

Spokesman in London that convinced the British government to support Zionism.

Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour

The British foreign secretary that approved the request of Zionism and wrote a vague declaration about the Jews being able to return to a homeland in Palestine.