Султан Мехмед V

HIM Mehmed V, Great Sultan and Padishah of the Ottoman Empire, reigned from 1909 to 1918 succeeding his brother Sultan Abdulhamid II. During his reign his rule was mostly symbolic with real power laying in the hands of the Young Turks who had put him on the throne. He was an accomplished poet and literary scholar who tried to foster greater unity among the peoples of the Ottoman Empire but he was thwarted by nationalism. During the Balkan Wars Turkey lost most all of her remaining holdings in Europe. Mehmed V did not want to get involved in World War I but was pushed into it anyway. In 1914, as the Caliph of Islam, he declared holy war on the Allies calling on all Muslims in the world to rally to the defense of the Ottoman Empire. His appeal fell mostly on deaf ears with many Muslims joining the British and French against the Turks such as in the Arab Revolt of 1916. Prior to the war ending in defeat for his empire Sultan Mehmed V died in 1918.