Ismail Enver Pasha |
|
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Minister of War | |
In office 4 January 1914 – 13 October 1918 |
|
Prime Minister | Said Halim Pasha |
Preceded by | Ahmet Izzet Pasha |
Succeeded by | Ahmet Izzet Pasha |
Personal details | |
Born |
Ismail Enver 22 November 1881 Constantinople, Constantinople Vilayet, Ottoman Empire |
Died | 4 August 1922 Bukharan People's Soviet Republic, (present-day Tajikistan) |
(aged 40)
Nationality | Ottoman |
Political party | Committee of Union and Progress |
Spouse(s) | HIH Princess Naciye Sultan, 24 February 1914 |
Alma mater | Harp Akademisi (1903) |
Signature |
Ismail Enver Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: اسماعیل انور پاشا; Turkish: İsmail Enver Paşa; 22 November 1881 – 4 August 1922) was an Ottoman military officer and a leader of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. He became the main leader of the Ottoman Empire in both the Balkan Wars (1912–13) and in World War I (1914–18). In the course of his career he was known by increasingly elevated titles as he rose through military ranks, including Enver Efendi (انور افندي), Enver Bey (انور بك), and finally Enver Pasha, "pasha" being the honorary title Ottoman military officers gained on promotion to the rank of Mirliva (major general).
After the Ottoman coup d’état of January 1913, Enver Pasha became (4 January 1914) the Minister of War of the Ottoman Empire, forming one-third of the triumvirate known as the "Three Pashas" (along with Talaat Pasha and Djemal Pasha) who held de facto rule over the Empire from 1913 until the end of World War I in 1918. As war minister and de facto Commander-in-Chief (despite his role as the de jure Deputy Commander-in-Chief, as the Sultan formally held the title), Enver Pasha was the most powerful figure of the government of the Ottoman Empire. He decided to involve the Empire in World War I on the side of Germany. Along with Talaat and Djemal, he was one of the principal perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide and thus is held responsible for the death of between 800,000 and 1,800,000 Armenians.