Muhammad V

Muhammad V or Mehmet V,1844–1918, Ottoman sultan (1909–18). He succeeded to the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) when the liberal Young Turk revolution of 1909 deposed his brother, Abd al-Hamid II. He exercised no actual power under the new constitution, and the administration was dominated by Enver Pasha. During Muhammad's reign Turkey lost most of its remaining European possessions in the Balkan Wars (1912–13) and lost Tripoli to Italy in 1911–12. Germany gained increasing influence over Turkish affairs, resuming the construction of the Baghdad Railway in 1911. Muhammad sided with the Central Powers in World War I. He died shortly before the Turkish surrender and was succeeded by his brother, Muhammad VI.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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