MUSTAFA KEMAL (1881-1938), Turkish soldier and statesman, was born in comparatively modest circumstances in Salonika. His father was a customs officer who afterwards en tered the timber trade and died when Mustafa was yet a small child. The boy was brought up and educated by his mother, a woman of character and ability. He completed his primary edu cation in Salonika and entered a secondary school in the same place; but, having been maltreated by his Arabic teacher, he left school, against his family's wish, and secretly entered the military preparatory school. There he proved to be an exceptional student, especially in mathematics. His teacher in mathematics, who was also named "Mustafa," gave him the distinctive surname of "Kemal" (an Arabic word meaning "perfection"), as a tribute to his unusual ability. Such was his popularity at the military academy that, although he already took an active interest in politics and bitterly criticised the despotism of Abdu'l-Hamid, he was never denounced.
In 1904 he was gazetted lieutenant, but on the same day arrested, and after examination, banished to Damascus. Here, after observing the deplorable condition into which the civil and military organization of the empire had fallen, he founded in 1905 the secret political society "Vatan" ("Fatherland"). From Damascus he was transferred to Jaffa, whence he made his way secretly to Salonika to organize a similar political movement in the European provinces. The association which he founded at Salonika was afterwards affiliated to the Union and Progress Society. The Constantinople Government now again ordered his arrest ; but he escaped, and the Government presently forgot him. In 1907 he was promoted and sent to Salonika, where he resumed his revolutionary activities.
When the revolution of 1908 re-established the constitution of 1876, Mustafa Kemal found himself in serious disagreement with the leaders of the victorious Union and Progress party. His political views were more radical than theirs and he protested, though in vain, against the participation of the army in politics. In consequence he abandoned politics for the time and turned his whole energy into his military career, in which he advanced rapidly. He was loved and respected by the younger officers, but some of his superiors mistrusted his uncompromising attitude. In 1911 he went to Tripoli incognito to take part in the war against the Italians. There he was promoted major. The first Balkan war was over before he could return; but in July 1913, during the second Balkan war, he was appointed chief of the staff to the newly-organized army corps on the Gallipoli peninsula, where he made a detailed first-hand study of the problem of defending the Dardanelles. After the restoration of peace, he was appointed
military attaché at Sofia, with the rank of colonel, and held this post until after the intervention of Turkey in the World War in the autumn of 1914.
Mustafa Kemal believed that Turkey had entered the war pre maturely and that Germany was doomed to eventual defeat. Possibly, for this reason, his desire to return to active service was not encouraged ; but, on his insistence, he was appointed com mander of the forces at Rodosto, and afterwards (in 1915) at the Dardanelles. He inspired the defence of the straits against the British attack—this, when the Turkish high command had lost hope. During the final British assault a splinter of shell right over the heart was intercepted by his watch and he thus escaped with his life.
Mustafa Kemal was then sent to the Caucasus, where he was promoted to the rank of pasha and recovered Bitlis and Mush from the Russians. In 1917 he was posted to the Hejaz. His pro posal to recall all the forces in the Hejaz to reinforce the Syrian front was not adopted, but later in the same year he was ap pointed to the command of the VII. Army Corps in the force which the German general Von Falkenhayn was organizing with a view to the recovery of Baghdad. At this time Germany's in tervention in the internal affairs of Turkey had reached its height, and Mustafa Kemal Pasha put himself at the head of the oppo sition to it. He sent in a succession of reports adverse to the Baghdad expedition, which he thought would end in another dis aster, and when his advice was ignored he resigned. He was then transferred to the II. Army Corps, but abstained from taking up his command owing to disagreement on questions of principle with General Headquarters. Sent on a mission to the German G.H.Q. with the heir apparent Vahydu'd-Din Efendi, in the pres ence of Generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff, he expressed out spokenly his pessimistic views regarding the outcome of the war. In 1918 he yielded to the insistence of Vahydu'd-Din Efendi, who had now meanwhile succeeded to the throne as Sultan Mehmed VI., and accepted command of the VII. Army Corps in Palestine, but all chance of taking the offensive, or even averting disaster, had now disappeared. Mustafa Kemal again distinguished him self, however, in keeping together the remnants of his corps on the retreat which followed General Allenby's great victory, and before the end of September was appointed commander-in-chief of all the corps constituting the so-called Yildirim group.