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Enver Pasha. Photo By Nicola Perscheid.

10 Facts About Enver Pasha

Enver Pa艧a is a Turkish millitary rule of the ottoman empire who lived between 1881 to 1922.

He was born on 22nd November 1881 in Constantinople modern-day Istanbul Turkey.

He served as an Ottoman general and commander in chief and is also a hero of the Young Turk Revolution of 1908.

He was one of the three leading members of the Ottoman government from 1913 to 1918.
He greatly influenced the Ottoman entry into World War I  and alignment to Germany, though he suffered  a devastating defeat in 1918.

Upon his defeat he fled to Germany and offered himself to help Russia crush Muslim  rebels only for him to switch sides and organize the Turkic peoples of Central Asia against the Soviets. He was killed in action on 4th August 1922.
Later in absentia he was charged with war crimes and convicted to death in absentia for his role in the Armenian genocide one Ottoman controversial and emotive matter that has never been closed to date.
However, in recent times, he has been hailed with the most recent recognition being by the current Turkey president Erdogan for his role in organizing the Turkish People.
Below are some amazing facts about the great Turkish leader;

1. Born Envier Ismail in Constantinople

Enver was born in Constantinople modern-day Istanbul on 22 November 1881 his father, Ahmed is thought to have worked in the military either as a bridge keeper in Monastir or as a prosecutor in a small Albanian town in the Balkans.

His mother Ay艧e Dilara was an Albanian. He had two younger brothers, Nuri and Mehmed Kamil, and two younger sisters, Hasene and Mediha.
He was married to Naciye Sultan a daughter of 艦ehzade Selim Suleiman and Ay艧e Terziter Han谋m from a royal lineage of sultan Abdulmejid I.

2. He Studied in Military Schools

At the age of six, he moved, with his father to Monastir where he attended primary school. He studied in different military institutions and ultimately graduated from the Ottoman Military Academy in 1902. Having graduated from the Military Academy he immediately gained the rank of Mektebli, which loosely meant a schooled soldier.

3. Enver Showed  Organizational and Leadership Skills at an Early Age

His first experience was between 1903 and 1908 when he fought against the Bulgarians at the same time gaining familiarity with guerilla warfare. It was during this time he became convinced of the need for reform of the Ottoman military loyal to the Sultan. This propelled him to join and be part of the organizers of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution.
Enver became a member of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), a Young Turk organization that agitated against Abdul Hamid II’s absolute rule. He joined General Mahmud Sevket, under whose command an Army of Deliverance advanced to Constantinople to depose the Ottoman sultan Abd眉lhamid II.

In 1911 he organized the defense of Libya against Italy and in 1913, after leading the January 23 coup which installed the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) in power, he reversed the Ottoman defeat in the First Balkan War by recapturing Edirne (Adrianople) from the Bulgarians.

4. He was the governor of Bangh膩z墨 –Modern Day Libya-from 1912

Enver Pasha as the Governor of Benghazi Modern day Libya. Photo by By K芒mil Efendi. .

In 1911, when warfare broke out between Italy and the Ottoman Empire, he organized the Ottoman resistance in Libya, and in 1912 he was appointed the governor of Bangh膩z墨 (Benghazi; now in modern Libya).
He formed one-third of the dictatorial triumvirate known as the “Three Pashas” along with Talaat Pasha and Cemal Pasha in the Ottoman Empire.

5. He Became Minister for War in 1914

However multiple crises in the Empire including the 31 March Incident, the Balkan Wars, and the power struggle with the Freedom and Accord Party made Enver and the Unionists disillusioned with political pluralism. After the 1913 Ottoman coup d鈥櫭﹖at that brought the CUP directly to power, Enver Pasha took control of the Ottoman army, becoming (4 January 1914) the Minister of War, while Talaat took control over the civilian government.

6. He led Turkey in World War I

Enver Pasa together with the Young Turks鈥� revolutionary leaders steered the Ottoman into the war on the side of the Central Powers by entering into an alliance with Germany. While nominal command of the Ottoman armies was exercised by Turkish officers, planning, strategizing, and financing devolved to the largely German military mission serving out of the War Ministry.
In pursuit of his quest for a Pan-Turkic empire stretching to Central Asia, Enver personally led the first major campaign against Russia which resulted in a disastrous defeat at the border outpost of Sarikamish in the Armenian highlands.

7. At the End of the War Enver took Refuge in Germany

As for Enver, in 1920 he traveled to Russia and offered his services to the new Soviet regime which sent him to quell a rebellion among the Muslims of Central Asia, only to see him join the Basmaji revolt as soon as he arrived in Bukhara. He was killed in action by Soviet forces.

8. He a Scheme to Exterminate Armenians

He took the first steps to implement the CUP blueprint for genocide by ordering the Armenian recruits in the Ottoman forces to be disarmed and reassigned to labor battalions before their summary executions. While these instructions were explained on the basis of accusations of treasonous activity, the defeat of his army only provided the pretext for escalating a campaign of extermination whose instruments had already been forged and which now were unleashed against the civilian population also.
Within the Ministry of War, Enver had at his disposal a secret outfit called the Special Organization (SO), Teshkil芒ti Mahsusa in Turkish.
The SO was led by Behaeddin Shakir, a medical doctor, and its cohorts in the field were commanded by CUP confidants whose singular assignment was the execution of the Armenian population. These mobile killer units carried out systematic massacres of the deported Armenians. Upon the collapse of the Russian front in 1918, the advance of the Ottoman armies into the Caucasus, under the command of Enver’s brother, Nuri, provided further opportunity for the SO operatives to instigate atrocities against Armenians in Azerbaijan.
A post-war tribunal in Constantinople tried him in absentia and condemned him to death. Many officers of the Special Organization were arrested by the British occupation authorities after the Ottoman surrender. While some were eventually put on trial and found guilty of crimes, most eluded justice when Mustafa Kemal negotiated their release in exchange for British prisoners.

9. He was Charged with Wartime Atrocities in Absentia

Enver Pasha led a disastrous attack on Russian forces in the Battle of Sarikamish, after which he blamed Armenians for his defeat.
Ismail Enver Pasha as a millitary officer was the principal proponent of Germanophile policies in the Young Turk government
This led to a series of genocide that occurred during the 1910s鈥�1920s that are viewed as attacks on Christians and as parts of a single event rather than separate events which were initiated by the Young Turks.
He was specifically accused of causing the Armenian genocide where over 1.8 million lives were lost.

10. He Died in Slovakia 

Enver Pasha Grave in Monument of Liberty cemetery in Istanbul. Photo by Basak Tosun.

In 1920 he traveled to Russia from Germany where he had sought refuge upon Ottoman defeat and he offered his services to the new Soviet regime to quell a rebellion among the Muslims of Central Asia. However, he joined the Basmaji revolt as soon as he arrived in Bukhara, but he couldn鈥檛 stand the Soviet red Army and was killed in action.