Key historical dates 1850 - 1940

Selected dates.

Date	Event
1 July 1839	Accession of Sultan Abdül Mejid 1st
23 October 1853	The Sultan declares war to Russia, beginning of Crimean war.
10 September 1855	Fall of Sebastopol, end of Crimean War
30 March 1856	Congress & Treaty of Paris: Serbia & Moldavia / Wallachia become self governing under Ottoman suzerainty
25 June 1861	Accession of Sultan Abdül Aziz
4 February 1863	Foundation of Imperial Ottoman Bank
17 November 1869	Opening of Suez Canal
30 May 1876	Accession of Murad V
1 September 1876	Accession of Sultan Abülhamit II
19 April 1877	Russia declares war to the Ottoman empire.
3 March 1878	Treaty of San Stefanos. Russia gains Kars. Roumania becomes independent. This is confirmed on 13 July by the treaty of Berlin
13 July 1878	End of Congress of Berlin: Serbia, Roumania, Bulgaria become independent. Bosnia Herzegovina occupied by Austria
24 May 1881	Thessaly ceded to Greece
24 July 1908	CUP forces Abülhamit II to introduce constitutional rules and in effect takes power (So called Young Türks revolution)
27 April 1909	Sultan Abülhamit II is deposed and replaced by Mehmet V
4 November 1910	Entrevue de Potsdam: Guillaume II and Nicolas II, the Germans can proceed with the Bagdad bahn, Russia special interest in Persia are recognized by Germany
8 October 1912	1st Balkan war, Salonica falls to Greece
19 June 1913	2nd Balkan war, new Bulgarian frontier
2 November 1914	Russia declares wars on Ottoman Empire (followed by France and Britain)
January 1915	Ottomans defeated by Russians at Sarikamis
18 March 1915	Beginning of Gallipoli battle
9 January 1916	Allies complete retreat from Gallipoli
16 February 1916	Russian forces takes Erzurum
3 December 1917	Brest-Litovsk treaty between Germany and Russian Bolsheviks.
3 July 1918	Sultan Mehmet V dies and is replaced by Vahdettin (Sultan Mehmet VI)
30 October 1918	Mudros Armistice between Ottomans and the Allies
15 May 1919	Greek forces occupies Izmir
22 June 1919	Mustafa Kemal meets the Nationalist commanders and issues first resistance proclamation
27 December 1919	Mustafa Kemal arrives in Ankara
16 March 1920	British troops compete occupation of Istanbul
22 June 1920	Greek troops cross Milne line and occupies western Anatolia.
10 August 1920	Treaty of Sèvres
30 October 1920	Kars captured from the Armenians, Victory confirmed by the treaty of Gümrü, 2 December 1920
10 July 1921	Kütahya and Eskisehir captured by Greek forces
13 October 1921	Treaty of Kars
20 October 1921	French Turkish Angora accord (Franklin-Bouillon accord), French forces withdraw from Cilicia.
26 August 1922	Turkish troops launch decisive offensive against the Greeks.
9 September 1922	Turkish troops occupies Izmir
23 September 1922	Turkish troops enter the straights neutral zone
17 November 1922	Sultan Vahdettin flees from Istanbul
24 July 1923	Treaty of Lausanne
2 October 1923	Allies evacuates from Istanbul
29 October 1923	Turkish Republic proclaimed
1 November 1928	Latin alphabet and numerals is adopted by law
27 May 1935	International week-end adopted
20 July 1936	Montreux convention
10 November 1938	Mustafa Kemal Ataturk dies at 9h05
29 June 1939	Hatay (formerly Sancak of Alexandretta) becomes part of Turkey.