How did the rise of competing for nationalist movements in the Ottoman Empire before and during World War I contribute to its collapse?
In the Ottoman Empire, the official state religion was Islam. Muslim adherents held all rights as opposed to non-Muslims whose rights were restricted. Any non-Islamic was recognized as millet, meaning a nation. The idea of nationalism became essential to some sections of the Ottoman Empire because of the development of age enlightenment and romanticism in Europe. Most of the “nations” under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire, such as the Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, and Montenegrins, preserved their identities and consciousness. The Serbia Revolution became the first rebellion against the Ottoman Empire to follow a nationalist agenda. The rest followed this trend to fight for the independence of their regions. Thus, nationalism caused some sections of the Ottoman Empire to rebel against the Ottomans and establish independent states.
The departure of the non-Muslim population from the Ottoman Empire led to the emergence of Arab nationalism as a nationalist ideology. It began to promote the idea that Arab is a single nation that should celebrate Arab civilization, literature, and language. In the late 19th century, conflicts between Islamic and Christian.
During its entire rein, the Ottoman Turks used different approaches to govern the diverse Muslim Arab subjects. For example, it maintained an official presence in areas such as Medina and Mecca but allowed the nomadic tribes to continue with their ways of life. However, rural populations such as Iraq (Mesopotamia), Egypt, Syria, and Palestine were under the direct control of the imperial administration. By the start of World War I, Arab nationalism began to emerge fueled by educated urban elites. It was also drawing inspiration from trends emerging from 19th-century western ideas such as enlightenment as well as the independence of the Slavic states and other Christian minorities that had gained independence by 1912.
The rise of the Pan-Turkic nationalist movement contributed to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. First, it alienated loyal subjects in Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Syria. At the same time, the completion of the Hejaz railway in 1908 caused resentment in the Arabian interior. Although the railway line linked made it easy for Muslims to travel to Medina from Damascus for Hajj, traditional clan leaders saw it as an intrusion to their way of life. The fact that the railway could transport thousands of people to Mecca for Hajj, it could also deliver the same number of soldiers, custom inspectors, and tax collectors. As a result, these communities began to resist the intrusion. The city-based Arab nationalists used the backlash to create disaffection with the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, by the time the Ottoman Empire was entering World War I, there was enough disaffection against the Arab nationalists that British imperialism used to gain a foothold in the region. Thus, the rise of Pan-Turk nationalism alienated its Arab support base causing Arab nationalism to rise and fight the Empire.