For the People, Despite the People - The Atatürk Revolution

Overview

At the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire paid the ultimate price for choosing the wrong side. The winners, Britain and France, marched in and began to carve it up. Then an army arose out of nowhere, expelled the invaders from its homeland, and proclaimed the Republic of Turkey. All because of one man, Mustafa Kemal, or, as he came to be known, Atatürk -- father of the Turks. Enormously ambitious for himself and his people, Atatürk saw independence as just the beginning. He would not only transform the government, but also how people dressed, worshipped, wrote, and named themselves -- individually and as a nation.