Abstract
The reasons for the outbreaks of July I908 and April I909 in Turkey, which amounted to a constitutional revolution, were complex and varied. Foremost amongst them was the dominance of the court under Abdulhamid, the ruling Sultan. Power was monopolized by a small group around the Palace which took the major decisions of Ottoman politics, but this did not ensure stability and continuity, since grand vezirs and ministers could be changed at will; during Abdulhamid's reign there were 28 changes at the grand vezirate. Apart from the obvious shortcomings, such as intrigues, graft, and peculation, the inefficiency and total absence of stability, the main criticism of this system was that it gave the opportunity to participate in political life even nominally to very few. This, at a time when new forces were emerging, was bound to lead to trouble, and slowly the system's critics united against the Palace; when the crisis came the Sultan found himself isolated, unable to turn to or rely upon any outside interest.
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