JM-147: Swimming the Hellespont

This cartoon depicts the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état, in which the Committee of Union and Progress overthrew the monarchy of the Sultan. The Committee of Union and Progress was a political group, which had aligned itself with the Young Turks. The young Turks were a group that sought to turn the Ottoman Empire into a constitutional government. A statesman in Constantinople, Kamil Pasha had been working to eliminate the Committee of Union and Progress. In response to this, the Committee launched a coup, and quickly ousted the Ottoman government. The Hellespont, now referred to as the Dardanelles, was a waterway near Constantinople. (Summary created by Mary Delano, MU History Intern, Spring 2018)