Enver Pasha (1881-1922)

Turkish politician and soldier. He led the military revolt of 1908 that resulted in the Young Turks' revolution (see Turkey). He was killed fighting the Bolsheviks in Turkestan.

He entered the army in 1898, became active in the Young Turk movement in 1905, and following the 1908 revolution was appointed military attaché to Berlin. He returned to Salonika in 1909 when the Turkish counter-revolution began and assisted in the overthrow of Abdul Hamid. He was active in organizing the Arabs of Tripoli in the Tripoli War against Italy in 1911, and in the Second Balkan War he recaptured Adrianople from the Bulgarians in 1913. By that time he had been appointed minister of war, with the rank of Pasha, and married a princess.

His pro-German influence was a major factor in the Turkish decision to align with Germany against the Allies in World War I, although his attempts at military command during the war were invariably failures. After the Turkish surrender he fled to the Caucasus, from where he urged resistance to the terms of the peace treaty. Having no success in returning to power in Turkey, he joined a group of anti-Bolsheviks in Uzbekistan and was killed leading them in a skirmish.