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Difficulty: Very hardShifting Power After 1900

The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 was not merely a military coup but the culmination of a protracted struggle against the autocracy of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. However, the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) faced an insoluble dilemma. In attempting to centralize administration and forge a unified Ottoman identity ('Ottomanism'), they increasingly resorted to policies of Turkification. This alienated the empire's diverse Christian and Arab populations, who viewed these centralizing measures not as a path to equality, but as an erasure of their traditional autonomy. Compounded by aggressive European encroachment in the Balkans and North Africa, these internal ethnic tensions accelerated the fragmentation of the state.

—Adapted from a modern historical analysis of the late Ottoman Empire

Which of the following historical developments in another land-based empire in the early twentieth century represents a similar internal dynamic to the political challenge described in the passage?

  1. The Russian Empire's efforts to enforce Russification policies, which alienated non-Russian ethnic minorities and intensified opposition to the tsarist state.Answer
  2. B
    The Bolshevik faction's rapid consolidation of political authority during the October Revolution by suppressing regional workers' councils.
  3. C
    The implementation of the League of Nations mandate system, which granted immediate self-determination and political autonomy to former imperial territories.
  4. D
    The establishment of direct European colonial rule and territorial annexation in Latin America to enforce mercantilist monopolies.

Answer

The Russian Empire's efforts to enforce Russification policies, which alienated non-Russian ethnic minorities and intensified opposition to the tsarist state.
The correct answer is correct because the late Russian Empire, like the late Ottoman Empire, attempted to modernize and centralize its state by enforcing a dominant cultural and linguistic identity (Russification) over a highly diverse, multiethnic population. This policy backfired by alienating groups such as Finns, Poles, and Ukrainians, thereby accelerating the collapse of the Romanov dynasty under the pressure of internal revolution and external war.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the historical challenge described in the stimulus.
The stimulus outlines how the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress attempted to centralize the state through 'Turkification' policies, which provoked resistance from minority populations and contributed to the empire's collapse.
This establishes the core historical dynamic of centralizing reforms causing ethnic fragmentation in a multiethnic empire.
2
Identify a parallel process in another early twentieth-century land-based empire.
The Russian Empire faced a similar challenge when it pursued 'Russification' under the late tsarist regime, enforcing Russian culture and language on minorities such as Poles, Ukrainians, and Finns.
This policy likewise generated intense internal opposition and destabilized the empire prior to the 1917 revolutions.

Key Concept

Collapse of land-based empires due to internal ethnic tensions and centralized modernization policies
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Topics

Shifting Power After 1900

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