Historical Figures

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Citation Formats

General Reference

History Atlas. "Mustafa Kemal Ataturk." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://history.interactiveatlas.org/historical-figures/mustafa-kemal-ataturk.

APA Style

History Atlas. (n.d.). Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://history.interactiveatlas.org/historical-figures/mustafa-kemal-ataturk

BibTeX

@misc{historyatlas-mustafa-kemal-ataturk,
  author = {History Atlas},
  title = {Mustafa Kemal Ataturk},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://history.interactiveatlas.org/historical-figures/mustafa-kemal-ataturk},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was an Ottoman army officer and Turkish statesman who founded the modern Republic of Turkey and served as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He first rose to national prominence as a commander defending the Gallipoli Peninsula against Allied invasion during the First World War, then led nationalist forces to victory in the Turkish War of Independence following the war. As president he carried out sweeping political, legal, social and cultural reforms intended to transform Turkey into a secular, Western-oriented nation state, a program of reform later known as Kemalism that continued to shape Turkish political culture long after his death.

Facts

Disputed

Birth Year

1881 1

Wikipedia gives the birth year as c. 1881; no birth record survives and the exact date is conventionally celebrated as 19 May.

Death Date

1938-11-10 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Participant In

Turkish War of Independence

Additional Source Wikipedia: Turkish War of IndependenceLead section (edge: participant Ataturk)

World War I

Additional Source Wikipedia: Mustafa Kemal AtaturkLead section, Gallipoli

Sources

1. Wikipedia: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

WikipediaLead section

Quote, Lead section

He undertook sweeping progressive reforms, which modernized Turkey into a secular, industrializing nation...he rose to prominence as an officer during the World War I Battle of Gallipoli.

View the Source

1. Wikipedia: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

WikipediaInfobox (birth)

Quote, Infobox (birth)