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The Young Turks were a Turkish nationalist reform party, officially known as the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) — in Turkish the Ittihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti — whose leaders led a rebellion against Sultan Abdul Hamid II (who was officially deposed and exiled in 1909). They ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1908 until the end of World War I in November 1918.

The Young Turks had their origins in secret societies of progressive university students and military cadets, driven underground along with all political dissent after the constitution was abrogated by the Sultan. Like their European forerunners, such as the carbonari of the Italian Risorgimento, they typically formed cells, of which only one member might be connected to another cell. From the spontaneous bloodless revolution in Saloniki that led to the old pasha's resignation, the CUP was a force to be reckoned with.

In 1913, as the government was losing the Second Balkan War, the CUP seized power. The CUP-led government was headed by Minister of the Interior/Grand Vizier, Mehmed Talaat (Talaat Pasha, 1874– 1921Events January 2 The first religious radio broadcast ( KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) January 2 Spanish liner Santa Isabel sinks off Villa Garcia 244 dead January 2 DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens. January 20 Republic of Turke). Working with him were Minister of War Ismail EnverIsmail Enver known to Europeans during his political career as Enver Pasha ( Istanbul, November 22, 1881 August 4, 1922) was a military officer and a leader of the Young Turk revolution in the closing days of the Ottoman Empire. He was a vocal supporter o (Enver Pasha, 1881Events January 16- 24 ? Siege of Geok Tepe ? Russian troops under general Skobeleff defeat Turkomans January 25 Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company February 5 Phoenix, Arizona is incorporated. February 13 First issu– 1922Events January 7 Dali Eireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64-57 votes. January 10 Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dail Eireann January 11 First successful insulin treatment of diabetes. January 12 British government releases Irish prisoners) and Minister of the Navy Ahmed Djemal (Dejmal Pasha, 1872Events January 2 Brigham Young, is arrested for bigamy (25 wives). February 20 In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens. March 1 Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park March 5 George Westinghouse patents t– 1922Events January 7 Dali Eireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64-57 votes. January 10 Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dail Eireann January 11 First successful insulin treatment of diabetes. January 12 British government releases Irish prisoners). Until German archives were opened, historians treated the CUP government as a dictatorial triumvirate; now it appears that the party was riven by internal dissent and loosely guided by a large directorate of the party's Central Committee. Ottoman territory was splintering away at the edges: Bosnia-Herzegovina annexed by Austria-HungaryAustria-Hungary also known as the Dual monarchy (or: the k. monarchy , was a dualistic state ( 1867 1918) in which the Kingdom of Hungary enjoyed self-government and representation in joint affairs (principally foreign relations and defence) with the west ( 1908), Libya and the island of Rhodes by Italy ( 1912), a rebellion in Albania, rumors of French designs on Syria. With the example of Egypt as a warning, the Young Turks needed to modernize Empire's communications and transportation networks (which still relied on camel caravans), without putting themselves in the hands of European conglomerates and non-Muslim bankers. Europeans already owned the paltry railroad system (5991 km of single-track railroads in the whole of the Ottoman dominions in 1914) and since 1881 administration of the defaulted Ottoman foreign debt had been in European hands. The Ottomon Empire was virtually an economic colony.

Rebuffed elsewhere by the major European powers, the Young Turks, through highly secret diplomatic negotiations, led Ottoman Empire to ally herself with Berlin during World War I. Ottomon Empire's role as an ally of the Central Powers is part of the history of that war. With the collapse of Bulgaria and Germany's capitulation, Ottomon Empire was isolated. On October 13, 1918, Talaat and the CUP ministry resigned, and an armistice was signed aboard a British battleship in the Aegean at the end of the month. On November 2, Enver, Talaat and Djemal, with their German allies, escaped from Constantinople into exile.

Public assurances of equal treatment for the Empire's non-Muslim minorities that had been given in 1908 had evaporated once the Young Turks were in power. Even among the Islamic majority, it was the Turkish-speaking segment of the Empire that was in control. In 1915 the Young Turks came down hard on Arabic secret societies in Damascus, as well as instigating the Armenian genocide between 1915 and 1918. Soghomon Tehlirian , whose family was killed in the Armenian genocide, assassinated the exiled Talaat in Berlin and was subsequently acquitted after a jury trial. Djemal was similarly killed by Stepan Dzaghikian, Bedros Der Boghosian and Ardashes Kevorkian in Tbilisi, Georgia. Enver was killed in combat against the Red Army near Baldzhuan in Tajikistan (then Turkistan)

Since 1908, "Young Turks" has become a nickname for any brash group of young usurpers and subsequently passed into general usage: eg " Ash were the Young Turks of the Britpop scene". The term's association with the Armenian genocide, as details of the massacres eventually surfaced, has caused it to fall out of favor.