ABSTRACT
The victory of the nationalists over both the Greeks and the sultan opened a new chapter in the drama of the Turkish revolution. They now had to decide on the character of the new regime to be established on the foundations they had just laid during the war of liberation. The national movement, though anti-imperialist and united around the goal of preventing the partition of Anatolia, was socially conservative. It was a loose political alliance between the military-civilian bureaucracy, the rising bourgeoisie to which the Unionists had given an impetus, and the notables and landlords of Anatolia. Most of the support for the national movement, if we take the composition of the 1920 Assembly as an indicator, came from provincial notables and clericals as well as some representatives of the professions, the bureaucracy, and army officers. The majority saw the national struggle as a means to restore the sultan back to power. Mustafa Kemal, who came to lead the struggle against Greek forces, was able to shelve the question of the sultancaliph by arguing that the war must have priority over all else. Once the war was won, however, he was forced to confront the question of the regime head on.
