Second Constitutional Era

The Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire began shortly after Sultan Abdülhamid II restored the constitutional monarchy after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. The period established many political groups. A series of elections during this period resulted in the gradual ascendance of the Committee of Union and Progress's domination in politics. The second biggest party Liberal Union was in fact a coalition of parties led by Prens Sabahaddin. The constitutional era ended after World War I with the Occupation of Istanbul on 13 November 1918. The last meeting on March 18 produced... a letter of protest to the Allies, and a black cloth covered the pulpit of the Parliament as reminder of its absent members. The Young Turk Revolution which began in the Balkan provinces spread quickly throughout the empire and resulted in the Sultan announcing the restoration of the 1876 constitution and reconvening the parliament on 3 July 1908.
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