The Ottoman Empire had been a slowly declining power since the late 18th century, when Russia started seriously pressing up against them and began relatively consistently to win battles and wars against the Ottomans. The Ottomans slowly lost their major European possessions, largely due to Russian pressure in numerous wars from the late 18th century to the late 19th. They also experienced some internal strife, as when Egypt rebelled against Ottoman rule and was only persuaded not to march on Istanbul by British intervention and a peace treaty which effectively gave Egypt independence, albeit technically still as a part of the Ottoman Empire (at least on maps). The two Balkan Wars which occurred immediately prior to the First World War more or less completed the destruction of the Ottoman position in Europe beyond Istanbul and (after the Second Balkan War) Adrianople. Italy fought the Ottomans in Libya, in its own attempt to carve out a colonial empire in Africa.

The First World War certainly expedited the Ottoman collapse. Lloyd George, once he came to power, gradually became semi-obsessed with dismantling the Empire (and making sure Britain got most of the spoils). The Empire was growing more nationalistic, but Turkish nationalistic, which was rather alienating for the multitude of other ethnicities (such as the Armenians and the Arabs). The pressures on the Empire were such that it would have almost undoubtedly collapsed at some point anyway, and at least the way history actually ran, there were other imperial powers around (like vultures) to pick up the scraps and try to keep a lid on some of the conflict inherent in the collapse of empire (at least for a little while).