Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

1881 – 1938 · died at about 57^[1][2]

Politics & Leadership

Fun Facts About Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

• Mustafa Kemal Atatürk adopted thirteen children, including Sabiha Gökçen, Turkey's first female pilot and the world's first female fighter pilot.^[3]
• Atatürk was born simply Mustafa; by one account a teacher, also named Mustafa, gave him the second name Kemal, meaning "perfection," to tell the two apart.^[3]
• The surname Atatürk, commonly translated as "father of the Turks," was only adopted in 1934, after Turkey passed a law requiring fixed family surnames.^[3]
• Atatürk replaced Arabic script with a Latin-based Turkish alphabet in 1928 and personally traveled the countryside to teach citizens the new letters.^[3]
• In 1912, during the Italo-Turkish War in Libya, a limestone splinter struck Atatürk's left eye, causing permanent damage but not total loss of sight.^[3]
• Atatürk pushed Turks toward European dress: the Hat Law of 1925 replaced the fez, introduced by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826, with Western-style hats.^[3]
• Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was alive at the same time as Ralph Waldo Emerson — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1881–1882).^[1][2][4][5]
• Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Pablo Picasso were both born in 1881.^[1][2][6][7]

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish field marshal and statesman who was the founder of the Republic of Turkey and served as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He led sweeping reforms, turning Turkey into an industrialising nation. Ideologically a republican, secularist, and nationalist, his policies and socio-political theories became known as Kemalism. Atatürk's personality cult and the Kemalist historiography developed around it have had significant and ongoing influences on Turkey's political culture and historical narrative.^[1]

Contemporaries

Sigmund Freud

57 yr overlap

Nikola Tesla

57 yr overlap

Rabindranath Tagore

57 yr overlap

Henry Ford

57 yr overlap

Edvard Munch

57 yr overlap

H.G. Wells

57 yr overlap

Mahatma Gandhi

57 yr overlap

Max Planck

57 yr overlap

Orville Wright

57 yr overlap

Winston Churchill

57 yr overlap

Carl Jung

57 yr overlap

Albert Einstein

57 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

When was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk born?

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in 1881 and died on November 10, 1938.

How old was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk at death?

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk died in 1938 at about 57 years old (1881–1938).

What was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk known for?

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was known for: Founder and first president of modern Turkey. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish field marshal and statesman who was the founder of the Republic of Turkey and served as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He led sweeping reforms, turning Turkey into an industrialising nation. Ideologically a republican, secularist, and nationalist, his policies and socio-political theories became known as Kemalism. Atatürk's personality cult and the Kemalist historiography developed around it have had significant and ongoing influences on Turkey's political culture and historical narrative.

Who was alive at the same time as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk?

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's closest contemporary was Sigmund Freud. Their lives overlapped for 57 years.