Atatürk was a successful division commander in the [[Battle of Gallipoli]]. The Allies defeated the [[Ottoman Empire]] and arranged for its partition. Thereupon, after a few congresses, he led an organized political resistance in Asia Minor by establishing a new assembly and government in [[Ankara]] (at that time Angora). Atatürk defeated the forces sent by the Allies, thus emerging victorious from what was later referred to as the "Turkish War of Independence" (in fact, this war was a revolt against the victorious Allied Powers of WWI and the legal government of the Ottoman Empire in [[Constantinople]]). Then he deposed the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 and became the first President of Turkey in 1923.
Atatürk led a political, legal, religious, cultural, social, and economic revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific (also nationalistic pseudoscientific), secularized, and based on the [[rationalism|rationalist]] [[Enlightenment]]. He abolished the [[caliphate]], a remnant of the former monarchy, and exiled the Ottoman dynasty from Turkey. Atatürk took all schools under the control of the Turkish government and abolished the privileges granted to foreigners. He carried out a [[nationalization]] policy in economy, a Turkish supremacist policy called "Turkish History Thesis" (''Türk Tarih Tezi'') in historiography, and a Turkicization policy against ethnic minorities. He changed the place names in Greek, Armenian, Kurdish, Zazaki, Arabic, Syriac, Yazidi, Laz, and Georgian languages to Turkish language . (such Such as Constantinople became İstanbul, Smyrna became İzmir, and Angora became Ankara. However, these place names used in Turkish are already have Greek or Hittite roots.<ref>Necdet Sakaoğlu (1993/94a): "İstanbul'un adları" ["The names of Istanbul"]. In: ''Dünden bugüne İstanbul ansiklopedisi'', ed. Türkiye Kültür Bakanlığı, Istanbul.</ref><ref>Romein, Jan (translated by R. T. Clark). ''The Asian Century: A History of Modern Nationalism in Asia'' (''De eeuw van Azie''). [[University of California Press]], 1962. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OXaIQZMevjcC&pg=PA170 170]. "In 1930 geographical names were 'turkicized'. [...] Smyrna, Ismir [''sic''], [...]"</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20021115072135/http://socialscience.tjc.edu/mkho/fulbright/1998/turkey/turman3.htm Judy Turman: Early Christianity in Turkey]</ref>) It is estimated that most of Turks are [[Muslim]] (and most of them are conservative), but Atatürk established a [[secular]] rule based on a strong military. He abolished the [[sharia law]], outlawed [[polygamy]], and gave women accorded equal rights to women including the right to vote and hold government positions. As a result of his efforts, Turkey was the only Muslim-majority country to independently hold democratic elections. [[Islamism|Islamists]] all over the world hate him because of his secularist reforms.<ref>Umut Azak: ''Islam and Secularism in Turkey: Kemalism, Religion and the Nation State.'' I.B.Tauris, 2010, p. 134.</ref> However, he inspired some Muslims, the moderate ones.<ref>{{cite book |author = M. Şükrü Hanioğlu |title = Atatürk: An Intellectual Biography |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dNFhZzug6tMC&pg=PA128 |accessdate = June 5, 2013 |date = May 9, 2011 |publisher = Princeton University Press |isbn = 978-1-4008-3817-2 |page = 128 }}</ref>
Atatürk read and was influenced by the works of [[Jean Jacques Rousseau]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=H-8wAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA197 The Rising Cresent: Turkey Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow]</ref> From September 9, 1923 to November 10, 1938, he was also leader of the Republican People's Party, the largest secularist political party in Turkey.