<P> In May 1913 German military mission assigned Otto Liman von Sanders to help train and reorganize the Ottoman army . Otto Liman von Sanders was assigned to reorganize the First Army, his model to be replicated to other units; as an advisor (he took the command of this army in November 1914) and began working on its operational area which was the straits . This became a scandal and intolerable for St. Petersburg . The Russian Empire developed a plan for invading and occupying the Black Sea port of Trabzon or the Eastern Anatolian town of Bayezid in retaliation . To solve this issue Germany de-ranked Otto Liman von Sanders to a point that he can barely control an army corps . If there was no solution through Naval occupation of Istanbul, the next Russian idea was to improve the Russian Caucasus Army . </P> <P> The Empire lost territory in the Balkans, where many of its Christian voters were based before the 1914 elections . The CUP made efforts to win support in the Arab provinces by making conciliatory gestures to Arab leaders . Weakened Arab support for the LU and enabled the CUP to call elections with unionists holding the upper hand . After 1914 elections, the democratic structure had a better representation in the parliament; the parliament that emerged from the elections in 1914 reflected better ethnic composition of the Ottoman population There were more Arab deputies, which were under - represented in previous parliaments . The CUP had a majority government . The Ottoman imperial government was established in January 1914 . Ismail Enver became a Pasha and was assigned as the Minister of War; Ahmet Cemal who was the military governor of Istanbul became Minister for the Navy; and once a postal official Talaat became the Minister of the Interior . These Three Pashas would maintain de facto control of the Empire as a military regime and almost as a personal dictatorship under Enver Pasha during the World War I. Until the Ottoman general election, 1919, any other input into the political process was restricted with the outbreak of the World War I . The 1914 Burdur earthquake occurred at on 4 October 1914 . </P> <P> The Hauran Druze Rebellion was a violent Druze uprising in the Syrian province, which erupted in 1909 . The rebellion was led by the al - Atrash family, in an aim to gain independence . A business dispute between Druze chief Yahia bey Atrash in the village of Basr al - Harir escalated into a clash of arms between the Druze and Ottoman - backed local villagers . Though it is the financial change during second constitutional area; the spread of taxation, elections and conscription, to areas already undergoing economic change caused by the construction of new railroads, provoked large revolts, particularly among the Druzes and the Hauran . Sami Pasha al - Farouqi arrived in Damascus in August 1910, leading an Ottoman expeditionary force of some 35 battalions . The resistance collapsed . </P> <P> In 1911, Muslim intellectuals and politicians formed "The Young Arab Society", a small Arab nationalist club, in Paris . Its stated aim was "raising the level of the Arab nation to the level of modern nations ." In the first few years of its existence, al - Fatat called for greater autonomy within a unified Ottoman state rather than Arab independence from the empire . Al - Fatat hosted the Arab Congress of 1913 in Paris, the purpose of which was to discuss desired reforms with other dissenting individuals from the Arab world . They also requested that Arab conscripts to the Ottoman army not be required to serve in non-Arab regions except in time of war . However, as the Ottoman authorities cracked down on the organization's activities and members, al - Fatat went underground and demanded the complete independence and unity of the Arab provinces . </P>

Where did the first major defeat of the ottoman empire take place