Military high school at Bitola

1896 to 1899

At the military middle school in Thessaloniki a mathematics teacher, by the usual account, gives Mustafa the second name Kemal. Mustafa Kemal then moves to the military high school at Bitola (then Monastir). The town lies in the middle of Ottoman Macedonia, where Bulgarian, Greek and Serbian armed bands contest the countryside.

The military high school at Bitola in the 1890sWikimedia Commons, Unkwon, Public domain (Monastir Military High School.jpg)

Here he reads the poet Namık Kemal and learns French.

Bitola, 1915Wikimedia Commons, Agence Rol. Agence photographique (commanditaire), Public domain (Vue de Monastir (i. e. Bitola en Macédoine) - btv1b6909159m.jpg)

Sources

Andrew Mango, Atatürk (1999).

Prev: Born in Thessaloniki Next: War College and Staff College in İstanbul